Soul-Mate (The Immortal Love Series Book 1)

by Anna Santos

  My initial plan—the one I had made the previous day—was to wake up before he did, get out of the bed, get my things, and sneak out before awoke. That was exactly what I did, until the part of sneaking out, because there I stood in the middle of the room, wearing nothing but his shirt, with very little determination to leave. How could I leave after the night we had? After all we talked about: music, books, films, and his job? After that amazing long night of sex?

  “Anna,” he whispered, scaring me of my thoughts. “Come back to bed, honey,” he said, rolling over and opening his eyes. “It’s still early.”

  “I…” I choked; I had no excuse to give him.

  “You’ve been there for at least ten minutes, deciding if you should leave or not.”

  Damn! Busted! Guess werewolves are tireless at making love and are light sleepers.

  So I crawled back to bed and back into his arms. He kissed me gently on my neck, closing his eyes and resting his head against my shoulder. I sighed with pleasure; desire ignited my body just lying next to him, touching his skin, and feeling the brush of his lips. I blushed, realizing that I was becoming a sex addict. Besides, I was sore, so how could I possibly think about doing it again?

  “You’ll not get rid of me that easily,” he whispered, making me sulk and forget all about sex. At least for the moment. I did feel guilty about being so sneaky. He didn’t deserve it. The night between us had been perfect, from the dinner to the bed. I really liked his next words. “It’s Saturday, honey, so relax and spend the day with me.”

  “I just wanted to go home and change clothes,” I said, finally remembering an excuse.

  “You won’t need clothes for the time being.”

  He wasn’t helping me forget about sex with those words! I felt goose bumps rundown my chest and explode between my legs.

  “Aren’t you tired?”

  “I’ve already slept.” That was the truth. “I don’t sleep much.”

  “Okay. Let’s get up then. Have a shower together. I’ll make breakfast again.”

  “Pancakes?” I asked immediately with hopeful voice.

  “Whatever you want, honey.” He smiled at me, making me melt with desire.

  “Okay.”

  “And we can watch a film later. I have an amazing collection of classics.”

  “I don’t have clothes. I only brought the dress.”

  “I’ll let you wear some of my clothes. After all, my shirts seem to look better on you.” His compliment made me giggle—I was feeling extremely comfortable inside his shirt, smelling his cologne. “Annabel,” he whispered close to my lips, “I hope you aren’t too hungry, because it may take a while to shower.”

  “How come?” I asked, amused by his mischievous grin and raised eyebrows.

  “I may feel the need to kiss you from head to toe while washing you.”

  I gulped, closing my legs as I remembered how meticulous he was with the foreplay. “I’m not that hungry,” I whispered, making him chuckle. He seemed pleased as he brushed his lips with mine and grabbed me in his arms to take me to the bathroom.

  And just like that, I stayed and had the best day of my life. We saw old funny movies that made us laugh until we cried. We talked, ate, listened to music, and talked some more. He was curious about what I liked to eat and watch on TV, what I read and the music I listened to. I found him fascinating and incredibly funny. He even sat me on his lap in front of the fireplace and read me poetry that made me feel like someone else, someone normal who had a normal life and a normal relationship. He was easy to be around. He didn’t judge or make fun of my tastes. He just wanted to know why I liked something, and then he would share what he liked with me. It was really easy to be “me” next to him.

  When the night came, we made love again. This time we started on the couch, ended on the floor in front of the fireplace, and did it again in the bedroom. It was so good every time that I had no plans to leave the next morning. The idea of leaving that place to go back to my cold, ugly motel room wasn’t appealing anymore. I wanted to be with Shane, to hear to him laugh, to listen to him talk with that deep, sweet voice, and to share my thoughts with him. Reality could wait a bit longer. I deserved a break from cruelty, death, and loneliness.

  “Are you scared?” he asked me Sunday night while we were seated on the couch watching the news.

  “Of what?” I asked, intrigued as I leaned my head back to stare at him.

  I was paying little to no attention to the news, just enjoying the bliss of being quiet in his arms, relaxing and forgetting all my problems.

  “You start classes tomorrow.”

  “I had forgotten about that.”

  “Where did you teach before coming here?” he asked.

  “Let’s not talk about that.” I told him, sighing deeply and closing my eyes. But I was no longer relaxed, because I felt the weight of reality sneak in and taint my serenity.

  “Can’t I know anything about your life?” he wondered, his voice laced with disappointment.

  “What do you want to know exactly?” I asked, leaving his arms and sitting to face him.

  I couldn’t forget he was the sheriff, and even if my undercover identity was bulletproof, he could call the places where I’d worked before and find strange coincidences with some vampires’ killings. There was only a limited amount of time that I could pretend to be normal, and apparently it had run out, because Shane wanted to know more about me. I couldn’t show him that part of me.

  Besides, I still didn’t know what side he was on. Was he one of the good guys, or did he work for some of the evil vampire lords that take over a city and plant their cubs in high places to get blood, money, and power? He wasn’t a vampire, but there were packs of wolves working for vampires. The organization that I worked for wanted to remain secret to the supernatural community for a good reason.

  “How old are you?” he asked after a moment in silence.

  I found the question odd. “Twenty-three.”

  “Do you know how old I am?” He smiled in the strangest way.

  I suspected that, by that smile, he wasn’t twenty-eight, like he appeared to be. However, I really didn’t have any idea how long a werewolf could live. My teammates and I had found, on our paths, some really old ones who looked like teens but who were extremely strong. They weren’t a race to ignore and joke about.

  Shane smelled strong; his presence felt strong. He was without a doubt an important member of that community, or they wouldn’t give him the post of sheriff. I shivered, thinking about what bad things he could have done. But he seemed like a really nice guy. He was intelligent, charming, and gentle. The town looked pretty cozy and peaceful, too. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t need to think about it. Shane and that supernatural town weren’t a problem to my organization; I was there for a personal reason.

  “Do you give up?” Shane asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

  “Yes, you are too old for me,” I joked.

  Shane didn’t smile. “I just wondered how old you were when you finished college. That’s all. I don’t want you to be upset by the question. It’s just you are so…” He paused.

  “I got my doctorate when I was twenty,” I said, shrugging it off. “Is it a crime to be smart?”

  I was not lying. I had entered college when I was fifteen. I was a child prodigy. A doctorate in literature wasn’t the hardest thing to achieve while living a double life. However, facing the murder of my parents and being recruited by a secret organization of humans and hybrids who fought supernatural beings that didn’t obey the rules was.

  “No. I like the fact you are smart,” he said softly, not wanting to upset me again.

  I didn’t know why I was even upset for being questioned about my age. Maybe because I was sure that he was older, much older, than me. I could feel it. He acted like it. He wasn’t immature, and I liked that. But maybe my age could be a problem for him. I wasn’t going to get any older, but he didn’t know that. My aging pro
cess had slowed down. My last exams showed it. My vampire side was kicking in. Soon enough, I would have to feed more often on blood. The idea didn’t please me much, but my panther side also liked to eat raw meat. It had blood in it, so why start being picky? I just had to hunt an animal and eat more often than I was doing already.

  “I think it’s time for me to go,” I said, getting up, uncomfortable with the sudden silence. Not that we hadn’t been silent before, but, at that moment, I wasn’t comfortable there anymore. He seemed to want to ask questions that I couldn’t answer, or at least couldn’t answer with the truth. And I didn’t want to lie to him. It felt weird, as if it wasn’t right to do to him. Being around him seemed way too familiar and relaxing. I couldn’t open up, and I didn’t want to feel the pain of lying.

  “Don’t be silly, Anna,” he said, catching my hand and making me sit down next to him. “I’m not judging you. I could care less about your age. I mean, unless you’re a minor. Are you a minor?” He smiled in a lame attempt to make me smile back, and he almost achieved it, but I was able to maintain my annoyed-by-the-questions face. “You never showed me your ID. Besides, why couldn’t I know your age?”

  “If you just wanted to know my age, why were you so surprised when I told you?”

  “I thought you were older. Even if you don’t look older, you sound older. You are really intelligent, and you know a lot of things. We have smart conversations. Besides, you are a teacher.”

  I eyed him, mentally rebuilding my walls to keep him outside and protect myself from feeling vulnerable. I wasn’t quite sure why I was still there. I had meticulously planned to leave the previous morning and never see him again.

  It hurt to think about leaving. It shouldn’t hurt. I should be smarter and not fall for the guy’s sweet talk, with his dreamy blue eyes and lips that gave amazing kisses. I had let him in, and I was beginning to regret it. It was time to put an end to that weekend and come back to reality.

  “Anna,” he called, probably guessing that I was plotting a way to run from him again. It shouldn’t bother me so much if I never saw him again. “What are you thinking?” He pulled me closer. I avoided his eyes, dwelling on the idea that I had let things go too far, and I needed to get rid of him. I wanted to leave without any drama. It had been fun, but the weekend was over, and so were we.

  “I’ll just get dressed and…”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice laced with panic. I raised my eyes to look at him.

  “The weekend is over,” I whispered, trying not to sound sad about it. “I should leave.”

  “No,” he said with serious face. “I don’t want you to leave.”

  “Shane, this was fun but I…” He put the tip of his fingers over my lips, making me shut up. My heart rejoiced with the fact that he didn’t want me gone.

  “I don’t want you to leave. I want you to tell me what you were thinking. You were really quiet.”

  “I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

  “It’s your first day at work. I thought that you may be worried about that.”

  “No.”

  He seemed to be memorizing my face. It was impossible to ignore the intensity of his eyes on mine and the softness of his hand caressing my skin. “Do you want to know what I was thinking?”

  “Yes,” I answered, raising my hand to touch his face.

  “I was worried.”

  “About what?”

  “I don’t want you to go back to that motel room to sleep tomorrow,” he said.

  I frowned. “Tomorrow?”

  “Tonight, you will sleep here with me,” he stated, smirking as if I didn’t have any other choice.

  Okay, I wasn’t planning to leave anyway—that night, that is. No, actually I was too mesmerized by him to even think about the future—the next day, the hour, the minute we would eventually be apart. It was like he had put a spell on me. I tried to follow his next words.

  “But I guess tomorrow you’ll be reluctant to come back here, since you have to wake up early, and we seem to… well, not sleep during the night.” He smirked mischievously, and I kept frowning at his words; I might have been smiling if I wasn’t so confused about his statement.

  “Do you want me to come back here tomorrow?” I asked, my heartrate rising from the happiness I felt. He was implying that he wanted to see me again. The butterflies went wild inside my stomach; my lips almost drew up in a smile. I looked down and tried to control my excitement. Things were getting out of hand… Whatever had happened between us needed to end. I had other priorities, and he was a distraction.

  “I really don’t want you living alone in that motel,” he whispered, raising my chin so I could stare at him. I blinked several times at his sweet, worried, and intriguing words.

  “I can take care of myself,” I stated.

  “Still, it’s not a nice place to live.”

  “I haven’t had time to look for somewhere else.”

  “You don’t need to look. You can move in with me.”

  He said that. For real! My mouth almost opened wide in disbelief. And he had such a straight face while saying it!

  “What?”

  I got up, alarmed. Move in with him? Things were escalating quickly. Was he crazy? We had just met. We didn’t even date. I was just passing by, I wasn’t looking for a…

  “I have an extra room,” he added. I sat again more confused than ever.

  “Do you want me to rent a bedroom?” I asked, trying to understand the purpose of his words. Maybe he was just trying to make extra money, but it would be weird to have him as a roommate.

  “Hell no! I want you to move in with me. You aren’t sleeping in another bedroom. You can put your stuff in the other bedroom, to have your privacy. I don’t know. Whatever you want to do there, but…” He pulled me to his lap, speaking near my mouth. “You belong in my bed,” he whispered with warm breath.

  If he was trying to seduce me, it didn’t work. It only scared me and made me evade his mouth. “Shane, we had lots of fun this weekend, but I think you are rushing things.”

  I pulled him away, trying to release his hold so I could get up and get the hell out of there.

  “Anna,” he called, hurt by my evasive maneuvers. He let me go, and I got up.

  “Don’t do that,” I complained, trying to ignore his pleading eyes.

  “You don’t need to fear me. I would never hurt you,” he whispered in a tender voice that made me gulp. Deep inside of me, I felt that he was telling the truth, but my rationality knew better than to trust his words. “Please, baby. Just relax. Come back to my arms, and we’ll talk about this.”

  “About what?” I asked, moving back and not falling into his trap. The physical attraction would always get the best of me. When we touched, he had control over me.

  “Annabel,” he called, offering me his hand, so I would draw near him. I reluctantly gave him my hand; he held and caressed it with his thumb, while using his blue eyes to hypnotize and shatter my defenses. “I want you to move in with me to keep you safe. Anna… there are many things in the world that you don’t know. Scary things. This town isn’t what it seems. It can be dangerous at night. It can even be dangerous during the day.”

  His reasons to convince me to move in with him left me even more baffled. Not only did he want to see me again, but he was also concerned about my safety. But I wouldn’t be moved by his gesture. It was still weird for him to be that keen on convincing me to move in with him. We had just met!

  “God, Shane! I’ve lived in big cities, and I was fine! How can this place possibly be worse than a big city?” I asked, pretending to be ignorant of the fact that I knew Shane was right.

  A town full of vampires, werewolves, witches, shifters, and hybrids was eventually dangerous to a human, especially a pretty young woman. But moving to his house—that would ruin my chances of hunting and doing my thing without having to lie more than necessary.

  What was I saying? Had I really thought about
the possibility of actually moving in with him? I was becoming crazy. It was already crazy that he wanted me to move in with him to protect me! That was kind of—nice of him. I think—or just eerie. Things were fuzzy. My mind was spinning, and my heart was clenching inside my chest, making me feel vulnerable.

  “Promise you’ll think about it this week,” he pleaded before I could say anything else.

  “There’s nothing to think about. I don’t make plans for the future. I won’t move in with you. We’ve just met. Besides, the school year ends in two months. My contract will be up, and I’ll no longer need to stay in town.” I tried to reason with him. I was pretty logical and coherent and felt quite pleased about that. Maybe I was getting my sanity back.

  “James can hire you to stay longer. They’ll need someone next year.”

  “We just slept together!” I snapped, upset by his solutions and insistence.

  Why was he making plans for us? Was he completely crazy? He was a werewolf, and, as far as he knew, I was a human. There was no future for us. He would eventually find his soul-mate and never remember me again. Didn’t he know that? So why play that game when I was the only one with something to lose?

  He had a soul-mate. I didn’t. Hybrids don’t have soul-mates. We are doomed to be alone.

  The way he looked at me when I said those four words! It seemed like I had hurt him deeply. The way he reacted was completely irrational.

  “Anna, we didn’t just sleep together,” he said slowly, trying not to seem angry, but he definitely was. His voice was trembling, and I felt bad for being so coldhearted. “We talked, we laughed, we made love, we saw movies, we danced under the moon and the stars, and we bonded.”

  “Shane, do you understand how crazy you sound just now?” I asked, deeply confused by his words. He was giving too much importance to our affair. It was true, we were good together. He was amazing; I had lots of fun and good memories. I could even spend more time with him—eventually. But, all that talk about bonding—it sounded deranged. It sounded like…