Soul-Mate (Immortal Love 1) (39 page)
Read Soul-Mate (Immortal Love 1) Online
Authors: Anna Santos
I stared at my newfound uncle and Grandpa and smiled. I was so happy to have found them. They were nice, and they seemed to be really happy about finding me and my brother.
Eric was talking to Kevin, and I felt emotional by the captivated gaze Kevin had on him. Eric looked so much like Dad that it was understandable that my brother was feeling fascinated by him. Besides, Eric was a wonderful uncle, and he had more resemblances to my dad than just the physical ones. Eric was kind and had a really paternal gaze when he looked at us. It was actually sad that he hadn’t found his soul-mate so he could have his own kids. He would have been a wonderful father.
Shane’s hand touched mine, holding it and making me feel safe. My hand met Shane’s lips. He always acted like a gentleman near my family. It was almost funny to watch. Funny to watch but hard to do. I always acted more effusively than Shane, and my grandfather always made some remark about it. He was old fashioned. I could understand it: my father would also call my attention to my being excessive about displaying intimacy.
Shane was probably feeling my need to cry again. I wasn’t crying with sadness, though. My life couldn’t have been more perfect. I had found my soul-mate, my family, and I’d saved my brother. The only thing that was missing was my parents being alive. But there was nothing I could do to make that happen. I just had to be happy about the fact that I was no longer alone. I had Shane, and I would have my own family.
“We are
already
a family,” he whispered in my ear, holding my hand tight to his chest.
I stared at him and nodded in agreement as I leaned in to give him a kiss. Suddenly we broke apart: we’d been hit by a pillow! We looked at the bed where Kevin, Jason, Eric, and grandfather were laughing as they looked back at us.
Did Kevin throw the pillow? Was he strong enough to do that? How funny of them!
“Didn’t I tell you that she doesn’t care about us anymore?” Jason asked Kevin, who just winked at me. He was still pale and his lips were dehydrated, but at least he was awake. I could not wait for him to get out of that bed as he became his happy self again.
“Maybe now she will stop treating me like she is my mom,” Kevin joked, looking at Jason who nodded.
“Yes, keep dreaming.” I tossed the pillow at them, hitting Jason’s face.
Perfect throw! Right on the mark!
Epilogue
TWO DAYS PASSED
before Kevin left the hospital. Then life started to get back on its normal track, if I could ever describe my life as normal.
Shane and I were having the time of our lives. We couldn’t have been happier or better together. Kevin fully recovered and came to live in my newfound family’s home. Or should I say, palace? Shane and I lived between Grandpa’s palace and our home.
I found out that my grandfather had brought his family palace, stone by stone, from the Netherlands, where they were originally from. They’d moved to the United States more than two hundred years ago, when Europe was no longer safe for their kind and when wars had erupted everywhere. A lot of the new ideas about freedom and new types of governments helped their decision to leave on a quest for a new, peaceful place to exist, away from commotion and extermination.
In other news, Jason still followed Sasha everywhere like a puppy, which was actually funny because he was half panther, half human! However, Sasha continued to care less about him, or at least it looked that way. She would sometimes throw him a bone, letting him babble about stuff, places, and things that might make him seem interesting to her. Sometimes, I had even caught them having some steamy make-out sessions. But they weren’t a couple; my crazy vampire cousin didn’t seem to want to be a couple with Jason. I think she was just playing him a bit until she got bored.
Smart girl
! I loved my cousin, but he was a player! He took nothing seriously! So I guess he found his match!
Ironic, I know
.
My uncle was the nicest person ever! He became like a father to me even after only knowing him for a couple of weeks. He was really smart and told us a lot of things about my dad. It was nice to talk about my dad again. I used to feel like talking about him was some kind of a big secret I had to keep to myself.
My grandfather was an enigma wrapped in a puzzle. He was intriguing, wise, and overall really paternalistic toward me and Kevin. We loved him. He had nice caring eyes, even if he spent most of his time sleeping. Yes, sleeping. Go figure! It seemed that vampires could fall into a deep sleep and manipulate their dream world to make them relive their memories. So my grandfather was able to live for many centuries after my grandmother’s death because he spent his time reliving the moments of happiness he had with his wife. I had mixed feelings about that. I didn’t know if I found that nostalgic or just being helplessly romantic. I guess it was both.
I saw more paintings of my grandmother. Isobel was pretty; I did resemble her, and that may be why my grandpa had a really soft spot for me. We talked a lot when he was awake. However, I couldn’t help but think that my grandfather wouldn’t be there for much longer. It made me sad, but his mate had died, his older son had died, another son had turned out to be a hateful, crazy demon, and he had found his grandchildren. His life had become kind of aimless and without purpose. Maybe Grandma was waiting for him to join her on the other side. Living in his dreams was not as good as living in reality, but what did I know? I couldn’t picture my life without Shane, and we’d just been together for three months, so I couldn’t begin to imagine the pain my grandpa felt, after living with Isobel for centuries.
Things between Shane and I couldn’t have been better. We did have some ups and downs because he wanted me to put the ring on my finger, and I thought it was still early. Then he sulked for an entire day, and I realized I was being an idiot. I finally put the beautiful ring on my finger, and we announced to everybody that we were engaged.
My grandfather couldn’t have been happier. I was happy as I had never been before. I couldn’t take my eyes off my ring! I felt like a fool, but I actually blushed with love every time I stared at the sculptural piece and thought about how Shane had bought it more than one century ago, before meeting me, before I even existed. He’d kept it for all those years to put on my finger. And it looked good on my finger! It looked like it was made for it. And I will probably never take it off while I exist, and if I die, I want it to be buried with me.
Creepy—I know!
I loved Shane so much it hurt! Have you ever loved someone so much that you thought you would die if he ever went away? I would die if something happened to Shane. I was finally understanding Catherine in
Wuthering Heights
when she said, “He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” Tacky, I know. I was becoming a serious sucker for romantic gestures and romantic poems.
But I believed that Shane was inside me like part of my own thoughts and I was inside him, like part of his own being. I could never love him less, and it seemed that each day I loved him more. Yes, I would die without him, and I would die for him just the way I knew he would die for me. I loved being tacky like that!
The weirdest thing was that, all my short life, I’d thought that I would spend eternity alone or would just have some lovers to keep me warm at night and satisfy my needs. But I’d imagined that I would always be incomplete. I hadn’t been able to imagine that someday someone would deserve to have my love and my respect. I had never thought that I would find someone who understood me, who completed me and made me think that the whole world was perfect and that the birds actually sang in the morning just to make us smile.
Sometimes, I watched the horizon through the break of morning and remembered all that had happened in my life, all the moments sad and happy, and I’d smile in wonder and incredulity. All looked so random; however, Destiny seemed to have his own agenda and had brought me there to Shane’s arms. I guess the gods are not that bad after all!
I was lucky. I knew I was. I had found my purpose to live, and I had just had to wait twenty-three years. A lot of other immortals weren’t so lucky. My uncle was still waiting for his mate, so he could start living. My grandfather had lost his, and he was just waiting for death to join his wife in the afterlife. My brother was overwhelmed by all the changes, and he was intrigued by the fact that he might also have a soul-mate—a witch, for all we could guess.
Regarding him, I was highly intrigued by the tattoo that had appeared on his forearm after he woke up. Jessica couldn’t explain that, either. She didn’t know if it was a witch’s emblem. She knew that powerful witches could mark their soul-mates, but it was not a sure thing. Maybe it was not a mating mark, since the phoenix was a well-known symbol of rebirth and fire. In a way, my brother had been reborn. In a way, he had been graced with a new life. But why did the symbol appear on his arm? Did it have some concealed meaning? Was it some sort of prophecy? He looked fine, he looked normal, in a normal hybrid sort of way. Jessica had promised me to investigate and try to figure out its meaning. I just had to be patient. Like I was being patient and not running in pursuit of Alaric.
Alaric being my uncle still haunted my dreams and thoughts. He had lost his soul; he was no longer the person he once was. He had no feelings, no morals or empathy. He was just a twisted, hateful, and pitiful vampire with a crazy quest to exterminate others as if he was a god. All the drinking from the source had turned him into that. It was a reminder to all my other relatives not to drink from the source, to keep their souls pure of other people’s imprints, dreams, fears, and memories. It scared the hell out of me!
I knew deep down inside of me that heaven and peace had not arrived permanently to my life. I knew that, sooner or later, even if I hoped it would be later, Alaric would make his appearance, and I would find him. But I was not going to waste my life in the pursuit of revenge when I could spend it with my newfound family and my breathtaking mate. After all, I had already lost my parents to Alaric’s hate. I had been given a new opportunity, and I could either spend my existence hating or being happy.
Shane made me happy. Shane gave me the peace of mind I needed to be happy and to feel normal. Besides, I was not alone to face Alaric. I had my soul-mate, I had my family, and I had my friends. We were ready for him. His reign of terror was going to stop, but I was not going to let him ruin anything else in my life. And for now, all my energies were focused on living happily with Shane and the people I loved in a place that I called my home.
END OF BOOK ONE
Several people helped me out at various stages of this novel, and I’d like to take a moment to leave them a thank you. I would like to thank my husband for believing in me and giving the support I needed to become a published author in a foreign language. I would like to thank my mother and also my followers who gave me the courage to publish.
I would also like to thank Booktrope for giving me the opportunity to publish my work and work with my editors Lisa and Kathryn, my book manager Jessica, and my cover designer Brenda. This book wasn’t possible without them.
Finally, I would like to thank you, the reader, for taking a chance on my book. And whether or not you like
Soul-Mate
, please leave a review to help others decide on the novel.
Meanwhile, there’s more to come, and if you’d like to know about it, you can join me in:
instagram.com/annasantosauthor
Feel free to drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.
Happy reading,
—Anna
Anna Santos is an up-and-coming New Adult and Young Adult author with an impressive number of followers who builds worlds of undeniable beauty, with witty and enchanting characters. Her next book,
Revenge,
is also being published by Booktrope and she is currently working on Book 2 and Book 3 in the
Immortal Love
series. Anna always keeps her readers on their toes with her adrenaline-fueled adventures, suspense-filled cliffhangers, and steamy love scenes.
When she isn't writing, Anna is considering plot twists for her next novel or delving into the world of her favorite authors. She loves superheroes, and she’s a geek at heart. She grew up watching
Star Wars
and plotting a way to become a Ninja. She has a fascination for Chinese Kung Fu movies and cherry blossom flowers.
She also enjoys writing poetry, watching a good movie, and spending time with her husband and family in Portugal, where she lives.
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