Free The Soul Mate by Madeline Sheehan Page A

fleeing through
the woods.
    It didn’t take long for Emilian to catch up
to her. He was still faster, still bigger and much stronger. He
swooped her up from behind and swung her around through the
air.
    “ You’re acting like a child,” He said,
breathing heavily as he placed her gently on the ground, still
clutching her from behind.
    “ I’m not a child,” She whispered, on the
verge of crying again. Treime hated herself for feeling so
vulnerable and for being so weak. It had felt as if Emilian had
possessed her very soul since the first day she could remember, but
it had never been the same for him. She ached so badly inside she
wanted to scream, to beat the earth from the unfairness of it all
until it bled with understanding.
    “ You will marry me Treime. I have waited
for you and will continue to wait until you are old enough, but
then you will marry me.”
    Emilian spun Treime roughly around and shook
her. His eyes were dark, his anger hot and thick around them.
    “ You have no say or choice in the
matter.”
    “ And you always get what you want, don’t
you?” Treime thought of the Gaje girl at the well so long ago when
she’d felt the touch of Emilian’s magic. She wondered how many
other girls he’d used magic on to get what he wanted.
    Emilian’s eyes widened.
    “ Little one, I didn’t force her,” He said
gently. “All the magic did was intensify what she was already
feeling.”
    Treime started. “How did you know what I was
thinking?”
    Emilian smiled. “We’re special Treime, but
you… you were special before you were even born. The Baró and all
the elders knew that you were coming and that you were to be
mine.”
    “ You’ve known about us since before I was
born?”
    “ I did. I was terrified of you at first.
Then I saw those big green eyes of yours and you smelled so
beautiful and…”
    He tilted his head smiled at her again, a
different kind of smile, one that made her feel not so childish and
caused a warming sensation low in her belly.
    “ And what?” Treime’s cheeks heated under
his gaze.
    Emilian’s lips met hers in a soft kiss that
was slow and sweet and achingly tender. When he pulled away Emilian
cupped her cheeks in his hands and their eyes locked.
    “ I kissed you puţin o. And I knew then I
was forever lost.”

CHAPTER NINE
    And I thought learning how to use a gun would
be challenging. Xan wanted me to learn how to breathe. But not
before he gave me a speech about it.
    “Stress is gonna screw you up. Breathing
correctly will help you with both fighting and shooting. It’s gonna
relax you and get your blood flowing properly.”
    He had me lying down on the grass inhaling
deeply through my nose and exhaling twice as hard through my
mouth.
    “Focus on ridding all of the tension in your
body, especially your hands.” He kept repeating. “Your hands need
to be steady, that’s the most important thing. Steady hands.”
    Steady hands. Steady hands. He said it so
much I was afraid I would be saying it my sleep.
    “How do you feel fată?”
    I yawned. “Fine.”
    “Good. Let’s get started then.”
    Xan didn’t hand me a shotgun like most of the
guys carried. Instead he gave me a small gun, a smooth black
semi-automatic. His reasoning for this?
    “I give you anything with a higher caliber
fată and your delicate little self isn’t going to be able to
operate it.”
    I kept my mouth shut. I wanted to learn how
to use a weapon, not fight with Xan about what kind of weapon I
should use or what a sexist pig he is. I was a little disappointed
though, I’d seen the bigger ones blow huge holes in those
creature’s. That was the kind of power I was looking for.
    That afternoon he taught me how to take out
the magazine, how to empty it, reinsert it, and had me doing dry
fire drills all morning. It was mind numbing. By lunch time I
wanted to shoot him, only I had no bullets in the gun.
    “What’s that look for Trin? You think I’d let
you near me with a loaded gun