Unfortunately, I ended up closing my eyes and throwing a blind punch. I felt my hand collide with something soft and opened my eyes. Isaac had his hand to his cheek.
“Oh, no, did I hurt you,” I asked trying to look at the side of his face that he clutched.
Suddenly, I was lying on the ground with Isaac’s boots pressing firmly into my stomach.
“What the hell was that for,” I asked looking up into his face but the sun blinded me.
“Never ask an opponent if they’re hurt. It gives them an opening to take you down,” he said taking his foot off my stomach and reaching down to help me up.
“I can see that,” I huffed.
I looked desperately around the field to make sure no one was there to see my miserable attempt at fighting and luckily no one was.
“Are we done?” I asked. Surely we were, we had been at this for nearly three hours.
He shrugged, “For today.”
“What?” I exclaimed.
“You didn’t think you were only going to have one day of training did you?”
“Well, kind of,” I mumbled to my toes.
“Nope, Ky, we’re back at this tomorrow. Maybe you can practice with your vamp tonight? A little roll around in the tent, maybe?” He asked grinning.
“Isaaaaac!” I exclaimed, drawing out his name and smacking him on the shoulder.
“What!” he laughed.
“You are a mess!” I squealed.
“I know,” he grinned.
We walked back to the campsite stumbling because we were laughing so hard. It was nice to have a friend like Isaac even if it did complicate my life.
Chapter Thirteen: A taste of the Forbidden Fruit
Several weeks went by and Selena never showed up. Everyone was relaxing and settling into a daily pace. Everything was normal or at least to everyone else it was but I knew the storm was coming. Selena might be backing off right now, but she was a killer, and she knew that if she backed off her prey would get comfortable and therefore vulnerable. But I was more prepared than ever. Isaac has been working with me every day for the past three weeks. I was a more skilled fighter now and getting more skilled every day. My arms and legs were getting hard with muscle and I could even feel my stomach getting firmer. I no longer dreaded my fighting sessions with Isaac and instead I looked forward to them. I liked thinking that I would be prepared if Selena ever got a hold of me again and I also liked getting to spend one on one time with Isaac. I knew I was playing with fire by spending time with Isaac but I didn’t want to stop either. But I knew that every day I spent with Isaac my feelings were growing stronger.
The end of June was already here and at each passing day the weight on my chest seemed to get heavier. Whatever was coming would be soon. While the others may be getting comfortable in their surroundings I was getting more uncomfortable by the day.
I slept lightly, with a sword, which Isaac gave me, clutched to my chest.
The first night that I came to the tent with the sword and made to go to sleep with it clutched to my chest Jonathon had lightly made fun of me but upon seeing my face he had quickly ceased his banter and hadn’t said anything about it since.
And as each day passed I became more and more somber. Jonathon knew that there was something eating at me but he also knew better than to ask. After all it’s kind of hard to say, “hey, I have this ‘feeling’ that we’re walking into a trap but it might all be in my head,” it’s not exactly the thing you readily spit out. Even if I said something it wouldn’t do much good what with all these stubborn vampires and the Coven around. To complicate matters I don’t think Aleksei believes a word that comes out of my mouth.
As if responding to my onslaught of morose thoughts a cold hand ran gently down my face.
I looked up into the comforting silver eyes of Jonathon. He cupped my chin in his hand and used his thumb to trace my lips.
“What plagues your mind my principessa?” He asked, his eyes were soft.
“Nothing,” I said.
He chuckled. “My love, you carry a part of my soul within you, I know when you are upset and the wrinkle in your brow only appears when you’re thinking something really hard that is unpleasant,” he said putting his thumb to my brow as if to smooth out the crease that was there.
I laughed, “It’s nothing, really.” I said trying to brush him off.
“You know, nothing, usually means something,” he said.
“Well, this time nothing actually does mean nothing.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said staring at me. I knew he was trying to get inside my head but I had a wall up blocking him.
“Can you just drop it, Jonathon?” I snapped. He took his hand from my face and a hurt look crossed his features.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, ashamed of myself, “But there are just some things I have to sort out in my head.” He didn’t say anything which just made me feel worse.
Not looking at me or saying anything he unzipped our tent and left, zipping it back behind him.
God, why did have to be such a bitch?
Here was Jonathon who had always been my angel, always been there for me, and I was always snapping at him or so it seemed. I didn’t deserve him.
And on top of everything else my confused thoughts of my feelings for Isaac always plague our relationship. As much as I’d like to pretend he didn’t, Jonathon sensed that my feelings for Isaac were more than just that of friendship. As much as I’d like to convince myself that I had no feelings for Isaac they were there sure and strong.
I pulled my knees against my chest and cried. A lot. The kind of sobs that make your chest hurt and your eyes burn. I wiped the last of my tears away and unzipped the tent.
I looked around but Jonathon was nowhere to be seen. I saw Benji whom I assumed had been posted as my guard. I hugged my arms close to my chest in an effort to hold myself together. I was falling to pieces right before my eyes. Jonathon was the glue that held me together and each time we fought a piece of me broke away. I headed towards the Coven’s side of camp to find Isaac. If I could find Isaac I might be able to find some sort of peace and comfort.
I stumbled like a drunk across the camp holding myself together. The tracks of my tears still clung to my face black as night from my mascara. I didn’t see any of the other members of the Coven and was immensely thankful.
“Ky,” came a soft voice.
“Is,” I said before I threw myself into his arms.
His warm, strong, reassuring arms came around me and held me close.
“Ky, what is it?” he whispered in my ear, “Is she here?” I shook my head knowing he feared that Selena had come to camp.
“I’ve just messed everything up like I always do,” I said wiping at my eyes.
“Shh,” he said stroking my hair, “what are you talking about?”
“I am so mean to him. I don’t deserve him. I deserve to die alone with only cats for company. I am such a horrible person!” I cried, not caring who heard me.
He chuckled into my hair. “You are the best person I know, Ky. He’s crazy if he doesn’t see that. Everyone fights. No one is perfect. Not even you.”
I shook my head back and forth. “You don’t understand. He is nothing but nice to me. He’s always there for me and telling me he’ll always be by my side no matter what and that he loves me and how do I treat him? Huh? By being a bitch. He deserves someone so much better than me. He probably wishes I wasn’t his soul mate,” I said sadly.
“Ky, I may not like the guy for the simple fact that he has you but anyone can see that he loves you more than anything. He wants you, Ky. Only you. I have to give the vamp credit for that,” he said grabbing my arms so that I was forced to stay still and meet his blue eyed gaze.
“But I don’t deserve him and he deserves so much better than me!” I said pulling away from Isaac and wiping desperately at my face to dispel the lingering black streaks.
“I can see that I’m not going to be
able to make you see sense. Come here,” he said pulling me to his chest because he could see my lip quivering from my sheer force of will to not cry again.
He hugged me close and rubbed my hair and whispered comforting words in my ear which was exactly what I needed.
“I love you, Is,” I said into his chest.
“I love you, Ky,” he said into my hair.
“Wanna go fight now?” I asked making him laugh.
“You tell me you love me and then you want to know if I want to fight. You are one strange girl,” He said pulling away and shaking his head.
“I know,” I said blushing.
All was silent at the camp which was strange. I followed Isaac through the woods to the clearing that was referred to as the arena.
I put on my protective padding. Isaac didn’t wear any padding. It was far more likely that I would be injured than him. Weighted down to the point that I weighed three times my normal weight I waddled over to the center of the clearing where Isaac was waiting for me taping his hands.
“Ready?” he asked.
I grinned, “Of course, Isaac. The question is are you?” This made him laugh so hard that he doubled over clutching his stomach.
“The day you get a punch in that actually hurts will be a miracle,” He said in between insane bouts of laughter.
We started our deadly dance. Punch. Feint. Punch. Feint. Jab. Feint.
I ducked under his punch that was aimed at my face and instead landed a punch in his side. He grunted from the surprising impact of my punch. I laughed and tiptoed back like a pixie dancing from flower to flower.
A plan formed in my mind as I saw his eyes dilate to calculated deadly pits of inky blue.
He jabbed at my face and narrowly missed but he didn’t know that.
“Oh god!” I said, “I think you broke my nose!” I held my nose for emphasis.
The deadly predator gaze left him and he was instantly my concerned friend.
“Oh, Ky I’m so sorry. Let me see it,” He said stepping closer.
One more step.
Now!
I brought my hand away from my face in a lightning fast motion and punched him in the face. The impact hurt my hand but the adrenaline quenched the pain.
He stumbled back from the impact and fell flat on his bottom. I pounced on top of him giggling.
His body was warm beneath me. “Gotcha,” I said still giggling.
He didn’t say anything. His bright blue eyes darkened to a husky midnight color. I pressed closer to him breathing in his scent of pine needles, grass, and boyish sweat all rolled into one delicious scent that was all Isaac. My punch had split his lip and a dribble of blood oozed out. The split lip was the only damage my punch had caused besides surprise. Our eyes seemed to be locked in an endless embrace. His arms came around my waist and pulled me closer with a question in his eyes which I in turn answered.
Our lips met in fiery warmth that vibrated through my entire being making me shiver with the magic of it. My toes went numb with the passion of the kiss. His blood tasted slick and warm on my lips. The iron taste of it only making the kiss better. I never wanted it to stop. At this point we were both breathing heavy but neither ready to stop. One of Isaac’s hands still cupped my waist while the other tangled itself into my hair. My hands explored the contours of his face and the planes of his finely sculpted, warm as fire, chest. His heart beat steadily against my palm. Passion was rolling off of us in waves like a force field that repelled even the sounds of the forest around us. My lips were going numb but I was in no way ready to stop. Jonathon’s kiss was cold as ice and made me go numb all over with the sparks that it ignited like fireworks in my veins. This kiss was something else entirely different. This kiss was hot. Passionate. Spine-tingling. And entirely forbidden.
“I love you,” Isaac said into our intertwined lips. His hands skimmed the skin of my stomach, running underneath the thin white tank top that I wore.
“Shut up and just kiss me,” I said and he did just that.
My body was tingling all over and I was sure that I would never feel the same after this.
The other times Isaac and I had kissed he had been the one instigating it. This time it was my choice. It was my choice to take a bite of the forbidden fruit. It was my choice to live on the dark side. It. Was. My. Choice.
It was my choice to break my soul mate’s heart.
“Kylie?” sounded the strangled voice of Jonathon.
My heart stopped. I looked into his eyes and saw his soul break and felt mine do the same.
I had committed the greatest sin of all. One they forgot to put in the Bible.
I had fallen in love with someone that wasn’t my soul mate.
And in the process broke my soul and Jonathon’s soul and doomed us all.
Chapter Fourteen: Broken
“How could you?” he asked. His silver eyes looked at me with a look of complete hopelessness.
“Oh God,” I said getting off of Isaac.
Jonathon looked at me as if he had never seen me before and wished he hadn’t.
“Jonathon-,” I began stepping towards him.
“No,” he said putting his hands up and backing away from me, “No, don’t come near me.”
“Please, please let me explain Jonathon.”
“Explain! Explain! I bloody well saw it with my own two eyes. I don’t need it explained to me! How could you? I can’t even look at you! I never want to see you again! Get away from me! I said get away!” He yelled as I drew nearer and nearer.
“Jonathon, please listen to me,” I said sinking to my knees.
“Are you sure you don’t want to shove your tongue down his throat some more? God, how could I have been so stupid! Here all this time I thought it was him,” he said thrusting a finger at Isaac, “that I should be worried about coming onto you. But oh no, it was you. It’s you! It’s always been you leading him on. Oh, God. You’re my soul mate, damn you! How could you do this! I thought you were the best person in the world and now it turns out that you’re just a selfish bitch. If only God would bless me with never having to look at your traitorous face again! Oh, if I could be so lucky!” He screamed venomously at me. He then lapsed into a length speech in Italian.
“Jonathon, let’s talk about this,” I said in calming tones, worried that he may turn violent.
“Talk? Talk? To you? I never want to even see you again let alone talk to you! I feel so stupid! How could I have not seen it before! I know how! I trusted you! And the sad part is that as much as I may hate you right now I can’t stop loving you! Ever! I am doomed to love you the rest of my existence! But you! You are free to go along and love whomever you want! But me? Oh no, I’m stuck loving you no matter what! And what’s even sadder is that I can’t even stay mad at you! My entire existence is wired to yours! Without you I am nothing! Nothing, Kylie, nothing! I am empty! I am a pathetic shell of nothing! Nothing important! Nothing worth living for! But no matter what you do I have to go on loving you! Even at this very moment I would jump in front of a bullet for you! You can denounce me all you want. You can make me feel like the lowest scum on the bottom of your shoe and I’ll still love you! God, I love you and I can’t help it!” He said and pulled at his face like he wanted to rip it off.
By now tears were falling steadily from my eyes.
“I am so sorry, Jonathon. I really am. But I can’t help it. I love you so much that it makes my heart hurt. But I love Isaac too,” I sobbed, my tears soaking into the dirt.
He looked down at the ground.
“I know. But I won’t share you,” he said softly.
“I don’t expect you too,” I whispered. The words came out scratchy.
“But because I love you as much as I do I’m going to give you some time and space to sort out your feelings,” he said looking at the sky. His fists were clenched and he was taking deep, steadying, breaths.
“Time?” I asked.
“Time to decide whether you want to s
pend the rest of your life with me… or not,” he said meeting my gaze. I thought his silver eyes would sear me to the spot where I knelt. He was angry but more than that he was hurt. I had never seen anyone in my entire life look that heart broken. What had I done?
“Oh,” I said at a loss of words.
“I don’t want you to feel obligated to spend the rest of your life with me. I sadly just want you to be happy and if that is with someone else then that’s what I want you to do. I will still love you, of course, but from afar. I promise to let you go if that’s what you want,” he said quietly.
“Jonathon,” I began.
“I know what you are going to say. But I want you to take the time so I may have peace of mind. If you do so choose to spend the rest of your life with me I want to know that you are sure of your decision and didn’t feel forced into anything. I want to know that if you do so choose me that you choose me because you cannot live without me. This is all I ask in return for always loving you.”
I wiped away my tears and nodded.
“Okay. But just know that there is no choice. I will always choose you,” I said. My words were true but had I not just been making out with Isaac? What was wrong with me?
“Shh. You may think that now because of the compromising situation in which I have found you but for my own peace of mind I need you to take some time so that you can be sure of your decision. I never want there to be any doubts in your mind. I don’t want you to go through your life saying to yourself, ‘what if’, I don’t want that for you. I want you to be happy,” said Jonathon and his silver eyes glimmered with sincerity. How quickly he had gone from angry to resigned. I had hurt him beyond words.
“Alright,” I said sniffling.
“Principessa, don’t worry about me. Do what you need to do to be happy,” he said sadly. Do what I needed to be happy? Was he giving me permission not to choose him? To choose Isaac?
I nodded, to choked up to speak.
Only Jonathon could go from calling me a bitch to telling me that he loved me and only wanted me to be happy.
Forbidden (Fallen Series Book 2) Page 15
