Free Soul-Mate (Immortal Love 1) by Anna Santos

literature wasn’t the hardest thing to achieve while living a double life. However, facing the murder of my parents and being recruited by a secret organization of humans and hybrids who fought supernatural beings that didn’t obey the rules was .
    “No. I like the fact you are smart,” he said softly, not wanting to upset me again.
    I didn’t know why I was even upset for being questioned about my age. Maybe because I was sure that he was older, much older, than me. I could feel it. He acted like it. He wasn’t immature, and I liked that. But maybe my age could be a problem for him. I wasn’t going to get any older, but he didn’t know that. My aging process had slowed down. My last exams showed it. My vampire side was kicking in. Soon enough, I would have to feed more often on blood. The idea didn’t please me much, but my panther side also liked to eat raw meat. It had blood in it, so why start being picky? I just had to hunt an animal and eat more often than I was doing already.
    “I think it’s time for me to go,” I said, getting up, uncomfortable with the sudden silence. Not that we hadn’t been silent before, but, at that moment, I wasn’t comfortable there anymore. He seemed to want to ask questions that I couldn’t answer, or at least couldn’t answer with the truth. And I didn’t want to lie to him. It felt weird, as if it wasn’t right to do to him. Being around him seemed way too familiar and relaxing. I couldn’t open up, and I didn’t want to feel the pain of lying.
    “Don’t be silly, Anna,” he said, catching my hand and making me sit down next to him. “I’m not judging you. I could care less about your age. I mean, unless you’re a minor . Are you a minor?” He smiled in a lame attempt to make me smile back, and he almost achieved it, but I was able to maintain my annoyed-by-the-questions face. “You never showed me your ID. Besides, why couldn’t I know your age?”
    “If you just wanted to know my age, why were you so surprised when I told you?”
    “I thought you were older. Even if you don’t look older, you sound older. You are really intelligent, and you know a lot of things. We have smart conversations. Besides, you are a teacher.”
    I eyed him, mentally rebuilding my walls to keep him outside and protect myself from feeling vulnerable. I wasn’t quite sure why I was still there. I had meticulously planned to leave the previous morning and never see him again.
    It hurt to think about leaving. It shouldn’t hurt. I should be smarter and not fall for the guy’s sweet talk, with his dreamy blue eyes and lips that gave amazing kisses. I had let him in, and I was beginning to regret it. It was time to put an end to that weekend and come back to reality.
    “Anna,” he called, probably guessing that I was plotting a way to run from him again. It shouldn’t bother me so much if I never saw him again. “What are you thinking?” He pulled me closer. I avoided his eyes, dwelling on the idea that I had let things go too far, and I needed to get rid of him . I wanted to leave without any drama. It had been fun, but the weekend was over, and so were we.
    “I’ll just get dressed and…”
    “What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice laced with panic. I raised my eyes to look at him.
    “The weekend is over,” I whispered, trying not to sound sad about it. “I should leave.”
    “No,” he said with serious face. “I don’t want you to leave.”
    “Shane, this was fun but I…” He put the tip of his fingers over my lips, making me shut up. My heart rejoiced with the fact that he didn’t want me gone.
    “I don’t want you to leave. I want you to tell me what you were thinking. You were really quiet.”
    “I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
    “It’s your first day at work. I thought that you may be worried about that.”
    “No.”
    He seemed to be memorizing my face. It was impossible to ignore the intensity of his eyes on mine and the softness