Excerpt From Soul Torn - the alternate version of Shadow of Your Love

Dorian

I looked out the window, itching to get out of this neighborhood.

“We should find you a loft downtown near me,” I said. “I can feel the creativity draining out of me.”

My best friend and bodyguard, Kyle, shook his head. “This was your idea, man. Besides, this is a nice place. It’s friendly, and quiet. I have nice neighbors.”

I snorted in disbelief. “What would those neighbors think if they knew what you were,” I asked, arching a dark eyebrow.

Kyle shrugged. “There’s no reason why they should ever find out. It’s not like I’ll be here when it’s time to shift.”

I let out a long, frustrated sigh. Kyle lived in the sort of neighborhood with a Homeowner’s Association dictating what you could and couldn’t do with your own property. The longer I stayed here, the more creativity was sucked from my mind.

“I’m going to head home to do some painting before the guys show up for practice. I’ll be by tomorrow.”

I opened the door and stepped outside onto the porch, taking in a deep breath. It would be daylight for a few more hours, and I wanted to take advantage of the natural light that streamed in through the tall windows at my gallery to get some work done.

“Don’t get into any trouble,” Kyle called after me.

I ignored him. As my guardian, it was Kyle’s job to worry about such things, but I really didn’t see the point. I’d been living on my own, outside of the safety of my father’s house, for the last year, and no one had bothered me. No attempts had been made on my life. But it was a werewolf’s nature to be overly cautious with their assigned vampire, especially if they shared a psychic link, the way Kyle and I did.

I opened the driver’s side door of my car - a black, ‘67 Impala - then pulled my phone from the back pocket of my jeans and checked the time. Almost three. If I left now, I’d have about two hours to paint before my band, Apostasy, showed up for practice. I started to get into the car, then stopped. A light pain started to blossom in the center of my chest. As the moments ticked by, the pain grew into a throbbing, burning ache.

No, I thought. Can’t be.

I looked around, searching. Then I saw her. She had long, cascading black curls and glittering, emerald-green eyes. The pain in my chest pulled me towards her like a magnet, and I knew it could only be one thing. The Soul Torn bond.

This girl was my twin flame. My soulmate. My other half.

I forgot about my desire to get out of this beige neighborhood. All thought was forced from my mind as I watched her stroll up the sidewalk with two other girls. One was chatting away, while the one in the middle rolled her eyes. The girl who’d caught my attention - my soul-torn mate - stared straight ahead again, as though she were trying to tune the other girl out.

My eyes picked up on all the intricate details of her body, details that human eyes would have missed. Her skin was so white and flawless that, for a moment, I thought that she might be one of my kind. One look into her eyes, however, told me otherwise.

She had large, mesmerizing green eyes that glimmered from beneath a fan of dark lashes. But they were still human eyes, lacking the iridescent sheen that would have accompanied the nearly alabaster-white of her skin had she been a vampire. Her body was well-toned, yet graceful. She wore a tight-fitting black t-shirt with a low neckline that allowed me to observe the feminine curve of her neck and collarbone, and her ripped black jeans were tight enough to show off her hour glass curves.

I had forgotten about the phone in my hand, and nearly dropped it, catching it just before it hit the pavement. When I looked back up, I saw that she had stopped and was watching me, her eyes blazing, and a sharp, unexpected pain shot through my heart. One look into those dazzling, green eyes and I felt like I was on fire. Every fiber of my body wanted - no, needed - to go to her. Needed to be with her.

This had to be the soul-torn bond.

She slowly tore her eyes from mine, and continued up the sidewalk with her friends. I heard her heartbeat quicken and caught the faint scent of her increased perspiration. That meant only one thing. She had felt it, too.

A human girl felt the soul-torn bond with me, a vampire.

The muscles around my canines contracted, and the tiny, sharp points of my teeth grazed across my tongue. All the muscles in my body wanted to force her to the pavement right there, and sink my teeth deep into the soft, tender flesh of her throat and taste her blood, to know who she was through her blood.

No, I thought. I couldn’t do that to her, no here.

Not like that.

I closed my eyes tight, and forced the muscles around my canines to release. It wasn’t easy, but eventually my teeth receded to a normal, more human-like length. When I opened my eyes, she was further down the sidewalk and waving to her friends as she stood in the driveway of a two-story brick house. Fear flooded through me, making my muscles ache. I felt as though I had just been gut-punched. I had nearly attacked an innocent human girl as she walked up the street with her friends.

I had never felt anything this powerful before.

I had never attacked a human before. Never. But just then, when our eyes met and the magnetic pull of the soul torn bond had passed between us, I could have. I could have been at her side in an instant, taking her into my arms and sinking my finely sharpened fangs deep into her flawless, white throat.

But I had maintained control.

So, I was Soul Torn, huh?

That would explain a lot. But it was impossible for a vampire to share a soul with a human.

Wasn’t it?

Who is she?