The Pearls (12 page)

“Do you like what you see?” He asked

Damn
she thought
he caught me staring
“I was just thinking that you are a perfect mix of your parents”

“And how do you know that?”

“Oh I found the letters your mom wrote and she added some pictures.”

“May I see them, please? I haven’t seen them in
such a long time” Kaiden said

“Of Course, would you like me to bring them out here?”

“The movie is almost over can we wait until then and look at them together?” he asked hopefulness in his voice.

“Sure, there are some journals of my Dad’s I found too that I wanted to go through.”

“Maybe there is more about what was happening in those”

“We shall see soon.”
She smiled at him. She was looking forward to being alone with him. She was also very nervous about it.

Zoe was so lost at this stuff
, she didn’t know how to flirt. She was falling in love with him. The pull she felt to him was stronger than the pull she felt towards Justine. It was like her soul knew his and was trying to escape her body and go to his. With Justine it was just like a string that linked them. Kaiden went back to lounging on the couch and she shifted to be closer to him. Zoe was hoping that things would just fall into place without her having to open up too much about her past.

Once the movie ended Zoe was leaning on Kaiden’s shoulder and he did not want to move. Lucky for him he got a DVD player
that held more than one disc at a time. He had pre loaded all the movies. He wanted to read the journals and see the pictures, but they always had tomorrow, right now he was enjoying her touch.

Kaiden changed the disc and put on the other comedy he got. Zoe said nothing as he changed the movie
. She was also enjoying the feel of him breathing against her head. A little into the movie Kaiden put his arm around her shoulders and she let out a sigh. Zoe felt safe next to him and his arm around her intensified that feeling. Kaiden turned his body just a little and her head fell onto his chest. Zoe adjusted herself a little bit and snuggled into his side. Neither said a word as they shifted their bodies to get closer to each other. Kaiden feared that if he said anything he would scare her. Zoe just didn’t want to think about what she was doing for fear she might break contact. Kaiden smelled like home to her. His scent was magical and made her weak in the knees.

Not long after the movie started they both started to drift asleep
, wrapped in each other’s arms.

Justine woke up suddenly to a sound outside. It was the middle of the night and for a second she had no idea where she was. Once her eyes cleared she remembered it all and sat up. She remembered Zoe waking her and telling her to go to bed.

Justine was thirsty so she got up and went to the kitchen. On her way to the kitchen she glanced at the living room and saw Zoe and Kaiden fast asleep snuggled into each other. She was happy for Zoe, happy that Zoe was going to have the happy ending that she knew Zoe wanted.

Justine
was lost in thought staring at them. She wanted what they are going to have. She wants to be loved more than anything. She wants a man to hold her and look at her with nothing more than love and desire in his eyes. She also wants children someday. Something has shifted in Justine and she now knows that she will have that. Before she would look at families and couples with revulsion, because she thought she was never going to have that. But now she knows that there is someone out there that is meant just for her.

Justine knows Zoe will find him, well Kaiden too. If Kaiden waited
seven years for Zoe and was looking for her all that time, could her soul mate be looking for her too? Is there a possibility that some of the other full-bloods know what they are? Justine hoped that there were. Some people might not take the news as well as Zoe and her.

Justine also knew that when she found her soul mate
, the hardest thing was going to be coming out of her shell. Justine puts up a huge wall for everyone, including Zoe. She thinks it’s better to be untouchable than see through. Her past is full of nasty men and their nasty wants for little girls. She was only ever touched by one man and Zoe saved her from a fate of more touching and more sleepless nights in fear.

Justine felt she owed Zoe her life and she vowed to always be by her side. Zoe has helped her come out of her shell a little and stop the hiding. Justine knew she was going to face this mess head on instead of running from it. She was not going to hide
behind the bottle and drown her sorrows away. She wanted her soul mate to see a strong woman, not a woman hidden behind a bottle.

Justine got her drink and went back to her bedroom. Once she closed the door she remembered why she woke up. Something must have been outside and woke her. She turned off the light and looked out the window and didn’t see a single thing besides the trees and the hills. Justine blew it off to be a small animal making the noise and l
aid back down and fell into a deep sleep.

As the morning sun was coming through the windows Zoe woke and took a deep intake of Kaiden’s scent. Kaiden was still sleeping so Zoe just laid there and enjoyed the feel of him. This feeling of contentment was so odd to Zoe but she enjoyed the feeling of being in his arms. She felt safe for the first time that she could remember. She also felt loved and wanted. Kaiden’s breathing changed while Zoe was lost in her thoughts and he opened his eyes to see her staring at him but her eyes were unfocused and it looked like she was looking into his soul.

“Did you sleep well?” Kaiden asked

Zoe jumped a little at the sound of his voice “Yes I did, how about you, did you sleep well?” She was blushing slightly at being caught staring at him.

“Well let’s see, I fell asleep in the arms of the most beautiful and amazing woman, I had some pretty good dreams about said woman, and then I woke up and that woman is still in my arms. So yes I slept very well” a small smirk was working its way onto Kaiden’s mouth.

Zoe was almost a cherry
, her cheeks were on fire. “I had a good dream too, I think you were there, but I can’t be sure”

“Oh? I have you dreaming about me now huh?”

“I said you might have been there, but I can’t remember all of it to know for sure”

Zoe
did in fact remember her dream. She was in what felt like a castle and when she looked out the window it was so green and alive. The rolling hills dipped in and out of view and the trees swayed in the wind. Kaiden was the center of that dream too. They were wed and she had a large belly, she felt that she was having a little girl. Zoe remembered the bliss she felt having a life inside of her and she felt the love she had for Kaiden. The absolute adoration he had for her was undeniable. They were madly in love in her dream.

Kaiden was watching her closely. He knew she was remembering her dream and as her cheeks changed color
. He watched the red lessen and just stay at the center of her cheek bones. He couldn’t help himself so he lifted his hand and ran a finger down her face, her skin was like silk it was so soft. A sigh escaped Zoe’s lips and she let the lids of her eyes fall shut. Kaiden tucked some hair behind her ear and then held her face.

He wanted nothing more than to pull her face to his and feel her lips against his. He wanted to run both
his hands through her hair and pull her onto his lips. Kaiden wanted to drink all of Zoe inside of him. His hand paused on her face, he was nervous of scaring her. He didn’t want to push anything on her and have her clam up. Kaiden needed Zoe to make the first move. If she made the initiation to love him he would welcome it. Right now he needed to go slow with her.

“I am starving would you like to go to breakfast with me?” Kaiden asked
. He was so lost in her that he forgot the danger they were in and their vow to stay inside.

“I would love to” Zoe was a little disappointed he
didn’t kiss her, but she was also relieved. She wasn’t sure she was ready for it. “Did you want to go alone, or should we wake Justine.” And as soon as the question came out of her mouth her remembered.

“As much as I would love to be alone with you, I am not comfortable leaving her alone. I don’t know what danger we are facing and if it is even here, but I would rather be safe than sorry.” Kaiden replied

“Ok why don’t you start to get ready and I will go wake Justine.” Zoe lifted herself off of Kaiden and was now standing looking at him, drinking in his form. God he was beautiful.

“Enjoying the view?” Kaiden noticed her stares
, he was doing the same with her, but he liked to ruffle her feathers a little too.

“Hmm?” Zoe was so focused on her thoughts and his body she wasn’t paying attention.

Kaiden stood and grabbed her hands in his. “I asked if you like the view.”

Damn she got caught again “Right I’ll go wake Justine” and she hurried down the hall
trying to hide her embarrassment at being caught again.

Kaiden went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee before he got in the shower.

Zoe opened the door to the bedroom Justine was staying in and as soon as she opened the door she wanted to run.

“JUSTINE!!”

Justine jumped out of bed looking ready to fight “Damn Zoe, What?”

“Is that your face?” She asked in a whisper pointing to the window

Kaiden was instantly at her side looking at the window where her finger pointed. There was a slight smudge of a face and hands cupped around it. Instant fear shot into him.

“What the hell? I woke up last night to a noise, but I thought it was just a little critter, when I looked there was nothing out there.” Justine told them.

Kaiden ran from Zoe’s side out the back door and the girls were instantly on his heels. Once in the back below the window they saw foot prints and some drag marks. Drag marks?

“It looks like someone was looking in the window and something else or someone else dragged them away.” Kaiden said

“Let’s go inside now!” Zoe demanded

They all ran back inside, once they were inside Zoe went to the DVD player and turned on a movie and then turned the volume all the way up. She then went to the kitchen and turned the water on full blast. Justine figured out what she was doing and went to the bedrooms to turn radios on full blast and all the faucets in the bathrooms. Zoe then grabbed Kaiden and dragged him in the small
closet. Justine joined them a second later.

“I don’t feel the pull of another Dragon, but something is off
, and everything inside me is telling me to run.” Zoe told them

“Ditto on the running, someone was watching me sleep and I am
freaked the fuck out.” Justine whispered

“Why are we in the closet
?”

“Kaiden think about it, if we have
excellent hearing wont they have it too?? But we are at the center of the house with everything blaring and the noise should muffle our whispers a little bit if it is another Dragon.” Zoe explained

Damn she is smart Kaiden thought “Ok so what do you think we should do
? I would take you away right now, but I would also like to wait until Justine’s package arrives.”