Her days passed, one after another. She experienced days where excitement filled every twist and turn before her. Then there were days filled with depression, weighing her soul form down like a lead balloon. With all that she observed, some days would always come speeding to the forefront of her mind first when reminiscing, no matter how much time passed. On one day in particular, it had been about three hundred and fifty years since she had seen her body, possibly a little less. She had no accurate idea of how much time had passed for her; it’s hard to keep track with no pockets to tuck a tally sheet away in.
It was a day like any other, she was minding her own business, as any normal floating soul does, when all of a sudden she was zipped away to a new location. She mentally stumbled around trying to orient herself to the new surroundings. Finding herself floating above a woman sleeping on a stone slab inside a cave. The princess inspected the woman and couldn’t help but think the dress looked familiar. With that thought, her eyes darted up to the face of the woman. Good thing souls can’t fall over from shock, because at that moment our princess realized she was actually floating over her own body. Gasp!
You can imagine what a relief it was for her to finally see her body again. Or maybe you can’t...
Wait, this is my story. Yes! Yes, I can relate!
Until this point, she had been so distracted by seeing her sexy body again, she didn’t realize they weren’t alone in the cave. Awkward! Standing next to her body was a filthy human with his hand touching her arm. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way either, he was literally filthy. Covered head to toe in fine black dust, this man had a pickaxe in one hand, giving the princess the impression he was a gold miner. It was an easy connection to make since the gold rush had been going on for some time.
Upon seeing this man was still touching her body, without permission, she used a bit of her magic to send a warning jolt of electricity into him. Just enough to get his hand off, but not enough to seriously hurt him. The miner let out a yelp. Ahh, music to my soul...
Instantly, he retracted his hand and smiled. “I think we struck gold, gentlemen, just not the type we were searching for.” His words caused the princess to look beyond him to a few men she hadn’t noticed before. She didn’t pay them any mind though, too distracted by reuniting with her body after such a long time. It brought up so many painful memories from her past.
Her body appeared the same as the last time she had seen it. There was a layer of dust that had settled on top of it like a blanket, and an absence of dried blood, which someone must have washed off before placing her in this cave. Her hair was swept over her shoulder and looked like it had been lovingly tucked behind her ears. The princess scoffed with conviction, knowing deep down the loving actions were all a lie.
She made note of a few other details about her body before the miners carried her out of the cave through a narrow tunnel and out into the sunlight. She had attempted to zap them some more, but they had been too quick, transferring her onto a cloth to safely move her. Their safety, not hers.
They left her on a bedroll inside a tent and our sweet princess’s soul form was once again blown through the air to travel to a new place.
Through the years, she had learned there was nothing she could do to direct where she went, and there was no rhyme or reason to where she would be sent. It was all up to the Fates. One thing she quickly learned, though, was whenever her body was touched by someone possessing a black mark upon their aura, her soul form was instantly transported back, so she could protect it. This was how she saw the moment money had been exchanged and her body sold!
I’ll pause my story for your shouts of outrage to quiet down...
The man she had been sold to was an evil monster, a demon if you will, of the human variety. His intentions were never pure, a dark essence surrounding him at all times. He had her transferred to a building where he could conduct experiments, but our heroine defended her body from every unsanctioned touch. Wielding her proverbial flaming sword, she would zap their asses and cause all kinds of chaos to thwart their plans.
She never allowed her clothing to move even a millimeter. Her skin became impenetrable. And when they would try to use any kind of device, let’s just say they would never work. It served those monsters right to be the recipients of a little mayhem after all.
Eventually, the man who bought our beloved princess died. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the end of the horrors she would face. Treated as a family heirloom, she was passed on to the eldest son, who, like his father before him, tried to use her as a scientific test subject. He moved her to a new facility, and the games continued. The cycle repeated with every generation.
The most current tyrant in possession of our pretty princess moved her into an underground bunker. Somehow it interfered with her level of magic, or maybe it was the amount of magic she had started using to protect her body. Because, you see, our princess is becoming dangerously low in her reserves of magic, and pretty soon her game of ‘stay the fuck away from my body’ will come to an end.This is the part of our story where our heroine begins to lose confidence she’ll be able to survive long enough to see a happily ever after.I won’t turn this into a horror story with what could happen next because so far this story has no knight in shining armor to rescue our princess.
Switching my focus to my surroundings instead of the past, I enjoy the night sky while I’m still able to. Any moment now, Wilks will begin his next round of testing attempts. Sure enough, as soon as the thought pops into my mind, I feel my soul returning to my body like the snap of a rubber band.
I expect to see Wilks’ ugly-as-sin mug leering over my body again, but what I see instead makes my soul freeze. I’ve never seen the man standing next to my body before, and the feeling coming off of his soul is soothing. It’s been such a long time since I’ve encountered someone who doesn’t ooze malice. His light brown hair flops in his face, drawing my attention to his golden eyes shining with concern.
He touches my body and for the first time while being in soul form, I don’t instantly want to zap the person. In fact, I can literallyfeelhis touch, as if he’s reaching through my body, and caresses... well, me... my soul, and I just want to reach back and bask in the contact. I float a little closer, right next to his face, wanting to rub up against him.
Shit! Down, girl! No getting your hopes up for nothing. Today is certainly turning out to be anything but normal.
Chapter 1
Alex
One Hour Ago
It could just be me... or possibly the fact I play too many video games, but when I’m in my wolf form, there’s an ongoing endless holographic blueprint in my mind. It’s mostly just an image of everything I see with a path chosen for where I should place my paws when running. If I transfer the information from my mind onto the path in front of me, it looks like I’m following a trail of lit-up paw prints.
I focus on the path in front of me, making sure I can take in as much information as possible to aid the map. I should be reaching the Great Midwest Nature Preserve border any minute now, if everything is still lining up. The last time I checked my internal map against my phone’s GPS location was about twenty miles ago, just before I shifted at dusk.
Right now, I’m on my way to meet up with my best friends: Marcus, Klaus, and Derrick. While we keep in constant communication with each other and see one another throughout the year, nothing beats an actual vacation where we can disconnect from all responsibilities. This is something I look forward to every year, and we typically time it to occur just before the annual Summit.
The Summit is a gathering of the highest-ranking individuals in every pack across the country. They all come to the annual Summit to discuss needs and proposed changes in our pack laws, as well as issues and threats. Once everything is laid out on the table, they turn to the four of us to make the final decisions and solve the problems. For some reason, they trust us to have all the answers.No pressure or anything...
We were certainly put in a situation where greatness was thrust upon us. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t notice it was happening until we were past the point of no return.Lucky, right?Who knew our parents could be so cunning. I guess they enjoy vacations from responsibility as much as we do. One day they all gathered and decided it was time for us to take over their roles in a more regal capacity. We are their heirs, after all, so it made sense.
I may agree with it, but shit... I don’t have to like it.
No one knows when each of us will officially ascend into our roles, since it all depends on when we each find our Fated mate. Theoretically, the Fates can decide at any time we’re ready to find the perfect match to our soul.I can’t wait to meet mine when the day comes!
