Soulhated Read online

  I remembered that he’d talked about his wolf side taking over if he saw another guy touching me. This situation wasn’t too different, right? So if I was going to stop him, I had to appeal to his wolf.

  What did wolves want? He had said something about needing to protect me.

  “Cody, I need you to stop for a second. Please.” I hurried to catch up with him. “If you hurt Travis, it will hurt me.”

  That stopped him. He froze, and turned to me with narrowed eyes. I barely stopped myself from gasping when I saw how his eyes had changed. Their usual brownish-green had turned into a yellowish cream, and they didn’t look even a little human. I was staring into the eyes of a wolf.

  Strangely enough, it didn’t scare me at all.

  “I’m not in love with him, but it will hurt my parents and that will hurt me. There’s a better way to prove your point without hurting anyone.” I stepped up close and put my hands on his face. “You want them to know that I’m yours, right?”

  His eyes didn’t change, but his body did seem to relax as his arms lifted to my waist.

  “It’s going to be a scandal.” I warned him, my whisper barely tickling his face.

  “You love scandals, don’t you?” His words came out more growl than words, but like before, it didn’t scare me.

  I just smiled.

  “More than I should.”

  I lowered his hand to the slit on my leg, where he could easily access my thigh. He took a sharp breath in.

  “Quinn.” He warned.

  He only said my name, but I heard him loud and clear. He was warning me that if we went through with my scandal, his wolf wasn’t going anywhere.

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted it to.

  “I know.” I flashed him a smile and lifted his other hand to the bare strip of skin under the lace of my shirt. “Don’t worry, all you have to do is kiss me.”

  With that, I put my hand on the marking on his neck and went up on my tiptoes, lifting my mouth to his. I’d felt his emotions when he touched my marking, so I assumed it worked the same when I did it to him.

  I pushed every ounce of attraction I felt toward him to the surface, and if his growl was any way to judge, I was correct.

  Cody

  “Quintessa Armelle!” Quinn’s dad bellowed her name, and I felt someone try to pull her off of me.

  My wolf was in control, though, and that part of me would kill someone before letting them take my soulmate from me. I snarled, and Quinn pulled her mouth off of mine. Her excited eyes met mine, and her flushed cheeks only made me ache to feel more of her.

  Her legs were wrapped tightly around my waist, her arms tangled in my hair, and my hands had made their way up under the hem of the lace top that showed off her body more than covered it.

  We’d been making out in the middle of the room like that for a while—long enough that people had snapped photos and taken videos.

  “Now what?” I murmured, my eyes locked with hers.

  “Now we run.” The devilish smile on her face seemed to have a mind of its own.

  I put her down on her feet, and she slipped out of the stiletto-heels she’d been wearing.

  And then she took my hand and yanked me toward the emergency exit, running like her life depended on it.

  I ran with her out through the door and then continued running into the forest and away from the brightly-lit mansion we’d just escaped.

  Quinn stopped running and whooped, throwing her hands up in the air.

  Her eyes met mine just before she grabbed me and kissed me again.

  I definitely wasn’t going to protest that.

  The kiss started out more intense than our others, and with desire burning through my entire body, it wasn’t long before I had her pinned with her back against a tree.

  As I trailed kisses down her neck, she was breathing hard, only encouraging me to continue. When my lips hit her collarbone, she said,

  “Shift, Cody.”

  Her words were barely louder than a breath and so insane I ignored them.

  “Shift.”

  I lifted my eyes to meet hers. There was only one thing on my mind, and it definitely wasn’t shifting. My wolf was still just as in-control as I was, but that had nothing to do with wanting to shift.

  “I want to see your wolf.”

  Coming from her, the words were almost seductive.

  Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to show her what I was in wolf form.

  “I’ll shift if you will.”

  Her eyes widened as she realized what I meant.

  “I can’t… can I?”

  “You can.” I nodded once, my hands roaming her waist once again. “Shift with me.”

  “Teach me how.” She urged, pushing my hands off her waist. There was an excitement in her eyes that made her seem so much more real and alive. That look in her eyes made me ache to see her in wolf form, to run with her and just be with her.

  “There’s nothing to teach, gorgeous.” I pulled her hand to my heart. “You just turn to the part of you that isn’t human and let it take over. Your wolf is the voice inside you, telling you that I’m yours. The part of you that would do whatever it takes to make sure we stay together.”

  Quinn nodded, and closed her eyes.

  “You’re going to want to take your clothes off first, unless you plan on running all the way back to your apartment or driving home naked.”

  She opened her eyes and shot me a devious grin.

  “Would you complain if I did?”

  I grinned right back, giving her a massive, wolfy smile.

  “What do you think?”

  She laughed and pulled the lace top off, tossing it on the ground and further exposing the light purple bra that had already been on display underneath.

  “You’d better strip too, mountain man, unless you’re the one planning on traveling in the nude.”

  I undid the bowtie and tossed it to the ground before tugging the tuxedo jacket off of my shoulders.

  I heard the door we’d run through earlier open, and then heard,

  “Quinn!”

  She met my gaze, half-panicked and half-amused.

  “It’s my mom. What do we do now?”

  I unbuttoned my dress pants.

  “Now we run.”

  I shot her another grin, and she mirrored it when she realized that I’d used her words from earlier.

  She slipped out of her skirt and took off running in front of me. I followed her for a second as I yanked my pants off, and then I launched myself into the air and shifted as I went.

  I landed on the dirt floor of the forest on four massive paws.

  Quinn’s eyes followed me as I shifted, but she didn’t stop running. Instead, she did exactly what I’d done. She launched herself into the air, and I watched as her body shimmered and then changed.

  When she hit the floor, a slim wolf with shiny black fur, I knew that I’d never see a more incredible sight in my life.

  We ran together for hours, never speaking because we didn’t need to.

  We were wolves, and we didn’t need words to tell each other that we knew we belonged together.

  Cody

  I carried Quinn up to the apartment for the second night in the row, but the two nights couldn’t have been more different.

  The first night she’d been drunk and delirious. The second night, she was soft and warm and fast asleep in my arms.

  We were both covered in dirt. Our black-tie clothing looked more like something you’d find in a dumpster than a gala, but I’d never felt so attractive and alive. With my soulmate cradled against me and the memories of running through the forest at her side fresh in my mind, my world had never been more perfect.

  Beth opened the door when I knocked. She wore a large t-shirt and some colorful leggings, with her hair in one of those big clips on top of her head.

  “What happened?” Her eyes were wide as she ushered me inside.

  “Quinn shifted.” I couldn’t ha
ve hidden the pride in my smile if I’d tried.

  “She didn’t.”

  “She did.” I nodded, and a smile took over her entire face.

  “I am so glad I let you in last night. I’d hug you, if you weren’t caked in dirt.” She winked, and I chuckled. “I saw you guys on Twitter earlier.” She held up her phone and showed me a picture of me and Quinn making out. With her skirt falling on either side of her bare legs, which were wrapped around my waist, and my fingers underneath the lace of her top, it looked much more sensual than it was.

  “She wanted to start some kind of a scandal. I heard about her political engagement, and was losing control of my wolf. She said this would make more of a statement than punching Travis in the face.”

  Beth laughed.

  “Well it definitely did. My mom called me as soon as she left the party to tell me all about it, and Quinn’s mom keeps texting me to ask if she’s home yet.” She sat down on the edge of the coffee table and folded her arms. “You’re good for her, you know. She needs a reason to get out from under her parents.”

  “Hopefully she sees it that way.” I gave her a quick smile. “I think I’m going to take Quinn to bed. Are you waiting up for Garrett?”

  “Always.” She smiled, but it was a forced, tight smile. “He likes to go out with his buddies most nights. They watch baseball tapes and stuff, so it’s technically research, but…” Beth shrugged. “It’s okay. I like to be alone sometimes.”

  I nodded. Though the relationship didn’t sound much like the ones my siblings had with their soulmates, I wasn’t exactly a relationship professional.

  When I put Quinn down on the bed, she held on tight and wouldn’t let go.

  “Do you still want me to sleep on the couch?” I whispered, running my hand over her hair. Even though it was dirty, it was still soft.

  She only opened her eyes long enough to glare at me before she closed them and cuddled into my chest.

  I took that as a no and pulled her into my arms.

  Holding Quinn in my arms with both of us covered in dirt and exhausted more than made it worth finding her on that bar and getting puked on the night before.

  Quinn

  I woke up the next day feeling like a new person. I was dirty and still wearing the ruined dress from the night before, but for the first time in a long time, I woke up feeling like me.

  After untangling myself from Cody’s arms, I went straight for the shower. Humming along to some silly love song in my mind as I scrubbed dirt out of my hair, I felt something along the lines of flowers and cheesy love notes and couples dancing on the streets.

  Even more, I felt like I was alive. It felt like I’d found some part of myself that I hadn’t realized I was missing. Not in Cody, though he was more incredible than he had the right to be, but in what I’d become the night before.

  A shifter.

  I was a shifter.

  More than that, I was a wolf.

  A smile pulled at my cheeks and turned into a grin so massive that it actually hurt. My memories of running through the forest were so filled with joy that I didn’t really know how to comprehend it. Being a wolf was more than a change, it was a breath of fresh air that I hadn’t realized it was missing.

  It had felt so right, so complete and perfect. Being a wolf was the answer to my problems. I’d been drinking and sleeping around because I felt lost after my future in the Olympics disappeared, and being a wolf was the identity that I needed to find myself.

  I heard Beth rummaging around in her room, even with the shower on. That was my wolf side seeping through into my human side, I knew it instantly and without question. I couldn’t hear Cody, so he was still asleep, but I could hear Beth.

  Her footsteps got louder as she hurried down the hall and into the bathroom.

  “Quinn?” she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

  “What?” I sang the word, and then rolled my eyes at myself. I was a wolf, but that didn’t mean my personality would change.

  “Your mom says she’s just going to keep calling me until she can talk to you.” The apology in Beth’s voice was thicker than the steamy bathroom air.

  My grin disappeared.

  “What does she want?”

  Nothing about the conversation to come was going to be good.

  “What do you think?” Beth poked her head around the corner and held up the phone, which I glanced at but didn’t take. I wanted to ride out the high that had followed running as a wolf with Cody.

  She took one look at my expression and disappeared for a second. “Hi, Mrs. Longhorn, it’s still me. Quinn is in the bathroom, but she’ll be out in a few minutes and I swear she’s going to call you back.”

  I left the shower on but stepped out of the water and wrapped a towel around my waist.

  Beth shot me a quizzical look, and I shrugged.

  “He has wolf hearing.” I gestured with my head toward my bedroom, and understanding filled Beth’s eyes. Leaving the shower on wouldn’t cancel out the noise from us speaking, but it would make it much harder for him to interpret our words. “How bad is it?”

  “How bad do you think? You’re all over the tabloids. It’s a miracle you weren’t engaged to Travis yet, because if you had been, both of your dads would be in really hot water right now.”

  “I know.” I leaned back against the wall of the bathroom. “But the only other option was to let him beat Travis into a pulp, and have you seen the size of those muscles? Little ole Travis would’ve been wrecked.”

  “Your dad isn’t going to see it that way.” Beth warned. “You’re going to have to put on your big girl panties and stand up for yourself and your man.”

  I bit my lip. The odds of me standing up to my dad for a man I’d just met… they were slim. Even with my newfound wolfy peace and empowerment and livelihood, he was my dad and all I’d ever wanted was for him to be proud of me.

  “Oh, no.” Beth dropped her phone on the counter and put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you even think about it.”

  “You have no idea what I’m thinking.” I protested, though I knew she knew exactly what I was thinking.

  “You’re thinking that you’re going to do whatever your dad tells you to do whether you like it or not. What if he threatens to send Cody to jail, Quinn? What if he tries to whisk you off to some remote island where you’ll be forced to marry Travis or pay with your life?”

  I held up a finger.

  “You read too many books, Bethie. The public already knows that Cody and I are soulmates, so a remote island wedding to Travis Childers is off the table. Plus Cody could find me anywhere, so that’s not really plausible. Jail isn’t in my dad’s plan for him either, okay? Just trust me.”

  Beth’s mouth parted.

  “You wouldn’t.” She accused.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “What is this, the inquisition? What wouldn’t I do now?”

  “You’re going to make him hate you.” Beth said, her voice filled with disbelief. “You’re going to hurt that big old marshmallow of a man so badly that he won’t want to chase after you, and your dad is going to come up with some kind of dirty document where he can sign away his right to be your soulmate. That’s a new low, Quinn.”

  I pulled my wet hair over one shoulder and fluffed it out, trying hard to remain nonchalant.

  Beth was right. The one-night-stands and the alcohol were one thing, but breaking someone’s heart? I could only hurt myself with the booze and the sex. If I went through with the plan I’d hatched the night before, I could destroy Cody.

  “Not one inch of that man is marshmallow, Bethie. He’s pure rock. And even if that was my plan—which it isn’t—it wouldn’t be any of your business.”

  “Really? Are you really going to say that to me?” Beth demanded. “Every time you think you’ve finally found a way to make your dad love you, I’m the one who puts your pieces back together when he breaks you again. Every time. We eat ice cream that I don’t like, we w
atch movies that I hate, we go to bars that I can’t stand and I drag you home half-naked and puking.”

  Her words shocked me so thoroughly that I had no idea what to say.

  Beth grabbed her phone off the counter and shoved it toward me.

  “Cody is good for you, Quinn. He’s a good man. He already cares about you more than your dad has in all twenty-one years of your life. If you break his heart to make your dad happy, I’m not going be here to pick up your pieces again. This isn’t a healthy way for either of us to live.” She walked out of the room without a backward glance.

  Her phone started vibrating before I could go after her. Even if it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known what to say.

  Was I really that horrible of a friend?

  Guilt flooded through me as I realized that yes, in fact, I was.

  And still, instead of chasing after her, I answered that stupid phone.

  “I’m here, mom.”

  “What were you thinking, Quintessa?”

  My dad’s voice was colder and sharper than a dagger made of ice, and it pierced me to the very center of my soul.

  “He was going to tear into Travis.” The words came out sounding like a croak. “If I hadn’t done what I did, you would never have had a chance at the Senate. It was my only choice.”

  He said nothing, but his silence was more painful than any words.

  “I’m going to get rid of him, dad. I swear.” I practically begged him to believe me. “I have a plan, it’s written out on my phone. I can send you a copy, you’ll see that—”

  “I’m disappointed in you.” He interrupted me.

  Something invisible but horribly painful clenched around my stomach.

  “You have two months to convince him to sign a document giving up his right to claim you as his soulmate. If you can’t handle that, you will be publicly disowned.”

  “What?” My mouth fell open. “You can’t just—”

  “We expect you to leave town and stay out of the media until you convince him to sign.”