Breckin’s shoulders shake as his lips quirk.
“Are you laughing at me?” I ask, the urge to punch him strong.
His face goes blank.
“Don’t ever try it again, Breckin,” I order, nearly stomping my foot.
“I won’t. I promise. I would never try to control you, Vivie. I was curious if it were possible. Since erasing your mind didn’t work.”
“I mean it, never again. It’s horrible. Like spiders crawling around in my mind. Sebastian did it, too. I hate it.”
Breckin stiffens. “Sebastian was in your head? When?”
His tone kills my anger. “Saturday night. I don’t know if he was in my head, but it felt the same.”
He pulls his cell from his pocket, holding up a finger when I ask what he’s doing. Tugging on my sleeves, I fold my arms across my chest and wait.
“We need you.” His eyes stay on mine as he nods. “Nope. She remembers everything.” There’s a pause as he listens to the person on the other end of the line. “Okay. Yeah.” After a few vague, one-word answers, the call ends, and he sets his cell on the counter. “Can you stay for dinner?”
“If I say no, will you try to force me?”
He blows out his cheeks. “No, Viv. I’ll never try to compel you again.”
“Damn straight you won’t.” Breckin cracks a smile. “Of course I’ll stay. He’s coming?”
“He is, in about two hours.”
My pulse kicks up a notch, my nerves fluttering to life. Breckin pushes the stool I kicked back to the counter and comes toward me. His hand touches the bottom edge of my sweater, tugging it. I take a step toward him as he takes another toward me.
“I’m truly sorry.” His hand brushes my cheek as it wraps around my head. “I know this is a horrible excuse, but . . . everything feels different with you. It’s new territory. My curiosity got the best of me.”
I hook a finger through his belt loop and pull us closer still.
“Different how?” My voice is husky and broken. My soul, or whatever it is within me that seems to want him, flutters.
“I’ve compelled humans before, to forget what they saw, or to get what I want.” I frown, and he grimaces. “It’s easy with them. A touch or a look and a thought, and they do what I need. You don’t work that way. My abilities don’t work on you at all. It’s . . .”
“Freaking you out? Scaring you? Making you consider a mental institution?” I repeat his own words.
“Frustrating as hell,” he says with a short laugh. “And all of those other things. Hopefully, Elias will have answers.”
“Elias?” There’s one Elias in town that I know of. Elias Jamison, the owner of Havenwood Falls Ski-Ventures. Besides transporting thrill seekers up the mountains on ski runs, he does life-flights for the clinic. Mom has spoken of him a few times, but I rarely see him around town. He’s an angel?
“I can tell by your face you’re making the connection, and I’m sure you have questions, but I have a favor to ask.” Questions? Only about a million of them. Elias Jamison is an angel. I’ve never felt anything strange around him. I’ve never . . . unless my memories have been wiped before.
“Vivie.” Breckin’s finger tilts my chin. “You’re thinking way too hard.”
Counting to three, I inhale and release a deep breath. Breckin grins.
“Can we just chill for a bit? Have a snack and talk until he gets here? About normal things?” Breckin asks, with hope in his voice.
“About normal things?”
“Yeah. Like your favorite food, movies, and music. You know, the stuff people learn when they’re falling in love with each other.”
I stretch up on my toes. “I think I heard that somewhere before.”
Even at my tallest, my lips are nowhere near his. He presses a kiss to my forehead, understanding my hint. Well, somewhat understanding, since I wanted his lips on mine. Mildly placated, I drop to the flats of my feet. I must frown, because Breckin chuckles and hauls me into his body, his arms solid against my back as he lowers his head.
“I know your soul. I want to know the rest of you, Vivie. I want to know everything.”
The anticipation sends giddy sparks through my body. “Everything? That might take a while.”
Two inches from my lips, he pauses. “Then let’s start with the important things.”
I wet my lips. My body is a firecracker waiting for the fuse to reach the explosives. Everything tenses as a smile forms. “Easy. I’m wildly attracted, and attached, to an angel.”
A deep growl fills his chest, rumbling through his entire body as his eyes darken and arms tighten.
“Would you kiss me already?” I half ask, half order.
The explosives ignite.
We’ve moved to the basement, Breckin preferring the safety of being underground to the open windows of the main floor, when Elias arrives.
“He brought pizza.” Breckin smiles, giving my leg a tender squeeze before leaving me on the couch and moving to the kitchen. I rest my arms on the back of the couch, my gaze following him. “Enhanced smell,” he says at my dubious stare.
Enhanced smell, senses, vision, and hearing. He’s my own superhero. I track the noises above. It’s obvious from the way Elias parked in the garage and entered the house on his own that he is considered family. When his heavy steps hit the wood of the staircase, I stand and straighten my hair and sweater.
Breckin sends me a wink, I take a breath, the stairs creak, and then Elias appears.
Elias Jamison is what most would picture when thinking about a Colorado mountain man. He’s stout and burly. Half a foot shorter than Breckin’s six-two, he’s got the shape of a bodybuilder and the dark, wiry beard of an outdoorsman. He plops the boxes in his hand onto the counter and turns my way.
“Vivienne,” he says, with the type of gravelly voice rock stars envy. His bright blue eyes look me up and down.
I open my mouth, but did words come out? I try again. “I don’t remember you from Saturday. You were here, right? You erased my memory.” It’s not hello, but the questions have built up.
His full mouth cracks a smile. “Breckin told me you were a curious one.”
My gaze shifts to Breckin, who lifts his brows as if daring me to deny it.
“Well, you know. It’s not every day a girl comes under attack from reapers and falls for an angel.” I attempt a nonchalant shrug, but Elias’s black look freezes the humor on my lips.
“Falls for?” He glares at Breckin.
Oh. Oh, crap. I should have kept that to myself. It popped out, my lovesick heart and soul not seeing anything wrong with how I feel. Sebastian’s warning hits me. A son of angels in love with a human? They will kill you once they find out.
“It’s not his fault.” I hurry to the end of the counter, putting myself between them. “We’re not in love or anything. He’s—”
“Viv.” Breckin grabs my shoulder and pulls me into his side. “It’s fine. He wouldn’t hurt me. Or you.”
Elias’s gaze volleys between us, his face thoughtful. After a moment of tense silence, he wipes a hand across his face and through his hair, lifting his baseball cap, then replacing it before he finally releases a long exhale.
“Soul mates.”
Hearing the word from Elias’s mouth is confirmation. Breckin squeezes my shoulder.
“How do you know?” I ask, when neither of them speak.
“His pull toward you Friday night. The fact that neither of us could erase him from your memories. The look in his face. And yours.” Elias huffs a light laugh. “I’ve seen many teenage girls wear the same head-over-heels-in-love look, Vivienne. I’ve never seen it on Breckin.”
I have a head-over-heels-in-love look on my face? My cheeks warm. He does? I can’t help but glance up at Breckin.
“You’re right,” Breckin says, smiling down at me. “She’s totally falling head over heels in love with me.”
I punch him.
Knocking on Heaven’s Door
Breckin<
br />
We sit around the fire, our pizza—from Napoli’s, Viv’s favorite—on the coffee table before us, and take turns filling Elias in on every detail of the past seventy-two hours. Vivienne describes her feelings in such detail, I find myself taking her hand in mine on more than one occasion. The fear she felt when she woke Friday night after I left her. The not knowing what happened but feeling so off.
“It made me feel sick, Elias. Whatever it is you did when you wiped my mind. Don’t do it again,” Vivienne says, chiding him like a parent.
“That would be the soul mate connection.” Vivienne’s brow lifts, and Elias clarifies. “It is extremely powerful. Most consider it a gift given by the maker to fulfill the order of things.”
Vivienne’s eyes grow as they flit between us, her mouth gaping.
“In human terms, it means we were matched to fulfill our destiny,” I provide helpfully.
Or not so helpfully, judging by the way her stunned face swings my way.
“Destiny?”
“C’mon, Viv. Don’t tell me you don’t believe in destiny? That people are put in places to make things happen, or sometimes bad things happen to good people because they need to learn a lesson that will bring them to something better?”
“I think you’ve been scrolling the internet for motivational memes,” Vivienne says. Elias clears his throat, cutting off a low chuckle. She shrugs at him before returning her attention to me. “I don’t know what I believe in. Maybe things happen for a reason. Maybe it’s coincidence.”
I face her on the couch and take her hands. “We’re not a coincidence, Vivie.”
Elias’ face sobers as he sits forward and speaks. “A soul mate is forever, Vivienne. No one can take him from you or you from him. That is why you felt sick when we tried to wipe your memory. Your soul fought for what your mind forgot.”
She releases a sigh. “Why? What purpose is there in giving Breckin me as a soul mate?”
Her mouth turns, a small pout forming. I cup her face in my hands. “Hey. Are you kidding me? You and your beautiful soul, and all the amazing things you do? I remember the campaign you started in third grade for the buddies bench on the playground after that new kid cried because she didn’t have any friends, and you were so upset because you didn’t know she was alone. Or what about all of your volunteer work? The food drives in town square, the tutoring you do?”
Her eyes glisten. “How do you know about those things?”
The truth hits me. “The real question is how did I ignore what’s between us for so long? I’ve watched you for years. I’ve watched you, and I hoped that one day you’d look at me and give me the time of day. Sebastian was right about you being special. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”
Leaning forward, she kisses my cheek and hugs me. “You have to say that. Your soul is connected to mine.”
“Yes, because it was made for me,” I say, hugging her quickly, then pulling back and looking in her eyes. “Whatever the reason, Vivienne, we were put together, and we will remain together.”
“I still say you got the short end of the stick.” She pats my cheek playfully as she stands and bends close to my ear. “I won myself a hot supernatural who can fly me all over the world. You got a tiny human who can’t drive and sings off-key.” She winks.
Elias regards her with a touch of amusement and a whole lot of admiration as she excuses herself. He waits until the bathroom door closes before speaking his mind.
“This is dangerous, Breckin. You know that, right?”
I drop the confidence I’ve held all afternoon. The moment I put it all together, the moment I knew we were soul mates, I realized we were screwed.
“What am I supposed to do? We can’t erase her memories of me. I can’t compel her. I tried—it did not go well. Is it because of the soul mate bond?”
Elias crumbles a napkin and leans back in his chair. “Like I said, she retains her memories because of the soul bond, yes. The compulsion, though?” He scratches his beard. “She said Sebastian tried, and it didn’t work with him either. Maybe something happened when you healed her. Maybe it’s something else, but compulsion is the least of your concerns right now.”
I stare into the fire. Three days ago, my biggest worry was dealing with Father after my birthday.
“What will Sebastian do with her if he gets his hands on her?”
“The soul mate of Hamon’s son? What do you think?”
I curse.
“Your father has enemies. She would be a nice bargaining chip.”
“He wouldn’t care. He doesn’t care about me or what I do, as long as I join his ranks.”
Elias laughs. “You don’t think your father will find power in this? Breckin, there’s something about her. Something different. She’s not quite human.”
The moment I smelled her blood, I had the same thought.
“I’ve met her mom. She’s human.”
Elias shifts, his face thoughtful. “What do you know of her father?”
Nothing. No one in town has ever mentioned Rachel Freeman having an ex-husband or Vivienne knowing her dad. I shrug.
“Her mom came home after college expecting. He was never in the picture. I’m not even sure her mom knows who he is,” Elias says as his hand runs over his jaw.
My gaze snaps from the flames to Elias. “What makes you say that? How in the hell would you know anything about her family, anyway?”
“Breckin, the Freeman family has lived in Havenwood Falls for a long time. I’ve been here a long time. I know things.”
“Is this about the Court? Are they involved with Viv somehow? I know what they do to people who anger them. I don’t want her involved with them, Elias. She’s—”
“I’m saying I’m an angel who has been here a long time for reasons other than you. I did speak to Ric about Vivienne’s attack, though.”
“The sheriff? Why?” The Court of the Sun and the Moon doesn’t rule over us as angels. Their magic simply can’t compare to our power. Elias has worked with them to keep peace, but why involve them with this?
“A girl went missing a week ago, Breckin. Whatever attacked Vivienne could be behind her disappearance. We can’t keep the information secret.”
“And what if it was something else? Something to do with us, or Vivienne specifically? What if the Court comes after her? If she isn’t human, they will—”
“Breckin,” he says my name sharply, reining my fears in. “Ric is trustworthy. We may need the Court’s help eventually, but for now we can handle it on our own. He’s agreed to let us deal with things as long as it stays among our kind.” He watches my face and continues. “She was right to ask what the point of her being your soul mate is, by the way. There’s a reason you were brought together. There always is.”
I stand. I want to scream. I need to fly, to think. My wings want release. They want the freedom of the open sky.
“Go.” Elias leans forward and jerks his head toward the stairs. He knows me well. “Take a moment, calm yourself. I’ll watch over her.”
I could use it. A flight to work off some energy. Watching over Vivienne the last few days, even when in secret, has left me no time to breathe. My hand goes to my back, intending to yank my shirt over my head, but the sound of water in the bathroom stops me.
“No. I can’t run away from this, even for a little while.” I lower my voice. “Whatever I have to do to protect her, Elias.”
He tips his head. “We’ll need to end him.”
“Then we end him.”
Vivienne steps out, smoothing her hair into a high ponytail, and looks up. She catches me watching and smiles. My wings settle, my restlessness calming. She does that. Only her.
“I was thinking about what you said, and I realized something,” she says as she crosses the room, and I twist on the couch to get a better look at her. “I watch you, too.”
“You do?”
Her eyes shift from Elias to me. “You sit in the back at assemblies. You ta
p your fingers on the edge of your desk in chem like you’re playing a song in your head, and you glared at me in middle school every time I caught your eye. I thought you hated me.”
It clicks. “And you stopped talking to me,” I recall as she returns to my side on the couch.
She lifts her shoulder and frowns. “I cried.” Her hand covers her mouth. “Oh my gosh. I’d forgotten about it, but I did. I went home and cried to my mom because Breckin Roberts seemed to hate me, and I couldn’t figure out why.”
I push back my hair and inhale deeply. I hid from her. I spent most of the summer between sixth and seventh grade travelling with Elias. We came back, and when school started, I saw Vivienne in the hallway and nearly threw up. My stomach dropped and shook, like I was in a space shuttle. I’d chalked it up to a crush when it didn’t stop after a week. Every time I saw her, I felt crazy.
I look at Elias. His mouth forms a small grin, and his eyes shine with suppressed laughter. “You knew,” I breathe.
Vivienne’s head whips to my “uncle.”
“I suspected.”
“Suspected? For how long?” I ask.
“From the first time you met.”
Vivienne gasps, and I fish her hand out from the sleeve of her sweater and interlace our fingers. “Tell us.”
Elias’s grin drops. “I wasn’t there. You were with a nanny at the time, Kathy I think it was, and she said you two went for a walk at the park. Vivienne and her mom were there. She gushed on and on about how inseparable you two were. It could have been two toddlers just playing, but—”
His eyes narrow meaningfully, and I pick up what he wasn’t saying. He knew. He knew she was different.
“You think we were always connected, then?” Vivienne asks.
“I think you were. Like I said, soul mates are forever. Somehow you two were able to ignore the attraction. I imagine it was easier to resist because you’d felt it from such a young age.”
Vivienne and I share a glance. There’s no denying the attraction anymore. And there are no easy answers when discussing things pertaining to destiny and creation.
“If you suspected we were soul mates, why didn’t you say something to me that first night? You made me think we could fix everything by erasing her memories.” Why is he keeping things from me?
Awaken the Soul: (A Havenwood Falls High Novella) Page 7
