Old Souls Read online

  “How?

  “She was…fragile. You’re strong. The way you stood up to me in the office the first day we met, she would have never done that.” He smirked, remembering. “Because of our bond, I felt connected to you. I was drawn to you in a visceral way, a way no other person in the world could tug at me, but it was your boldness and individuality that made me fall in love with you. In fact, I think I fell the moment you asked me who the fuck I thought I was.”

  I chuckled and wiped at the tears that had begun to spill. “I still can’t believe I said that to you.”

  “You have such a fun sense of humor, she was always serious. And the way you reacted when you had to,” he cleared his throat, “do what needed to be done to the woman in the hospice. It was your reaction to that situation that separates you most from Evangeline. It wouldn’t have bothered her. In fact, I begged her to stop what she was doing but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “Why? I don’t understand why she would risk everything.”

  “It was a different time, Alyssa.”

  “So, people just killed without remorse. I don’t buy that. You’re not like that.”

  “She would’ve felt remorse if she thought she was doing something wrong.” I could tell he was struggling to find the right words to explain. After a brief pause he continued, but what he said next seemed irrelevant to our discussion. I was confused.

  “DNA testing didn’t exist, nor did computers or forensics. It was easy for criminals to get away with their crimes.”

  “What does that have to do with—?”

  “Her family was murdered… and the killer was never found.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Alyssa, you’re what Evangeline could have been if she wasn’t so full of anger and hurt. If she could have erased her past and wiped the slate clean, she might have been able to see everything in black and white, good and evil—the way you do. Regrettably, her circumstances caused her to view the world in shades of grey.”

  “You really think it made that much of an impact on her life?”

  “It happened when she was a child, well before I met her, but I knew it was something that affected her deeply. When our powers began to develop we discovered we had the ability to read minds. At first we couldn’t control the gift and were unable block it, especially the dark and hateful thoughts that consumed some people, thoughts of killing or hurting others.” He shook his head with a grim set to his mouth. “There are a lot of evil people walking around free. She wondered constantly if one of them was the one who killed her family. Worse, there was nothing we could do with the knowledge. We couldn’t go to the police. What would we tell them? ”

  “So she decided to kill them?” Logically, I knew I had nothing to do with their deaths, but a part of me felt responsible for her actions regardless. Was I accountable? The elders seemed to think so.

  “Evangeline was a doctor. When she could do it without being discovered, she used her power to heal people. But sometimes there was nothing she could do to save them. If they had families she took those deaths even harder. She understood all too well what it was like to lose someone you loved.”

  I couldn’t help but feel for her, I didn’t agree with what she did but I could empathize. I began to understand how difficult it must have been for her. How she would have suffered watching families lose someone they loved, every case she encountered would bring back her own painful memories.

  “One night she treated a patient who had raped and murdered a young woman only days before. He hadn’t been caught, no one knew of his crime, but she’d read it in his thoughts. It killed her to save a man like that while there was an innocent child dying in the next room, parents devastated. Eventually, the child died and she could no longer bear to watch the family’s sorrow. That was the first time she brought someone back from the dead.”

  “Did she know the consequences?”

  “She knew.” He blew out a deep breath. “She killed the rapist to restore balance. She considered it justice.”

  “And that wasn’t the only time?”

  He shook his head. “She just couldn’t tolerate the idea of someone…evil enjoying health and freedom while innocents died. She did what she thought was right; she had a good soul. I don’t want you to think she was a bad person, or that you are because of what she did.”

  “I don’t.” Fixing my eyes on his, I hoped he’d see the truth of what I said in my gaze. “I think she made some bad choices, but I also think she did the wrong thing for the right reasons.”

  He closed his eyes in relief. “The brothers stepped in because she brought too much attention to herself. People eventually questioned the ‘miraculous recoveries’, and it was apparent right away that she was the treating physician in every case.”

  “Is that when they ordered her death?”

  “No,” he said quickly, “they warned her first.”

  Downing the rest of his drink in one gulp, he avoided eye contact with me and I had a feeling I knew why. “You’re angry with her, aren’t you?”

  I already knew the answer, but he needed to acknowledge it for himself.

  “They told her if she did it once more …” He paused, taking a shuddering breath as he collected himself. “She did really well after that. She managed to stop for months, but I could see it was killing her. I tried to convince her to quit her job, but she loved to heal people.”

  He flopped back on the couch, resting his head on the back cushions. Neither of us spoke for a few minutes. Then, he threw his arm over his eyes and took deep, steadying breaths before finally admitting, “I guess I am angry.”

  I wasn’t sure he was going to admit it, but once he did the floodgates were open and it just poured out of him. “I’m angry at the world in general most of the time, people can be so cruel. I hate what she went through with her family. I’m angry at the brothers for ordering her death. I’m angry at Michael for carrying out their orders.” He practically spit Michael’s name, and his hands balled into fists as he said it. “And yes, I’m angry with Evangeline. It’s not as bad now as it was at first, but some days I’m still so angry with her.”

  Lying back beside him, I tucked my head in the crook of his shoulder and wrapped one arm around his waist. Flexing his arm around me, he stroked my shoulder softly. “It’s normal that you’re angry with her, Mark, anyone would be.”

  I felt him shift and glanced up to find his blue eyes, clear as a summer sky, fastened on mine. Finally, I understood that clichéd saying about the eyes being the windows to the soul. Because right now it was as if Mark were baring his soul to me, allowing his pain and anger to show. Tears pooled, making the crystal blue orbs sparkle more than usual. My chest constricted from the hurt I saw in his face, but when I felt it through our bond my lungs nearly failed. It was too much.

  “I think the person I’m most angry with is me. I’m angry that I wasn’t there to protect her when they came for her. But more than that, I’m angry I just wasn’t enough for her.”

  I pressed my forehead into his chest and sighed. “Don’t say that. Don’t even think it.”

  “Why not? That’s what it comes down to. If she loved me enough, she would have stopped.”

  “You know that’s not true.”

  “Do I?” Leaning his head on the back of the cushions again, he covered his face with both hands and scrubbed. “I’m just so…tired.”

  I had only known Mark a few months, but I’d never heard him sound so defeated before. His teeth were gnashed together so tight I heard the grinding. Then it seemed all the emotion and stress he’d been holding onto tonight just broke free with a loud, painful sob that nearly tore my heart from my chest. His voice cracked. “I’m so tired, Alyssa. I just can’t lose you, too. I won’t survive it this time.”

  “Mark—” I wanted to tell him everything would be okay, but I knew it wouldn’t. I wanted to promise him that we’d find a way to fix the mess I’d gotten us into, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t promise whe
n I knew it was a lie. There was only one thing I could say that was the truth. “Mark, I’m sorry. So sorry.”

  Rubbing his palms over his eyes, he turned his head away from me. His shoulders shook, almost imperceptibly, and a single tear marked a slow trail down his cheek. God, he was killing me. The sight of that tear tugged painfully on my heart and I had to choke down the lump that had risen in my throat.

  “I can’t…I can’t…I can’t.” His broken, tear-filled voice chanted the words over and over. I had no idea what to do to make it better.

  Shifting closer, I crawled onto his lap, not entirely sure of my intentions. Before I had the chance to decide, he pulled me to his chest, crushing me against him like he needed me to live. It was difficult to pull air into my lungs through his unyielding grip.

  Skimming my ear with his lips, he whispered roughly. “I won’t lose you.”

  I raised my head, but before I could get a word out, he took my lips in a desperate kiss. It was exactly what we both needed. We needed to forget for a while. It was going to take some time—time I didn’t have—for me to come to grips with the fact that I was reincarnated. Mark had so much more to deal with. It was hard losing the person you loved, and here he was facing it again. We just needed to forget, even if it was only for a short time.

  Ravenously, his tongue dove into my mouth, obliterating all thoughts from my head while he threaded his fingers through my hair, holding me firm. The salty taste of his tears exploded on my taste buds and everything inside me burst into flames. Heat spread through me like wildfire, flooding every cell of my body with desire. It was incredible, so hot and wet and hungry.

  A soft moan bubbled up my throat as the hard evidence of his arousal pressed against my pelvis. With one hand still knotted in my hair, he lowered the other until it gripped one ass cheek. He yanked me snug against his erection and began to grind, slowly at first, torturously. Then Mark groaned, or maybe it was both of us, I wasn’t really sure. Our harsh, soughing breath and moans of pleasure the only sounds that could be heard in the room.

  I pulled my mouth back. “Mark—”

  “No!” he interrupted. “Please, Alyssa. No more talking, I need this. I need you.”

  “Oh, I’m done talking.” I drawled in a sexy purr—a sound I didn’t even realize I could make. “I was going to ask you to make love to me.”

  Apparently, he liked that answer, because before I took a breath he crushed his mouth against mine and devoured me, breaking the kiss only long enough to pull my tank top over my head. It took no time at all to remove, especially since I was still in my sleepwear and he didn’t have to fuss with a bra. His eyes burned with lust, but I saw something else there as well. It was just beneath the surface—possession. “You are so beautiful, and you’re mine”. The gravelly pitch of his voice was firm and unwavering.

  Latching onto my nipple, his mouth was hungry and hot, making my panties good and wet. There was no sweet buildup of desire. We went from zero to sixty in seconds flat. His tongue alternately laved and sucked on the sensitive tips until they hardened almost painfully. Oh God, yeah, keep doing that. I could come with your mouth on my breasts.

  He snapped his head to me, a look of surprise widening his eyes. “What did you say?”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “Oh, yes, you did.” He broke out in a wicked grin. “You told me to keep doing that. You said you could come with my mouth on your breast.”

  “Oh God.” Mortified, my hands flew to my face, covering it. “You heard that? I was thinking it, but I didn’t say it.”

  He reached gently for my hands and pulled them away. “First, don’t be embarrassed. You have no idea how much it turned me on to hear you tell me, in explicit detail, exactly what you wanted.” With the pad of his thumb he circled my breasts teasingly, but never quite where I wanted his fingers. My embarrassment faded quickly, replaced by a rush of white hot desire.

  “What’s the second thing?” I asked as I started moving my hips again.

  “What second thing?”

  “You said first, I assume that means there’s a second.”

  He laughed. “Fuck if I can remember now.”

  Still straddling him, his large hands circled my waist and gripped my hips firmly. Forcing me to remain still when I would have moved, he slowly began to shift my body to where he needed it. He was in complete control of my movements and I loved it. Offering no resistance, I allowed him to push and pull creating just the perfect amount of friction.

  Yes. Shit, that feels so good.

  With only the thin scrap of silk of my panties between us, I felt the heat of his erection through the material. A delicious tension built, along with another flood of hot moisture between my thighs. God, I’m so wet.

  “Oh yeah, tell me how wet you are.”

  I stopped moving and closed my eyes with a groan—not sure from what, the embarrassment or the pleasure, it could have been either. “You heard that again?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t know how to keep you out of my head when we’re like this.”

  “So don’t,” his eyes shone. Stark, primal hunger warred with tenderness as he leaned his forehead against mine. “You’re opening yourself to me completely. It’s an unbelievable gift.”

  “But, I don’t talk like that normally…so graphic.”

  “It’s so fucking hot. Don’t worry about being polite. I don’t want polite.” He punctuated his words with a hard press of his hips, that wonderful friction inflaming my need once again. Aroused beyond words, I decided to take his advice. No worrying. If he heard my thoughts, so be it. As long as he didn’t stop what he was doing.

  His tongue ran along the side of my neck as he continued to direct my hips in a steady rhythm until I was senseless with pleasure. Snapping with energy, every nerve ending in my body was raw, ready to explode with release.

  And then he stopped.

  I whimpered. Whimpered? Another sound I was sure I’d never made before. I tried to keep moving with the pace he’d set, but his strong hands held me still. “Not like this. You can come when I’m inside you.”

  He stood, abruptly, lifting me with him. Swinging me around, he laid me on the couch and grazed his fingers down my sides, hooking them on the edge of my panties and tugging them off. The couch dipped as he knelt over me. Reaching with his palm, he cupped my already aching sex, his fingers sliding softly through the wet folds. Stop teasing me.

  Lightly, he continued to rub his hand in circles as he whispered, “Teasing suggests I’d arouse without affording satisfaction.” His hot breath wafted along the outer shell of my ear, causing goose bumps to rise on the sensitive skin of my neck below. “I have every intention of leaving you fully satisfied. And that’s a promise”

  His promise—and I had no doubt he could deliver—sent me into a full body shiver. I was sure he felt my reaction when his lip tilted with a smug grin. Edging down until he rested between my legs, he reached for my left ankle and hooked it over the back of the couch. Lifting my other foot, he trailed kisses along the calf before resting it on the ground beside me, spreading me wide for him.

  “God, you’re perfect,” he praised. Leaning back on his heels, he was fully dressed while I was naked. He stared down at me raptly— like an artist admiring his work. I’d never felt so exposed, but at the same time I never felt so beautiful, so desired, or so… excited. That is, until he leaned over and swiped his tongue in a slow, leisurely stroke along my slit.

  Surprised, I let out a high pitch squeal. My hands fisted in his hair as I pulled him closer. He chuckled, the vibration traveling through me, adding to the maelstrom of sensations. Scorching hot, his mouth sizzled with long, wet glides of his tongue. Each stroke getting shorter and more concentrated until he was licking, nibbling and biting right where I needed him to be.

  “Oh. My. God!”

  My body burned for more, but at the same time it was almost too much. He’d awakened nerve endings, causing everything t
o become ultra-sensitive. Every subtle touch, each strong pull of his lips, gentle nibble, or flick of his tongue had me coiling tighter and tighter. I was so close, almost there…and then he stopped.

  Breathless, I let out a wail of frustration. “No, don’t stop.”

  He lifted an arrogant brow and chuckled. In this moment, he owned me completely. I was at his mercy and he knew it. “Maybe if you say please.”

  “Please. Please,” I wasn’t too proud to beg at this point. “Pl—”

  “How about this?”

  “Oohhhhh!”

  Sliding one long finger inside me, he began to move it back and forth. Two fingers replaced the one and his pace sped, twisting and searching out the most sensitive spot until my cries told him he’d found it. With a galloping heart, I was breathing like I’d run a marathon. My muscles began to squeeze and constrict again, I worried he was going to stop again. “That’s my girl.”

  Tell me you love me, his plea echoed inside my head.

  I love you. God, I love you! I do.

  Leaning over, his tongue ran along my swollen center until he found that concentrate bundle of nerves, flicked it once and then locked his mouth and sucked hard. Now, he ordered silently while he continued his assault, you can come, now.

  It started, from somewhere so deep inside, growing and building until the pressure couldn’t be contained and everything within me exploded in release. My breath stuttered. Every inch of my body shook uncontrollably. A scream tore from my lips, but was silenced quickly by Mark’s mouth on mine.

  Unaware of anything but this magnificent pleasure pulsing through me, I was caught off guard when Mark filled me in one hard stroke. Plunging into me deeply, my channel tightened, gripping him in a tight fist that refused to let go.

  “Look at me, Alyssa.” He demanded.

  Obeying, my eyes locked onto his.

  Wrapping my arms around him, I gripped each ass cheek and pulled him tighter. Every time he left me, I pulled him back again, loving the flex of his steel hard ass under my hands as he pumped into me, eyes fixed on mine the whole time. Then, as if he had been holding a part of himself back, he sped his movements and I felt his emotions crash over me.