True Connection (The Soul Mate Series)

by Walter, Rachel

  I take a step back and bump into someone. I can’t look away from the woman’s eyes to see who it is.

  Her amber eyes begin to glow, and I watch, in fascination, as her eyes change to a lovely shade of blue.

  My blue.

  My dad’s blue.

  Memories break through an imaginary barrier in my mind.

  The first day of school, meeting Skeeter, Seth, and Derik, and the argument with Derik in the lunch hall.

  I take a shallow breath.

  Every nasty look, snide remark or argument I’ve had with Derik in school run rampant in my mind like a raging bull.

  I try to look away but I’m paralyzed.

  Every tingly touch with Seth, every sweet word, every moment we’ve shared rolls through my mind like a twister in a valley.

  I clutch my side.

  Every joke, tease, and annoyance from the guys, dance and wiggle in the front of my mind.

  I begin to panic, I can’t move and I know what’s coming and I don’t want to relive it.

  Every attack that I thought were just dreams, replays in my mind, and I can almost feel every gut wrenching second.

  I pant and feel tears stream down my face.

  I’m locked in the bathroom at my party again. I can hear him pounding on the door. I hear every threat all over again.

  I want it to end.

  I’m standing in the empty school, alone and afraid. I run through the halls only to have voices sing eerily, and lead me to the brightly lit gym with Derik and Rhenata. I hear every blood curdling laugh, every word that grates against nerves like nails to a chalkboard. I feel every slap, punch, and kick. I feel Derik’s tongue on my cheek as he licked the tears from face. I feel the cold pain and loss of Seth. I hear them repeat that I’m special, that I need to be in their family. And I feel the despair and acceptance when I stopped reacting. I laid there on the hard floor and waited for them to end me or change me. That’s when I woke up.

  I gasp, clutching my side and the person behind me, so I don’t fall. The woman’s eyes stop glowing and have gone back to normal.

  “I am so sorry,” she breathes out as she clutches her gut and leans into the man.

  A tingling sensation travels up my arm. I turn to him, and he lightly wraps his arms around me. I breathe in his spicy scent and rest my head against his chest.

  That woman with the freaky eyes can leave me the hell the alone. What was that? What is she? Who are these people?

  I glare over to a very irritated looking Fane and Fionn. Damn them for “helping.” That so did not help.

  The couple starts moving towards me, and I can’t help but cringe. If the woman did that to me, I can’t imagine what the guy is going to do.

  Seth rubs my arms lightly, in a calming way. “Avan,” he says, and I feel him nod.

  “I’m not going to do anything, Jasmine. I come bearing gifts,” he says, and then they both bow to me. I’m not royalty. Why bow to me?

  “It’s a customary greeting,” Avan says looking directly into my eyes.

  My breathing and heart completely stop, as my eyes bulge and mouth pops open.

  “Please forgive me, my name is Avan, and this is my lifemate, Charlotte. We haven’t been around new people in so long, that it seems I have forgotten my manners.”

  I recover on the slow side. “Please call me Jaz. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I say calmer than I feel.

  Fane gets their attention, and they walk to him.

  “He’s a mind reader,” Seth whispers after they’re across the room. My eyes fly to Avan, steering away from Charlotte’s. No wonder he answered a question that I didn’t ask out loud.

  I stay silent, standing in my bubble of comfort in Seth’s arms, and next to my brother. The beating of Seth’s heart is all I care to listen to at the moment, so it’s easy to block everything else out. Unfortunately, the reprieve wasn’t long enough, as Avan moves to stand in front of me again.

  “Jasmine, I have something for you,” Avan says, as he reaches in the pocket of his jacket. “This is a Painite stone, embedded in silver,” he says spinning the cuff bracelet so I can see it. “You must wear this, at all times. Do not take it off for any reason. The symbols are a protection spell,” he points to etchings marked along the silver. “You will be safe to sleep, even on your own, but the added protection of your mate will be beneficial,” his eyes shift between Seth and I before placing the bracelet on my wrist. It heats with contact to my skin. At first, the warmth feels nice, but soon the warmth turns into a searing burn that I feel into my bones. The cuff glows, and I squeal.

  Barry and Henry both growl.

  Seth bristles. “What’s that thing doing to her?” He demands.

  I glance around in shock.

  “It’s recognizing her, so it knows what to protect from. It has recognized that she has a mate, so it will not protect her from your connection. It does not allow me to rummage through her mind. I can only receive current thoughts from her. It is protecting her already,” Avan says calmly.

  I grab Seth’s hand. “I’m okay,” I say. He only nods as he eyes the bracelet. I look down to it as well. The gem is a reddish brown. It’s pretty but not something I would have picked on my own. “This will prevent the attacks?” I ask, skeptically.

  “Yes. This will protect you from any attack from the devuxen, the exception being physical,” he glances to Fane and Seth before continuing. “You should practice defensive moves. They will be useless on the supernatural, until the Ichor develops you, but it might help you to deflect another hit to your face,” he says eyeing my cheek.

  I suck in a breath and turn away from Avan. I glance to Henry and see him watching Skeeter. She’s been awfully quiet all night. She’s sitting next to her grandpa, eyeing Avan and Charlotte. She doesn’t seem to trust them.

  Charlotte moves to the spot that Avan has vacated. “Would it be alright if we meet tomorrow? I’d like to have the opportunity to talk with you,” she smiles shyly.

  My brows furrow. “Um, okay?” I blow out a breath. “I’ll probably be with Seth, where would you like to talk?”

  “If you guys will be at the house, Avan, Charlotte, you are more than welcome in our home,” Luke offers.

  She smiles brightly. “I will see you there.”

  I have no clue what we will talk about. I hope she has something in particular to say to me, or else we might just be listening to crickets.

  I yawn, and Seth tells Fane he’s taking me up to bed.

  Fionn comes over to me. “Feelin’ okay, girseach?” He asks and motions to my ribs.

  I nod. “Fionn, what do you keep calling me?”

  He smiles. “Girseach? Jus some Gaelic dat’s tuck wit me. It means girl.” He nods when I smile, and then walks away.

  Seth waits in my room while I take a shower. It feels good to scrub myself clean, but I still feel grimy. No way to scrub your memories though. Skeeter comes in when I shut off the water to help rewrap my ribs. She doesn’t say much, other than telling me that we’ll talk in the morning. I give her a hug and thank her for everything before retreating to my room.

  Sleep would be nice, but I have a feeling Seth wants to talk. I just don’t know what he’ll want to talk about now. Love or demon attacks? I’m not sure which one I feel like talking about. I’ll go with neither, and talk to him about Henry.

  With a plan formed, I push my door open, and suck in a breath when I see the shirtless, perfectly sculpted body lying on my bed. My eyes linger on his sun kissed abs, all six of them. There’s six alright, I know this because even from across the room, I can see and count them. I peel my eyes from his body to his face, and feel my cheeks heat. He caught me ogling him.

  I gulp and climb in bed beside him. He opens his arms to me, and I sink into his light embrace.

  Chapter 18

  Elementary Style

  I begin to doze off, listening to the beat of Seth’s heart, and his breathing. He sighs heavily, pulling me from almost sleep. I ra
ise my head to see his face, and raise my brow when he glances my way.

  “What were you thinking before the reverie?” He finally asks me.

  I grimace. “Did you see Henry watching Skeeter all night?” I ask, changing the subject.

  He smirks. “I did notice. No, I don’t think anything will happen between them. You’re not getting out of this by switching topics.”

  “Fine,” I glare at him. “I thought about you, my dad, what happened in the bathroom, and tried to figure out a way to end this, without anyone getting hurt.” He nods and looks away, lost in thought I assume. I don’t want him to be so inside his head. “When you think about the future, what do you see?”

  His eyes find mine and he smiles. “You,” he says and kisses my nose. “I see us, getting through college, and finding careers…” he drifts off. “What do you see when you think about the future?”

  “Oh, well, I see going to college, and joining a sorority, finding frat brothers to have a little fun with at some wild parties,” he starts to tickle me, and I laugh through the pain. “Ow! I give! Uncle! Uncle!”

  He glares. “I know it’s cheating since you’re handicapped,” he says, amusement dancing in his eyes. “I won’t tickle anymore if you tell me,” he says with twitchy fingers that make me squirm. “Tell me,” he whispers.

  I gaze into his eyes, fighting the giggle from his light tickling, and unsure if I should tell him all my hopes for our future. I settle on telling him part of it. “Okay, I see us staying in a crappy apartment because we can’t find our perfect house.” I close my eyes. “We love that little apartment though. It has everything we need, and it’s decorated just how we like it. I can see moving to a new area, a new state, and having our variety of companions follow. I can see going to our niece and nephew’s Christenings. I can see disagreements and bickering, romantic evenings, and lazy days.” I keep my eyes closed and rest my head on his chest, with a small smile.

  “Look at me please,” he whispers. Slowly, I tilt my head and open my eyes to his smiling face. “A crappy apartment?” He laughs and kisses my lips. Just as I’m relaxing into him, he pulls back suddenly.

  “So, is it Sam or Henry that make us Aunt and Uncle first?” He laughs, and I try desperately not to.

  ***

  In the morning, Seth sneaks out the window, again, so Skeeter and I can get our girl time in.

  Skeeter and I sit at the table and look at the mini-mountain of gifts. I have no energy to open them, let alone write “thank you” more than a dozen times.

  “Hey! Starbucks gift card!” Skeeter shouts as she opens an envelope.

  “Score!” I snatch it from her and slip it in my pocket. “How was Grave Stalkers last night with the guys?”

  She groans. “Don’t ask.”

  “You know I’m going to, just tell me,” I say, as I write thank you inside the card with a short message.

  “Things were fine, at first. I sat between Henry and Barry, and I was surrounded with warmth and junk food and pop,” she spits like that’s the worst fate anyone could have. I chew on my cheek to keep from smiling or laughing, as she dumps the contents of a gift bag on the table. “I was overstuffed and totally warm and comfy, I passed out on Henry’s shoulder.”

  “That part I know. What’s so bad about falling asleep with the guys?” I shrug. It’s nothing really. I mean yea, Henry’s my brother and Barry is Barry, but they’re nice sometimes so it’s not like they’re write on her face or anything.

  She shakes her head and tosses the tissue paper in a growing trash pile on the floor. “It’s Henry,” she whispers. “He was so sweet.”

  I smile. “I’m not sure I understand the problem here.”

  Her electric blue eyes fly to mine. “I’m Amaranthine, I have a soul mate, just like Seth has you,” she points at me. “This is a problem because not only do I have a soul mate, but Henry has a mate. He might be Halfling, but he’s still got a mate somewhere out there.”

  I frown. “So, you can’t have a crush on someone because you have a mate that might take a hundred years to find?”

  She looks at me sadly. “He’s too hot, dammit,” she mutters, ignoring my question.

  I burst out laughing, then stop when pain radiates from my side. “I’ll just go tell him to be less hot.”

  She flips a gift card at me. “Shut up.”

  “I’m sorry,” I offer.

  “It’s not your fault.” She waves me off. “He can shift. Did you see his wolf?”

  “Not yet, I was sort of…” I trail off, and she nods.

  “His wolf is even hot,” she mutters and addresses the finished thank you card.

  I drop my pen. “Explain that one.” She looks up to me shocked. “No really, how the hell is an animal hot?”

  “Jesus, Jaz, it’s a figure of speech.” She rolls her eyes. “Shut up and get back to work before I leave you and make you do all this by yourself,” she threatens.

  I glare at her. “You wouldn’t dare. You’d have to pass the guys to get to my room.”

  She sniffs. “Can I throw shit at them?”

  I wrinkle my nose. “Ew.”

  She sighs. “Trash?” she holds up a balled up piece of tissue paper.

  I laugh and gently palm my aching side. “I’d go for something harder.” We laugh and fill out a few more cards. The guys move from video games upstairs to the kitchen with us.

  “Mornin’,” Henry says, as he grabs an apple from the basket on the counter. “How’s it goin’?” He asks, coming over and looking over my shoulder.

  “Oh, just dandy, wanna help?” I ask hopefully.

  “Er, um, I’ve got someplace to be,” he mumbles and pushes Barry towards the stairway to the weight room. “See ya!”

  “Figures,” I mutter and sign my name for the tenth time.

  Skeeter presses her palms into her eyes and growls. “That image of him will forever be branded in my head.”

  I pause, mid-word. “What image?”

  “Of course you hadn’t noticed.” She shakes her head. “Your brother just waltzed in here, shirtless!”

  “Fuel for your dreams,” I tease and finish filling out the card. “It could’ve been worse,” I say.

  “How?” She shouts with rounded eyes.

  “It could’ve been Barry shirtless.” I wrinkle my nose and slide the card in the envelope.

  “He’s got rock hard abs,” she says like it’s nothing.

  “Who?” I ask.

  “Well, both of them, but I was talking about Barry. He’s a football player and after practice he’s notorious for walking around shirtless,” she explains. When she looks up at my blank face, she smiles. “You hadn’t noticed?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t see him like that.” I frown. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve really noticed much of anyone since I started here,” I mutter and glare at the mountain of gifts.

  “Wait for it, I’m going to text bomb you with hundreds of hot-ass half-naked pictures of guys.” She laughs.

  My eyes widen. “I do not want half-naked pictures of my brother!”

  She snorts. “Not him, just, you know, some fitness models or something.”

  I shrug.

  She describes a few of her favorite fitness models she’s found on Pinterest as we finish up the thank you cards. When we’re done, Skeeter and I retreat to the backyard to enjoy some sun and we talk more about last night. She was scared for me, then angry and worried. That’s why she didn’t really talk much.

  “Henry says you talk in your sleep,” I say raising my head from the blanket to look at her.

  She snorts. “There’s nothing new there. I wonder what I said this time.”

  “I’m not sure. He wouldn’t say, but he smiled,” I shrug a shoulder.

  “Aw, man,” she groans and drops her head to blanket. “That can’t be good,” I laugh. “What do you think Charlotte wants to talk to you about?”

  “I have no idea,” I admit. “Think this bracelet mean
s more than just protection?”

  “Sure, you’re now his slave,” she deadpans. “Avan isn’t like that. At least, not when it comes to protection from devuxen,” she says.

  I nod and look at the silver on my wrist. “How do we know it’s actually working?”

  “Don’t doubt Avan’s mad skills. He might pop in and hear you,” she giggles. “Avan isn’t a deceiver,” she says, getting serious again. “He may be a rat sorcerer, but he’s a damn good one and won’t be swayed like his sister. He’s lost so much, so he tries to save others from that fate,” she pauses and rolls to her stomach. “He can only do so much, and can’t be everywhere at once. He literally dropped what he was doing to be involved,” she shakes her head. “He’s been after Rhenata for nearly a century.” My eyes widen. “Don’t give me your shocked face, shit.” She rolls her eyes at me. “Did Seth explain nothing to you?” She groans and hops up to sit on her knees.

  “He explained some,” I defend.

  “Obviously not enough.” She picks at the thread on her shorts. “Sorcerers are humans, but they’re magic. As long as they keep their magic, they live. When they feel they’ve served their purpose, they stop using their magic, and eventually die. Having that kind of power comes with responsibility, obviously.”

  “So, basically they control how long they live?” I clarify.

  “Yep.” She nods. “That’s the short version.” She snorts. “I wish my grandma would’ve given me the short version when I asked.”

  I laugh and check the time on my phone. “Crap, I’ve gotta get dressed.” I jump up and grab my stuff.

  “You hungry?” She asks, and I nod. “I’ll go get the boys, and have them make us some sandwiches.” She winks and gathers her stuff and the blanket.

  After lunch, which Henry and Barry did indeed make us sandwiches, Seth shows up, and Henry offers to take Skeeter home, so that Seth and I could go straight to his house.

  At his house, we hang out with his parents for a little bit, and Claire gives me some really good medicine for pain. Then, we head up to Seth’s room to get a bit of privacy.

  “I have my first question,” I blurt, as I sit on his bed.