Soul-Mate (The Immortal Love Series Book 1)

by Anna Santos

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Annabel

  It has been two days and two even longer nights. Kevin was still deeply asleep. Eric had donated a lot of blood, more than we’d all thought would be necessary. Eventually, they had had to call Sasha to help. Of course, she was shocked to find out that I was her cousin. I think she was more than shocked, actually. I could almost feel the irony of destiny and laugh at the joke if things, weren’t that bad for Kevin.

  Kevin wasn’t responding to the treatment; he wasn’t coming out of the coma. His heart was beating steadily and he was breathing, but he was still asleep and not reacting to the treatment.

  Grandpa was in love with Kevin. He said he was the image of my dad at his age. I didn’t know it, but I had guessed that Kevin was the one who resembled the family more. He was tall, gorgeous, blond, and blue-eyed. Even Sasha seemed to like him more than me, and he was sleeping! I couldn’t picture the two of us being best friends in the near future. We were related by blood, so she had to endure my presence and share her family with me. She was no longer the only niece and the only granddaughter. She had serious competition now.

  Sasha was jealous. She didn’t like to share Eric and grandfather with me; she would always sulk when they hugged and comforted me. However, she seemed more jealous of my relationship with Shane. It showed every time Shane was near me or held my hand. She really needed to move on and understand that Shane and she weren’t meant to be.

  They weren’t speaking to each other. At least, Shane was not speaking to her; he simply ignored her, and the others seemed to respect his decision. It was fine by me—I didn’t want them all friendly and cozy together, either. I was not normally possessive and jealous, but I was when it came to her. She was not over Shane.

  To make things worse, Jessica had taken off with Jason’s car after leaving him in the clinic, claiming that she had some private matters to handle. She’d told him to tell me that she was confident that Kevin would make it and come back from the coma, but she’d had to take care of some business and would keep in contact. I tried calling her, but she had her phone off. I could only wonder if her business had something to do with the witch who she’d let escape without apparent reason. It had been weird.

  All I could hope was that everything would be fine and she would come back soon. I really needed her beside me, and I’d gotten a bit mad at her for leaving, but I had Shane, Eric, and my grandpa there with me. Even Jason had stuck around, keeping me company while staring at the void. However, after Sasha’s arrival, he’d stared at her like she was some kind of mesmerizing sight. My cousin couldn’t help but to hit on all the girls. He was such a player! I guess he found it even more appealing to hit on her when he understood that I didn’t like her. He could be annoying most of the times. But Jason was like that whenever he was near a cute girl. He would act silly and try to do everything in his power to sleep with her, break her heart, and then leave her to her misery. My cousin, the perfect bad boy with a narcissistic complex!

  Of course, Sasha ignored him when he introduced himself to her. She earned some respect points from me for that; however, I realized later that what kept her away from Jason was that she was too chic to get along with hybrids. It would probably ruin her reputation as an ice princess. Too bad she now had two hybrid cousins!

  To sum up the past two days, I had been waiting inside Kevin’s room for him to open his eyes. Shane hadn’t left my side, being extremely supportive and caring. Eric and Grandpa had rented hotel rooms near the clinic and taken turns keeping me company, watching over Kevin. We were pretty much dependent on Kevin’s recovery before we could start living again ourselves. And I was hoping the gods wouldn’t be so mean as to take away from me another member of my family. My sweet and amazing brother deserved a second chance. He deserved to wake up and find his new family members, even meet his stuck-up cousin and, who knew, his own soul-mate, to love and be loved like I loved Shane and he loved me.

  Shane never left my side. He was worried and focused on my thoughts of guilt and anxiety. There was a feeling of impotence inside my chest for being unable to do anything else to help my brother. Maybe I had taken too long to find him the blood he needed. Maybe, if I had told Shane my secret sooner, everything would have been different. Maybe if I had been faster than him, he wouldn't have put himself in front of me and gotten hit with the poisoned dart. It was a lot of maybes, but I had a lot of time to think about everything and stress about it.

  Maybe he didn’t want to wake up. Maybe, wherever he was, it was better than this world.

  ***

  The doctors were intrigued. Kevin was perfectly fine; at least physically he seemed fine. They had run a lot of tests on him, a lot of new blood analysis, and had even scanned his brain. There was no reason for him to remain in a comatose state. His brain was active; it seemed to be processing information. Nevertheless, he remained asleep.

  I was holding back the tears but was sad beyond words. Shane knew it, felt it, and didn’t leave my side because of it. I knew he was there, but my eyes remained dry and I was caught inside my head. There was nothing he could do to cheer me up and I was relieved that he didn’t try. I needed to remain like that, grieving in silence, trapped in my own melancholy.

  Knowing Shane was next to me helped me keep my sanity and not crumble. However, by day four, everybody was losing hope. Eric was making plans to take Grandpa back to the palace, Jason had to go back to the headquarters, and Jessica had still not given any kind of sign that she was alive and well. Because things seemed hopeless, everybody was trying to convince me to leave the clinic and go back to my life. The doctors would call if anything changed; spending my days there was not good for me. Maybe not, but I was reluctant to leave my baby brother all alone—again.

  Shane said nothing about it. I looked at him, trying to find out if he had the same opinion as the others. Whatever I’d decided, he would be there to support me. We both looked a mess—we needed a hot shower, a proper meal, and a good night’s sleep in a bed. But he wouldn’t leave if I didn’t. Therefore I agreed to go back to the hotel and take care of myself for a while if Eric would stay there, keeping Kevin company so he had someone nearby if he woke up.

  After a long hot shower and a full meal, I got in bed and hugged Shane, who cuddled my hair and held me tightly. We didn’t talk much verbally. There was not much to say anyway. I was sad, he knew I was sad, and our mind link was active. I was not in the mood to use my voice to communicate, so using the mind link to reassure him and be pampered by his sweet words was all I could handle.

  I was tired, really beat up from sleeping on the clinic couches or just staring at the white walls, saying nothing, waiting, sequestered from the world. However, I couldn’t sleep! My eyes were wide opened, staring at the shadows in the room from outside lights seeping through the curtains. It was night, a warm summer night.

  Shane’s hand on my hair was all that kept me relaxed and less sad. It felt good to have someone to share my sadness and worries. He’d neglected everything in his life just to be by my side. He didn’t even go to interrogate the vampires we had caught. Someone else was doing that. For the time being, Shane was all mine, but I couldn’t even be happy about it, because Kevin hadn’t woken up.

  I sighed deeply and lifted my head to stare at Shane. He opened his eyes to look at me when I moved.

  What’s wrong? he asked in our mind link, but I could have guessed by the look in his eyes.

  “I love you,” I whispered, using my voice. His lips drew a smile.

  “I know, honey. I love you, too,” he whispered back in his sexy voice.

  “I’m sorry for not being good company to be around.”

  “Everything will be just fine.” He kissed my forehead, and I leaned my head against his chest, sighing. Deep inside, I wanted to believe that things would work out. “You should sleep. Are you hungry?”

  “I ate.”

  “I know, but you haven’t fed in a while.”

  �
��Oh,” I whispered, understanding his words. “Eric spiked my drinks,” I shared with him. Eric had put some blood in my coffees to keep me strong. He was caring like that; he would always persuade me to eat and rest.

  “Good, I don’t want you weak,” Shane mumbled, kissing the top of my head.

  “Do you know anything about Sebastien?” I asked, curious.

  “He’s okay. Don’t worry.”

  “He lost Eve,” I mumbled, feeling also sad. “We lost Eve,” I rephrased, because I still thought she was my friend, even if she had been a spy.

  “She was a spy, honey. She wasn’t your friend.”

  “She tried to protect Sebastien. He said so. And… she liked him. Besides, she was always nice to me. Really nice and not the fake nice some people pretend to be,” I tried to explain.

  “Well, maybe she truly liked you and Sebastien.”

  “She was Vincent’s cub. That means that she had to obey him unconditionally. Maybe she was not bad, but they forced her to be a spy.”

  “Maybe. At least, Sebastien is alive and—” He said nothing else, leaving the next words hanging on air.

  “And the spy is dead?” I questioned, staring at him.

  “And I’m alive. And you are next to me, and you aren’t mad at me anymore. Promise me that you won’t ever be mad at me again.”

  “Do you promise that there won’t be more lies or doubts between us?”

  “Of course. I don’t want to keep anything else from you, and I hope you don’t keep anything from me either.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Then there won’t be any more secrets between us,” he assured me, rubbing my back and making me sigh. I was sore and tense as a board. I needed a back rub, a foot rub, and even a head rub. That's how tense I was. He just had to press my shoulders and my spine a bit and I would relax and fall asleep like a baby.

  I heard him chuckling because he was tuned into my thoughts. He kissed my face and pulled me over him. I melted in surrender while enjoying his hands on my back and shoulders. Happiness was all those moments of sharing and cuddling between us. He was my heaven. Sex was so overrated compared to that! Of course, the sex was good, but it was not everything in a relationship. It was moments like those, when we needed love and support from the person we were with, that would determine if the person who was with us would excel in perfection or be disappointing and selfish. Shane had just gotten the highest scores. He deserved to be forgiven and win an Oscar for best mate ever.

  “Don’t make me feel bad for being all aroused by you on top of me,” Shane whispered in my ear, clearly tuned into my thoughts once more, and making me blush and laugh. “Just relax and sleep. Ignore me. I know you are not in the mood. But it’s good to hear you laugh, even if it’s because of something so silly.”

  “I really want Kevin to meet you. You will love him. He is… the perfect brother. We always were best friends, even if he is a bit stubborn. But it runs in the family.”

  “Sooner or later, he will wake up, and everything will be back on track. You and I will be happy, and the king will spoil you two with gifts and attention. And… Eric will steal you from me more often than I would like. He’s really happy about finding you.”

  “Yes, I know. He’s also really happy because you are my mate. Every time you went for coffee, he would defend you and try to make me forgive you. He thought I was still mad at you.”

  “You are too sad to be mad.”

  “And scared. I didn’t want to lose you—it was scary to… You know.”

  “I know.”

  I became silent, staring at him, unable to say anything else that could explain how much I loved him and how I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. I felt like I wanted to cry right there. I was holding back the tears, but thinking that I could have been left alone without him, without my brother, made me feel really emotional.

  “Anna,” he mumbled with a weak voice, holding me under my arms and pulling me to meet his face. My eyes were shining with unshed tears. “Baby, nothing will happen to me. I swear. I will never leave you alone. And Kevin will be okay. And I love you. So don’t cry, please.” He kissed my eyes, tasting my tears, and we hugged tight while I tried to keep my sobs from erupting. “You should be trying to sleep and not thinking about sad things.”

  “I know, but I’m not really that sleepy. I’m feeling guilty and confused, and I really just want this all to end. I want Kevin to wake up, and I want to go back to our home and be next to you and be happy again. Will you let Kevin live with us?”

  “If he wants, but I think your grandfather wants Kevin and you to go and live with him for a while.”

  “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “I will go with you, don’t worry. I’m not planning to let you out of my sight.”

  I giggled. I don’t know exactly why, but I giggled and thought his words concealed jealousy behind them. “You don’t need to worry about anyone else. I just love you, and I will just love you. And I won’t let you out of my sight, either. I don’t want you to be beaten up once more by an idiot of a vampire. I need to protect you, since I’m your superhero and stuff…” I teased him. He bit my cheek, and I squealed. It hurt!

  “Hey, he had a witch on his side. The damn spell took my strength away!”

  “I know. I was teasing you,” I said, rubbing my cheek and looking at him with pouting lips because of his evil bite. “That hurt,” I complained like a little girl, which made him smile and kiss my lips. I was about to complain again when his tongue entered my mouth, and I just sighed and surrendered. I’d missed those breathtaking kisses between us. Hell, I’d been missing all of him!

  A noise got the attention of us both, Shane’s more quickly than mine. It was his cellphone ringing. I broke the kiss and turned to look for it. The noise was coming from his clothes on the chair opposite the bed.

  I went to get it because it could have been Eric calling us about Kevin. My heartbeat increased and I grabbed his pants then shook them, impatient to find the cell and see who was calling.

  “It’s in my jacket, not in my pants,” Shane said, a bit out of breath as he got up really fast and grabbed his pants out of my hand. I stared at him, blinking several times in confusion. My attention was drawn to a small green box that fell from his pants to the floor and then rolled to his feet. His eyes widened as he cursed. Then he sighed and clenched his jaw.

  I had his jacket in my hands, but my eyes were on the little box. That box looked so much like… I bit my lower lip and stared at him again, swallowing hard. He grabbed the box from the floor and grabbed the jacket from my hands. He took the phone and stared at the screen.

  “It’s just one of my deputies. It isn’t Eric,” he said, rejecting the phone call. Then he looked at me and saw that I was looking at him, frozen. I thought I might be just having hallucinations or misinterpreting—it was probably nothing. It was not what I was thinking. It couldn’t be.

  “Damn it!” he complained, touching his hair, fisting his hand in it, and staring at my face. I think I still had my mouth open. “This wasn’t how I planned to do this.”

  “You planned what?” I asked, out of breath and feeling my cheeks turn red. He was not planning to… Was he? I looked at the floor and tried to breathe deep. I needed to.

  “I had almost two hundred years to plan it, and I’ve had this for at least one hundred years,” he said. When I looked at him, he was down on one knee in front of me with the box in one of his hands and the cellphone in the other.

  I arched an eyebrow at him and stepped back. His eyes got sad when I recoiled and held my hands nervously. Then I cleared the hair off my face and looked at the still-closed box. It was an old, vintage, sea-green box, not like the new, fancy, velvet and black wedding ring boxes. Maybe it wasn’t what I was thinking. However, his words sounded exactly like what I was thinking.

  “I had thought of doing this on prom night in front of all the people there.” My are-you-kidding-me face showed him that
that was not his brightest idea. He just smiled as if amused and continued. “Yes, you would probably have killed me after.” He chuckled when I agreed with him with a nod. “Then I thought that I could do a picnic and put the ring inside something or just do a romantic dinner at home and ask you after the meal on my knees, like now.” He put the phone on the ground and grabbed my left hand in his. My heart raced, and I couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions from incredulity to excitement to fear and happiness. “I was actually planning to propose to you on the night all the confusion happened. I had it all prepared at home. And then you said your cousin was in town and that he would stay with us, so I canceled and was planning to ask you the next day.”

  I swallowed hard when he opened the box and showed me the antique white gold and sapphire solitaire engagement ring. The precious stone was neither big nor too small; it was centered atop a shank heavily encrusted with pave diamond side stones, and milgrain. It was perfect, so perfect I lost my breath. It matched my eyes, and it was beautiful!

  “I know it’s not fashionable and is kind of antique. I bought it a long time ago,” he mumbled. I looked from the ring to him and then again to the ring. I was enthralled by his words and by the ring. He was proposing, wasn’t he? “Yes, I am,” he answered, noticing that he hadn’t actually proposed but just showed me the ring. “Sorry, I’m nervous! I’m asking you to marry me. I know we are bonded and we marked each other, but I want to have a ceremony and make our own vows in front of our relatives and friends. I love you. You are my other half, Anna.” He paused for a moment, staring at my wide-open eyes and parted lips. My breathing was heavy, and my heartbeat was loud. “So, I’m really sorry if this is not romantic at all and you found out about the ring like this, but—this is yours. It has been for more than one hundred years, and I want you to wear it and to marry me.”