The Soulmate's Curse Read online

  "Yes, my love, yes,” he moaned against her chest, his mouth suckling one of her nipples as he thrust into her.

  "Lucas, I'm going to come,” she panted. She cried out as her orgasm took hold.

  He could feel her begin to spasm around his hard cock, and it fueled his own climax.

  Lucas groaned in response as every thrust sent his seed spilling inside her. They stayed in the shower like that for several minutes. They tenderly washed each other after pressing tiny kisses where their hands touched.

  Sonja led Lucas to her bed and slipped in beside him, curling her body around his. She pulled a quilt around them both. Lucas fell into a contented sleep for the first time in days, whispering words of love to the woman who held his heart and caressed him into slumber.

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  Chapter Five

  February 9th—Five days left...

  Sonja drove Lucas's truck into town for food and supplies. Her little car was still buried beneath a mountain of snow, and his truck was the only way to get into town. The blizzard was over, but the snow still kept falling. Every morning, a few more inches were added to the already thick layer of white, powdery substance on the ground. If I am going to stay in Destiny, I'm going to need to buy a truck or SUV in the spring, she thought. She tried to figure out when she had decided to stay in Destiny. Her thoughts and emotions had all tangled together lately. Four days had passed since Lucas came to Sonja, and he had not left her side yet.

  Through the swirling snow, they had walked hand in hand to his cabin to get a few things for him to wear. There she had seen firsthand the destruction of his raging need as soon as she opened the door. Tables were overturned, and wooden furniture was smashed. Lucas was also amazed at the damage he had done. He couldn't remember doing any of it.

  Sonja had picked up a shard of a broken clay pot at her feet. “Wow, this is some serious damage,” she had commented as they walked through the cabin.

  Lucas had stopped to touch splintered wood where he had punched the wall and then noticed the claw marks next to it. He had looked at her with worry etched in his face. “You have to run.” He had said to her, but Sonja knew she couldn't. She loved him, and she couldn't run even if she had wanted to. Instead, she had walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. They had stood in the middle of the destruction and held each other.

  That night, he had driven his truck over to her cabin and left it there, giving her the keys. It was his silent way of telling her if she could not go through with what she had to do, he wanted her to take his truck and go as fast as possible away from him.

  She pulled up in front of the General Store and parked. Five more days until the Valentine's moon ... how could she kill the man she had fallen in love with? As Sonja walked into the brightly lit store, General's eyes sparkled when he saw her but instantly turned to concern when he saw her expression.

  "Hey, little miss Sonja, are you okay?” General said in concern.

  Sonja pulled a bright smile from somewhere deep inside herself. “Why, I am totally fine, Big G. How are you?"

  "You looked kinda...” General stopped his words in mid-sentence. “Well, I'm fine, little lady. Stocking up?"

  "Yup, I'm running low on everything,” Sonja replied.

  "I see you drove the sheriff's truck."

  "Yes, my car's buried under like twenty inches of snow. Lucas let me borrow his truck to come into town,” Sonja explained.

  General looked at her curiously. “We haven't seen the sheriff in town lately. How is he getting on?"

  Sonja shook her head sadly. “I think he has pneumonia or at least a bad case of bronchitis. I have been checking in on him, making sure he eats and stuff."

  "Should I call the doctor to go up to his place? He has a snowmobile,” General said.

  "No, no, he's going to be fine. I'm a medic. If he seems to not be getting any better, I'll come into town and get the doctor,” Sonja said. The last thing she or Lucas needed was a doctor up there when he was going though his change.

  General nodded as she went through the aisles picking up food and other necessities. Sonja made sure to put cough syrup, Theraflu, and VapoRub in her cart to make it look like she was picking up a few things for Lucas. She went down an aisle, picking up her favorite brands of items. Sonja stopped and thought for a moment before going back through the aisle, picking up one more thing she had seen. Back up at the counter, General tallied her items. With a raised eyebrow and a look in her direction, he had noted the one extra thing she picked up. Sonja raised her eyebrows in return, and when the man's grin appeared, she shook her head. That was the downside to living in a small town: everyone knew everyone's business. She would not be surprised if by the end of the day, the town that didn't yet know her would know that the new girl had bought a very interesting item from the General Store. Sonja settled the box in the backseat of the truck and got in. She turned the big vehicle around on the snow-covered streets and headed back to her cabin.

  A drive that normally would have taken only half an hour took longer going back up. The snow was beginning to fall again as she finally pulled up in front of her door. She was happy to be off the road. Lucas rushed out as soon as he heard the wheels of the truck, and he was standing on the porch waiting for her.

  "Is something wrong?” she asked, alarmed.

  "No, no; nothing is wrong,” Lucas replied. “You took a long time, that's all."

  "Did you miss me, or did you think I ran after all?"

  "A little of both. More of the latter, actually. I wouldn't have blamed you if you did run,” Lucas said.

  On the porch, Sonja kissed his lips. “I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me.” She felt another tug on her heart at his worry that she might leave. His vulnerability came through loud and clear. He needed her, and she felt wonderful being needed like that.

  "I love you,” he whispered against her lips. “What do you have in here?” He tried to peek into the bag.

  "Food,” she said, casually pulling away. She didn't want him to see what else she had bought. “I had to buy cough syrup and stuff to appease General's curiosity.” She left the food in the box and took the small bag with the other items, heading for the bathroom.

  "You put that stuff away, and I'm going to put this stuff in the bathroom,” she called over her shoulder. There she hid the one thing she didn't want him to see until she thought she might need it.

  Sonja came back out to see him starting a pot of water on the stove. “What are ya doing, stud?"

  Lucas turned to smile at her. “I'm going to make you some of my world-class spaghetti."

  "Wow, world-class, huh? I don't recall seeing it in any of those cooking magazines.” She teased.

  Lucas swatted her on the butt with a dish towel as she turned away to swagger into the living room. Sonja felt upbeat for some reason. She felt for the first time that maybe their love could overcome this curse. Love. The word stuck in her head, and she turned back to the kitchen. Lucas was already dicing onions and garlic for the sauce, and he looked up as she re-entered the room.

  "I thought you were going to turn the TV on and sit and relax until I was finished."

  Sonja took his face in her hands and kissed him softly. “Lucas, I love you. I hope you know that."

  Lucas wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight to him. “I know, but it's still good to hear."

  They stood there holding each other, neither wanting to talk about the thing that was going to drive them apart. Lucas wanted to give her a romantic night where she would have good memories of him. He knew on the fourteenth he would be dead.

  "Now get out and let me create,” he said, smacking loud, sloppy kisses on her face and lips.

  "Eww, I feel like I'm being licked by a dog,” she whined. When Lucas began to pant, she laughed and went back into the living room to sit in front of the TV.

  For an hour, Sonja heard him clanking around in the kitchen and muttering to himself, breaking ou
t with an “ouch! God damn it!” every now and then. She sat back against the sofa and watched the nature channel. She thought it was so sweet of him to try to cook her a meal. Even though from the noises coming from the kitchen, she could only assume he was being tortured by an egg beater or some other cooking utensil. Lucas came out finally and announced that everything was ready. Sonja raised her eyebrow—but said nothing—when she saw him sucking on his finger. In the kitchen, he had set the table and even found candles. He hadn't been able to find candle holders, so he had placed them in glasses and turned the lights low. He had set the one bottle of wine he found on the table in an ice bucket, which he had filled with snow.

  "I was trying to create a setting. I don't think I pulled it off,” he said bashfully.

  "Lucas, it's perfect, more than perfect,” Sonja said softly.

  "Madam,” he said, pulling out her chair.

  Sonja sat gracefully. “Thank you, kind sir."

  Lucas sat across from her and poured her a glass of wine, then one for himself.

  "Here's to all the tomorrows we can possibly have,” Lucas said holding up his glass.

  "Lucas,” Sonja began, but stopped when she saw his look. He wanted to pretend just for a little that this curse wasn't between them. That the day wasn't coming where one of them would have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

  "To all the tomorrows,” she echoed softly. “Now, when do I get to taste this spectacular sauce?"

  "Right now,” he said with a smile and began to dish out the steaming pasta from the bowl.

  At her first taste, Sonja smiled. “It's good, but it seems familiar. Like the bottle of spaghetti sauce I picked up from General's when I first got here."

  "Hey, I added the meat and seasonings, too,” he said with fake outrage.

  "Uh-huh. I thought it was your own special recipe?"

  "In the summer when I can get tomatoes from Ms. Grace's garden, you'll see...” He broke off. “What am I talking about? There is no summer coming for me. You have to kill me. If not, I'm going to kill you. I won't be able to control it. Even if you run, from what the legend says, I'll hunt you and always find you. There will be no peace for either of us. It's the only way for you to live.” He looked down at his plate. “I have to die."

  "How can we avoid it? Even when we don't say it, it's still in the room like a big wall between us!” Sonja was angry at the world and the curse that held her lover and his family in its clutches. She had found love and now it seemed like she was going to lose it. There was no way she was going to give up. If there was some way to fight this, she would. She was not ready to lose him.

  "I know, my love. Okay, let's talk about something else. You know everything about me, good and bad. Why did you leave Chicago? Why did you need a break?” Lucas said.

  Sonja sighed heavily and played with her food. “The last call I went on was a doozy. It was an apartment fire. One of those places where the landlord had more cockroaches than tenants. The building was going up pretty fast, and by the time we got there, the fire was everywhere. The fire department was slow getting there, and this woman and her kid were trapped."

  Telling the story was hard. Sonja's fists clenched and unclenched in her lap as she spoke. Every time she dreamed about it or even thought about it, she relived it. The smell, the way the thick smoke burned her throat. How her eyes watered as she tried to see the woman hanging out of the window. And the screams, the screams were the worst of all.

  "When we got there, me and my partner ran up, and this woman was hanging out of her window with a baby. The baby was crying, and she was screaming, and we tried to keep her calm, hoping the fire department could get there. We could hear the sirens, but they were still too far away. She looked at me, Lucas, I mean just at me. Then she dropped the baby. Oh, God, I moved so fast, and I still barely caught the baby. I, I looked up, and she had this look of relief on her face ... Like ‘thank you.’ The fire trucks pulled up just then, and before they could even get a hose out, that window she was in blew out. A fireball, and she was engulfed ... oh, God, her screams ... She kept screaming even when we could not see her anymore."

  Lucas went over and put his arms around her, rocking her gently as silent tears ran down her cheeks. “What happened to the baby?"

  "He was safe. I caught him. The woman's sister took him to live with her and her kids. The fucking slum lord who owned the place had the fire escapes removed so kids couldn't hang out on them. Illegally, of course. He disconnected the sprinkler system because of a high water bill. And the gas lines were so old, it had a leak and no one knew until that building blew.” Sonja swiped at the tears on her cheeks.

  "Was he arrested?"

  "Fuck, yeah, the district attorney threw the book at him and made him an example. He got twenty-five years for her death and for the injuries to the firefighters who had to battle that fire. But after that, after seeing her and how she died and that kid ... That was it for me. I have been a medic for years, but this was my limit. I had to get away."

  "So, you came to Destiny and into this mess,” Lucas said grimly.

  "No, I came to Destiny and found the love of my life. I came and found you,” she whispered.

  Sonja kissed him and held onto him as if he were her last hold on reality. She had kept the weight of what she had seen inside her for the last few months. It was like a stone in the pit of her stomach, and she hadn't been able to express how it made her feel until now. She didn't even have to explain her feelings, he just knew. How can I survive without him, she thought as her lips moved under his. She wanted to remember the feel of his lips and his taste forever. So she kissed him fiercely, trying to convey every feeling inside her in that one kiss.

  Sonja felt his body tense, and he pulled away from her with a look of surprise on his face. Lucas crumpled to the ground in front of her, his moan of agony filling the room. Sonja could only look on in horror as Lucas's body tensed and arched while he was on his hands and knees. She watched as Lucas's muscles bunched and quivered, reformed and twisted under the material of his clothes.

  "This is too soon! You have to fight it; we have five days left!” Sonja screamed the words, hoping in some way they could magically stop his pain.

  "I don't think I can!” he groaned.

  Even his voice had changed. For an instant, it was as if there were two beings inside him.

  Soothe the beast within. The words came to her in an instant from the conversation with Celia in her dream. She started to take off her clothes quickly. Jesus, I hope this works! Sonja walked slowly toward him, not knowing if he would lash out with hands that formed into claws then reformed back to human hands as he tried to control his change.

  "Lucas, I'm here. I'm your mate, remember?” she said to him and placed her hand in his hair that had gone from silky to thick fur.

  "God, Sonja, it hurts so much,” Lucas moaned.

  "Baby, fight past the pain. Feel me, smell me, I'm yours, my love,” she said.

  She lifted his hands and wrapped them around her waist. He pressed his face to her stomach close to where her womanhood began. She closed her eyes as he inhaled like a wolf taking in her scent, the scent of its mate. She felt her excitement build along with the fear she felt inside. She could sense the animal in him as he touched her. When he pulled her roughly down to her knees, Sonja cried out in surprise.

  "I'm sorry, baby, I'm sorry. I don't know if I can be gentle,” he said roughly. His breath was hot against her cheek as he kissed her.

  Sonja took off his shirt, and he unzipped his pants. “You don't have to be; I won't break."

  It barely registered to Sonja when he pushed his pants down to his knees. All she could feel was his lips on her skin. She felt his lips travel back to hers, and he kissed her hard once more before turning her on her hands and knees. Lucas pushed her hair off her neck and bit her. The sensation made her cry out in pleasure. Her knees spread wider before he slipped his cock inside her. There on the kitchen floor, Sonja let Lucas take h
er. She felt his hands holding onto her hips as he pounded himself inside her. Sonja arched her back. She wanted more of him, and she met his every thrust with her own. Their guttural moans echoed through the kitchen. This had gone past romance to urgent intensity. Sonja's body began to tremble and convulse around him, and with a keening cry, she let her orgasm take over. Like ripples on water, they flowed through her until Lucas's low moan signaled his release. With arms and legs quivering from the heated coupling, they both collapsed against the cool floor.

  "Oh, damn, I am so sorry, Sonja,” Lucas said, rolling off of her. His chest was still heaving from the exertion of what had happened. Sonja said nothing, trying to control her breathing.

  Lucas took her silence as a bad sign. He panicked, instantly thinking he had hurt her. “Jesus, Sonja, are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

  "No ... no, Lucas, I'm fine. I'm trying to catch my breath,” Sonja finally replied.

  "Hell, do not scare me like that."

  "Sorry. That was ... well, it was,” Sonja said with a smile. When she rolled over on the cold floor to wrap her arms around him, Lucas knew she was okay.

  "You've stopped changing,” she commented.

  "I know, but it won't last, Sonja. The fourteenth is just a few days away."

  She hugged him fiercely. “We'll keep it off as long as possible. Now can we get up off this floor? My ass is freezing.?

  "I think I see a patch of frost bite,” Lucas teased, pretending to examine her closely.

  "Ha-ha, funny man. Let's go and see if we can get warmed up under the covers."

  "Fine, but I am not responsible for what is in or under those covers,” Lucas said seriously, but let his humor show in his eyes.

  "Uh-huh, sure you're not. Let's go stud,” Sonja said with a smile.

  They left their clothes and the remnants of their uneaten food in the kitchen, preferring to kiss, cuddle, and caress in bed. Later, hunger finally drove them back to the kitchen, which they had left strewn with clothes. The wind howled outside; the snow had started once again. Lucas dozed, his body content for the moment. His head was against Sonja's shoulder, and she was curled into him. She was awake, watching the snow fall gently to the ground and listening to the wind outside. Every gust that passed through the mountains made her shiver. Every gust howled like a wolf.