Soul to Shepherd

by Linda Lamberson

  “Let’s go,” he whispered as he pulled his t-shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor.

  “Where?” I teased.

  “You know exactly where,” he whispered and then kissed me again.

  I could feel the warmth of his skin through my dress, and I wondered if he could feel the heat emanating from within me. My hands traveled down the length of his back, tracing the contours of his muscles.

  “What are you waiting for?” There was an urgency in his voice as he kissed my neck.

  I was about to teleport us to the Falls when I had a flashback to the afternoon last summer when Quinn teased me mercilessly and then left me hanging while he took a cold shower. I smiled to myself. It was my turn to have a little fun. I took a step back and walked over to the heavy wooden door to the office, closing it to give us more privacy. Light from the outdoor landscaping trickled into the room. I turned back towards him and smiled.

  “What are you—”

  “Shh,” I whispered as I walked back over to him and put my hands on his chest. “Can you see me?”

  “Yes,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss me, but I pulled away just before his lips touched mine. He looked at me, confused, which only made me smile again and raise my eyebrows playfully. I picked up his phone and scrolled through his music. I found the song I wanted—a slow, sexy tune I’d recently discovered in his music library—and hit play, setting the phone on a nearby table.

  I gently directed his arms behind him, pinning both of his wrists to the small of his back with my hand. He didn’t resist. I reached up and kissed his neck as I ran my free hand over his chest, down to his stomach. My fingers nimbly unfastened the buckle of his belt. In one swift motion, I pulled it through the loops of his jeans and let it dangle in my hand. He exhaled loudly, and I couldn’t help but giggle.

  Quinn groaned and tried to break free of my hold, but I didn’t let him. I wanted to be the one in control this time, and I wanted to get him as worked up as I could. I kissed his neck again, this time drawing little circles on his skin with my tongue. He instinctively tilted his head to the side, and I could hear his breathing getting louder, his breaths getting shallower. I could hear his heart pounding a little harder.

  Wanting to up the ante, I unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. I kissed him from his chest down to his navel. He leaned his head back.

  “Evie,” he pleaded.

  I let go of his wrists, slowly slid his jeans down to his ankles and removed them, tossing them to the side. When I stood up, I grabbed his wrists again. His eyes were dark and blazing, but he didn’t fight me. He understood my game.

  I kissed him softly, teasing his lips with my tongue and my teeth. I pressed the length of my body against his, and as if on cue, I felt his every muscle react exactly the way I wanted. My body tingled with excitement. He closed his eyes and groaned softly. I was thoroughly enjoying every minute of my taunting him. I took a step back and Quinn tried to follow me.

  “Stay,” I gently ordered. He sighed in frustration but didn’t move, making me smile again.

  I took a few more steps back and unlatched the silver chain around my waist, letting it fall, all evidence of it disappearing before it hit the ground. Then I slowly untied the knot on my dress and unwrapped it, revealing the white lace bra and panties underneath. The dress dropped to my feet and was gone. I stood there for a moment, letting Quinn take in all of me. I slid one bra strap down my shoulder and then the other before reaching around and unhooking it. Rather than allow my bra to fall to the ground, however, I held it in place and walked back over to Quinn. Only when I was a few inches away did I let go. I leaned into him once more, and now it was my breathing that hastened as our skin came into contact.

  I walked behind him, my body maintaining contact with his the entire time. I kissed his back as my hands made their way to the waistline of his boxer briefs. I toyed with the elastic band for a moment, and Quinn sucked in his breath in anticipation. I fought back the urge to giggle.

  “Evie,” he whispered. “You’re playing a very dangerous game, you know that?”

  Oh, I do, I thought to myself. It was getting increasingly more difficult to ignore how my own body was feeling at the moment. But far be it from me to give up so easily. I certainly wasn’t going to be the first to cry “uncle.” I just needed to up the ante a bit.

  I allowed my fingers to dip just below his waistband. This time Quinn groaned loudly. He reached behind and wrapped his arm around me, pulling my body into his with such force it took everything I had to swallow the groans forming in my throat. I could tell my own desires were beginning to betray me.

  Quinn whipped around, picked me up and kissed me hungrily. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him into me tightly, returning his kiss with everything I had. His lips worked their way down my neck to my chest. Heat surged though me. I knew I had taken this game dangerously further than I should’ve outside of the portal, but this was still my game, and I wanted to win.

  “Do you want me?” I whispered in his ear. I nipped at his neck playfully with my teeth.

  “Yes,” he uttered hoarsely.

  “How badly?”

  “So, so badly.”

  “Then show me,” I dared.

  Still holding me, he walked over to his father’s desk and cleared half of it off with his arm. He sat me down on top of it and kissed me. I pulled him toward me until we were as close as we could be without taking things to the next level. My body was on fire. My mind was blazing. I was losing control fast. I had to think of something to push him over the edge first. I tugged at his boxer briefs until they dropped to the floor.

  “Evie … please,” Quinn begged in between kisses.

  “Please what?” I whispered.

  “I want you,” he growled. “Let’s go.”

  “Right now?” I teased, knowing full well I’d teleport him to the Falls regardless of his answer.

  “Right now.” He kissed me so fiercely, I felt dizzy. I teleported us to the cave before it was too late.

  *

  “You were amazing tonight,” Quinn said as we lay in bed.

  “Is that your way of saying I should tease you more often?” I giggled.

  Quinn chuckled. “Yes, that was truly amazing.” He kissed my shoulder. “But I was referring to earlier—at the party. It felt so good to finally be able to introduce you to people. And everyone was talking about you.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure they were thinking ‘How in the world did that girl snag Quinn Harrison?’”

  “Nope, you’ve got it all wrong. All night long everyone was asking how I was lucky enough to snag you.”

  “You’re just saying that.”

  “Scouts’ honor.” Quinn held up his fingers.

  “Do the Boys Scouts know just how much you abuse their pledge?” I chuckled.

  “I’m serious. Did you see the way Jack was looking at you all night?” He laughed. “I thought I was going to have to fight him off.”

  “And what about Zoe?” I couldn’t resist asking. “What do you suppose she was thinking when you introduced us?”

  He sighed. “Probably that you were the last person she was hoping to meet tonight.”

  “Oh, really?” I was intrigued.

  “Let’s just say that our history together is a little rocky, but then again, lots of mistakes are made in high school, right? I mean, how long were you with what’s-his-face?”

  “Ryan and I were together for two and a half years.”

  “And how many times did you two break up?”

  “Never.”

  “Never? Not even once?” he asked in complete surprise. “C’mon, you’re lying.”

  I looked at Quinn with raised eyebrows.

  “Okay, fine, you’re not.” He rolled his eyes. “But seriously—never?”

  “No, not until the end. Why is that so surprising to you?”

  “I don’t know … I guess because high school’s mainly about firsts and all the dra
ma that comes with them—the screw-ups, the break-ups, the makeups.”

  “So you’re saying that if you and I had dated in high school, you would’ve made the same mistakes with me that you made with Zoe?”

  “No—I mean,” Quinn ran his hand through his hair and looked at me in frustration as he realized he was digging himself into a hole. “Look, all I’m saying is that I was capable of being a dick in high school, but I hope I still would’ve had the sense to realize a good thing when I saw it, even back then.” He frowned slightly. “Then again, I’ve certainly had my share of dumbass moments since I’ve met you, haven’t I?”

  “Don’t worry, you’re off the hook,” I reassured him. “My ex wasn’t exactly what I’d call even close to perfect.” My mind flashed to the night I died, when I’d caught Ryan with the blond bimbo in Champaign.

  “Well, neither was Zoe or I. She and I have attempted to ‘mend ways’ on occasion over the past few years whenever we’re both in town.”

  “Judging from the look on her face when she first saw me at your side, I think she had a different idea as to how she would’ve liked this evening to end,” I said, finishing his thought. Quinn simply nodded. Even though I knew Quinn only wanted me, the thought of another girl—a girl he had a long history with—wanting him that way bothered me. I turned away so Quinn wouldn’t see the uninvited frown appear on my face.

  “Hey.” Quinn gently turned my face towards him. “You have nothing to worry about with her. I told her I was in love with you.”

  “Oh,” I remarked casually, trying not to sound as elated as I felt.

  “I wanted her to know it was serious between us so she wouldn’t cause any trouble.”

  “And how did she react to the news?”

  “She began hitting on Jack,” Quinn said matter-of-factly.

  “Oh,” I said again, not exactly sure how to respond to what he just said.

  “Yeah.” He chuckled. “She’s got a complicated past with him, too—part of that high school drama crap.”

  “Ahh, got it.”

  “Speaking of Jack …” A guilty, apologetic expression crossed Quinn’s face as he looked down at his fingers. “I sort of told him we were engaged.”

  “You didn’t.” My face fell and my body froze in a state of panic. “Quinn, I thought we agreed telling people would just invite attention that we don’t need.”

  “I know, I know, but I couldn’t stand the way he kept looking at you. What can I say? I got jealous. I either had to tell him you were off the market permanently or kill the guy.”

  I fought a smile. Quinn was kind of cute when he was jealous. And this wasn’t the first time I’d seen this side of him. He and Dylan almost came to blows once or twice over me.

  “Well, don’t be surprised if Jack, or anyone else at the party, doesn’t remember seeing you tonight.”

  “They wouldn’t!” Quinn said in alarm.

  “They would if they felt you at all compromised my anonymity.”

  “Crap.”

  “That’s why it’s important to keep our secrets, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  *

  “Pushing it a little close last night, don’t you think?” Dylan asked me early the next morning while Quinn was upstairs in the shower.

  “What do you mean?” I played dumb, hoping Dylan would stop prying.

  “What do I mean?” he scoffed. “I thought you were going to give College Boy a coronary! I’ve never heard a heart pound so hard! Geez, is it always like that between you two?”

  “I don’t kiss and tell,” I said coyly as I smiled to myself. I forgot Dylan could feel Quinn’s heartbeat when we were all on the same plane.

  “After last night, you don’t have to. Hell, I had to take a cold shower after you left.”

  “What’s up?” Quinn asked as he came down the stairs, his hair still wet.

  “Apparently, Dylan was concerned about our extracurricular activities when we got back from the party last night. He thought I might’ve given you a heart attack.”

  Quinn just laughed.

  “Seriously, dude,” Dylan added. “You should be glad you don’t have a heart condition. You’d never be able to survive this one if you did.” Dylan winked at me.

  “I’ll take that risk any day.” Quinn smiled at me just before planting a soft, sweet kiss on my lips. “Speaking of my health, I need to eat. I’m starving,” he said, walking off into the kitchen.

  *

  Since I’d made my big debut the night before, I was able to convince everyone we should spend Sunday hanging around the house. I wanted Quinn to rest and conserve his strength, and going out every night wasn’t helping.

  In fact, we all agreed to skip our routine strategy and training session in the Falls for the day. Quinn, Dylan, and Minerva seemed to be enjoying the day off, but I was feeling a little antsy. We’d been having a lot of fun lately, but we hadn’t made a lot of progress on getting the answers we needed to help Quinn. And we had yet to find Ronald. Not to mention, the two-week deadline was quickly approaching; Jaegar and Chase had four more days, but I hadn’t heard from either of them. Maybe they never intended to retrieve Quinn’s blood. Maybe they took what they could get from me and bolted. A dreadful shiver ran down my spine at the thought.

  “You look like a caged cat in a zoo,” Dylan finally said after the umpteenth lap I’d paced in the family room.

  “What’s wrong, Evie?” Quinn asked in concern.

  “I can’t sit here any longer. There are too many things up in the air, and I’m feeling really antsy. I need to do something.”

  “What do you want to do?” Dylan asked.

  “Honestly? I want to go to the Archives and take a look at the Journal Tartuf showed me. There has to be something in there that can help us.”

  “So go,” Quinn suggested.

  “It means I’ll be gone for the rest of the day.”

  “I went without you for two months, I think I can go another day. Just be back by morning, okay?” Quinn smiled.

  “Okay,” I returned his smile and then mouthed the words “thank you.” He winked at me.

  I turned to Minerva. “Please try to keep these two out of trouble.”

  “Don’t worry,” she replied, grinning. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve if either of them get out of hand.”

  With that, I teleported myself directly to Tartuf’s private office. Of course, he wasn’t there. I grabbed the Journal locked under his desk and began flipping through the pages. There was so much information, and most of it wasn’t organized in any intelligible way. It no doubt had been pieced together over the centuries, with each bit of new knowledge recorded on the next blank page. Given the Aura time change, I quickly realized I wasn’t going to get through the Journal, much less make sense of it, this visit. One hour in the Archives was an entire day on Earth, and I’d promised Quinn I’d be home by morning. I was going to have to carve out way more time to come up here and read.

  After tagging some sections of the Journal I thought would be the most helpful, I locked it back up in Tartuf’s desk and decided to take a quick detour through the Archives’ main library to find Teddy. I wanted to pick his brain about a few things that had been on my mind.

  “Teddy? You here?” I called out when I arrived in the grand room.

  “I’m afraid you will have to settle for me,” I heard Peter’s voice say. I turned to my right and saw him sitting at a table, sifting through a stack of scrolls. Not exactly the face I was hoping to see. He was still on my crap list.

  “Have you even left that spot since the last time I saw you?” I half-teased, trying to keep the conversation casual.

  “Someone has to work around here,” he replied lightheartedly and smiled. “Though, I am glad to see you again, Eve,” he said in a more serious tone.

  “Hmm, you don’t sound too thrilled to see me.”

  “Believe me, I am—more than you know. I’ve been worried about you.”

&
nbsp; “Worried—why?”

  “The last time we spoke, I was sending you back to Earth, back into the fire, knowing your safety and well-being was in jeopardy yet again. Not exactly a reassuring image to put a spring in one’s step.”

  “Well, I’m fine.”

  “And how is Mr. Harrison doing? Have you two satisfied everyone’s expectations of your full potential as true soul mates?” Maybe it was my imagination, but I swore I heard a touch of sarcasm in Peter’s voice.

  “Why do you ask?” So much for a casual conversation, I thought.

  “When one of the two individuals supposedly destined to save us from doom stands before you, the question begs asking.”

  “‘Supposedly’?”

  “No one can say with any certainty what the future will bring.”

  “Peter, if it’s all true, if Quinn and I are destined to save the world, do you think we could?”

  The grave expression on his face told me all I needed to know.

  “So you don’t,” I snapped.

  Peter got up from the table and walked around it to join me. “It’s not about what I think.” He sighed. “Eve, I can only imagine how all of this chatter about how your true soul mate and you can change the course of the future has affected you. But despite what you have heard, you must also understand that many, if not all, future events are out of your control. There are wheels that have been set in motion long before the Three Sisters ever spun your destiny. And for an Augur to convince the Order that you and a single mortal have the power to change the course of the future is not just ludicrous, it’s dangerous for all involved—especially, for those who actually must bear the burden.”

  “So you’re saying Quinn and I can’t stop the war everyone keeps talking about—that we never could.” Nausea, despair, and anger stirred within me. I didn’t know whether I should cry on Peter’s shoulder or slap him across the face.

  “No, I’m saying you shouldn’t be wasting your time pondering this issue.”