by R. E. Butler
Chapter 4
Pilar woke suddenly and sat up in bed. She didn’t know what caused her to awaken, but something deep within her told her that she was no longer alone. Looking around the room, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but something felt strange.
“Is someone there?” she asked.
There was absolute silence for several moments, and she found herself holding her breath and listening to the sound of her rapidly beating heart.
“Don’t be afraid,” a voice spoke from the corner of her bedroom.
Her heart leaped into her throat, and she scrambled off the bed to put the heavy piece of furniture between her and the dark corner where the voice came from.
“Bad people always say that kind of thing right before they kill you,” she said.
“I don’t know if that’s accurate,” the voice replied, sounding amused. “Someone with bad intentions wouldn’t necessarily care if you were afraid.”
“But you do?”
“Yes. Turn on your light.”
Before she could even form the thought to turn on the light, her fingers were already on the switch. A click illuminated the lamp hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room.
A male stood in the corner, his hands in front of him, palms out, as if he were showing her that he wasn’t armed. His skin was deeply tanned and his long hair was a shade of brown so dark that it bordered black.
“Like what you see, little female?” he asked.
She gasped as she saw that he had sharp teeth, but in spite of the original terror, she felt nothing but curiosity toward him. A small part of her thought that was foolish, but a larger part found him attractive, sharp teeth and all.
“What are you doing in my room?”
He lifted a small piece of square paper. She recognized it as her business card. As he flipped it, she saw her address and knew it was the card she’d given to Tarihn so she could come over for a drink one evening.
“Is Tarihn okay? Why do you have my card?”
He put the card back into his pocket. “My brother is with Tarihn. She’s well.”
“But… ”
“They’re soul mates. My brother Dero scented her and realized she was his mate. He took her to a… private place to woo her.”
Pilar squeezed her eyes shut tightly and pinched her arm. She had to be dreaming.
“Don’t hurt yourself, sweet female,” the male said as he brushed his fingers over the light mark she’d created.
He’d moved so fast and silently that she was caught completely off guard. She gasped and tripped over her own feet. He grabbed her to keep her from falling and set her gently on her bed.
“My name is Villi, and I live on the other side of the mountains.”
“There isn’t anything over there but monsters.”
“Like the Ligaru?”
“They’re legend and nothing more.”
“Usually there is some truth to legends, even the most absurd ones. I’m no monster, and neither are my friends and family.”
She looked up at him. His brown eyes were very sincere, and in spite of being frightened moments earlier, she actually felt very safe with him. Which made no sense, as she didn’t know him at all.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“I scented you on the card and had to find you.”
“I’ve never seen anyone like you before.”
“I’m of your race. Norlanian males left this side of the mountain generations ago to start a new life without the soul-walk and machine-chosen mates. We evolved over the years to this.”
“Why are you a fable if you’re real?”
He shrugged. “Your government chose to tell your people that only monsters lived on the other side.”
“You never explained why you’re here. You followed my scent? Why?”
“Because you’re mine.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re my soul mate, Pilar. The moment I caught your scent on the card, I knew you were mine.”
Now she knew she was dreaming. Villi was the sexiest male she’d ever seen in her life, and he was standing in her bedroom saying he wanted her. That they were soul mates. No males wanted her for anything more than a quick round of sex.
“I’ve died or I’ve gone crazy.”
“Neither,” he said, curling his finger under her chin and lifting her head. “I’ve come to ask you to be mine, Pilar. Come live with me on the other side of the mountain in safety. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that I’m your true soul mate. No drugs, no machine. Just my heart and yours.”
Something about the sweet sincerity of his words nearly broke her heart. Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them away.
“This kind of thing doesn’t happen to females like me,” she whispered.
He snarled softly and lowered his head slowly. Her heart began to pound and she was certain that he was going to kiss her. Then the sound of several bombs going off in the distance made them both stop.
“What was that?” she asked, grasping his forearms as fear bloomed inside her.
He looked at her with uncertainty, then sat down on her bed. He offered her his hand and she took it. “Our people discovered that the prenatal vaccinations given to females are causing the sterility and the males to have blue hair at birth. The government has engineered the Norlanian people’s dependence on the soul-walk machines so that any males who wish to be mated and have young pay a fortune for the privilege.”
She frowned. “How can you know that if you’re on the other side of the mountain?”
“There are members of our city who have come from this side of the mountain. Together we made a plan to destroy the vaccinations and the computers.”
“But the prenatal vaccinations are what keeps the mothers and babies safe. I was always told that.”
“If a mother doesn’t take the vaccines, her child would be born without blue hair. People would notice that and question the reason. Therefore, everyone is required to get the vaccines.”
“The soul-walk uses a serum. Is that what turns the males’ hair brown again?”
He nodded.
She’d never heard anything so absurd in her life, but at the same time, it actually made sense. Only male Norlanians were born with blue hair. Their hair remained blue until they used a serum and then had sex with their soul mate. Sloan had told her that Warrick purchased the serum so that she would be proud to be mated to a male with brown hair. Warrick believed they were soul mates, and Sloan, after accepting his offer of marriage, had agreed.
Pilar had been secretly jealous of Sloan and Warrick’s relationship. He was a strong and handsome male who had taken Sloan to be his bride in spite of their society’s insistence that sterile females had no value. Pilar had wished to find a male of her own someday who would look beyond her inability to conceive and want her for who she was.
Deep down, she believed Villi was just that male.
How else could she explain him coming for her?
“I can’t have children,” she blurted out.
“Sweet female,” he said gruffly, “I don’t care about that. From the moment I caught your scent on the card, I knew that you were the only female for me. The only thing I care about is that you’ll come with me.”
“When?”
“We need to leave soon. If we’re not gone before dawn, I risk being caught. Your government would most likely kill me or imprison me if I were found.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he silenced her with his finger. “You can’t come back. If you come with me, this side of the mountain will be forever closed to you. I can’t in good conscience take you without making sure you understand that. I’m offering you the chance to live in a place where who you are as a person is more important that what your body can or can’t do. I want you to take a chance on me. Let me spend my life making you happy.”
He replaced his finger with his lips then. The kiss rocked her to the core in a way that she had o
nly ever fantasized about. A hungry groan escaped her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Is that a yes?” he asked against her lips.
She separated from him, leaning back and looking into his lovely, dark eyes. “Yes. I didn’t think I’d find my soul mate. The most I’d ever hoped for was a male deciding he didn’t mind not having children. Do you really not care?”
“I only want you, Pilar. If we could conceive children, then I’d be happy for that. I would rather have you in my arms than a female who can bear young.”
“You don’t know me,” she said, emotion bubbling in her chest.
“I know you in my heart already. I’m yours and you’re mine. That’s all that really matters.”
Her father died when she was a child and her mother had died a year earlier. Pilar was all that was left of her family. She thought about her friends, fellow teachers, and students at the academy. They were her family now, in a way, and if she left without saying goodbye, they would wonder what happened to her. She didn’t want anyone to worry or look for her.
“I can’t just disappear. I have to at least leave vid-messages for my coworkers and students.”
“I’ll give you some time alone,” he said, helping her to her feet as he stood and kissed her. “I can’t wait to start our life together.”
He left the room and she sat back down on the bed, pressing her hand to her chest, feeling her pounding heart. She still felt a little bit like she was dreaming, but the chance to live in a place where she was valued, especially by a sexy male like Villi, was too good to pass up.
Collecting her thoughts, she moved to the small desk in the corner and sat down, opening the vid display. She first called the culinary academy dean and left a vid-message for her.
“I’m calling to let you know that I won’t be back to work. I’ve been offered another job out of the area and am leaving in the morning. Thank you so much for mentoring me when I first started out and for being a wonderful boss.”
Ending the call, she opened her contact list, found the other teachers she was close with, and left messages for them, along with ones for her students and catering clients. She was about to close the screen when she realized that she wouldn’t be able to take her vid with her or return any messages, so she changed her outgoing message to alert callers that she had left town for a new job.
Turning off the vid, she stood and found Villi in the doorway.
“I didn’t ask what I should bring.”
“We have to walk to the far side of Kyvern City and through the woods to the base of the mountains. We’ll take a tunnel through the mountains to our hidden city. You’ll want to dress warmly for the trip because it’s cold outside. You can bring two bags, and I’ll carry one for you.”
She walked over to him and rose onto her toes for a kiss. He bent slightly and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her close. Her body warmed and her skin prickled with excitement.
“I think, in the rush of things, that I didn’t say thank you,” she said when the kiss ended.
“You want to thank me?”
“You didn’t have to, but you found me. I’m feeling pretty thankful right now.”
“I wondered if I would need to spend the night trying to convince you to even talk to me.”
“I can’t explain it, but I feel drawn to you. If I let you leave without me, I think I’d regret it for the rest of my life.”
He cupped her face tenderly and said with a rough voice, “Already you’re the center of my universe, Pilar. I wouldn’t leave without you.”
He kissed her, and for a moment, she considered tugging him to the bed and cementing their relationship with a lot of pleasure. As quickly as the thought arose, she dismissed it. It wasn’t safe for him to be on this side of the mountain, and it was best that they got on their way as soon as possible.
“I’ll pack quickly, and then we can go.”
“I’ll help,” he offered.
It only took a short time. Along with a blanket and her comfiest pillow, she packed her warmest tops and trousers, her undergarments, and her favorite bathing gel. In the living room, she gathered a framed image of her parents on their mating day and tucked it into one of the bags.
“I think that’s everything,” she said.
“If you’re sure.”
She looked at him for a quiet moment, then said, “I feel like if I have you, then I have all I really need.”
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles.
“You’re all I need, too.”
Chapter 5
Villi could barely contain his excitement as he and Pilar left her home and hurried into the night. He’d expected to spend hours trying to convince her that they were soul mates, and her easy acceptance filled him with indescribable joy. He’d spoken to other males in his city about what it was like to find their soul mates. It had been his hope that he’d find his own, but it hadn’t occurred to him that it would happen on his first trip to the city on the other side of the mountains. If it weren’t for Dero scenting Tarihn, Villi wouldn’t have scented Pilar.
He glanced toward the mountains and wondered how his brother was faring with his soul mate. The syringe would have knocked her out for several hours, and she wouldn’t have remembered him once she had awoken. Villi suspected she’d be doubly frightened to wake up in an unfamiliar place with a stranger, but he hoped that, like Pilar, Tarihn would realize that Dero was her soul mate and not be afraid to be with him.
Shaking the distracting thoughts from his mind, he focused on getting himself and Pilar safely out of the city. He pressed himself against the wall of a home and put his arm in front of Pilar to keep her close to the wall next to him. Closing his eyes, he listened intently. In the distance, he could hear the sirens in Kyvern City, which would have come from the military personnel when they investigated the bombings. He heard nothing nearby, however, so he eased away from the wall and took her hand.
He looked around the corner of the building and saw only an empty street. Hurrying across, he and Pilar ran, skirting around the far side of Kyvern City. The medical buildings were on the other side of the city from where they were, but he knew that the military would be patrolling the whole area, looking for those who had set the bombs.
Melting into the shadows of a small building, he let her catch her breath before whispering in her ear, “We’re going to run for the forest as fast as we can.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “What if we’re caught?”
“I’ll handle anyone we come across. The important thing is we stay together.”
“I’ll feel better once we’re on the other side of the mountain.”
He smiled and kissed her forehead. “Me, too.”
After checking once more, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and ran for the forest. He had to shorten his stride so she could keep up, but he was proud of her for how fast she was going. When they crossed into the forest without being seen, he ducked behind a thick tree and leaned against it, giving them both a chance to catch their breaths.
She leaned against him, gripping his forearms as he held her close. She was panting, and he could scent the slight tang of her fear. The woods were deep, so it would take them a little while to get to the other side where the hidden tunnel would lead them home. The sooner they were in the tunnel, the better.
He tipped her chin up and whispered, “How are you doing?”
Okay.” Her voice was still a little breathy.
“We need to keep moving. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Stay close behind me and don’t talk unless it’s urgent.”
She nodded and gave him a small smile. He took her hand and then headed deeper into the woods. The twin moons in the sky were bright, but the forest was dense, so it remained good cover for them as they moved. He scanned the trees ahead, searching the shadows for danger.
They were about to pass a tree when he heard a branch crack. Swiftly, he swun
g Pilar behind him and pressed her against the tree, knowing that his dark clothing would work as camouflage. After a long moment, he heard another branch crack, the sound closer than before.
There was a crackling sound and a tinny voice called out, “Gunstin, report.”
A gruff voice nearby said, “I don’t see anything out here.”
“Finish your perimeter sweep and report back for reassignment.”
“Will do,” the male replied.
Villi knew the male was on the other side of the tree he was hiding behind. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the syringes and located the green-filled one. Tucking the blue-filled syringe into his pocket again, he palmed the one that was dosed correctly for a male and took a slow, deep breath. He squeezed Pilar’s hand and made the motion for her to stay, and then he moved silently around the tree.
The male soldier was carrying a gun in one hand and looking at a small screen with the other.
“I don’t know why I have to be here,” he muttered under his breath.
The male was too distracted to realize that someone was behind him until it was too late. Villi covered the male’s mouth with his hand and sank the syringe into his neck, depressing the liquid into his system. The serum worked so fast that the male didn’t even make a sound as he slipped into unconsciousness. Villi pulled the syringe from the male’s neck and pocketed it, not wanting to leave any evidence to be found by other soldiers. Setting the male on the ground against the tree, Villi returned to Pilar. Assuring her that everything was okay, they continued their swift trek through the forest.
It took two hours to reach the edge of the forest, as twice they had to stop and wait for soldiers to pass by. If they’d gotten too close, he would’ve had to engage them because he only had the female-dose syringe left. Fortunately, the soldiers were moving quickly and Villi did well in keeping both of them out of sight.
Pilar leaned against a tree, breathing hard. “Are we close?” she whispered.
“We have to stay inside the forest and follow the mountain to the tunnel. It’s not too far.”
“Good.”
