Her Soul Bonded Mate

Chapter 3

We arrived at the party a few minutes after 11, mostly because Taylor kept getting lost, which made sense given how much time she spent on the phone. The abandoned mill was a steel mill that apparently hadn’t been used in over 60 years and the place was already packed with cars everywhere. I followed Taylor into the shabby looking building and through the crowd of hundreds of people dancing to the sounds of Chris Brown and Drake, while vapor smoke flooded the room and strobe lights lit up the dance floor. My goal that night was to stay in the back as far away from other people as possible, and hopefully disappear in an uber or lyft before Taylor knew I was gone.

“Wow Neffi you look amazing,” Liam said, the moment we walked towards him and the rest of the people Taylor had introduced me to, but, of course, my eyes fell on him.

“Amazing, knoll, you look sexy. You should dress up more often”, Devonte flirted.

“Thanks,” I said, feeling a bit embarrassed and pleased with their reactions.

“I know right, you’re welcome,” Taylor said, taking the credit. Then everyone split up, with Sam practically dragging Liam away from me, while the others found people to dance with. Taylor tried to get me to dance with them, but I opted to sit that one out while watching them from afar, ignoring all the people who attempted to hit on me.

“There you are,” Liam said, shocking me out of my daze.

“I’ve been standing here the entire time,” I said, dryly and ready to go.

“You really do look beautiful,” he said suddenly, and making me blush.

“Thank you,” I said, softly.

“How are you doing?” He practically shouted over the loud music.

“I’m okay,” I shouted back.

“Why do you always say that? I know you’re not okay. No one would be okay after what you’ve been through,” he said, reminding me of the one thing I wanted to forget about for the night.

“Can you not do this right now?” I snapped, already over the conversation, then started for the door.

“If not now, then when? You’ve been avoiding everyone since it happened and all we want is to make sure you are okay,” Liam said, forcing me to look at him. We were outside in the cool east coast air that had gotten colder since Taylor and I got there.

“No, you just want to pity me, talk about me behind my back and say poor little rich girl, her parents were killed by wild animals and she thinks it was murder. She should be committed or at the very least forced to stay with her aunt so she could take care of her. Well news flash, I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I’ve been taking care of myself just fine these past five months, and I’ve gotten good at it,” I yelled as the tears began to flood my cheeks.

Suddenly, I was in his arms and on instinct began to breathe in his scent as he whispered in my ear, that everything was going to be alright and he would help me get through this. “You hear me, I promise I will help you get through this,” he assured me. “Come with me,” he said, breaking our hug, and I followed him towards his car. All my life I dreamt of the day that I’d ride in the car with him. I visualized him opening the door for me, then closing it after I was in. I’d then reach over to unlock the driver's door, he’d get in and we’d drive off into the sunset with our hands wrapped tightly around each other, and that is almost exactly what happened. The difference was I didn’t open his door; however, he did grab my hand the way I had always wanted him too.

“Where are we going?” I asked, in a daze with my eyes focused solely on the dark road ahead of us.

“There is this diner that I came across a few months ago. I thought it would be a good place for us to talk,” he said, smiling over at me, and for the first time since it happened I felt safe. Liam always had that air about him that made everyone feel at ease. I guess that’s why I liked him so much.

“Okay,” I said, softly.

“Also, I don’t think your parents were killed by wild animals,” Liam said, shocking me and making me love him more.

“You don’t,” I asked, relieved.

He shook his head no, “They were found in their bed with four perfectly deep cuts on their throats that resembled animal marks, but the rest of their bodies were left entack. Plus, your parents’ house was a three-story mansion. There is no way they would have gotten into their room and gotten out without breaking something. If anything, they were targeted. The only question is why.”

“I don’t know, I’ve been trying to figure that out for months. Everyone in town loved my parents, or at least they acted like they did,” I explained.

“They did. We all loved your parents. Sure, they were rich, but they didn’t flaunt their money, they gave back to the community. Whoever the murderers are, were not from Dawson City,” he said, as he squeezed my hand, then turned into an almost empty parking lot. The diner was small, about the same size as the ones back home I used to go to with my friend, only we didn’t go in; instead we sat in the car and talked.

“I know,” I said, as I wiped the tears from my eyes. “At least deep down I hoped none of the people would do something like that to my parents. I just…”

“I get it. If something like that happened to my parents, I probably would have acted the same way and they are just my adopted parents,” he said, as his eyes turned towards the window, staring into the distance. Liam was adopted when he was 2 from Vancouver. Liam’s father was the chief of police in our small town while his mother worked for the board of education. “Anyway, I just want you to know that no matter what, I got you,” he said, sincerely.

“Why? Why are you being so nice to me? We never talked back home. Is it because of my parents?” I asked, searching his eyes for the answer and hoping that wasn’t the case.

“I know. I always wanted to talk to you back home, but I could never muster up the courage,” he said, shocking me and getting my fullest attention as my mind began to race with millions of questions.

“Really? You were the most popular guy at school,” was the only thing I could get out.

He smiled then, brought our hands up to meet his eyes, “You were the most popular girl,” he said, again shocking me.

“I was? I thought that was Tiffany,” I said, finally forgetting about my worries and sadness.

He shook his head no, “It was you. Everyone loved you and envied you because of your high spirit and how smart you are. I was a hockey jock but all of my attempts to impress you didn’t seem to work.”

“Wait, you wanted to impress me?" I asked, trying to process the information.

Again he smiled and shook his head, while I sat there dumbfounded that the guy I had liked for years liked me, but was too scared to approach me just like I was him. “But that is not important. What’s important now is,” was the last thing I let him say before kissing him. Yes, it was impulsive, but at that moment I didn’t care. Maybe it was the depression from my parents’ case, the fact that he said he liked me, or the fact that he believed me. Whatever it was didn’t matter because I needed to feel something other than depression and he wasn’t stopping me. In fact, he unsnapped my seat belt then put me on his lap, allowing me to straddle him. I always wondered what kissing this man would be like and now I knew, and it was amazing. His tongue sucking on mine as his hands roamed down my body and just as I was about to take his shirt off, I felt a strong shove against the car.

We both screamed, then I hurried to get back in my seat, hoping he would drive, but the moment I got into my seat, the car was struck again from my side.

“Hurry,” I cried, and Liam attempted to start the engine.

“What the f**k?” Liam said, just as terrified as I was, only his eyes were staring at the image in front of us. There was a group of people dressed in all black and glaring at us with those piercing black eyes, and I could have sworn I saw fangs.

“GO,” I ordered.

“I’m trying,” Liam said, panicked.

“That’s him,” One of the men said, glaring at Liam.

“I thought, so I could smell it on him,” the guy I assumed was the leader said, as my eyes shot towards Liam, who was looking at them just as terrified and confused as I was. “Kill them,” the man ordered, and in an instinct our car was surrounded by men and what appeared to be wolves and I was sure I was going to die, joining my family in the afterlife. Right as the wolves and people were about to attack, this blinding light appeared out of nowhere.

Go now, I heard a male voice say. At first, I was tempted to look around to see who it was that said that; however, I was terrified and my better judgement got the best of me, so I said, “Go,” and Liam drove as fast as he could, leaving behind the nightmare, and leaving me with more questions than answers.