Chapter 11

Bastian turned and looked over to where Leone and Trendan stood leaning against the wall. They were perfectly fine with just standing there and doing nothing. He didn’t do that very well. Sure, he could stay in one spot for a long time just as long as he was people-watching, but alley-watching was not fun. His nerves felt like they were all firing at once inside him, he had never been this close to meeting her. Seeing her, or her soul he chased through all time when he was face to face with her—what was he going to say? Hey, how’s your soul doing? He looked down at the pavement. That was so lame he probably just lost cool points thinking it.

To kill time, he tried to remember the faces that had kept the soul safe over the years, he couldn’t go back too far, because there were too many years to cover, and his memory wasn’t that good. The last one before the breathtaking blonde had been a petite redhead, with curls that refused to be tamed. He smiled; he’d never managed to get close enough to touch that hair to see if it was as springy as it looked. The one prior to the exuberant redhead had been a woman with long brown hair, that was so tightly braided, he was sure it may have cut off the flow of blood to her brain, but she’d seen him and gone the other way so fast, he hadn’t been able to get a good enough look at her.

Before her, she’d been an exotic-looking creature with dark hair and emerald eyes. He’d blown his chance that time pausing to admire her beauty, by the time he’d snapped out of it, she’d vanished. He turned in a circle and looked around, it may have even been in this area that had happened. The city was constantly changing, he’d seen it being built from dirt to skyscrapers, but this area still held most of the old buildings and now that he’d been told she was in this neighborhood, he wondered if somehow the women were connected. Not in blood, if their looks were any indication, but by the soul. Which was impossible. Souls didn’t link through past lives for a reason. He couldn’t imagine how taxing it would be if a soul recalled its past life with each rebirth, that would be insanity and they wouldn’t last long in a body that way.

“Bastian.”

He looked up to see what Leone wanted, the big guy motioned down the alleyway. Turning, his breath caught in his throat. It was her. She was right there standing in the blocked end of the alley, and she saw him waiting for her. He wanted to run toward her and touch her, make sure she was real, and he wasn’t imagining her but didn’t want to scare the hell out of her. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled slowly, willing himself to settle, giving her the time to accept that this meeting was going to happen. It was long overdue, she had to know that too, didn’t she? He had no idea what he was going to say to her, even as his feet started moving in her direction. He didn’t hear Leone or Trendan moving, so at least they weren’t going to spook her by towering over her as well.

Bastian expected to see fear on her face as he moved closer, but it wasn’t there. He couldn’t be certain, but her expression seemed curious, guarded, but not fear, so that was good. He was afraid to look away from her pretty hazel eyes to see the rest of her but did. Her skin was glowing and flawless and he bet it was warm and smooth to the touch. He blinked; he couldn’t be thinking things like that when he didn’t know why this soul. Her hair, he realized wasn’t just blond, it held notes of gold and ambers throughout it. She was truly breathtaking.

He stopped when he was a half dozen feet from her, making sure to give her space and not frighten her. “I’ve,” he cleared his throat to find his voice, “I’ve been chasing you throughout the ages.” He smiled, hoping that line wasn’t as lame as he feared.

“Why?”

Her tone wasn’t hard, but just that one word told him she was not going to take any guff from him and was more pleased by that than he should have been. “I’ll get to that in a bit, I’m going to say some things that are going to sound a little crazy, and make me seem quite mad.”

Her expression didn’t change, she didn’t move that pouty mouth to speak either, just continued to stand there and look at him.

“Uh, souls.” Good start, Bas, screw it up some more. “Souls are very real.” He paused; her expression didn’t change at all. Note to self, do not play poker with this woman. “And-and they cross over from one life to the next, and the next.”

She stood there, just looking at him, he thought for a moment he’d stunned her with that information, then he saw her chest rise and fall just before she nodded. “Thanks, but I’m aware of that.” She gave him a firm little nod, “now please stop following me or looking for me.” She started to walk to the other side of the alley to go around him.

“Wait.” He bolted toward her, his hand out, and then jerked it back before he touched her. “You’re in danger, that’s-that’s why I’ve been looking for you.”

Pausing, she turned back to face him. “From?”

Rubbing his hand over his hair, he winced. “That’s very complicated to explain without sounding insane.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, lifting one beautifully curved eyebrow.

Dropping his hand, he nodded, trying to find the right way to say this. “So-so souls are reborn, and it’s my job to see that they are safe, ah...” He’d tried to explain this before and it never went well. “That they are safe until their rebirth.” She was searching his eyes the entire time he tried to not blunder this up so bad she vanished from him forever. It was very distracting. “The other day there were two men following you, they’re...” He stopped before he said 'my realm'. “They take souls, unconsented.” Her brows went up, so she was understanding what he was saying. He’d been worried for a moment. “They were after you.”

“I know.”

She knew. She really did know. What else did he know? How? He gave his head a slight shake. “So you know you’re in danger then, good. Not that you’re in danger, but that you know.” He was trying, in what likely was an obvious way to not stand there with his gob hanging open and staring at her soul, it was iridescent and the most beautifully intriguing thing he’d ever seen. He realized she was waiting for him to finish. “I’m sorry, your soul is so distracting, I can’t seem to focus.” His whole body was humming with a very curious vibration he’d never felt before. It was a draw like when a soul was close to leaving a body. He had never felt this feeling before.

“Why is it? Why this soul?” She was scowling at him now.

Oh, bad, he thought. “I’m not sure, but it pulls at me in a way I’ve never felt before, and to be completely honest it has been driving me mad for centuries trying to figure out why.” He cringed internally, saying 'century' to anyone was not a good idea.

She stood there, emotions and thoughts moving through her eyes so fast he couldn’t grasp a single one. “Okay.” She nodded her head slightly, “thank you for warning me. I will be very careful.” She nodded her head again and backed a few feet away from him.

What? No. He shook his head, holding his hand out from his body. “It’s not safe for you to be out on your own. They’re after you, you do understand that, right?” This couldn’t be it. He couldn’t let her walk away. “You should—” Should what? “You shouldn’t be out on your own…”

A hard look cut off whatever the hell he intended on saying. She glanced over his shoulder, and he knew that she’d spotted Leone and Trendan. Taking a few steps toward him, she scowled and then pointed a finger at him, and his only thought was she was positively gorgeous—oh and oh, shit, his soul was buzzing inside him as if someone had just plugged it into an electrical outlet. He was completely stunned and couldn’t move. Didn’t want to move. He could have happily stood here forever looking at her, feeling this feeling.