Soul Mates: Scent (The Soul Mates Series) (6 page)

I don’t know if panther’s can smile or not, but Anna was definitely smiling in her panther form. Her teeth were bared and she was purring. Swallowing my nervousness, I reached out to her and stroked her sleek ebony coat. She felt soft and comforting and I began to feel calm.

Mmm, as nice as this is Max, I am starving. I need to eat.

“Yeah, I should get home for dinner too.” I nodded as I caressed her neck. I felt her head snap up under my hand and wondered what caught her attention; half afraid she had sensed danger. “What is it?”

Mmm,
venison,
my
favorite!
Love
you,
Max
.

I laughed in nervous relief as she bounded off in search of her deer. I climbed back into the Vette and headed home. My dinner was waiting on the table. Mom would have prepared something special after our talk knowing her.

The scent of the rain was strong as I lay stretched out across the limb of my favorite tree. I was protected from the cold wet drops by the deep canopy of leaves and I sighed. I knew the rain was going to stop at any second and the morning sun was going to peek through the trees but I lingered still, not wanting to wake.

Mon coeur…

I felt my ears twitch at the sound of Anna’s voice and with another sigh I pried my eyes open to slits. I could see her in her panther form looking up at me in my tree.

Mon coeur…

I heard her again in my head and opened my eyes more fully to watch her tilt her head at me. I reached out to her with my spotted paw and blinked coming wide awake and sitting up in my bunk. My eyes roamed over my body, checking every inch of me to make sure I was human. I heard Anna’s giggle in my head.

Mon coeur, you make a very handsome jaguar.

I wiped my hands across my face scrubbing away the dream that felt so real and hopped down out of my bed. Grabbing my jeans I headed to the shower.

Max, it’s all right. The dream was a telling… You will shift, my love, you will be jaguar.

I swallowed hard and didn’t answer her as I turned the water on as hot as I could stand it and stepped beneath the spray. I didn’t want to think about how peaceful I had felt sitting in that tree as a jaguar. I didn’t want to think about how my life was on the verge of change, but I couldn’t stop myself. I took some deep calming breaths. I couldn’t change any of it, nor did I want to. This was a part of me. Anna was a part of me. I felt responsible for her now, as if I had to step up and defend her and take care of her, protect her at all costs. She belonged to me.

Tony was right in a way; our fates were intermingled, connected. If anything happened to Anna it would kill me. I knew it as sure as I knew my own name. I took another calming breath and accepted what I was, what I was going to be. It startled me to realize that until that moment I hadn’t really accepted it. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had thought I could walk away. I knew better now. This is real, and it’s going to happen whether I accept it or not. By accepting it I knew it would be an easier change than if I fought it. And I didn’t want to fight it. I had liked the feeling of being jaguar in the dream.

I turned off the shower, dried myself off and got dressed. I smiled as an image of Anna floated through my mind.

“Max! Breakfast is ready!” mom called from the kitchen just as my cell phone rang.

“What’s up?”

“Dude, you and Jenny through for good, you talked to her?”

“Not exactly. I planned to yesterday, but well…”

“Dude she was at Carter’s last night with Steve. They were all over each other.”

“Yeah I kind of figured.” I sighed and filled Tony in on what I’d over heard at Katelyn’s. “So I suppose we are completely finished, but we haven’t discussed it.”

“You gonna say anything to her about last night?”

“I don’t know. Guess I’ll just play it by ear, see what happens.”

“Cool. See ya at school, Dude.”

“See ya.” I clicked off the phone and hurried down the stairs, my thoughts still lingering on Jenny and Anna.

“Max, you are going to be late if you don’t hurry.”

“I know, I’m going,” I said grabbing up some toast and scooping my eggs onto it making a sandwich out of it.

Picking up my backpack, I headed to the door, stopping only to give mom a kiss on the cheek. “See ya later.”

“Have a good day, honey.”

I tossed my bag into the passenger seat and hopped into the Vette. A few minutes later I pulled into the school parking lot. Anna was at my door with a smile before I could even switch off the engine.

“Max, you know!” she said with a grin. Excitement sparkled in her eyes as her arms came around my neck over the door. “You will make a handsome jaguar mon amour!” she whispered softly, so she wouldn’t be overheard.

I couldn’t help but to grin up at her, sharing in her excitement. I pulled her face toward mine and gave her a quick breath stealing kiss, our first.

When we broke the kiss, Anna stepped back and I got out of the Vette, pulling my backpack out after me and dropping it on the ground. I took her in my arms again. “Let’s try that again,” I whispered, pulling her closer to me.

Anna slid her arms up around my neck again and I sighed as her lips met mine. She tasked like peppermint and smelled like home. I stroked her silky hair and lost myself in her kiss.

We broke apart a few minutes later, both of us breathing hard, our foreheads pressed together. I noticed a faint blush spreading over Anna’s cheeks and I grinned. “Blushing?”

Anna lowered her eyes and smiled. “You make me blush, Max.”

I shook my head, not believing how lucky I was to have her in my arms. “We should get to class.”

Anna nodded, still blushing as I picked up her books from the hood of the Vette where she had laid them. I was checking the hood for marks and didn’t notice Jenny storming over to us.

“Max…” Anna warned, a frown marring her beautiful face.

I looked up just as Jenny came at me, pushing me against the Vette and I dropped all of Anna’s books.

“What the hell is
this
? You brought this
trash
to school and didn’t pick me up?” Jenny shrieked at me.

Careful, mon coeur, you are stronger than you realize…

I put my hands up to keep Jenny back, but she ran at me again, and this time when she hit me, she stumbled backwards over the spilt books, landing on her butt. “Don’t ever do that again,” I growled. “Don’t ever push me. As to your inquiry…I didn’t pick you up because I assumed your new boy toy Steve would be taking care of that.” I practically snarled at the enraged look she gave me. “Don’t think I don’t know what went on last night, what has apparently been going on for quite a while behind my back.”

Jenny picked herself up and got in my face. “You don’t know what the hell you are talking about! We are so through! Your name’ll be Mud around here when I get finished with you and that little tramp! You just committed Social Suicide!” she shouted at me as she began to stalk away.

I grabbed her arm, gently, I didn‘t want to leave a bruise and have her accuse me of abuse. “Don’t even go there. You can spin this whichever way you want, but
I
was not the one macking on
your
best friend for the last six months. Say whatever you want about me, but you leave Anna out of this. Do you understand me?” I growled at her.

“Let me go!” Jenny snapped at me as she made a production of pulling her arm free. “I’ll say whatever I freakin' well please about you and her.”

I watched her stalk off rubbing her arm and grumbling to herself. I hadn’t held her that tight, but she was making it look as though I had been, putting on a show for the watching masses. I took big calming breaths as I gathered up all the books from the ground. My heart was racing at all the extra adrenaline pumping through my veins.

As I took several more calming breaths I thought about what had me so pissed off. It wasn’t that Jenny had been hooking up with Steve. Hell if she had told me six months ago that she wanted to date Steve I would have said, “Ok, sure, no problem.” I was angry because…I wasn’t exactly sure.

“Because, mon coeur, you feel as though they took advantage of your trust, your friendship. And you are a little bit angry because of me.” Anna stroked my face, her deep blue gaze locked on mine.

I shook my head, denying that I was mad because of her.

“Oui. Max… it is all right. You did not expect me to come into your life and change everything you have ever known. You are not angry with me, I know, mon coeur,” Anna said with a gentle smile. “You are angry because you feel Jenny offended my honor… which is sweet, Max, but if the situation had been reversed, I would have said much worse about her, believe me.”

I let her calm settle around me and leaned my forehead against hers. “All right. I’m okay now.”

“Très bon, because if we do not hurry, we really will be late to homeroom.”

I glanced at my watch, grabbed my backpack and her hand and we ran for the doors. We reached homeroom just as the bell rang. “Just in time,” I said with a grin as we slipped into class.

The remainder of the morning went better than I expected. Oh everyone still stared at Anna and I, but I was working hard at giving them very little to comment on. The most we did was hold hands, not that I didn’t want to pull her into my arms and kiss her senseless, but I restrained myself.

Lunch wasn’t a problem as Anna, Tony and I decided to skip and go off campus for lunch. We technically aren’t supposed to leave, but principal Martin looks the other way most days and Tuesdays the three of us had a longer lunch period because of a free period directly after.

“I’ve never seen a girl eat that much steak,” Tony grinned at Anna’s plate. She had ordered a sixteen ounce New York strip steak, the biggest steak on the menu at Yesterday’s.

Anna blushed as she sliced her rare steak into manageable bites and shrugged. “I like steak,” she said simply.

My mouth watered at the sight of her steak and suddenly I regretted getting the shrimp and crab platter.

Max, would you like me to share?

“No, you eat it. I will know better next time.” I grinned at her.

Anna grinned as she slid a juicy bite of steak between her perfect white teeth.

“You two are doing it again,” Tony sighed putting his fork down. “You do realize how annoying it is don’t you?”

Anna and I both looked at him, but I was the one who asked, “What are you talking about Tones?”

“That! You answering questions that Anna hasn’t asked! I feel like I am intruding on a conversation I can only hear half of.”

“Oh.” I chuckled and ate a bite of shrimp.

“Oh. All you can say is ‘Oh’? What is going on?”

I glanced at Anna and she shrugged, leaving everything up to me. I knew I couldn’t give him details about shape shifting, but I could give him something else. I turned back to Tony when he cleared his throat interrupting the look I was giving Anna.

“You know how you mentioned soul mates yesterday?”

“Yeah…” Tony said cautiously, still not eating.

“Well, I guess you could say that you were right. Anna and I have a connection. Sometimes I just know what she is thinking.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed and he frowned. “It’s more than that, Max. You know exactly what she is saying, I can see it. I can hear it when you answer her.”

I shrugged, not knowing what else to say. “I suppose I do.”

Tony sat quiet for a moment and then grinned. “That’s cool dude. Could come in handy, say during an English exam…”

“Tony, that would be cheating,” Anna said with a laugh.

We finished lunch and got back to school with plenty of time before our next class. I was still getting strange looks from a lot of our classmates, like they were waiting for me to do something, but I just ignored them.

After school I went to the weight room. Tuesdays the team did weight training instead of holding a regular practice. Coach believes we should be well rounded.

I loaded seventy pounds on each end of the barbell and called over to Tony, “Hey Tones, come spot for me.”

“Sure, how much you got on here?” Tony asked as I settled down on the bench.

“One forty five including the bar,” I said taking a deep breath and lifting the barbell with very little resistance. I frowned and set the barbell back in its holder. “At least I thought I set it for one forty five, check it for me would you?”

Tony bent down over the disks and added up both sides. “Yeah, one forty five dude. What’s wrong?”

I shook my head not sure what I should say. Lifting that barbell hadn’t been any harder than lifting my backpack. It was easy and it shouldn’t have been that easy. “Nothing.” I lay back down and did my reps, pretending I was getting a good workout. I didn’t want to let on that I wasn’t even breaking a sweat. I needed to talk to Anna, but I could sense that she was not close by. I closed my eyes and concentrated on her and with in seconds I could see where she was as though I was looking through her eyes. It was a cabin out in the woods and I realized she had gone home.

“Dude, are you all right?”

I blinked and looked up at Tony who was struggling to get the barbell off of my chest. I helped him out by lifting it back into place. “I’m fine.”

“You spaced out for a minute there and I thought you were going to pass out.”

“Sorry, guess I shouldn’t have done so many reps.” I sat up and wiped my neck with a towel. “You want me to spot you?”

“Nah, you should hit the showers, your mind isn’t on this and I could get hurt.” Tony grinned at me.

I laughed and nodded. “Okay, catch ya later,” I said as I headed to the locker room. My mind wandered back to Anna as I showered and I suddenly heard her in my head again.

Mon coeur, did you need me?

I could see again through her eyes as she looked up from her math book and I felt her smile. “No, just wondering what you were doing,” I whispered.