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  Qaletaqa

  Book Three of the Twin Souls Saga

  by

  DelSheree Gladden

  Smashwords Edition

  *****

  Published by

  DelSheree Gladden on Smashwords

  Qaletaqa

  Book Three of the Twin Souls Saga

  Copyright 2011 DelSheree Gladden

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Also by DelSheree Gladden:

  Escaping Fate

  Twin Souls

  Book One of the Twin Souls Saga

  Qaletaqa

  Book Three of the Twin Souls Saga

  Inquest

  Book One of the Destroyer Trilogy

  Coming September 2012

  For Everett and Abbey

  Table of Contents

  1. New Experiences

  2. Reunion

  3. Weakness

  4. Harvey

  5. Melody

  6. Answer

  7. Shield

  8. Lifeline

  9. Simple Touch

  10. Three

  11. Reality

  12. Brittle Yellow Pages

  13. Exempt

  14. A Dark Part

  15. Whatever it Takes

  16. Origins

  17. Possibilities

  18. Catching Up

  19. Details

  20. Alfalfa and Strawberries

  21. Ahiga’s Promise

  22. Warning

  23. Remember

  24. Promises

  25. Second Chance to Choose1

  26. Limits

  27. Unmade

  28. Riddle

  29. Special Power

  30. An Idea

  31. The Trap

  32. Risks

  33. Made

  34. Ungodly Life

  35. Futile Fight

  36. One Thing

  37. Spent

  38. Inside

  39. Ashes

  40. Unknown

  Epilogue

  Also by DelSheree Gladden

  Sneak Peek of INQUEST: Book One of The Destroyer Trilogy

  About the Author

  Prologue

  I knew I was screaming. I could hear everyone else screaming, but my body kept moving, hurtling me to the Matwau’s side. My legs felt nothing. They pumped underneath me. Independent of any thought, they carried me toward her. I felt her heart beating in time with mine. Our eyes locked as she tried to run, but a great clawed hand swept in between us. Pain exploded across my chest and arm, but it was not mine. My legs wobbled as I saw her fall.

  “Uriah, she’s dying! You have to help her.”

  My breathing became labored as I tried to crawl over to her. I was shaking so hard I could barely form the word. “How?”

  “You have to form the bond,” Claire said. “You have to touch her. The bond can heal anything. You know it can. You saw it happen with Daniel.”

  “No, not that. Please. I can’t,” I cried. I had come so far. I had saved Claire’s life by finding her Twin Soul. I had given my own blood in an attempt to save her again, and save myself from a life of despair. I had given so much already. It was just too much to ask me to do this too. I wanted to go home. With Claire. Go home to my mom and my ranch and live my life. I didn’t want to touch her and seal my fate. There had to be another way.

  1: New Experiences

  As she watched her mother’s maroon sedan drive away from her home, she waved, completely unaware of the monster lurking in the woods. He could have kept it that way, attacked her without ever giving her a hint of his intentions, but that wouldn’t have been any fun for him. The Matwau purposely planted his foot on a fallen twig. His weight snapped it easily. As he hoped, the noise caught the girl’s attention and she turned to look in his direction.

  The smile that spread across his mouth was in direct contradiction to the growl that rose in his throat. It was a deep sound, the kind that slipped under the skin and burrowed into the bone in a disquieting invasion. The girl felt it, flinching and taking a step back toward her house. The Matwau took another step, and another, the noises widening her eyes and harrying her retreat. He couldn’t let her get too far away, though. Just as her hand touched the door, he stepped out of the trees and into plain view.

  Her hand paused in the middle of turning the doorknob. Confusion mingled with her fear at the sight of a well-dressed man standing in her driveway. For a moment that was all he did. His eyes held hers in a way that made her shiver.

  “Can I…help you?” she asked. The slight tremor of fear in her voice was delicious. The Matwau’s skin tingled with excitement. He did not respond. Instead, he started taking slow steps toward her. Her green eyes grew even wider as she fumbled with the door. He let her open it a few inches before turning his measured approach into an all-out sprint.

  Her crystalline voice cried out in shock when he was suddenly right next to her, pressing her against the doorframe and smiling as he savored the taste of capturing his greatest victim yet. Her lips quivered in terror and he loved it. He slid a hand up to her throat and squeezed. The girl’s scream pierced the air and the Matwau laughed because he knew there was no one around to hear her. He saw the realization dawn in her eyes, and took great pleasure in hearing her scream turn into a whimper.

  It was a moment so sweet and satisfying that he could barely control his desire to take her life one bit at a time right there on the doorstep. Her luscious skin would melt like warm chocolate under his torture. The Matwau’s eyes closed, both to calm his desires and mentally indulge in them for a brief second.

  Pain suddenly blossomed across his jaw, stabbing deep into wounds that had yet to heal. His vision blackened under the onslaught. He could not control the sudden weakness in his body. His fingers lost their hold and the girl spun away from him and into the house. The Matwau could hear her running from him, crashing through the rooms. She was clearly panicked, but the Matwau simply took a moment to stifle the pain and regain his control before stalking after her.

  She sat on the couch a few minutes later, pitched slightly forward with her hands tied behind her back. Her auburn hair had slipped over her shoulders, hanging against the sides of her pale face. The duct tape stood out sharply against her skin. Glowering at her captor, she never took her eyes off him. The Matwau smirked at her defiance. The girl had surprised him with her attack and even managed to elude him for several minutes. It shouldn’t have surprised him, given whose Twin Soul she was, but in the end it did not matter. Even her surprising strength and tenacity was not enough to beat him.

  She had shouted questions at him as he secured her, trying to draw out useful information. He refused to speak even a single word to her. She finally gave up, settling her angry glare on him instead. The Matwau watched her carefully. It was a new experience for him, holding a captive. He was not entirely sure how to proceed. That was also new. For centuries the Matwau had been the ultimate weapon, the infinite hunter. Weakness, fear, and indecision had never before been a part of his existence.

  First to reach him had been the fear, and then he found out he was indeed capable of experiencing weakness. Staring at the girl, he now knew indecision. Should he hold her in the little house, or move her? He was not worried about Uriah showing up unannounced, he knew exactly how far away Uriah was, but any other human could walk u
p to the house at any moment. The Matwau could feel the link that formed between Uriah and the girl, but he did not understand exactly how it would work in such a strange situation.

  The exact location for his last battle with Uriah had already been chosen. All the Matwau needed was to lead Uriah to that spot. Slowly. Moving slowly was the key. If the Matwau raced ahead too quickly, Uriah might follow at his usual furious pace and reach the meeting place before everything was prepared. The Matwau would wait. He would wait long enough to make sure Uriah found the little house. If Uriah found the little house, he would be drawn in by the chance to learn about the girl. That would give the Matwau the chance to move along his path unheeded and make the necessary preparations.

  Glancing back at the girl, he smiled pleasantly. The shock on her face lasted only a brief second before her anger settled back in, deeper than before.

  “What do you want from me?” she asked.

  His smile widened. “Nothing.”

  Confusion swept over her face.

  It was true, in a way. If everything went as planned, he would require nothing more of the girl than her presence. Killing her was a last resort.

  “Why are you doing this?” the girl asked. “I have nothing, no money, no jewelry. Please just leave me alone.”

  The Matwau almost laughed. He had tied her up and left her sitting on the couch while he thought. Why would she think that he was trying to rob her? He could have taken her possessions long ago and been far away from policing eyes. No sane burglar would simply sit around waiting for the cops, or some poor passerby, to find him. The girl was most likely very intelligent, but her assumption made no sense. The human mind had always been a puzzle to him.

  “Why are you doing this?” the girl asked. Her voice was rising in pitch with every question. She was struggling to hold onto her anger, the only thing keeping away her fear.

  “I am not here to steal your possessions.”

  “Then what do you want?” she pleaded.

  “I want you, nothing more.”

  Her anger was gone. Terror oozed from every inch of her body as the implications of the Matwau’s words swam through her mind. At last, he thought. Terror was something he knew all too well. The Matwau could exploit fear in all its forms, the stronger, the better. Perhaps she would not be as difficult to control as he had thought.

  2: Reunion

  The farthest I had ever been into Colorado was to the San Juan Mountain range near Durango. I had visited those mountains once to go elk hunting with my dad when I was fourteen. I was hours, and hundreds of miles, past that mountain range. The white on green highway sign spelled out the mileage to the next four towns. Salida was the closest, and only thirty-five miles away.

  It had taken much longer for the landscape to turn into what I thought Colorado should have looked like, but eventually the desert sands and low scrub brush had given way to the lush green ground cover and towering pines of the forest. The change in scenery was a relief. I loved the deserts of New Mexico, the land where I had spent my childhood, but a change in scenery meant progress. I was moving closer to her.

  It was painful to even think about the woman I was moving toward when the woman I was desperate to be with, Claire Brant, was left behind in my home town of San Juan Pueblo. The woman I was desperate to save was my Twin Soul, the other half of my true soul, separated from me before birth. For days I had tried to keep this woman from my thoughts, succeeding until the stab of pain and fear had told me that she had been captured by the Matwau. Ever since, I couldn’t force her out of my head no matter how hard I tried. The incessant pulse of the Twin Soul bond pulled me toward her.

  As much as I feared for this unknown woman’s safety, I feared even more for Claire. Despite the bond’s insistence that Claire was not meant for me, she was the only woman I had ever loved, or could ever love. And I had left her behind.

  The mistakes I had made in the past week weighed heavily on my broad shoulders. I had failed to react quickly enough to keep Claire from drinking tea laced with a fatal poison, which sent me off on a desperate race to find Claire’s Twin Soul. I had trusted our tribe’s shaman, Quaile, when she told me there was hope to keep the Twin Soul bond from forming between Claire and her Twin Soul. When the bond had formed, I had made the selfish decision to end my own life by giving it up to the one creature that wanted it most, the Matwau. Only when Quaile revealed the existence of one who knew how to rescue Claire from the Twin Soul bond had I reconsidered my course.

  That decision had been the one bright spot in the past week. It had led me to Kaya and Samantha in Hano, Arizona. The two sisters, so similar in passion, yet so different in interests, had given me a most precious gift, a way to sever the Twin Soul bond. That gift, however, had led to my biggest mistake, leaving Claire behind in San Juan. I hadn’t even taken the time to see her before leaving, too afraid that if I saw her I wouldn’t have the strength to leave. I regretted that more than any other decision in my life. I was aching to see her, to hear her voice, to touch her soft copper skin, or run my fingers through her chocolate colored hair.

  My desires and memories threatened to take over when I felt a subtle vibration against my thigh. The sensation startled me, sending my motorcycle into a hazardous arch across the lane before I recovered. It took me a few moments to place the source. I had completely forgotten that Kaya’s cell phone was in my jeans pocket. I had turned it on a few minutes ago to check the GPS directions I had downloaded from the internet and make sure I was still going the right way.

  Three rings. I debated whether or not to answer it. Four rings. It was most likely just Kaya checking to make sure I was safe. Five rings. No one else had the number. Six rings. The thought of hearing somebody else’s voice had me pulling to the side of the road quickly. The seventh ring had just started when I pulled the phone out of my pocket and flipped it open.

  “Uriah?”

  It wasn’t Kaya’s voice. I knew the voice better than any other, but I couldn’t believe it was real. I glanced down at the caller ID to be sure.

  “Claire, is that you?”

  I heard a deep sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure whether it came from me or her.

  “Uriah, I’m so happy to hear your voice,” Claire said.

  “How did you get this number?” I asked. There were so many things I wanted to say to her, but for some reason, that accusing question was the first thing that popped out of my mouth.

  “Where are you right now?” Claire asked.

  I balked at answering. I had left her alone with no explanation. What would she say when I told her I was already hours away from San Juan and had no idea when I would make it back? I had hid my actions from her before because I was afraid of not being able to live up to any promises I might make, but I could no longer hold out.

  “I’m in Colorado. I’m on my way to rescue my Twin Soul,” I said. I waited for her response.

  “I know,” she said impatiently, “I mean exactly where are you? What mile marker?”

  She knew? Those words astounded me. I tried to shake off my confusion and recall the last mile marker I had seen. “Fifty-three. I think I just passed mile marker fifty-three.”

  “Okay, I just passed fifty. I’ll be there in two minutes. Don’t move!”

  With that, the call ended. I held the phone to my ear, unable to put it away. I couldn’t believe what she had just said. Claire was only a few miles behind me? How had she known where I was? How did she catch up to me so quickly? Slowly, I lowered the phone. I folded it mechanically and put it back in my pocket. I sat, straddling my motorcycle, the low hum of the bike’s idling engine rumbling in my ears.

  My finger moved to take the key out of the ignition. A familiar roar had me jumping off the bike and turning in the direction I had just come from. The highway was empty at first. I waited, searching for the beat up, blue hull of my twenty year old pickup. Every second heightened my anxiety. When the glint of sun off metal announced her arrival, I started waving my
hand in the air. The truck swerved just after my motorcycle and skidded to a gravel and dust filled stop. Claire burst out of the dust cloud and ran to me.

  I was already running and met her at the end of the truck bed. Claire slammed into my body, her hands coming up to my face immediately and pulling my lips to hers. I had absolutely no thought as I held her. Every ounce of control I once harbored abandoned me. I pulled Claire closer, twisting my hands in her hair. Claire’s hands moved from my face to the back of my head, closing any distance between us that might have existed. Promises or not, I did not think there was anything that could hold back my passion at that moment.

  I was wrong.

  Suddenly, Claire pushed me away. One hand rose and came sailing toward me. The slap sent me back several steps. The shock left me absolutely speechless.

  “How dare you leave me behind without a word, Uriah Crowe!” The anger in her voice was softened only by her eyes. Her eyes were swimming with unshed tears. Her angry frown twitched at the corner. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through the last four days?”

  Her question was answered, but not by her. I felt my cougar companion, Talon’s, presence a split second before images came flooding through my head. Flashes of the pain and fear Claire had endured in my absence imprinted themselves on my mind forever. I saw her gripping a door frame, hunched over in pain as she gasped for each breath. I saw her huddled alone, crying and begging for me to return. I knew that Talon was not telling me these things from personal experience, but he was somehow reading Claire’s thoughts and passing them on to me. Usually this ability was restricted to me and Native American shaman. I had no idea how he had managed to slip into Claire’s mind, but after viewing her pain, I didn’t care.