Never Letting Go (Delphian Book 1) by Christina Channelle Page A

that I was wearing. The thought of that person undressing me to put me in the nightgown made me ill.
    Briggs was MIA as per usual.
    I left the others, immediately heading to take a shower. When I cleaned up and was dressed comfortably in some of Amy’s hand-me-downs, I made my way back into the living room. Dante stood in the center, his back facing me. I noticed that he looked especially pale against the harsh lights, a gleam of sweat on his face when he turned.
    He sat down heavily on the couch, patting the space next to him. I shuffled toward him, settled next to his body. He looked down at me. “Kaede and Amy are in her room. She keeps crying and won’t let Kaede out of her sight.” He smiled faintly. “It doesn’t seem as if he wants to leave either, which is good. Amy always did get what she wanted. Now, I never expected the night to turn out like this, Kaede and I rescuing our girls. We should probably call the cops ... I will call the cops. There’s a psycho loose on the streets that needs to be caught. I’m just glad the both of you are safe. Amy’s my only family and you...” He looked down, emotion overcoming him.
    I obviously couldn’t speak so I clutched his clammy hand, squeezing reassuringly.
    “Mia,” he sighed, “I have to say I’m glad you fell from the sky and into our apartment, just like an angel. There’s something … special about you.”
    I gave him a look. “Not the mute thing,” he rushed. “Just, you know.” He stared directly into my eyes. “It’s like you were meant to be here. You understand what I’m saying?”
    I didn’t but nodded as if I did. That warranted a smile from him. He lay back on the couch. “Great. Now I can take a wonderful nap and dream of you. I hope you dream of me too.”
    That was how I left Dante. I checked in on Amy and found her asleep, curled up against Kaede’s chest, his arm protectively around her waist. Closing the door gently, I retreated to my room.
    And I did dream as Dante hoped I would, my hand clutching the piece of paper underneath my pillow.
    The sad thing was that it wasn’t about him at all, as he wanted. A part of me wished I could dream of innocent Dante, who seemed in awe of me. He had a beautiful soul and deserved anything he wished for.
    Instead, I dreamed of another man, another soul consuming me. Yes, consuming . It was the only way I could describe it. His presence filled me with a passion, a burn, a yearning that I didn’t think I’d ever felt before.
    But I must have.
    It was the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, life-altering dream I had ever felt in all my eighteen years.
    How did I know it was eighteen? Because this dream taught me one thing: I remembered.
    I remembered everything.

 

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
    W E MET AT a busy train station.
    I didn’t expect the first meeting with my other half to be at a place so simple. Words like other half and soulmate weren’t even in my vocabulary. But that was what we were, and that was where we met … at a train station.
    If anything, I thought my future significant other would meet at the top of a huge skyscraper, or our eyes would collide at a concert among the cheering crowd while we stood ever so still. You know, like in the movies. Hell, maybe I’d bump into him at the grocery store, or something.
    Not inside of a train.
    I wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place but my BFF Liam couldn’t give me a ride, my car was in the shop, Dad was probably in his millionth meeting at the office, and Mom? Well, Mom had been dead for seven years.
    So I had to take public transportation for this after school job interview at the city library.
    The train was packed, full of everybody from all walks of life trying to make it to their destination. I felt out of place, wearing one of my mother’s two-piece suits: a fitted black knee-length skirt with matching jacket, covering a white dress shirt. My father had issues with letting go of the past but times like this, it