by Sara Summers
SOULHATED
By Sara Summers
Copyright © 2019 Sara Summers
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review
Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.
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To all of the achievers in this world.
We are so much more than the popularity-seeking appearance-centered people the enneagram makes us out to be.
Quinn
I don’t remember meeting my soulmate for the first time. In fact, I don’t even remember the first time I slept with him.
What I do remember is waking up in bed with a stranger who smelled like vomit and trees.
I opened my eyes and groaned at the headache that pounded deep in my skull. Using the wall, I pulled myself into sitting position before forcing my eyes open.
When I saw the man in my bed, I groaned again. His eyes were open and his arms were folded as he leaned up against the wall. He was fully dressed, which was odd since we were in bed together and all I was wearing was a nude lace bra and matching underwear, and he didn’t seem nearly as hungover as he should’ve been assuming he had been partying with me.
The stranger was cute with his unruly brown hair and a few days’ worth of scruff on his face. I had to give him that, but I preferred my men clean and clean-shaven, and he was the opposite.
“Who let you in here?”
I was always careful with my keys when I went out. My best friend/roommate hated alcohol so she was always the designated driver and the key-holder. No one came into our apartment without her approval, and she didn’t approve of me coming home with anyone I didn’t know before I left.
“Beth.” That was all he wanted to say, which was fine with me. I didn’t need to talk to my random hookup.
“Well get out.” I gestured to the door of my bedroom.
He got up out of the bed with no visible signs of the headache and nausea that was plaguing me, and he left the room.
“You could at least close the door.” I complained, standing up and waiting for the sound of the front door shutting. It never came.
With the walls as my crutches and my eyes only half-open, I walked slowly toward Beth’s room and opened the door. She was sitting in bed with her kindle in her hands, like I knew she would be.
“It’s 1:30.” Beth looked up from her book with a smile. I didn’t even have to ask, we knew each other so well.
“Who’s the guy?” I massaged my temples with my fingers, leaning up against the doorway for support.
When she hesitated, I knew something was up.
“I think you should ask him yourself.” She finally said.
“What’s going on?” I narrowed my eyes at her, officially suspicious.
“Just go ask him who he is. I’ll be out as soon as I finish this chapter.” She held up the kindle for a second.
I knew when she said she was going to finish the chapter that she wouldn’t be out until she finished the book. Beth could never stop in the middle.
“Fine.” I glared at her and made my way to our living room. The last thing I wanted was to have to kick my random hookup out of the apartment when Beth shouldn’t have let him in in the first place.
He was sitting on the couch with his eyes pointed up at the ceiling, but he turned to look at me when I entered the kitchen/living room area. I was still only wearing my sexy lace bra and underwear.
I didn’t say anything, heading for the fridge first. There was already a massive, cold bottle of water waiting for me on the top shelf that I’d gotten ready before I left to go to the club. I was no stranger to hangovers.
After swallowing a few ibuprofen and downing as much water as I could, I walked around the island in our kitchen and sat down on one of the barstools. Turning to face the stranger, I studied him for a few seconds.
Dark hair, dark eyes, and built more like a gorilla than a person. The scruff on his face was the same dark brown color as his hair. The black t-shirt he wore didn’t fit him as well as I would’ve expected considering the wealth level of the club I always went to.
“Why did Beth let you in?” I watched him, looking for any signs of emotion on his face.
He may as well have been a rock with all the emotions he showed.
“I’m your soulmate.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Nice try, but I don’t believe in soulmates.”
The idea of two people belonging to each other, though romantic, had always seemed ridiculous to me. I knew shifters had soulmates, the whole world knew that, but I wasn’t a shifter and had never met one before so that wasn’t a concern.
“You don’t have to believe me. Go look at your neck.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he got off the couch.
When he walked over, I got a good view of his larger-than-life muscles, and I couldn’t have denied that he was attractive.
Only in a mountain-man way, of course. Not the high-class, buttoned-up way I liked my men.
I stood my ground as the mountain-sized mountain-man came up close. Part of me was afraid he would grab me and pin me to the wall, while part of me felt confident this man would never hurt me.
Another part of me altogether wanted him to pin me against the wall and kiss me until I forgot I didn’t want him in my space in the first place.
Instead of grabbing me, he turned his head to the side.
The movement revealed a shimmering marking. It was a small, tattoo-like mark just under his right ear, the same dark blue color that would leak out of a broken pen. The way it shimmered was unnatural and no matter how hard dozens of companies had tried, no human could have a tattoo like that.
My lips parted.
“You’re a shifter?”
Though I’d known about shifters my whole life, I’d never met one. They had been separated from human society for most of the twenty years I’d been alive, and in the two years they’d been living like us, none of them had ever crossed my path.
He nodded.
“And you’re my soulmate.”
“Someone must’ve slipped something into my drink last night, because this,” I gestured between the mountain man and me, “is not real. I am 100% human.”
“You were, until last night.”
“Get away from me.” I got out of the chair and crossed the distance between us before I shoved him backward.
He didn’t budge.
Geez, he was huge.
“I’ll call the cops.” I threatened, pushing him again.
“Go ahead. We’re soulmates, so according to human laws, we’re married.”
“Stop saying that word.” I shoved him for the third time, and this time he let himself be pushed a little, so his back hit the kitchen island.
“Like I said, go look at your neck.”
“Will you leave if I do?” I shot back, fuming and terrified at the same time.
What if there really was something on my neck? What if he’d really turned me into a shifter?
I’d heard it was possible. There was a mega-famous actor named Logan Lush who turned into one because of some shifter chick, after all. If it happened to him, could it happen to me?
I pushed that idea away.
“If you don’t see a cotie on your neck, I’ll leave.” He agreed.
My nose wrinkled.
“A cotie?” What was I doing? I held up my hand. “No, never mind. I don’t want to know anything about your shifter crap. I’m not your soulmate.”
I crossed the kitchen, headed s
traight for the bathroom.
The mountain man followed me. For the first time since I’d woken up next to him, he looked slightly amused.
I won’t pretend it wasn’t a good look for him.
He leaned against the doorway as I pulled my ultra-tangled locks away from my face. As I did, the barf smell got stronger and I just about gagged.
“You puked last night.” He noticed my reaction to my own hair. “And before you ask, I didn’t take advantage of how drunk you were.”
His words threw me off balance and I turned to him with a disbelieving glare.
“We didn’t have sex?”
He met my gaze, his expression serious and intense.
“I wouldn’t make love to you for the first time while you were so drunk you wouldn’t remember it, Quinn.”
I ignored the piece of my heart that turned into a steamy puddle of romantic goo, the part of me that adored the way he respected me.
“You say that like there will be a first time.” I turned back to the mirror and tilted my head to the right. “I told you, I’m not a shifter. No mark.”
I gestured to the left side of my neck and looked back to him.
One side of his mouth quirked up in a half-smile.
“Coties are always on the right side.”
“I told you not to use your weird shifter words.” I tilted my head to the left.
The air rushed out of my lungs when I saw the small, dark blue marking behind my ear. It matched the mountain man’s.
“This can’t be happening.” I just stared at my neck for a few seconds before reaching up to touch it to make sure it was real.
I folded the skin between my fingers, and the mark moved with it.
“Like I said, we’re soulmates.” He said it casually, like my entire world wasn’t imploding.
“I,” I looked around the room for an excuse, something to get me away from the mountain man.
My soulmate.
“I need to rinse the puke out of my hair. Leave.” I gestured toward the door as I reached into the shower and twisted the handle to turn on the water.
He lifted an eyebrow.
“Fine, stay for all I care.” I snapped, reaching around my back to unclasp my bra.
He didn’t avert his eyes or react as I stripped out of my underwear before stepping into the shower, and even though my head was spinning with the soulmate revelation, his lack of response only made me more attracted to the mountain man.
My mountain man.
I started on my hair, hoping a little hot water could burn away the parts of me that were already considering what it would feel like to run my hands down his bare chest.
Cody
If Quinn had realized how much that sexy underwear brought out the wolf in me, she would’ve been wearing a lot more clothing.
On second thought, she would’ve taken it off just to spite me.
Oh wait, she did.
When I found her she’d been in that fancy club, dancing on the bar in a short, tight black dress that laced up the side in crisscrosses, revealing more than a fair amount of skin. Her long, white-blonde hair was bouncing and flying around her as she moved with the incredibly-loud music. With the way those rich-looking men around her were rubbing their hands all over her, I just about lost control of my wolf for the first time in more than ten years.
The wolf in me said that she was mine, and that the men with their hands on her skin should be dead.
Heck, I’d wanted to kill everyone who was even looking at my woman.
I’d been able to calm myself down enough to go over my options before I threw her over my shoulder and carried her out of that place without breaking any bones.
Beth, her best friend, had been sitting in the back of the room sipping at a glass of grape soda and reading a book, which she’d just about choked on when she saw me pull a very-drunk Quinn off the bar. When she saw the cotie on Quinn’s neck, which declared her a shifter and marked her as mine, she’d dragged me straight back to their apartment.
The pain that accompanied touching me for the first time, which gave Quinn a cotie that matched mine, paired with all of the alcohol she’d consumed, had knocked my soulmate out. She slept on my lap in the back seat of Beth’s little car until we got back to her apartment, where she came-to long enough to puke all over the bushes and her dress before she fell asleep.
It had taken both me and Beth to wrestle Quinn out of that ridiculously tight dress, and we’d both called it quits after we’d gotten it off, leaving her in her underwear.
The same underwear that was making it hard to focus on convincing her that we were really soulmates.
When she stripped in front of me before getting in the shower, I’d stayed frozen in place, knowing that if I allowed myself to move, I’d be yanking that sexy woman into my arms and carrying her back to the bed that I’d been such a gentleman in during the night.
Lying awake next to my soulmate, who smelled like barf even stronger than she would to any human thanks to my wolf senses, was not how I expected to spend my first night with Quinn.
I’d expected cuddling, talking, maybe some kissing…
Not sexy lace underwear and puke.
But that was alright. Quinn wasn’t what I expected, and I had a feeling she wasn’t going to make things easy for me, but I didn’t need it to be easy. I would win her over whether it took a week or a year. She was mine, and I was hers.
She poked her head around the wall of the shower, and I could see the reluctance written all over her face.
“What animal do you turn into?”
“We’re wolves.” I reminded her that she was a shifter too, and despite the steaming-hot water, her face paled before she yanked her head back inside.
I jumped up to sit on the counter beside the sink, looking around the bathroom.
Quinn and Beth’s apartment was fancy, there was no getting around that. It was large and spacious with minimal furniture and decorations. The tile was black with white speckles and stretched through the whole apartment, with gray walls. The kitchen cabinets were white and the appliances were shiny stainless-steel.
Everything coordinated perfectly, and everything looked expensive. From the handles on the cabinets to the throw-blankets on the couch, I knew money was no object for Quinn and Beth.
I was only sitting on the countertop for a few minutes when Beth walked in, wearing a pair of colorful leggings and a workout tank top, with her dark hair up in a high-ponytail.
“I run a gymnastics gym.” She offered me a quick smile. “I have to go in right now, but…” She peeked into the bathroom to make sure Quinn wasn’t watching. “Here’s a key just in case Quinn tries to lock you out or something.”
Beth handed me a key, and I took it with raised eyebrows.
“Won’t she be mad at you?”
“Definitely. But as you saw last night, she’s a wreck and I’m the only person in her life she has a real relationship with. She won’t admit it but she needs you, so I’m your new best friend.” She winked. “My boyfriend will be back soon, his name is Garrett. He’ll probably only be home for an hour or two but I already told him you’re here so don’t worry about it.
“There’s food in the fridge, force Quinn to eat before she goes to that party tonight. I’ll be back around nine.” Beth grinned. “I know I sound like her mom, but it works for us so don’t judge. Bye, and good luck, Cody!”
She hurried out the door, leaving me a little confused and a lot curious about who my soulmate was aside from the sexy underwear and the bar-dancing.
Beth came running back in a few minutes later, a few strands of hair escaped from her ponytail.
“I forgot to tell you, don’t let her go to the party alone. If she goes alone she won’t leave alone, if you know what I mean.” My body tensed. After watching the way she’d danced on the bar with all of those hands on her skin, I had first-hand experience with exactly what she meant.
“Her family is powerful enough th
at no one will protest if she brings a plus-one, so don’t take no for an answer. There’s an invitation on the fridge so pretend you heard about from that.”
With that, she was gone almost as quickly as she’d come in.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and clicked my sister’s contact information, my body itching to shift at the idea of going to a party full of rich people.
“Finally!” Emma answered the phone. She sounded relieved, and that wasn’t a surprise since I’d run out on family dinner a few days earlier when my wolf had kicked in and I’d realized where my mate was.
See, male shifters always know where our soulmates are, but it doesn’t start until the Creator decides it’s time for us to meet. As soon as that switch in my brain flipped, I took off to find my mate.
“What’s she like?” Emma asked. She was eager for answers, and I didn’t blame her. I’d felt just as curious when she’d met her soulmate, Logan.
“Well,” I glanced toward the bathroom. Though I could hear the shower running, I wanted to make sure she hadn’t snuck out or something. “I don’t really know yet. Right now she’s in denial.”
I was vague on purpose.
“I thought you spent the whole night together. How can you not know what she’s like?”
I grimaced, and turned when I heard the shower shut off.
“It’s complicated. Listen, Em, I have to go with her to some high-society party tonight. What am I supposed to wear to that kind of thing?”
Emma paused. Usually she was excited to help out with stuff like that, so I wondered what was brewing in her mind.
“You know, that sounds like a great question to ask your soulmate.” I could imagine the evil grin on her face. “Maybe if you ask her that, it’ll uncomplicated things.”
I bit back a groan and turned to see Quinn step out of the shower, wrapped in a soft-looking white towel. Her hair fell around her shoulders and to the middle of her back, looking like gold.
“I’ve gotta go. Thanks for nothing, Em.”
“You took the words right out my mouth.” Emma said dryly. “Good luck, Cody.”
We both hung up.