Soul-Mate (Immortal Love 1) (14 page)

Alaric, as I found out, was an old and powerful pureblood vampire who was against breeding between races. He believed vampires were the superior race and that the others should be enslaved by them. He loathed mating between vampires and other races, so he targeted exclusively those couples. My father being a pureblood vampire was even a bigger crime to Alaric. His radical group had a lot of followers, like most of the absurd radical cults. It had gained importance in America, with cells in Europe that did the same: hunted hybrids and killed them.

Alaric’s group was the one responsible for making a hybrid-killing serum. He was responsible for my brother’s coma. My brother was slowly dying, just resisting longer because of our pureblood vampire genes. Pure vampire blood is the antidote, because Alaric would never build a weapon that could also kill his own kind. Purebloods are immune; scientists believe that they can use blood transfusions to heal my brother and then synthetize an antidote and a vaccine against it.

But it isn’t easy to find pureblood vampires who are willing to help us and our cause. The ones who exist are hidden and well protected. For pureblood vampires, it’s hard to prolong the species without their mate, and it’s even more difficult to find a mate if there aren’t new vampire children. The probability of mating outside the race is also a problem for them. Many don’t accept that their mate isn’t also a vampire. Many are just too scared to go out of their lair, so they live caged in, surrounded by guards, cubs, and human blood-donors. So finding pure vampire blood is a difficult task.

Well, at least it had been, until I got to that town. Sasha was a pureblood vampire, but she didn’t seem friendly, and I doubted that she would be willing to help me. Shane had called her a princess, therefore I was led to believe that there was a family of Royal Vampires in that village, hidden but working in the shadows to create a place where hybrids and other supernatural beings could live happy and safe. I wanted to believe that there wasn’t more than meets the eye. But his concern with my safety and his fear that Sasha could do anything bad to me made me believe that the royal family wasn’t as nice as I’d wished for.

Shane might be the sheriff, but Sasha was the spoiled bitchy princess who wouldn’t take no for an answer. I knew the type. Apparently, Shane knew it, too, because he was getting paranoid about my safety. It all started when he began wanting to go running with me; then he proposed that he train me so I could defend myself.

Well, I may have neglected to tell him that my dad had done a pretty good job with that. He’d started training me when I was a little kid in all forms of martial arts, sword fights, crossbow tossing, and all types of blade weapons and guns. He’d prepared me as if he’d known that he wouldn’t be there anymore to take care of me and my brother. He also prepared my brother, but his training was completed by me, because he was just twelve when our parents died, while I was fifteen.

In a couple of months, he would turn twenty, and I wanted to find a pureblood to help me before it was too late. Maybe I would find one there, someone nicer than Sasha. I had been sent there to observe and report; however, we’d had no idea that it was a peaceful town. We had assumed that it was an evil lair of vampires hiding behind important jobs to prey on humans.

I hadn’t planned on spending more than three weeks there, let alone finding my soul-mate. But it had happened, and I couldn’t just leave and forget all about Shane. I couldn’t tell him the truth about who I was, either. So I decided to play along and let him teach me. Of course, then I felt bad about letting Shane think that I was not as good at fighting as I truly was. I would let him win, but I had to confess that he was good. He was really damn good!

I had to confess that I had lots of fun being taught by him, even if he would sometimes get mad and accuse me of not taking things seriously, since I shamelessly flirted with him most of the time. I could not help it. It was hard to concentrate with him around me, touching me and talking into my ear. I would let him win; I would let him think I was an average fighter, just so I wouldn’t hurt his pride. Just so he wouldn’t find out about my secret, not yet anyway.

Besides, I was not sure I could beat him that easily. He was fast and well trained. He had had years of experience, years of leading troops and defending his master’s domains from rivals and rouge attackers. Shane was a natural leader, and that made me fall even harder for him. He wanted me to be strong and capable of taking care of myself. He didn’t treat me like a helpless, silly woman who needed a man to protect her. I respected him even more for that.

All that training and the concerned look on Shane’s face whenever I fell down or got bruised made me have flashbacks of my father training me. It was weird how Shane could make me remember my dad so often. The memories made me nostalgic. Shane would sometimes worry, thinking he was pushing me too hard or maybe that I was just tired from the workout. He was really sweet during those times.

The truth was that training with Shane was good for me. Since I’d moved there and met him, I wasn’t working out as much as I should. Over the past two weeks, I’d caught up and gotten in shape again. It had also strengthened my bond with him. I got to know another aspect of his personality, and it was really a turn on. There was something extremely intimate about sword fighting and body-to-body combat with your soul-mate.
But would he understand my reasons, once I told him who I really was and what had brought me to his village? Would he fight with me or against me?

Eventually I started to understand how things worked in that town. Things weren’t as normal as they seemed. They were extremely organized and concerned with everybody’s security. Shane was the one taking care of everything. He had a lot of mysterious phone calls, which he would answer in private so I couldn’t hear them. Normally, the calls he did let me hear were about security plans and perimeter runs. It was his duty to designate teams during the day in the police station and fix the schedules if someone couldn’t make it.

The ones I couldn’t hear were the ones where he talked to his superior, probably the king that I had heard gossip about. I hadn’t asked Shane directly about the king, but I was curious. Shane had made it very clear that he was going to tell me everything about his job and the village, once I was accepted by our peers, the other supernatural members of the community. He wanted me to be part of his life, to have a home with him there. I was touched by it, and I was really hoping that, in time, I would trust him and make him part of my life, too.

Meanwhile, from what he had shared with me and by some conversations and phone calls I had witnessed, everybody in town had an hour or a day in the week to do security patrols in the woods and along town boundaries. There was also an elite squad; most of them belonged to the town police force, which had the job of protecting everyone. The elite squad had their best warriors, the strongest and the oldest ones, and Shane was their incontestable leader. Those warriors had the biggest responsibilities and had to always be alert to be summoned or ready to fight off anyone who disturbed the order or broke the law, outsiders or even inhabitants.

They were really well organized to protect their safety and their citizens, mostly to protect the children. The children were sacred, and I could relate to that. I could deeply empathize with that concern and safety measure. I couldn’t help but feel proud and admire my mate even more. Shane was all I could ever have dreamed of in a mate. He was perfect and radiated power and a feeling of protection that made me feel safe and at home. He was making me feel as if I belonged there, next to him, forever.

ANNABEL WAS HOLDING BACK.
I knew it, but I wouldn’t say anything. Maybe she was scared of hurting me. Maybe she just didn’t know how strong she really was. Maybe she was doing it on purpose. The fact was that, when we trained, she always held back her strength, her abilities, and her knowledge, and she would let me win easily. Therefore, I tried something else. I couldn’t train with her the same way I trained my men. I worried about hurting her. For that reason, after one week of training alone with me, I put her in the community training schedule. There were women there and other men to practice with or be taught by. Maybe she would be more open to showing her abilities if I wasn’t around all the time, asking her if she was okay or if I’d hurt her. I must confess, I went a bit crazy every time she fell down or got bruised.

It was Friday night, and we had gone out to dine in a fancy French restaurant. It had been an exhausting week, and I wanted to reward my better half with a romantic night out.

“I’m really proud of you,” I whispered, holding her hand over the table. It was an elegant place, and Anna looked stunning in her short black dress and silver pumps. Her glossy dark hair was coiffed in a really classy low rolled-up do, showing her pretty face and gorgeous neck. I had a fixation on that neck. I had an obsession for every single part of her, especially her eyes, lips, and neck. I was having withdrawals just sitting on the other side of the table, unable to wrap her in my arms.

“Is that why we are dining out?” she asked, smiling with her perfect, shiny red lips. Her eyes sparkled every time she smiled at me. It made me feel even more in love with her, because I knew that I made her happy.

“No, I just wanted to show you off,” I said in a playful tone, making her chuckle and touch the necklace at her neckline. “Besides, Sam’s Bar is hardly the place to take you every night. And the food is better here than in Mama Bear’s Diner.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that just yet. Do you normally come here to eat?” she asked, looking at the surrounding tables with interest.

“I have a really good friend who likes to eat here,” I said, playing with my fingers in her palm.

“James?” she wondered.

“Him, too,” I confirmed, turning to the waiter who had brought the wine I had chosen and was showing me the bottle. I released Anna’s hand and tasted the wine, approving it. He poured some wine in our glasses and filled Anna’s glass of water.

“He’s here with the drama teacher,” Anna whispered after the waiter left.

“Did he see us?” I asked, talking in the same secretive way.

“He’s coming our way,” she replied, drinking water and putting on a smile to greet them. I knew she didn’t like him much because he was a player, but she tried to be polite to him, since he was her boss and my friend.

“What a nice coincidence, finding you two here,” James said, arriving at our table with the tall, chocolate-skinned drama teacher. Her name was Natasha, if I was not mistaken. He shook my hand and patted my shoulder. Meanwhile, I got up to greet his companion.

“Anna, it’s nice to see you here. We haven’t seen you that often in school this past week,” Natasha said, going over to kiss her.

“Shane has been monopolizing all my free time with the practices and patrolling,” Anna replied. Natasha was a vampire, so she was also part of the supernatural community.

“Annabel, it’s always a pleasure,” James said, pressing Anna’s hand against his lips with his trademark sexy grin. He was pushing his luck, but I wasn’t going to make a scene because of it.

“Mr. Ward, your table is ready,” noted the waiter, so James released my mate’s hand and smiled at the young boy.

“I’ll leave you to your romantic dinner, but if you want to share a glass of wine with us, feel free to join us at our table,” James said, looking at me and then at Anna. She was talking to Natasha. They seemed friendly enough.

“Annabel, feel free to come by my office next week so we can exchange ideas about the school play. The girls are really excited about it, and I would love your help,” Natasha said before following James to their table, which was on the other side of the restaurant.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like James—I just didn’t want him ogling my mate the way he did. He had his own date. Natasha was a beautiful woman, and Anna was mine, so he should act like a good friend and stop flirting every time he saw her.

“What’s wrong?” Anna asked me, noticing my pensive stare.

“Is he always like this at work?” I wondered.

“Don’t worry, I can handle him.”

Her answer didn’t reassure me, but I knew that she could handle him. I had witnessed her handling my men, the ones who were stupid enough to let their guard down because she looked like a harmless girl. Anna knew how to take care of herself. Of course, that didn’t change my strong desire to protect her, whether she needed it or not.

“You are my mate, Anna. James needs to back off with his flirting ways.”

“You are adorable when you get a bit possessive about me, but you need to calm yourself down and understand that he mostly does that to upset you.”

“I’m fully aware of that. But it doesn’t mean that I won’t smack his face if he makes you feel uncomfortable at work.”

“Does he have a history of harassing other teachers?” she wondered aloud, losing her smile.

“Well, he has the reputation of being a playboy. Any girl who goes out with him knows what to expect from him. He also has the nasty habit of trying to sleep with other people’s mates.”

She said nothing to my words, simply looked away at her plate and played with the cloth napkin.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to ruin our night talking about James.”

“Is that because I’m half panther?” she asked, her voice laced with sadness.

“Of course not. I trust you.”

“It doesn’t seem like it when you feel so insecure about James.”

I realized that I had exaggerated and given too much importance to James. I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable and think that I didn’t trust her.

“I’m sorry, baby. It’s just that James has been acting like a jerk the past few weeks, since he found out that you are my mate and a hybrid.”

“He’s just jealous, Shane,” she whispered, looking at me. “People like him hide their insecurities behind a mask of fake happiness and reckless bohemia. They are actually lost in life, without a purpose and someone who actually cares about them. He’s not a threat to you, unless you make him one with your insecurities.”