Ceaseless

Ceaseless

Copyright © 2012 by Abbi Glines

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes. If you are reading this book and you have not purchased it or won it in an author/publisher 
contest
, this book has been pirated. Please delete and support the author by 
purchasing
 the ebook from one of its many 
distributors
.

This book is a work of 
fiction
 and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

For information concerning the cover art please visit Stephanie Mooney’s website at

http://stephaniemooney.blogspot.com

Editor: 
Judy Lott

Published by Abbi Glines

P.O Box 464

Point Clear, AL 36564

“
Every moment she has spent with you will be taken from her memories. 
She won’t remember meeting Death and you
r
 breaking the rules to save her. She won’t remember fighting for you. 
She won’t remember the curse she suffered while under 
the spell of the voodoo 
spirit
. 
It will all be washed clean.

If you want her, 
Dankmar
, then you have to win her heart from the soul made to be her mate. Only then will it be possible for you to keep her for eternity.

She 
must
 pass this test.” - The Deity

“Trust me, Dank 
Walker
 I will only have eyes for you. No one else even comes close.” (Pagan -Predestined)

CHAPTER 1

Pagan

              
Miranda pulled her 
shiny 
new silver 
Land Rover
 into an empty parking spot in front of Jemison Hall, our home for the next nine months.

              
“Can you believe we’re here?” Miranda whispered in awe as we stared up at the historic brick building 
in front of 
us.  My mom 
was
 a Boone University alumn
a
. 
Boone
 
was a small 
private college
 in
 Weston, Tennessee. When Mirand
a
 and I had both been accepted
 there
,
 I figured this was where I was 
meant
 
to be. Going to 
a 
larger state 
university
terrified me. I liked the 
smaller, 
more intimate 
feeling
 
of this place.

              
“I’m still trying 
to 
grasp 
the fact that we’
re in college,” I replied 
as I opened the car door.
 

              
“I know, right?”

              
We both stepped out of the SUV and headed for the 
rear
 
cargo compartment
 
to start unloading our boxes.  
My mom had been unable to come with us because 
she had 
to
attend
 a writer’s conference in Chicago
. Miranda and I both agreed 
that having 
her parents come with us 
was 
a bad idea. 
Her parents 
could be a tad bit embarrassing. Since we were doing this together we decided 
to be independent and do
 it without help from anyone
 else
. We had each other.

              
Now, looking 
at the stack of boxes and luggage piled in the back of Miranda’s Land Rove
r, I wondered if that had been a mistake
. It
 
wa
s going to 
take us hours to carry all of this stuff up to our dorm room.

              
“This is 
gon
na
 take forever,” Miranda moaned in frustration.

              
I started to respond whe
n 
the loud 
vibrating sound of really good speakers caught my attention. 
T
he source of the music
 was 
a small black convertible 
that had just pulled
into the parking space beside us. 
The first thing I noticed about the driver of the car was 
her 
w
ild blond hair with bright pink tips.

              
The driver cut the engine
, which made my 
ears instantly thankful. 
The 
driver swung open
 the door and hopped out of the car. It was obvious from her makeup and attire that she was an 
emo
.
 She 
had on
 
heavy black eyeliner 
and 
black combat boots
.
 The 
only thing that 
threw me off a little
 was the hair
. Hot 
pink wasn’t really an 
emo
 thing, was it?

              
She put one hand on her hip and blew a large bubble with her gum
,
 blatantly star
ing
 at both of us. She popped her bubble loudly 
and 
smirked
.
 “This shit is 
gonna
 be fun,” she 
said in an amused tone
,
 then turned and headed toward the dorm.

              
Once she was 
out of 
hearing
 range,
 Miranda grabbed my arm firmly,  “Please God don’t let her 
live 
anywhere near us. She scares me.”

              
I couldn’t disagree with her there. Nodding, I reached for the closest box to me. “I doubt we
’ll
 see her that much. It’s a big building. Chances are we aren’t even on the same floor. Now, get a box and start unloading.”

              
“I so hope you’re right. Should I move to another parking space? You know, away from her.”
 Miranda asked.

              
“Just 
grab 
a box
 and 
s
top worrying,” I replied and 
resolutely 
headed 
for
 the 
dorm
.

              
The wild
 looking blond was standing on the bottom step watching me 
when I reached 
the double doors of the entrance. Great. She hadn’t gone inside. I shifted my eyes away from her and 
on the ground 
to 
keep me from tripping and falling
.

              
A loud rumble 
caused 
the ground
 to vibrate
. 
I stumbled 
and dropped the 
box of shoes
 I was carrying.
 
Despite my efforts to hold onto them, t
he
 shoes 
spilled out onto the pavement
.
 
I practically growled in frustration. 
I put my hands on my hips and 
silently 
cursed myself for not 
asking 
Miranda’s parents to come with us. This was just my first dang
ed
box and I couldn’t even get it inside safely.

              
The rumbling sound of a motor became louder and I turned my head to see a black and silver motorcycle come to a halt a few feet away from 
me and my shoe disaster
. It was
his 
fault I’d dropped the dang
ed
 things. What was he doing riding around campus on a loud motorcycle? 
When I looked up from the offending motorcycle, m
y eyes met a pair of brilliant blue eyes. My swift intake of breath was loud
, as his gaze traveled over me slowly
. He was just so… so… 
strikingly perfect
. Dark thick eyelashes outlined the most insane
ly
blue eyes I’d ever seen. Long dark hair curled at his collar and was tucked behind his ears. A perfect 
mouth
 was turned up in a smirk. Wait… a smirk. 
I shook
 my head 
to stop
 
the complete
 physical assessment I was doing on this stranger. I managed to turn my 
slightly
-
awed
 expression to one of annoyance.

              
“
You think you could get a louder motorcycle because I don’t think that one woke up the people in Australia
?
” I snapped and bent down to start 
picking up
 my shoes
,
which was in itself embarrassing.

              
“Is this my fault?” he asked in a hypnotic sexy drawl. Figures. Guys that looked like that had voices to match.

              
“You startled me 
as well as 
woke up sleeping babies in the surrounding states,” I replied throwing one of my 
cowboy boots
 into the box.

              
From the corner of my eye, 
I saw him stand up and swing one jean clad leg over his motorcycle and stand. Great. 
Now h
e was coming over here. 
Just what I need.
 I kept my focus on the shoes scattered everywhere as he walked toward me. His black boots stopped just outside my 
mound 
of shoes
.
 
H
e bent down and picked up a pink heel
 that I 
hardly ever wore
.
 I wasn’t even sure why I had
 brought
 them. I’d bought them for something
 bu
t
 I
 couldn’t remember what. He picked up the other one and I realized he was holding them almost reverently in his hands. I was curious and couldn’t help it. I turned my head to look at him
.
 
H
e was staring down at my pink shoes like something abou
t them made him sad. Did his ex-
girlfriend have a pair like that? Or was he just a 
smoking
 hot 
nutso
?

              
“You 
wanna
 give me my shoes?” I asked holding out my hand for them. He lifted his gaze and the startling blue color was even more amazing up close. There was
 
sadness there
 too
. I could see it clearly and something in me ached. I didn’t even know this guy. Why did I care so deeply about the obvious
 hurt he was dealing with?

              
“I like these. I bet they look beautiful on you,” he said as he placed both of them carefully in the box.

              
I wanted to shiver at the husky tone in his voice.

              
“Thanks.” I replied awkwardly. I didn’t know what else to say.

              
“You ready to roll, Dank?” the blond 
with pink tipped hair asked
 as she stepped over my shoes and made her way to
 his
 motorcycle. Was she with him? Was he here to get her? 
The 
emo
 girl?
 Really?

              
“
No, Gee, I’m not
,” he 
told her. 
. 
His attention 
was flattering and a little nerve
-
wracking at the same time. It was like he was waiting on me to say or do something. I didn’t know what he wanted but it was hard not to want to do whatever it would take to please him.  He reached for another pair of my shoes and put them in the box. He continued until each shoe was back in the 
correct 
box
. 
T
hen he reached down and 
picked up the box
. The snug
-
fit
ting
 black 
tee shirt
 he was wearing did wonderful things for his arms as he held the box and stood there waiting
 for 
direction
s.

              
“Where to?” he asked.

              
I wasn’t sure I wanted 
his
 help but I d
efinitely
 need
ed
 
help
. Miranda was just now making her way across the street
.
 I knew the minute her eyes landed on him. Her mo
u
th dropped open and she dropped the box she was carrying. What the heck?  He was hot but did she have to drop her box and spill her 
hair products
 across the street
.
?
 
Dangit
. We were never 
gonna
 get moved into our dorm room at this rate.

              
“OHMYGOD,” she screamed
,
 covering her mouth and doing a little bouncy thing on the balls of her feet. It had moved from embarrassing to humiliating. I was afraid to look back at the guy. 
Miranda 
was acting like a lunatic.