Shattered: Paranormal Vampire Romance (Immortal Love Series Book 4) Read online

  SHATTERED

  The Immortal Love Series

  Book 4

  Anna Santos

  Copyright © 2018 Anna Santos

  All rights reserved.

  Inquiries about additional permissions should be directed to:[email protected]

  Cover Design by Moonchild Ljilja

  Edited by Alyssa Breck

  Proofread by Crystal Palace Editing

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to similarly named places or to persons living or deceased is unintentional.

  Book Description

  Shattered

  Book 4 of The Immortal Love Series

  For centuries, Beth and her sister, Marie, dreamed of finding their soul-mates. But all their dreams are shattered when the person who should love and take care of Marie ends up being the cruelest of the monsters.

  After being held captive for several years by the lunatic vampire who enjoyed abusing and torturing her, Beth is rescued from the endless nightmare she had been living. Only to find out that her soul-mate is the youngest brother of the vampire she hates the most in the whole world–her tormentor and Marie's mate.

  For almost two hundred years, Eric dreams of finding his soul-mate. When his family tries to apprehend his older brother, Alaric, Eric’s wish comes true but with a price. His mate is terrified of him and males in general because of what his brother did to her. Eric needs to win her trust and make her believe that he's nothing like Alaric, and he would never hurt her.

  Beth believes that her soul is damaged beyond repair.

  Can Eric fix her or are they doomed to be alone forever?

  Currently Available

  Soul-Mate – Book 1

  The Witch and the Vampire King– Book 2

  Spellbound – Book 3

  Shattered—Book 4

  WEBSITE

  Coming Soon:

  Sacrifice – Book 5

  Be notified or pre-order!

  Claimed—Book 6

  For an updated list of books, and to have access to my upcoming releases, check out my website:

  http://www.annasantosauthor.com

  Or Facebook:

  https://www.facebook.com/AnnaSantosAuthor

  You can also sign up for my Newsletter to get a notification the day a new book comes out and find out more about my other books and giveaways. Join The Immortal Love Series Newsletter. These direct links can also be found on my website.

  Content

  Book Description

  Currently Available

  Content

  PROLOGUE

  Chapter ONE

  Chapter TWO

  Chapter THREE

  Chapter FOUR

  Chapter FIVE

  Chapter SIX

  Chapter SEVEN

  Chapter EIGHT

  Chapter NINE

  Chapter TEN

  Chapter ELEVEN

  Chapter TWELVE

  Chapter THIRTEEN

  Chapter FOURTEEN

  Chapter FIFTEEN

  Chapter SIXTEEN

  Chapter SEVENTEEN

  Chapter EIGHTEEN

  Chapter NINETEEN

  Chapter TWENTY

  Chapter TWENTY-ONE

  Chapter TWENTY-TWO

  Chapter TWENTY-THREE

  Chapter TWENTY-FOUR

  Chapter TWENTY-FIVE

  Chapter TWENTY-SIX

  Chapter TWENTY-SEVEN

  Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT

  Chapter TWENTY-NINE

  Chapter THIRTY

  Chapter THIRTY-ONE

  Chapter THIRTY-TWO

  Chapter THIRTY-THREE

  RESCUED BY THE ALPHA—Preview

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  More About The Author

  PROLOGUE

  ERIC WAS OVERWHELMED with happiness at sensing and smelling his mate. Then he saw her running to him like in a dream. She had long, curly brown hair, honeyed eyes, and a plump mouth with a crossbow upper lip—red as blood, red as love. She was stunning, and a pureblood vampire like him.

  However, his happiness was short-lived because she stopped, looking terrified. He didn't understand why. He even turned around to see if there was something scary behind him. Then he saw her run in the opposite direction—her heart beating fast from fear.

  She used her superspeed to flee, but he followed her. He wouldn't let her escape after waiting centuries for her. Why was she running away? What was going on?

  “Uncle? Don't scare the woman!” Anna warned.

  He ignored his niece. He had to talk to his mate and understand why she had run instead of jumping into his arms. Why did she look terrified?

  The girl was weak, because he caught her fast.

  “Let me go! Let me go, you monster!”

  That request caught him off guard, and he let her go. As soon as he did, she ran to the weirdest place: the far end of the compound where the empty holding cells for the prisoners were located.

  The vampire woman closed the silver door behind her, burning herself in the process. Then she leaned against the wall—the farthest she could from him—crouching down and drawing her knees to her chest. Putting her head down, she covered it with her arms and hands.

  Eric stood outside the cell, trying to understand why she was reacting like that.

  “What the hell is going on?” Anna asked, stopping beside him. “Why are you chasing our guest?”

  “Who is she?” he asked, flustered and breathless. He didn't look at Anna. His eyes were caught by the sight of the frightened girl, hiding her face against her knees and sobbing in the corner of the holding cell.

  “That's Beth ... She was ... Wait, why did she run from you?”

  He stepped forward with erratic breath. “I have no idea. I'm not trying to hurt her ... It's just that ...”

  “What?” Anna asked with an edge of panic in her voice.

  “She's my mate,” he whispered, leaning closer to the bars.

  “Don't touch it,” Anna warned, pulling him back from the silver bars that would hurt him. “Let me talk to her first, Uncle. You need to be patient. She’s been through a lot and needs to understand that we don’t want to hurt her and that you aren’t him.”

  The ground seemed to disappear under his feet as he balled his hands into fists. Wobbly, he stepped back as pain grasped at his heart. “He hurt her, didn't he? He hurt ... my ... mate.” Eric’s vision blurred with tears. His voice came out shaky and, at the same time, powered by anger. “I’ll kill him, Anna! I will. I can’t believe he had her. He hurt her!”

  Anna placed both hands on his face, wiping away the tears that rolled down his cheeks. “I promise you that he will pay. But you need to let me talk to her. You need to control your anger so you won’t scare her even more.”

  Eric nodded, placing his hands over hers. “How could he do this?”

  “I doubt he knew she was your mate. But he’s a sadist. You’ll need to be patient.”

  Eric raised his head to stare at his weeping mate. His body trembled as he clenched his hands into fists and took deep breaths to calm his rage.

  “Beth,” Anna called to the vampire woman.

  Eric registered his mate’s sadness and fear. Clenching his jaw, he focused on what was happening, fighting the dizziness.

  His niece walked forward and grabbed the silver bars with her hands. Being a hybrid, she was immune to the adverse effects. Her voice came out soft. “Beth, this isn'
t Alaric. Look at him. Please, look at him.”

  Beth kept mumbling incoherently while rocking her body back and forth.

  “I need to go to her,” Eric mumbled as his body responded to his uncontrollable need to be near his mate. As he moved, Anna turned around and held him still, preventing him from entering the holding cell. “She's my mate, Anna. I want to go to her. I ...” His heart was pounding fast, and his body was shaking with nerves. After feeling the glorious sensation of happiness at finding his other half, the only thing that prevailed was the feeling of hopeless because of what had happened to her. Plus, she was scared of him. The chances of being happy were crashing down around him because of what his hateful brother had done to his mate.

  Anna entered the holding cell and kneeled in front of Beth. “Elizabeth ... Beth, look at me.”

  Eric concentrated his senses on the girl’s reaction as Anna grabbed her hands and tried to make her look at her. Beth’s sobbing made it harder for him to stay away. He longed to comfort her.

  Beth’s body shook when she spoke. “You said I would be safe here. What twisted game are you people playing?”

  Was he really the cause of all her panic?

  “You're safe,” Anna promised.

  “No, I'm not! How did he do that? How!? How was he able to trick me like that!?”

  “Do what?” Anna asked, turning her head to look at Eric. “Who are you talking about?”

  “Him,” Beth said with a trembling voice, pointing a finger at Eric.

  “Do you mean Eric?”

  “Eric?” Beth frowned at the name, cleaning her tears.

  “Do you want him to leave?”

  Beth nodded.

  “Eric, could you leave for a bit while I talk to Beth?”

  Eric frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I most definitely will not. She is my mate,” he stated. “I don't want her inside that cage. Please bring her outside. I promise that I won't touch her.”

  “I won't go out with him there,” Beth mumbled, hiding her face against her knees. “I'm not ... I’d rather die. How did he do it? How was he able to finish the spell? Was it all a lie? Are you working with him to trick me?”

  “Beth ... you need to breathe deeply, relax, and look at the man outside without panicking. It's not Alaric.”

  “You’re lying ...”

  “I'm not. They look alike. At least at first sight, they do. But that's just because they’re brothers.”

  “Brothers?” Beth mumbled before her voice came out with an edge of panic. “My mate is Alaric's brother?”

  Anna nodded. “Beth.” Anna softened her tone. “Eric is the youngest son, and he's my uncle. He isn't Alaric. Look at him closely. He’s similar because they’re brothers, but Eric is kind, and he would never hurt you like Alaric did. I can swear to you that Eric isn't anything like Alaric. You don't need to be afraid of him.”

  Biting her lower lip, Beth combed her hair with her fingers and looked at him.

  Eric moved closer to the bars, his eyes lingering on the tearstained face of his mate. He hoped that she could see the differences and understand that he wasn't going to hurt her. As their eyes met and the mate bond pulled at him, the need to be next to her and touch her arose again.

  “I'm not like Alaric, Beth,” he mumbled. “And I'm really sorry for not finding you sooner. I didn't know. I ... don't know how to apologize for what he did to you ...”

  “Uncle, don't ...” Anna whispered.

  Eric witnessed new tears falling from his mate’s eyes as Beth sobbed. “I should have died.”

  Anna held her and caressed her hair.

  Her words felt like a knife into his heart. Was she rejecting him for being Alaric’s brother?

  His voice came out hoarse when he spoke again. “Beth … please …”

  He didn’t know what to say or do. She kept sobbing as if all the pain in the world had taken over her soul. The same pain that threatened to take over his.

  Anna looked at him as she rubbed Beth’s back. “She’ll come out when she’s ready. Be patient.”

  “I promise, I will.”

  Eric sat on the floor and waited until she was ready to come out and talk to him.

  Chapter ONE

  Elizabeth

  I remembered when I was little waking up to the ringing bells of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the sounds of the moving chariots, the horseshoes clicking on the ground, and a wave of walking humans below the bedroom windows of my home.

  My parents were beyond rich. We were old aristocrats and pureblood vampires. The world was ours to hold, to conquer, and to enjoy.

  Marie always knew when I was awake. She crawled on my bed and stared at me, waiting for me to open my eyes. Sometimes, I just ignored her and didn't open them, making her feel impatient.

  “Come on, Beth! It's daytime already!” she complained in her sweet girly voice as she tickled me until I was fully awake.

  I loved my sister. We were almost the same age—which was really rare among purebloods. Usually, vampires don't have babies so close to one another. We felt much more intimate than most vampire siblings, who had one hundred to two hundred years between them. We were not just sisters; we were best friends. We acted like twins, dressing alike, finishing one another’s sentences. I missed those days of growing up happily, still unaware of all the evil and cruelty in the world. But worse than that, I missed Marie. I felt like my soul had been ripped apart and that I could never be happy again if I lost her forever.

  Vampires grow up knowing that they have a soulmate. Someone who is meant to complete you, take care of you, and love you forever—at least until you get killed. A mate-bond is what many supernaturals long for and treasure. For more than two hundred years, I wished and prayed to the gods for mine. As did my sister. We had hoped they were kind, sensible, funny, and understanding. We pictured them in our minds and made a bet on which of us would find him first. We didn’t have evil intentions with the stake, we both wanted to be happy. Even after finding our soulmates, we wanted to be inseparable. We were sisters and best friends, and for what we understood back then, love was also what we felt for each other. Finding our soulmate wouldn't break us apart, it would allow us to raise a family together.

  For more than two hundred years, we waited, we cried, we flirted, and we grew up. We witnessed the world change, evolve, become this amazing place to live. Humans developed books, films, computers, the internet, cars, spaceships, democracy, and a longing for peace between all races.

  For more than two hundred years, we were mateless.

  All that changed three years ago. After so long without finding a mate among our own kind, we thought it was time to look elsewhere. Vampires were more open; mating with other species was no longer a crime punished by death or exile. So we started to go to nightclubs and huge parties in the supernatural community. We were in the US for at least twenty years, and we couldn't have felt happier and freer than we did then, away from our conservative family's grasp.

  We thought we were away from cruelty and death, but we were wrong. Terrorists crashed one of the hybrids' parties and, using a potent chemical weapon, killed everyone in attendance. My sister and I were the sole survivors, just because we were pureblood vampires. We were just lucky because the weapon wasn't invented to kill our kind.

  What could be seen as a fluke of chance was, in fact, the beginning of the worst nightmare I've ever lived. When the terrorists found us and understood what we were, they didn't kill us because their leader—the tall, evil, green-eyed pureblood vampire—was Marie's mate.

  It could have been a beautiful and happy dream for Marie. I felt how happy she became, despite the carnage we had just witnessed courtesy of the blond vampire. Marie had always been a hopeless romantic, a sucker for the belief that the mate bond was the strongest and happiest thing she would have in her immortal existence. If I had been a god, I would have spared her the horrible truth. I would have chosen her another mate, a truly good one, a romantic o
ne, and not a monster.

  I was fooled by his smile, even if I could sense the darkness that surrounded him. Then I noticed it wasn't a happy smile, but a sarcastic smirk.

  In my heart, I knew Marie. She was beautiful, inside and out. She's my sister, so we look a bit alike, but I always envied her emerald eyes and perfect, delicate nose. I always knew she was more beautiful than me. I knew it, but I didn't care. Our mates wouldn't compare us. They would love and treasure only us. So I got really pissed off when he scorned her.

  “So, it's you ... I thought you would look prettier and more … I don't know, fearless. Instead, they mated me with a pathetic, scared, and dull hybrid lover.”

  My eyes changed color, and my fangs came out because he didn't seem pleased to find her.

  Marie's heart must have stopped as mine did. I could see her eyes shining with unshed tears. She babbled something while he stepped closer to her. His fingers grasped her delicate face as his eyes became scarily red. Blood raced through my veins as I balled my hands into fists. “Bloodlust,” “madness,” “corrupted soul” were the words that came to my mind. If he had ever been kind, he no longer was.

  “You don't deserve the air you breathe,” he muttered, making her shriek in pain when he gripped her harder. Tears welled up in her eyes, stirring my heart with grief and rage.

  “Marie,” I whispered. I knew he could hear me, but I couldn’t just stay quiet and let him hurt her. “Run!” I jumped on him. He had no right to insult my sister.

  Of course, I wasn't able to hurt him. He was stronger and faster. He hit me so hard that I flew across the room and into the wall. The plaster cracked on impact. I didn't faint, but the pain was excruciating. I could hear Marie screaming my name and sobbing. She didn't run like I had told her to.

  Maybe she couldn't have run fast enough. Perhaps one of his men would have caught her, but I wanted to give her an opportunity to save herself. I knew deep inside that we were both doomed. But, I guessed, she was as confused by her mate's behavior as I was.