What did you mean by soulmate?
PENELOPE.
I hear the ocean in my dream. There are soft waves crashing and…
A rocking motion?
Why am I rocking?
And why do I feel like I got the best sleep of my life?
I stretch my arms and legs out.
I can literally smell the salt water in the air, like I’m sleeping on the beach or something.
Wait a minute.
My eyes open abruptly, and I find myself in an unfamiliar room. The rocking sensation wasn’t just in my dreams. Something is rocking gently.
I am in a small bed in the corner of a room. I sit up and look around, seeing nothing familiar. There is a small window with a curtain covering it, so I get up and walk over to look outside. When I look out, I see nothing but water.
Oh, my gosh.
I’ve been kidnapped.
My heart is racing, and my entire body feels heavy.
Think, Penelope.
What’s the last think you remember?
Liam. Cole. Aiden. Parker.
I hate how just thinking their names makes my heart race for an entirely different reason than fear.
Why are they the last thing I remember though?
Liam said something about a school.
Shifter Academy?
I told him no. Then I turned to go home and that’s the last thing I can remember.
Did they kidnap me?
No. They wouldn’t do that. I trust them.
Should I, though? I barely know them. And they could very well be my kidnappers.
Oh, God. I was kidnapped.
My heart is beating so fast and I am on the edge of having a panic attack. A real panic attack. This time, it’s not because of somebody else’s emotions. It’s because of mine.
I see myself in a mirror closely.
My eyes are black. So black. Which causes me to panic even more.
Why are my eyes black? They’re not even dark brown. They’re just straight up black—just utter darkness.
My hand trembles as I bring it up to my face, touching under my eyes, as if I can change the color somehow.
No. They’re still black.
A door I hadn’t even noticed bursts open and I watch Aiden, Cole, Parker, and Liam all come running in.
“Are you okay?” Aiden asks.
“My eyes.” I widen them for emphasis.
I was kidnapped and I’m seriously the most worried about my eyes?
It is a relief to see the four of them. I hate myself for being relieved at seeing them. I should be scared. They kidnapped me.
“What’s wrong with your eyes?” Liam’s brows furrow, and he stares at me with confusion written on his face. “They look fine to me.”
When I look back in the mirror, they’re purple.
“I am going crazy,” I mutter. “They were black.”
“They turn black when you’re mad or scared.” Aiden studies me. “Were you afraid?”
“Why would I be afraid? I only woke up on a boat.” My voice is still shaky from my panic attack. “Where the heck am I?”
Cole, Parker and Aiden all remain silent and look at Liam, so I look at him too.
Liam stares at me with a stoic expression, before he finally speaks up. “We’re on our way to Shifter Academy.”
“I thought I told you no,” I say, then gasp. “My family! I can’t just leave them! They’re going to think I was kidnapped.”
“Relax.” He holds his arms out in a “calm down” motion, before letting them fall back to his sides. “They think you’ve been selected to go to a special boarding school for the year.”
“My parents would never let me go to boarding school,” I protest. “And they definitely wouldn’t believe it if strangers told them I’d be going. They’d drive me. The whole family. We’re very close.”
“Don’t worry. We had somebody compel them,” Parker says.
“Compel?” I ask. “Like a Jedi?”
The four of them laugh.
“Not a Jedi.” Cole’s lips twitch as he jumps in to explain. “We’re not sure exactly who compelled them. Shifter Academy sent somebody—maybe a witch or a vampire or another shifter? We can all compel humans. It’s not hard. We would’ve done it ourselves, but we wanted to get you on the boat in case you woke up.”
“A vampire?” My voice comes out in a whisper.
“Don’t worry. They wouldn’t eat your family,” Aiden says. “They only eat from the willing, typically.”
“Typically?”
“If they’re really hungry, they’ll compel somebody so they can eat.”
My mouth falls open.
“Truly, don’t worry. They wouldn’t have been hungry if they compelled your family,” he adds.
My heart is beating super fast again.
My family.
“Will I ever see them again?” My voice cracks as I voice my fear.
“Of course you will.” Liam’s voice softens. “We have Thanksgiving and Christmas break, just like any other school.”
Thanksgiving?
I can’t see them until Thanksgiving?
Tears begin to fill my eyes.
I’ve never gone without seeing my family more than a day. I can’t survive being away from them for months.
“Her eyes are gray. I don’t like it when they’re gray,” Parker whispers. “Oh, God. There are tears. Somebody, make them stop.”
Aiden steps forward. Before I can tell him not to touch me, he puts his arms around me. When he grazes my skin with his, I expect there to be a rush of memories and emotions, but there’s not. It’s just… thoughts. Current thoughts.
Mine.
It’s what he’s thinking.
No, wait. That’s not him. That’s his… wolf.
He’s just… feeling guilty for taking me from my family. He wishes there was something else they could do, but there is literally nothing.
There is something else though. Something that is at the forefront of his mind.
“Soulmate?” I blink up at him.
Aiden pulls back, tilting his head to the side.
“You can… hear me?” he asks, stumbling over his words.
I nod.
He’s kind of cute when he’s nervous.
He swallows hard. “I can hear you too.”
My face grows warm and I let go of his arm. My thoughts are private, and I don’t want him to hear them.
I can still hear you.
That’s…
Aiden’s voice.
In.
My.
Head.
My breath is coming in too quickly now.
“Her eyes are black again,” Cole says, voice rising with each word.
“She’s panicking,” Aiden warns. “The link in our minds is permanent.”
“Get out of my head!” I yell.
He flinches when I yell at him and I feel a little guilty. But he’s in my head! It’s his fault. He touched me when I told them not to.
“I told you guys not to touch me for a reason.” I shudder and rub at my forehead. “It doesn’t usually happen like this though.” I pace back and forth in the small room. “Usually it’s one-sided. And it’s like… a movie. I can see everything that has ever happened in somebody’s life in a moment. I can feel their emotions and hear their thoughts. But it’s only supposed to go one way.”
“Just breathe.” Liam’s tone is gentle, and he moves to stand in front of me. He tries to touch me, so I back away, just out of his reach.
“Don’t touch me,” I snap, my voice coming out harsher than I intended.
I’m already linked to one of these guys though. I can’t link myself to more of them.
Even now, I can feel the worry coming off Aiden.
Liam is frowning, but I can see the hurt in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I just freaked out. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
“It’s okay.”
But is it really?
He still looks hurt.
I want to reach out and touch him. To stroke his cheek and show him how truly sorry I am. But what if I touch him and it opens a link like I have with Aiden? What if all these boys open a link?
An even scarier thought—what if every supernatural I touch does this?
“They won’t,” Aiden assures me as he shifts closer.
“What?” I ask, shaking my head in confusion.
“The only reason we have this link is because you’re my soulmate.” His eyes are bright as he reveals this information. “Other supernaturals won’t have this link with you.”
I lick my lips.
Right.
I forgot he was in my head for a moment.
I’m never going to have privacy again, am I?
Thankfully, Aiden doesn’t answer the question this time. Still, he feels guilty for touching me without my permission.
I guess if I’m going to be stuck in anybody’s head, I’m glad it’s him.
He’s the nice one.
But then something scratches at my head.
“What did you mean by soulmate?” I ask.
Penelope knows that Aiden is her soulmate, but she doesn’t know that I am too.
I want to tell her. I want to touch her. I want to make her mine.
But Liam is right. We can’t overwhelm her with us. I’m not sure how long we will be able to keep it all a secret. I’m hoping not long, but I can do this. For her.
I’m so mad at Aiden. Why did he get to be the one to touch her first? She didn’t back away from him like she did from me.
I swallow hard, my chest feeling heavy.
She rejected me.
No… she didn’t reject me on purpose. I know this. But my wolf doesn’t seem to get the memo.
She almost touched me last night when I was a wolf. She was half an inch away from my fur. I should’ve just leaned into her, but I was scared she would pull away—and she did.
I grin, thinking about how red her face was when I started stripping my clothes off—how red her face was when I changed back and didn’t have any clothes on. I always forget how modest humans are, but it was funny to see her embarrassed.
She’s so beautiful.
How did I get so lucky to have her as my mate?
Should I be jealous that I have to share her with three other guys? Because I’m not jealous. It’s almost like some kind of supernatural force has made me okay with this. Maybe that’s what it is.
Still, if I have to share my mate, I’m glad I get to share her with my three best friends. Can you imagine having to share a mate with somebody that you hated?
I wonder what everybody will think when we get back to the school. I don’t care, but also I’m worried it will be hard for Penelope. A lot of girls will be disappointed the Liam is off the market. He’s the future alpha—all the girls are hoping he will be their mate. The last thing I want is for Penelope to be a target.
At least we don’t have to be in the dorms anymore. They never make mated pairs stay in the dorms. They always get their own place outside of campus.
I wonder how that will work. There is usually just two people—not five.
No matter what happens, I know we will have to protect Penelope. And I will hurt anybody who tries to hurt her.
Within the next hour, we should be arriving at the school. From this point forward, things are going to change.
A big part of me is excited about showing off my mate to everybody. But there is another part of me that is nervous for her.
One thing is certain, I am not going to be letting her out of my sight. Not ever again.