Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

“The entire house is secure, and I’ll be keeping watch outside all night. Even if five vampires tried to distract me and break in, I’ll be able to take them all down before they can even scratch the windows,” she said as she led Aubree up the stairs to the third level.

Aubree nodded, glad that Stone wasn’t around as she followed Gwen. She wasn’t ready to face him yet. She wasn’t sure what to say or how she’d react when she saw him again. She almost wished she could forget everything. Forget meeting him, Gwen, and the others. But if he was her soulmate, wouldn’t that mean that some force of nature would bring them together eventually?

“Gwen?” Aubree asked in a small voice at the top of the stairs. “What are the possibilities of meeting you if I never met you at the coffee shop?”

“Well, that would depend,” she replied, thinking about her answer for a moment. “If we never picked up your scent on the road that night you moved in, then it could have taken a few weeks for us to pick up on it in the city.”

“Wait,” Aubree paused, thinking back on that night, and how she almost hit something on the road. “You guys were there? Did I almost hit you with my car?”

Gwen looked back at her with her head tilted. “We were there, but you almost hit Carina, the vampire we believe responsible for the threat against your life.”

The blood rushed from Aubree’s head at her words. The vampire threat really did go all the way back to when she moved in with Dan.

“Did she know that I was... that I am Stone’s...”

Gwen shook her head. “I don’t think so. She was long gone before you even continued on your way. She probably never got a chance to pick up your scent. We had to remain hidden in the trees along the road until you left. Even though your scent was contained within the car, we were still able to pick it up.”

Aubree swallowed. “So, even if none of that happened, we were all bound to meet eventually, is what you’re saying?”

Gwen shrugged. “Most likely. The matebond is pretty persistent.”

Aubree pressed a hand to her face in hopes of easing some of the pain in her temples. “Matebond?”

“That’s the, uh, chemistry? I guess you could call it that,” Gwen said. “It’s the bond that is shared between soulmates. It’s that ‘pull’ you feel that compels you to be drawn to Papa. Try as you might to fight against it, it will only get stronger over time.”

That explained a lot.

Aubree heaved a sigh. “Resistance is futile, huh?”

“Afraid so. Usually, there is no resistance but you’re a special case,” Gwen said as she went to one of the closed doors and turned the knob to open it. “Since you’re human and have a boyfriend—”

“Fiancé,” Aubree corrected, the word sounding forced, almost harsh on her tongue.

As she followed Gwen to the door, Gwen pursed her lips as she pushed it open. “Right. Anyway, there are complications with you being a human. That’s why Papa didn’t try to claim you right away. Not only do you know nothing about us, soulmates, or the matebond for that matter, but our society has strict rules regarding lycans and humans, um, interbreeding, if you will.”

“Never mind,” Aubree muttered, her exhaustion, mental, and physical strain finally getting the best of her. She didn’t even want to think about getting pregnant and having children with Stone right now. “Sorry I asked.”

Gwen flicked the light-switch on and Aubree peered into a simple bedroom with a King-sized bed in the middle of the room, dresser and wardrobe along one wall, bookshelf along another with a sitting chair, and a large dark-stained oak chest at the foot of the bed. All of the wooden furniture was stained the same dark shade and looked to be custom-made by hand. There was an adjoining private bathroom and heavy curtains drawn over a big window.

Aubree couldn’t help but close her eyes and inhale Stone’s familiar scent. This was his room. Without his intense presence and antagonizing eyes, a sense of calmness filled her.

Her stomach suddenly growled, making her blush.

Gwen laughed. “Let me see what I can find for you to eat. I had a feeling this room would calm you down a bit. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable and I’ll be right back.”

Gwen gracefully slipped around her and hurried down the stairs as Aubree turned her gaze back to the room.

It was a good size. Bigger than her and Dan’s bedroom in their apartment. She stepped inside, her feet padding softly on the cool hardwood surface as her fingertips grazed over the downy duvet. The bedding was a stark white with a thick black stripe along the edges. Although the comfort of the bed pulled on her tired, aching body, she was immediately drawn to the bookshelf that held an assortment of antique books and framed pictures.

The corners of her lips tugged up as her heart gave a gentle squeeze when her eyes landed on an old picture of Gwen leaning against the white and sea-green hood of a 1950s Chevy. Dressed in a pink poodle skirt and a flattering white blouse, her dark hair fell in gentle ringlets around her smiling face and over her shoulders.

There was no doubt about the authenticity of the photo. It was Gwen back in the fifties and she hadn’t changed a bit, aside from the style.

The next photo looked more recent, taken in the last thirty years perhaps. She had on a pair of high-waist faded blue jean short-shorts and a red and white checkered crop-top that knotted in the front. Her mane of hair was big and poufy. She was laughing at the cameraman with the Grand Canyon as her backdrop.

Next to that one was a grainy old black and white photo. Aubree’s jaw dropped when she looked at Gwen’s short hair in a cute little bob and she was wearing the pearl necklace she had around her neck. It was a glamour photo back in the day. A serious pose with a hint of a smile on her face, and although her eyes were gazing to the edge of the frame, there was a sadness within their depths.

The next shelf held three pictures of Gavin, all taken around the same timeframe as the previous three of Gwen.

Dressed in a black leather jacket and jeans from the fifties, he was sitting in the passenger seat of the white and sea-green Chevy with a burger in his hands and a small smile on his face.

Next to that, Gavin with a squinty smile, as if the sun was in his eyes, and the Grand Canyon behind him.

Again, the third picture was a black and white one, where he was likewise staring at the edge of the frame, a serious expression on his face, and sadness in his eyes. His face was clean-shaven and his facial features sharpened by the lighting, making him look more like his father.

“I hope spam will be okay,” came Gwen’s voice behind her.

Aubree whirled around, her fingertips touching the pearls around her neck as her eyes met Gwen’s as she stepped into the room.

Gwen noted that Aubree was standing in front of the bookshelf and had been looking at their pictures. She smiled, but it didn’t quite meet her eyes.

“Times have changed so much.” She grimaced when she said that. ”Goddess, I sound like an old lady.”

She set a tray down on Stone’s bed. It held a glass of water, an opened can of spam, a spoon, and two pills.

“The painkillers are extra strength, so one will probably be enough for you, but I brought you a second just in case,” Gwen said.

Aubree swallowed, her thoughts lingering on the last few decades that Gwen, Gavin, and Stone had lived through. While she was torn between Dan and Stone, they had lost a mother and a wife to what must have been a brutal death. Dan and Stone would both live, no matter who she chose, but Gwen’s mother was dead. Or, rather, her physical body was gone. Her soul was now in Aubree and should she leave them, it would be like losing their mother all over again.

Guilt filled her again, and she lowered her gaze to the floor. “Can you help me take this necklace off?”

“Of course.”

Gwen came around to her back and began to unfasten it. While Aubree removed the matching earrings, Gwen reached up to the top shelf of the bookcase and pulled down a small wooden box. Opening the lid, she set the necklace in it while Aubree handed her the earrings and took the clip out of her hair. Before Gwen could close it with all of her mother’s belongings, Aubree thought she saw a small, old, and yellowed enveloped at the bottom of the box.

Gwen put the box back up on the top shelf without another word before she went to the dresser and pulled open the second drawer. Pulling out a simple white T-shirt, she turned and set it on the bed before closing the doors.

“You can wear this to bed. Papa won’t mind. In fact, I know he’d be happy if you wore it,” she said as a grin began to spread across her face.

Aubree could feel her cheeks heat up and she didn’t know why she was blushing. Was it the fact that Gwen was the one telling her this? Or was it the thought of wearing something that had once touched his skin?

She immediately grabbed one of the painkillers and swallowed it with some of the ice water. She needed to get that thought out of her head immediately.

“Well,” Gwen said with a sigh as Aubree put the glass down. “I should get out there. It’s getting dark and you need to get some rest.”

Aubree nodded, not sure how she was supposed to get any rest at all as her mind and heart battled within her.

“I swear, I’ll be no more than ten feet away from the house at all times. Papa’s given me strict orders,” Gwen said.

Aubree gave her a small smile of gratitude. “Be careful out there.”

“Aww, but that’s no fun!” Gwen pouted. “Papa already took away all my fun and now you’re telling me to be careful? Jeez, this blows.”

Aubree’s smile widened at Gwen’s attempt to lighten the mood.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Gwen said, becoming serious again. “Okay?”

Before she closed the door behind her, she added with pursed lips, “Just, don’t look outside the window, kay?”

Aubree raised an eyebrow. “Okay.”

“Nighty night!”

As soon as Gwen was gone, Aubree dashed to the bookshelf for the small box. She could barely reach it, but she managed to slide it forward and ease it into her hands. Damn her shortness!

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she opened the box and removed the pearls so she could find the object of her desire. Her heart began to pound as she took it out and held the fragile paper in her hands.

The small envelope was quaint, the lovely handwriting perfectly centered and slightly faded.

Mein Lieber, it read.

With the utmost care, she opened the envelope and withdrew the piece of paper within. Six elegantly written lines of a short poem in another language gripped her heart.

She had written this. The person whose soul now inhabited her and was linked to everyone in this house had written this with love, or else Stone would not have held onto it after all this time.

She wished she could read it and understand it. To know what words had been written there.

Her heart heaved in despair.

Slipping the note back into the envelope, she was about to put it back in the box when she noticed that the red velvet lining the bottom was actually a small, thin pouch. She picked it up and opened it, pulling out a very old photograph no bigger than the palm of her hand.

It was a picture of Stone standing next to a woman with his hand on her shoulder. His hair was cut so that it was only two inches long and brushed to the side with sideburns and his face was clean-shaven. The woman sat on a chair in a full length ruffled skirt, a tight-fitted button-up blouse climbed up her slender neck, and her dark hair was pulled back in some kind of lovely style that she couldn’t make out. Her face resembled Gwen’s but it was softer, rounder, and gentler.

She stared for a moment at the photo with her heart in her throat, unable to tear her eyes away from the image of the couple. Despite the pose, there was a sense of love that surrounded them.

Tears sprang to her eyes. How could someone tear apart a love that was so beautiful and true?

Her heart ached as she put the photograph back in the pouch at the bottom of the box and put everything back in the same order that she had pulled it out of.

Fighting back tears and battling with her emotions, she forced herself to eat the spam before changing into Stone’s shirt and crawling into his bed.

His scent enveloped her and as she closed her eyes, a feeling of peace and security wrapped her up in his fluffy embrace. Her mind cleared and her worries dissipated as she let his scent carry her into dreamland.