A Thousand Years (Soulmates Book 1) (3 page)

4

              Anabell got up and stood as close to Eadric as she could, toe to toe, and looked up at him with a damning look. Poking her finger hard into his chest, the look morphed into a hard glare.

             
Eadric had to fight back a smile

             
"You better tell me what is going on right now, before kick you in the balls as hard as I can. Then I grab the letter opener off your desk and stab it into the side of your neck. I want the truth - all of it. No half-truths, no lies of omission, and no trying to protect my damn feelings. I have a father; I do not need another one.”

             
"I don't want to be your da’," Eadric said. His voice was a seductive whisper as he reached down and cupped her face in his hands. "My intentions are not so noble." The soft growl to his voice raked over her skin, giving her goose bumps from head to toe.               Somehow he knew because a cocky smile lit up his face.

             
Anabell’s lips parted as she watched him move in for a kiss. She couldn't have stopped it if she wanted to, and she suddenly didn't want to.

             
The gorgeous, impassioned man in front of her brushed his lips against hers, engaging her so gently, that she almost pulled back in surprise. She already felt how her body made him react - she was expecting a hot, crushing kiss that left her lips swollen and her lungs gasping for air.              

             
Instead, Eadric was kissing her with tenderness. All her reservations slipped away.

             
Anabell threw her arms around his neck and pulled him tight to her. Then grabbed his bottom lip with her teeth, sucking it into her mouth. Anabell's tongue teased his lip, making him imagine what else she could do with that magnificent mouth.

             
Eadric was instantly on fire.              

             
Just like Deirdre, this infuriating woman was full of wonderful surprises.

             
Eadric cupped her tight ass and lifted her off her feet, turning around to drop her on the edge of the desk. He nudged her legs apart with his knees and stepped between them to kiss her the way he had been dreaming of.

             
It was everything he remembered, but it was also brand new. Heady, fervent, foreign, and familiar. He wanted to commit her mouth to memory, so he explored it with his tongue until he couldn’t ignore the supple skin calling for him.

             
Eadric's lips never left her skin as he kissed his way to the hollow of his neck and buried his face there, taking a deep breath to take in the sweet smell of her skin. Rosemary and daffodil. She was real.

             
The closeness of her pulse beckoned to him, reminded him about his hunger lurking in his chest, begging him to taste her. His fangs slid down involuntarily. He gently scraped them along her skin.

             
Eadric needed to taste her. Just as he went to bite down, Anabell slammed her hands into his chest as hard as she could, catching him off guard and sending him flying back into the chairs.

             
"No." Her voice was quieter than a whisper. Bringing her hand up to her throat, she carefully checked it for teeth marks.             

             
When she found none, Anabell finally looked up at Eadric. Instead of looking angry that she shoved him, he looked concerned.

             
"Are you alright?" Eadric tried to move closer to her.

             
"I need to go home." Pushing off the desk, she ducked around Eadric and unlocked the door.

             
Anabell almost had it opened when he stopped her, pushing it back closed.

             
"You can't leave. Not without me."

             
"Stop saying that!" Anabell grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him off the door. He didn't budge.

             
"I won't let you get hurt." Anabell scoffed.

             
"You don't even know me."

             
"I know enough." Taking a step toward her, he grabbed one of her hands and held it firmly and gently – just enough to keep her standing still.

             
"I know that you were born twenty-one years ago at 10:25 in the morning. I know that you are independent. You like to be alone, and that you've only had your heart broken once. Mostly," Eadric brought her hand up to his chest and placed it over his heart. "I know that my heart keeps perfect time with yours – an even cadence that keeps me grounded. That you hold the key to my soul. And, somewhere deep inside you, your soul recognizes mine because we're destined to be together."

             
"That's horse shit. I bet you use that line on every woman you kidnap," she mumbled through the tears building in her throat.

             
Returning her hand, Eadric began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing inch by gorgeous inch of skin until his shirt was completely open. Then he tossed it onto the desk.

             
The tattoo she got a glimpse at in the club was much larger and way more intricate than she imagined. Lines upon lines of Celtic knots intertwined beautiful tribal designs covered then entire left side of his chest, his shoulder, and halfway down his left arm.

             
The most interesting part sat low on his chest. A brand of three intersecting pointy ovals in a circle. She knew there was a name for it, but she couldn't remember while staring at his bare skin.

             
Before she knew what she was doing, she reached out and brushed her fingers across it. She could feel his strong heart beat just below the surface of the burned skin. It looked beyond painful. But the look on Eadric's face was serene as she traced the lines of beautiful scar.

             
"What does all this mean? Someone burned this into your skin." Eadric took her hand, closing it until only her pointer finger was still out. Careful not to hurt her, he used her finger to trace every line in the triquetra and the circle around it.

             
"What does it mean? Or what does it mean to me?" Anabell nodded, saying yes to both. "It means life, death, and rebirth - surrounded by a never-ending eternity. But to me, it signifies a promise that I made a very long time ago." Re-opening her palm, Eadric held her hand over the scar and pressed it hard to him. “It means that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe because the thought of losing you is worse than the idea of death. The sting of it wore out a very long time ago.”

             
Anabell jerked her hand loose and took a few steps back. She needed a little room to breathe. They had just met, and he was already talking about dying for her. It was too intense, and she didn’t know what to do with it. She still wasn’t sure she believed anything he was saying. She still had not seen enough proof that someone was after her.

             
Eadric could be using her. It wouldn’t be the first time a good looking guy took advantage of her soft heart. At least he couldn’t take her virginity and try to blackmail her with it.

             
“Why – exactly – are people after me? Don’t touch me, or kiss me, or talk about how well you know me. The only thing I want from you is the truth – the God’s honest truth about what is going on.”

             
“They’re after you because you’re my soul mate.”

             
Anabell choked back a laugh. He was obviously playing some sort of trick on her. He was crazy, and she needed to get out of there. The only thing standing in her way was him.

             
“I’m pretty sure that you’re certifiable – so you need to let me go now, or I’m going to scream until one of your neighbors busts the damn door down.” Anabell took a deep breath to fill her lungs as much as possible.

             
Eadric zipped to her side and cupped his hand over her mouth and guided her back into one of the chairs. She was so shocked that she couldn’t respond.

             
Anabell opened her mouth to speak once he let her go, but Eadric stopped her.

             
“Would ye shut your mouth and let me explain?”

             
Eadric told her the bare bones about his life pre- and post-demon, his ties to her, and the Soulless chasing after her, he saw the disbelief light up her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. He was losing her. Fast. She didn’t even have to open her mouth to tell him that she did not believe a word he was saying.

             
"First, you don't look a day over twenty-five. There's no way you've been alive for over a century. Demons don't exist. You are delusional. You definitely need professional help." Anabell scoffed.  Twenty-eight, she could buy. Hell, thirty, thirty-one, they were plausible too. Why are the sexy ones always crazy? She had the worst luck. That‘s what she got for thinking a guy that practically abducted her was a viable option.

             
Eadric didn’t know what else he to do to prove to her that he was being honest, then it hit him. It was a big risk because it could blow up in his face if she took it badly. His demon form wasn’t something that he bothered using often, and he never brought it out just for the hell of it. Aside from Lugh and a few Soulless, no one had seen it. And the ones that did saw it just before they died.

             
“Let me show you. Maybe then you’ll believe.” Eadric walked behind his desk chair and took off his jeans. Closing his eyes tightly, he forced his powers to course through his body.

             
The tattoo on his chest began to ripple. The braided lines shifted and untwined, rearranging themselves to cover his whole chest, back, and both arms until his whole torso looked like a little bit of skin under massive swirls of black ink. Some had even crept up his neck to his face to resemble tribal war paint.

             
A brown, leather kilt appeared around his waist to the top of his knees, and a Scottish claymore appeared in a sheath that was strapped to his back.

             
Stepping around the chair, Eadric let Anabell take in the full view. He had one last thing to do. His fangs slid down in his mouth, all he had to do was open it and show her the extent of his true self.

             
When he did, all Hell broke loose.

             
Anabell shrieked. Faster than he knew a human could move, she threw open the door to the office and took off running. She was down the stairs and almost the front door before he absorbed what happened and took off after her.

             
Anabell had no idea if what she saw was real, but she was not sticking around to find out. There was something very, very wrong with Eadric. She heard him moving in the house as she reached the front door and threw it open. She needed to run faster, so he couldn’t catch her and drag her back to that mad house.

             
Her heart was racing.

             
Rushing out the door, she didn’t bother to shut it behind her, and she ran down the driveway. Eadric wasn't out of the door until she was already to the road.

             
Anabell didn't look both ways or even take a minute to look at her surroundings as she ran out onto the road. The only car coming either way was headed right at her. It was dangerous, but it was her only chance.             

             
Both Anabell and Eadric, who was still in the driveway, froze.

             
The driver slammed on his breaks as hard as he could, stopping the large van just feet from her.

             
Anabell barely flinched. She saw her chance to get away from Eadric.

             
Walking over to the passenger’s side of the van, she was about to ask the driver if he could take her to a bus station when the panel door flew open to reveal three men crouched there behind it, waiting. She didn't have a second to scream as three sets of arms reached out and pulled her in to the van. The panel slammed shut behind them.              

             
Eadric was right.

             
Racing to the road, Eadric jumped into action. He wasn't going to let them have her that easily. The van driver slammed his foot down on the gas, but Eadric stepped out right in front of the vehicle anyway. The driver would either swerve or hit him. He was a block of pure muscle. Eadric would slow them down either way.

             
And if he swerved, the road was too narrow for them to get through without hitting a bank, a ditch, or a light pole.