Soul-Mate (Immortal Love 1) (37 page)

“Is that box still in your pocket or are you just happy to have me on top of you?”

“Both,” he answered with an evil smirk. I giggled.

“Does anyone want coffee?” Eric asked. Shane and I looked at the door and saw him holding three cups of coffee. I didn’t answer; I just ran to grab a cup and brought another to give to Shane. The coffee smelled really good, and I badly needed caffeine.

“Did he say anything else after I left?” Eric asked Shane.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He started to talk in his sleep,” Shane explained.

“What did he say?”

“Random things,” replied Eric, “like I don’t want to leave and what seemed like a name, but I’m not really sure. It sounded like Bee or Beck or something.”

“Why did no one wake me up?” I asked with a grumpy voice.

“You needed to sleep, and Kevin was still sleeping. So it wasn’t a necessity to wake you up,” Eric answered. I sulked as I drank my hot coffee.

“You put in cinnamon,” I said, looking at my uncle with shining, reminiscent eyes.

“Don’t you like it?”

“Dad used to do the same to his coffee.”

“Yes, he was the one who taught me.”

“Aren’t you tired, Uncle?” I asked, because he had suffered the most the last few days. Firstly, he donated a lot of blood, and secondly, he’d been there almost as many days as I. He looked pale and tired.

“I’ll rest when Kevin wakes up.”

“Good morning,” Sasha said, walking in and ruining my day.

What the hell was she doing there?

“Hello, honey,” Eric greeted her with a big smile as she sat next to him and gave him a kiss.

“I came to see Kevin,” she said, talking to Eric, but I knew she was also excusing herself to me and Shane. “I heard he woke up.”

“Yes, but he fell asleep again. We’re hopeful he might wake up again soon enough, though.”

“Do you think he will need more of our blood?”

“No, it was enough. Now he will need normal blood to gather strength and fully recover. Let’s hope he doesn’t have any brain damage and remembers who he is and his life.”

“Okay.” She smiled and looked at the bed with a hopeful stare that intrigued me. It was like she actually cared about Kevin and whether he woke up or not. Maybe she was not that insensitive.
One could hope!

An awkward silence fell, and Shane and I stared at each other, drinking our coffee and sharing ideas about Sasha’s reasons for being there. She stared at us, like she knew we were talking about her. When we looked at her, she just smiled and held Eric’s hand.

“Is Kevin staying with us at the palace when he can finally leave this place?” Sasha asked, making Eric smile at her and nod.

“Of course. We are planning to spend some time together. Anna is joining us, too, aren’t you, Anna?”

“Yes,” I whispered and put my cup down on a little table next to the couch.
So she was planning to spend some time at the palace. That was not good news for me.

“Good morning,” said Jason, coming in with a huge smile and staring directly at Sasha. “Good morning, gorgeous,” he smirked at her, and Sasha blinked and rolled her eyes.

“It
was
,” she muttered, and I couldn’t help but giggle at the face that Jason made.

“Is there any news?” he asked me, since I had texted him about Kevin’s opening his eyes.

“He’s still asleep.”

“Lazy like ever,” Jason said, and I smirked again. Yes, Kevin’s laziness was well-known among our family.

“I heard that, you dog!” a weak and barely audible voice said from Kevin’s bed, and we all stared.
Was Kevin awake? It was him talking, wasn’t it?

Everybody jumped to their feet and ran to the side of his bed. And there he was: Kevin, his eyes blinking as they adjusted to the light and to our faces. “Wow, so many people swirling around me!”

“Kevin?” I asked as he stared right at me.

“Annie,” he mumbled and tried to give me a faint smile. “Where am I?”

“You’re in a clinic. Don’t you remember what happened?”

“It’s all really confusing. I was having the weirdest dream! With a girl… and…”

“What else is new?” Jason interrupted with a naughty tone, touching him on his arm.

“Ouch,” Kevin complained and trembled in bed. “It burns, it burns!” he kept saying, making us all stare at him, confused about what to do.

“What hurts?” Eric asked, making Kevin look at him.

“Dad?” Kevin asked, his eyes wide open. “Dad, is that you?”

“No, Kevin. This is Eric. He’s our uncle,” I explained. He frowned in pain, moving his right arm to hold his other arm.

“It’s burning,” he complained, pulling the sheet off and showing us his left forearm where a tattoo was being imprinted with flaming lines. Something was being drawn on his forearm, some kind of bird tattoo.

“
Call the nurses! Call the doctors
!” I yelled, but Eric was already doing that while everyone else stared at his forearm, amazed.

Moments later, the burning had stopped. The doctor examined Kevin’s arm. My brother was fully awake, looking at everybody in the room. He was still digesting the introductions and the fact of our having extra family. He was also fascinated with Eric and happy to speak to Sasha, who was really nice to him.

The burning on his arm left an intriguing tattoo in black. It seemed like a bird of some sort. I had taken a picture of it and sent it to Jessica’s phone, since she was not picking up the calls. Maybe she knew what that tattoo meant. I sure didn’t! It could only be magic at work, but why and what for were the questions we wanted answers to.

“The king will be here soon enough to see you, Kevin,” Eric said after ending the call and looking at my brother with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

“It healed,” Kevin answered.

His voice was still dry even after our giving him water—he only could swallow small amounts of it.

“It’s kind of cool,” Jason said, looking at it for a long time along with the rest of us.

“Yes,” Kevin said, looking at it again. “I feel like I should know why it’s there.”

I was going to say something, but my phone started to vibrate. When I looked at the screen, I sighed with relief. It was my personal witch, Jessica.

“It is about time for you to give us a call,” I grumpily said to her, not even bothering to say hi.

“Sorry about that, love,” she said on the other side. “But I had some business to take care of.”

“Where are you? We were all worried sick here!”

“I’m in Italy at the moment. I had to pay a visit to a vampire king.”

“
What
vampire king?” I asked, intrigued.

“His name is Francesco. He’s the vampire king who protects the little witch’s coven. The one that attacked us, love. Do you remember?”

“Of course I remember. But did you have to go without saying a word and leaving us here all worried?”

“Well, I was in a hurry. Besides, you are all adults, and I needed to arrive here quickly. But I’m not calling you because of that. I saw the picture you sent me.”

“And?”

“It’s a phoenix’s symbol. However, I really don’t have a clue why it was marked on Kevin’s arm.”

“A phoenix’s symbol… How intriguing! Is it some kind of curse? Was it a witch who cursed Kevin? Is it going to harm him?” I asked, worried and paranoid.

“I don’t know. I just assume it’s a phoenix’s symbol because it looks like one, but I have no idea what it means or even if it was a witch who cast a spell on Kevin. He was in a deep coma. Maybe it is just a weird and artistic side effect of the healing.”

“Can’t you find out more about it?”

“I’ll do all I can to find out about that symbol, but now I have to take care of some business with the king. He agreed to grant me a meeting. Have you any idea how hard it is to have a meeting with King Francesco? The vampire is paranoid! I’ll be back there whenever I finish my business here. So don’t worry. Kevin will be just fine. The symbol hasn’t affected him in any other way, has it?”

“What other way?”

“I don’t know! Has he spoken any foreign language or has he had convulsions?”

“No, he is fine. Just hungry and complaining that he can’t get out of bed before the doctors run some other tests for his blood and limbs.”

“If he’s complaining, then he’s just fine. Tell him I send him a kiss and I’ll be seeing him soon enough. Don’t be paranoid, and enjoy your attractive wolf. He is gorgeous, by the way! I’m so damn jealous of you right now!”

“Just get back here and stop keeping secrets from us!” I nagged, and she giggled.

“I love you too, honey. See you soon,” she said, and before I could reply, she had hung up. I stared at Kevin and Jason who were looking at me.

“Is she okay?” Jason asked, and I nodded. “Good. Don’t worry, she always does what she wants. She will get back soon enough.”

“So, no one knows what this is,” Eric said with a sigh. He had heard the conversation since he had enhanced powers like the others inside that room. “At least it stopped hurting.”

“Liam is running a search on the Web, trying to find out more about symbols that look like that one. He will eventually find something,” I said, and Jason nodded in confirmation. We had sent the picture to Liam, also. He was our computer genius and would tell us if anything showed up.

“That can be a protective rune,” Sasha dared say, and we all looked at her. She seemed to rethink carefully what she was going to say. However, if she knew anything about that drawing on my brother’s arm, I really wanted to know. “I have seen it before. Witches with great powers mark their betrothed.”

“What you mean by betrothed?” Kevin asked, a bit hysterical. “I’ve been here in coma, how can I—? How can a witch…? My mate is a witch?”

“I don’t know,” Sasha said and touched Kevin’s hand to calm him down. “But you didn’t need to do anything, Kevin. Once a witch completes eighteen years, she and her soul-mate will be marked by her family’s protective emblem. It’s a way to make themselves recognizable, because they can’t sense their mates like vampires and shifters do. Your witch, Jessica, should have thought about that. Maybe she didn’t think that it could be an emblem, since she didn’t recognize the symbol. But it is the only plausible idea that occurs to me.”

“I didn’t know about that,” I whispered, swallowing the information. I grabbed the phone and texted Jessica immediately, but the message was on hold. Jessica had once again disconnected her phone.

“It is a good supposition,” Eric said. “It is a big secret among witches. If Jessica didn’t think about that possibility, maybe the witch’s coven is really old or thought extinct.”

“Yes, Sasha is really smart,” Jason drooled. I stared at him and almost laughed at his smoothness.
Could he be more obvious?

“So—I’m mated to a witch?” Kevin asked, clearing his throat and asking for some attention, since the conversation was about him and his new tattoo.

“It seems so, little brother. She just branded you,” I teased, and he rolled his eyes.

“I wonder if she is hot,” he mumbled, and it was my turn to roll my eyes and for the guys to all laugh in unison. Men and their limited thoughts.

SASHA LEFT THE HOSPITAL ROOM
with Jason on her trail. He seemed weirdly obsessed by her. It wasn’t just because I didn’t like her much. I had my valid reasons. Knowing she was my cousin also didn’t help me to like her more. Besides, she was a really stuck-up girl. She acted like a very important person who couldn’t give a crap about others. Her lack of emotion was also something weird.

I had no idea what Jason saw in her to be so damned enchanted and follow her like a puppy. She was beautiful, and she looked kind of fragile, but she was not really his type. He liked shallow, blonde girls with big breasts and lush lips. She couldn’t have been farther from that! She was skinny, and even if she had some curves, she had no breasts. She was just slim and tall with a doll face. Her eyes were hazel, and she had a small nose and mouth with thin lips.

I watched them in the corridor, intrigued. Jason was following her as she walked out of the clinic. She didn’t like to be there, because it was too depressing. He looked like a silly clown, asking her a bunch of questions that she seemed all but eager to answer. She didn’t seem interested in him, and he didn’t normally chase girls like that!

“So, have dinner with me?” Jason asked, smiling.

“I do not eat dinner,” Sasha replied in her monotone voice with a British accent. She didn’t even grant him a look. As if he was just an inconvenience.

“You are right. We can skip dinner, and you can just come have a nightcap at my place. It isn’t very far from here,” he said, mischievously. He wasn’t giving up easily. However, he was not being really resourceful, either. That was a really cheesy pick-up line. Maybe I shouldn’t have used my enhanced hearing to listen to their conversation, but I couldn’t help myself.

“That is not going to happen,” Sasha retorted, and I sighed of relief.

At least she was not that easy or maybe she was not attracted to hybrids. She had a deprecating look on her face when she first found out that she had hybrid cousins and again when Jason first approached her. She clearly didn’t think we were at the same level as her blue-blood line.

“Breakfast then? I’m sure you can find some time to go out with me.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because I’m funny and single. And we are practically family. We should all get along.”

Sasha stopped at the end of the corridor, where there was an intersection. She looked at Jason for the first time. He was taller than her and stronger. She looked fragile and petite next to him. “We are
not
practically family. You are Anna’s cousin by her mother’s side. We are far from being related. We are not even playing in the same league,” she cockily explained to Jason.

“Just because you are a princess?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.

“That, and because I don’t date werecats.”

“You dated a werewolf,” he pointed out.

“And that’s where I drew the line.”