Chapter 1

Part I. Meeting of Souls

Nadine

13 years later...

I woke up in the middle of the night with erratic breathing and a racing heart.

I had dreamed again of my mother's death, but this time I saw her killed in a much more grotesque way. The hunters had sat her down in front of me and ripped out her heart so that I would suffer.

I shook the horrific image out of my head.

I brought my hand to my chest and felt the rune of protection.

I sighed in relief, knowing that at least I had an advantage over the hunters. After years of running away, I had found a way to disappear from the map more effectively, and that was by sealing my energy trail so that searching for me would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It was a trick I learned from my mother when I was old enough to know what she always drew on my forehead after kissing me.

I moved all the time, didn't last long in one job, and used different aliases.

It was all I could do to keep everyone alive, especially them.

Don't think about them, not now.

I repeated those words over and over again, but to no avail.

I got up and took my sketchbook from my desk. I opened it to the page where I had drawn the men I had dreamed about since I had a vision of them when I was 15. In the vision, I was kissing four men who shared the mates mark’ with me. They were handsome, different from each other, but with a unique magnetism that made me happy because I saw them giving me something I had cruelly lost: love.

I denied it because of the nostalgia it caused me, because of what it could really mean.

“I can't have them,” I whispered sadly, knowing I had to get rid of the drawing.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

I frowned and immediately put my sketchbook away in my purse. They knocked again, but this time more insistently, and when I looked at my watch, I realized it was 3:00 am.

“It's Elle!” my friend said, and I hurriedly opened the door.

Elle saw me with a frown as I walked in.

“Are you okay?” She asked carefully as she arranged her long blonde hair into a high ponytail and took off her jacket. “You look sweaty and tired.”

“I'm fine. What are you doing here at this hour?”

“I came to warn you that they are doing inspections in this area,” Elle said with concern. “I think the time has come for you to move further away from this area, Bree.”

Elle knew me by the alias Bree.

It was an alias I used for waitressing at a strip bar where Elle worked as a dancer. It was something she was good at being a siren, and after I helped her with an abusive client, we became friends.

Elle didn't ask questions about my past, but she knew I was running from something and that I hadn't shown up at the temple for the soulmate test, so she always warned me about raids or operatives the guards would do. I was very grateful to her, and I knew that Elle was very right—I should go to another area of the continent and start all over again.

It was the safest thing for me to do.

“Thank you for coming; how did you know about the raid?” I asked, and Elle smiled flirtatiously.

“A couple of feline shapeshifter guards commented on it in front of me while I danced sexily at them,” she said smugly, and I laughed. “I'm sorry I broke my promise not to come to your house, but since you don't use communication devices, I had to come and warn you right away.”

I nodded gratefully, and my friend went straight to the fridge for some water. 

“I'll get all my stuff, and we'll go. I think it's time to leave this place,” I said with certainty, and Elle nodded.

“Will you spend a couple of nights with me before you move in?” asked Elle.

“Yes, but from now on I won't tell you where I am; it's a risk I can't take,” I said firmly, and my friend nodded sadly. “I'm grateful you came here, and when I can, I'll see you; just be patient.”

“I am patient, but I feel like maybe you shouldn't run away; you should face whatever it is that's making you run in terror,” Elle said seriously, and I shook my head. “Okay, I won't say any more about it; I'm going to help you pack everything up. Where do we start?”

I loved my friend because, at the end of the day, she was there for me, despite disagreeing with most of my decisions.

“I think the first thing I need to do is pick up the non-essentials and throw out the trash; can you put the bag down?” I asked, and Elle nodded.

Ten minutes later, I had filled a garbage bag, and Elle went to take it down to the building dumpster. I immediately set about picking up the few things I always had with me: clothes, fake papers, money, and the items I had grown attached to. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get me out of here.

The only thing I did before leaving was to tear out of the notebook the drawing of the men I always dreamed of. I grabbed a lighter and started burning the page so as to leave no trace of anything.

“They're here!” shouted Elle, and that set me off.

I immediately left the apartment and took the auxiliary stairs that lead to the back of the parking garage. I had learned that elevators could be a problem, so I began to speed down each step. I was so focused on being as fast as my legs would allow that I didn't pay attention to my other senses until it was too late.

A giant man tackled me hard, and another immediately slapped handcuffs with power nullifying runes on me. I groaned as the man got up on top of me, and when I got a good look at them, I realized they were two feline shapeshifters.

They were the guards Elle had talked to, and I cursed at the oversight.

“We've got her now,” the feline who had put the cuffs on me said over the radio.

“Come on, get up,” the other feline said.

I could tell the felines were guardians not only by the postures but by the ways they looked at everything. That's why I restrained my urge to scream and followed them without encouragement. I knew all too well what feline shapeshifters could do when you annoyed them.

They were lethal.

“She doesn't smell like anything; I don't know what she is,” said the man who had tackled me.

I pursed my lips and sealed my mouth.

I wouldn't say a word, so I just let myself be guided until I was put into the van with the symbol of the guardians. Other guards were waiting, and then one of the felines injected me with a relaxant to put me to sleep.

I felt like laughing, but I restrained myself, and they put a blindfold on me.

The guardians were not the hunters I used to avoid, but them catching me meant the hunters looking for me would know about me right away, and that was more than a problem. I had to find a way to get away before the hunters knew where I was.

With that thought, I fell unconscious, and when I awoke, I was lying on a medical bed in a white T-shirt and cotton pants of the same color. An elf dressed as a nurse was checking my vital signs.

My first reaction was to move my hands, and it was at that moment that I realized I had restraints so I was tied to the bed.

“Don't struggle or the guards will be relentless,” the elf said seriously, and I contained my anger.

I knew well why I might be sought out and held by the guards: violating the rule of presentation at the temple. It was imperative that we all report to the temple at age 17 to take the soulmate test, so I assumed the medical protocol was due to that.

Minutes later, the felines who had imprisoned me gave me some shoes and released me to take me to an interrogation room. They sat me in one of the chairs and put the handcuffs back on.

I stared at the gloomy place to find ways to escape.

It was at that instant that someone came in.

“Nadine Gabrielle Griffin,” said an old man dressed as a priest, and all the blood drained from my face. “We were able to identify you because of your mother, Nadia Griffin's DNA records.”

No way, I thought in terror.

That he knew my mother's name only meant that my blood had been tested and terror flooded my entire body.

“Why am I here?” I asked firmly, hiding my fear.

“That's an excellent question, Nadine,” the priest said with a half-smile that tried to calm me. “You are not here in a custodial capacity. You have no criminal record, and although there are grounds for suspicion that you have engaged in various irregularities using aliases, it is nothing serious. Let's just say we used the excuse that you didn't show up to take the soulmate test so we could have a conversation with you.”

“Is that why they treat me like I'm scum?” I asked now with a frown and without hiding my animosity.

There was a knock on the door, and the old man opened it.

When I looked at who had knocked, I was petrified.

It couldn't be!

The man who entered was one of the men I saw in my visions.

My heart stopped for a moment, and I had to shake my head in disbelief.

This man was much more handsome up close than what I once recreated in my drawings.

He was not only handsome; he was devastatingly beautiful. His face was expressionless, which made me notice the straight nose, high cheekbones, and full lips. He had black hair, trimmed low like the guards, and dressed like one. What made it worse was that his green eyes looked hard at me.

I swallowed spit in response.

“Good of you to come, captain Biel,” the priest said. “I'm going to explain to Nadine why she's here.”

Biel.

His name soaked into my body like praise.

Biel's face contorted with rage, and he suddenly slammed a folder down on the table with force. He opened the folder and pointed to a sheet of paper. As I looked at the page, I saw the drawing I had made of him and the three other men who appeared in my visions.

My heart began to beat very fast.

“One of my men found this in your dwelling and kept it from burning, so I want an exact explanation as to why you have a portrait of me,” Biel said angrily.

I felt the earth beneath my feet shake.