The Soul Mate

CHAPTER SEVEN

I ended up letting Gerik stay the night with me. Loss is never something one should have to face alone and I had never met a group of people who were not family and as close as this clan was. Closer even than most families were.

We lay awake most of the night facing one another, Gerik on his belly and me on my side, each of us just watching the other. I concentrated on his breathing mostly, watching as his chest would rise and fall with each deep intake and release of air.

“What are you thinking about?” He asked me softly.

“You,” I answered truthfully.

He blinked. “How’m I doin’?” He asked, smiling.

“What’s really going on with you and Onyx, Gerik? I want the truth.”

His chin in his palm, he propped himself up on his elbow. “I told you Trinity, it’s only yo-

“No.” I stopped him before he could lie to me again. “I know for a fact you’ve been with her since…” I gestured between the two of us, “Whatever this is with us has been going on. So please, don’t lie to me anymore.”

“What do you mean, you know for a fact? You mean you’ve been listening to the girls around camp, yeah?”

When I didn’t answer him a knowing look crossed his face. “Onyx and I have been friends forever. I spend a lot of time with her, yeah?” He leaned over me and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “That’s all it is and whatever you hear is camp gossip.”

I studied him, wondering what to believe.

“Let me hold you, min jente, make me happy, yeah?

I hesitated, knowing exactly what would happen the minute we touched.

“Right,” He said, looking away, his expression pained. “You still don’t believe me?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t.” What I did know is I wanted him to kiss me again. The warm feel of his lips still remained and being this close to him wasn’t helping.

“I promised you awhile ago that we’d go slow and I meant it. Nothing is going to happen tonight that you’re not ready for, Trinity.”

“Okay,” I said, staring at his lips. “Come over here then, Viking.”

I readied myself for the feel of his skin against my own but nothing can ever truly prepare you for full bodied satiation. His large body engulfed my own, his sweet scents saturated me, and the sensual power of him filled me to the brim, spilled over, and then filled me up again.

As he’d promised he kept in control and just held me, his face buried deep in my hair, my arms clasped over his. Control was something I was having a hard time holding on to. I wanted more, so much more.

Was this magic? I didn’t know. Whatever it was, Gerik was fighting it simply to hold me. I could feel his muscles straining against his skin, his breath was ragged and hoarse, and still he did nothing but hold me. I reveled in the perfect feel of us.

Sometime later I awoke to the sound of the Frank the rooster crowing, his hens clucking madly as they chased him through the living lot.

Gerik and I had separated sometime during the night. He had taken all of the blankets and was using up most of the bed as well. I lifted up his arm, inhaling sharply at the contact of our skin and buried myself in the crook of his body. The heavy weight of his limb settled nicely over top of me.

He stirred at our touching, a smile playing on his beautiful mouth.

To look upon him in the early morning light, to see his pale hair shimmering as the strands caught the first rays of sun, is a truly beautiful gift. He looked peaceful and very young as he blinked away the remnants of sleep. Those pools of blue he tries to pass off as eyes shone more brilliantly than even the clearest of summer skies.

And his body…Oh Goddesses, that body… Like the statues of the Gods, he is a breathtaking work of art who I admire with the all the reverence one of his splendor deserves.

A fierce wave of possessiveness I didn’t wholly understand washed over me. Mine, I thought.

I started as Gerik’s arm tightened around me. He easily flipped me onto my back.

Looking down at me with an expression just as fierce as the unexpected emotions coursing through me, my Viking regarded me gravely.

“And you Trinity, are mine.”

He didn’t give me time enough to respond before his mouth crashed down upon mine.

Marcell was buried where the wildflowers grew the tallest and the most plentiful. In time they would once again cover the ground where the earth had been disturbed in order to bury his body. The Romani had placed both jewelry and money in the ground with him for his journey back to Nature. Food and drink were placed atop his grave, as was their long standing tradition in reverence of their dead.

Death had crept into camp. No longer was the inside of camp safe from the destruction of the outside world. We had been breached, someone had died, and the Romani wore that knowledge as plain as the expressions on their faces.

The camp still looked the same, chores still had to be done, the children still laughed and played, we still burned through the darkness with our fire meetings. Life as usual went on, but deaths ugly pall had settled over top of us. Something inside of me feared that this was only the beginning. That very fear had me thinking how useless I’d been when Xan and I were attacked. I may not be a Roma and I may not have magic but that didn’t mean I had to go on being helpless.

I had just finished dish duty when I set out to find Xan. Near the wood pile, an axe slung lazily over his bare shoulder, I found him. He was waiting for Shandor to place another thick log on the wide tree stump used for splitting logs into firewood.

As usual, he was shirtless as he worked; his jeans rode low on his hip bones, highlighting the sharp, muscular cut of his waist. My gaze snagged on the red and ragged slashes on his biceps and across his chest and guilt settled heavily upon me. I didn’t do anything to help him. I had been completely useless.

“Hey Trin-ity,” Shandor said in a singsong voice, shifting my attention to him. He looked from me to Xan and back to me with a sly smile on his face.

I scowled at him just as Xan slung the axe down. Shandor and I had to jump back a few feet in order to avoid the wood splatter.

“Thanks for the warning.” I shook out my sundress, now covered in bits of moss and wood chips.

He shrugged not even looking up at me.

He picked up another log, causing the muscles in his arm to flex and bulge. I stared.

Shandor coughed emphatically. The axe came down hard again, the wood split with an audible crack, one piece fell one way and the other fell to the opposite side. The smell of fresh cut oak tinged the air. Using the crook of his elbow to wipe the sweat from his forehead, Xan turned to look at me, his dark eyes cold.

“Something I can do for you fată?” He asked.

I looked back up at Shandor and saw amusement riding his features. It had been hard enough working up the courage to ask Xan for this, I absolutely could not do it in front of Shandor.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” I asked him.

“No.”

Both surprise and embarrassment caused me to take an instant step back. “No?” I repeated dumbly.

“You got a problem hearing me, Trin?”

“What’s your problem, Xan?” I asked, without thinking, “Why are you being such a bastard?” Eyes wide at my mistake, I slapped my hand over my mouth.

Shandor burst out laughing. “Because he is one!”

Xan slung the axe down into the tree stump, securing it firmly into the wood. He glanced at me, his demeanor deceptively calm. Suddenly, he swiveled to the right and landed a quick punch to Shandor’s gut. He doubled over with a groan.

“Son of a bitch,” Shandor seethed, glaring up at his friend.

Xan shrugged. “You keep talking about shit about my mamă and I’ll keep knocking some sense into you frate.”

Then he turned on me, gripped my elbow and dragged me some feet away.

“Trin, do me a favor and leave me alone.”

I gaped at him. What was his problem?

“What is your problem?”

“You’re a complication I just don’t need in my life.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He raised both hands in the air in an exasperated gesture. “Do you see me hanging around girls like you? Girls who can barely take care of themselves, let alone know what to do with a guy? I’m not sure exactly what you’re thinking fată. That because we shared some life threatening experience together we were going to become best friends?”

He snorted. “Sorry Trin, not gonna happen.”

Shocked and hurt I could only stare at him, unable to do anything about the tears that were forming.

“You…you…are…” I choked on my words as the tears began to fall.

“Yeah, I know what I am.” He gave me a humorless smile. “Now go find Gerik. He’ll give you a hug and make it all better. Probably should go before he see’s you talking to me anyway.”

His reaction to me, his hurtful words, suddenly made some sense.

As Xan turned to go, “He threatened you, didn’t he?” I asked quietly.

Xan paused.

Feeling bolder I continued, “He threatened you to stay away from me and you’re listening because you’re afraid of him!”

It was absolutely the wrong thing to say to a guy like Xan.

He closed the distance between us quickly, his dark eyes blackening with anger, the kind of anger only a guy like Xan knew. Anger that grew heavy and deep in between years and years of resentment, festering like an infected wound until the flesh was so decayed there was no going back, no healing from the pain.

“Fată,” He growled, leaning close to me. “I’m not scared of anything, just didn’t want my mamă to have to bury me is all. Probably would upset her.”

“Oh,” I whispered, swallowing hard. “Yeah, it probably would.”

“So what then, Trin?” He asked, his voice low and his body close enough that I could smell the scent of wood and sweat on his skin. “You want to go fuck somewhere?”

“What!” I sputtered. “No! I only wanted you to teach me how to fight!”

His eyes widened and he took a step back. Amusement spread across his harsh features.

“And”, I continued, “shoot a gun.”

“Shoot? As in shoot a real gun? Why?”

“I don’t ever want to feel that helpless again,” I told him, referring to the night we were attacked.

A look of in intrigue lightened his features and I could’ve sworn he was fighting a smile.

“Okay,” He finally said.

“Okay?” It couldn’t be this easy.

He made a face. “Yes, Trin, I said okay.”

He came forward again and I tensed at his nearness. “Do you know why I’m gonna do it?”

I shook my head, unable to speak.

“Because fată, I’m not afraid of Gerik.”

Then he kissed me.

My shoulders hit the nearest RV with a loud thud as he pushed me backwards. When I gasped in shock, he used the reaction to force his way into my mouth, not caring whether I responded to him or not. He continued to trespass, taking what he wanted, giving nothing in return.

It was a kiss meant to show dominance. He wanted me to know how much he didn’t care about Gerik. How much he didn’t value his life.

There was nothing exciting or sexual about it.

That wasn’t even the worst of it. I could have dealt with Xan’s impulsive display of control, his reckless need to prove that Gerik’s strength or magic wasn’t a concern of his. It was the wrongness of the kiss that truly shocked me. It was the revulsion that shot through my senses and the pain that prickled my nerve endings, all because of one kiss.

I instantly recoiled from Xan, trying hard to end the kiss. My mouth was like one of two repelling magnets desperate to get as far away from the other as quickly as possible. Eventually he pulled away from me, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. I almost fell over trying to get away from him.

“Next week after your chores. Front lot on the opposite side of the creek. If you’re not there Trin, don’t come near me again.”

I watched him stalk away, while I stood stock still, still reeling from the kiss. Had Gerik done this to me? Had he cast some sort of guy repellent spell?

Having never kissed any other guy aside from Gerik, and as of two seconds ago, Xan, I wouldn’t know. I’d suddenly wished I’d taken advantage of all of those guys who had asked me out on dates.

I found Becki sitting on the front steps to our trailer staring forlornly at a patch of grass in front of her.

She looked up as I approached. “Bad day?”

I shrugged. “More like painfully educational,” I said. “You?”

“That about sums it up.” She went back to studying her grass.