Shadowing the Teacher (Perfect Pairs Book 3) (3 page)

“Reid! Come here.”

Reid looked up and saw Kane and Scott waving at him from the center of the backyard. He shook his head, sensing their need to push him into meeting Sam. He didn’t want to know why his brother and his senses were being tangled with the woman. It was all wrong.

Kane gave him a dirty look and made shoving motions with his hands. Reid looked away. He wasn’t interested in anything more. He’d had his chance of happiness, his one shot at being happy. Now, the legend would be fulfilled once again, and he was grateful for it. He only wanted one more thing from his life.

To go home and die in peace.

Chapter Three

Kane made a disgusted noise and turned away from the porch. The image of his brother sitting like a leper in his single chair alone burned into his brain.

“I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do with him.”

Scott chuckled. “Well, you could force him into meeting Sam the same way Jack forced me. I was so against this relationship in the beginning.”

Kane held up his hands as his heart began to thump harder and faster in time with his fear. “Whoa, hang on, Scott. I’m not assuming anything yet about Sam, and it would be disrespectful to my wife to even suppose such a thing.”

Scott sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his finger.

“Will you listen to me for one minute, Kane? As one intelligent part of a Perfect Pair to the other?”

Kane stared at his cousin for a minute and finally nodded. Scott was his side of the twin pair, and if there was anyone who’d make sense to him, it was Scott. What else did he have to lose anyway?

“I’m sure your parents told you all the old stories, too. To know your true mate you need several things, but the main sign is the instant attraction and the electricity that shoots through you when you first touch. Did you have that with Amanda?”

Kane clenched his teeth hard and opened his mouth to answer,
of course we did
, but stopped. His memories pulled up every file they had. The first time he’d met Amanda, their first kiss.

“There was lots of heat and instant attraction, but I don’t know about the electricity thing.”

Scott stepped forward, his eyes darkening with seriousness. “That’s pretty much the most important thing, Kane. It’s so powerful it almost knocked me to the ground, and Tyler and Brandon have said the same thing about their moment with Laura.”

Kane crossed his arms over his chest and stared at his cousin, his bottom jaw jutting forward in a way he knew was belligerent. “We probably felt it. I just don’t remember.”

Scott sighed, and Kane looked away. He didn’t like what his cousin was suggesting and wasn’t sure he was ready to cope with the possibility of a new life being offered to them. That wasn’t the plan.

Scott pressed him again. “Do you think it
might
be possible that Amanda was a beautiful woman who both you and Reid fell in love with, but not your destined mate?”

Kane’s ribs were squeezed by some invisible force. His breathing was labored and painful now. His eyelids drifted shut as his brain forced his body to shut down.

Scott’s hands come down onto his forearms hard, gripping tightly. The pressure didn’t ease, forcing Kane to reopen his eyes and stay present.

“Kane, it’s completely possible and not something you should be terrified of. Just breathe.”

Kane focused on his cousin’s green eyes and did as he was told, the implications of what Scott was saying, sinking in rapidly. That changed
everything
.

“You mean … we are not going to die…”

Scott shook his head. “Not if she wasn’t your mate. No, you won’t.”

Tears sprang to Kane’s eyes, hot and stinging. His heart refused to believe that their beloved wife wasn’t the mate they’d always believed she was.

Scott continued, his voice urgent and fast. “Or maybe she was, but because she was taken away so quickly, fate chose a second one. No one knows enough about this, Kane. Perfect Pairs are rare enough, but stories of their lost mates are even fewer.”

Kane took quick breaths to calm his pounding heart. His muscles, which had tightened to the point of shaking, now released. Scott was projecting a very reasonable solution to his dilemma. His brain was putting everything together very quickly now.

“That’s … possible.”

And maybe it was. Amanda had died in a horrible car accident, less than twelve months after their mating and marriage. Would fate be that kind to them again?

“We can’t replace Amanda, Scott.”

Scott shook his head, taking his hands off Kane’s arms finally, the release allowing the blood to tingle and flow again into his hands. “I’m not saying that, but it would be amazing, a real
gift
from whatever God made us, if you two could be happy again.”

Kane’s heart had calmed and was now beating at a regular rate. He needed to change the topic for just a moment.

“You were married before Ashleigh. Is it different this time?”

Scott’s laugh was so loud almost everyone in the backyard stopped talking to stare at them.

Kane glanced around, blood heating his cheeks as he waited for everyone to go back to what they were doing. He didn’t think what he’d asked was funny at all, so the response was obviously going to be interesting.

Scott finally sobered, his face settling into a huge smile. “Oh so different. My first wife was a nasty piece of work. I should never have married her, and almost didn’t give Ashleigh a chance because of the damage the ex had done.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He hadn’t known Scott’s life had been so bad. He’d never said anything.

His cousin shrugged. “I got over it, finally, thanks to her. But enough about me. This is about you and Reid. Just touch her, hold her hand for one moment, and I guarantee you’ll know if Sam’s the one for you.”

Kane bit his lip, not entirely sure he wanted to know that. That would mean giving up everything he’d believed to be true. He’d have to let go of his grief and work on a future. Did he have the strength for that in himself, let alone the courage to try to pull Reid along with him?

“And if she isn’t who you think she is?”

Scott grinned again. “Then you’ve lost nothing and you can continue on as you were.”

Kane almost groaned with the pain in the guts he got from that statement. Go back to where they were? Hell itself?

Well, doesn’t that tell you something?

His decision seemed quite simple now as he turned towards the maple tree where Sam stood with Laura, another Perfect Pair wife. Despite his loyalty to Amanda, if he had a true choice, he didn’t want to go back to the black hole that Reid clung to so strongly. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and it was time to take a step in that direction and see if it was real.

“Ok, Scott, introduce me to your wife’s cousin and let’s see what happens.”

Panic fluttered inside his belly and something else, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in over a year. Butterflies of excitement. Could this really be happening?

He nodded once. “Let’s go.”

They walked the few steps over to where the women stood. Laura turned towards them as they walked up and moved back so that they could form a circle. Kane’s heart pounded, his breath quickening as he stepped closer to her.

Sam looked at him with interest, her bright green eyes alight as she smiled in greeting.

“Hi.”

She was breathtaking. There was no other word for the way his center melted and his stomach clenched when she looked at him like that. She didn’t even know him, yet her smile was like sunshine, radiating out from her in warm waves.

Scott took over the introductions. “Laura, this is a cousin of mine, Kane.”

Laura smiled at him, too, nodding in a polite way. “Lovely to meet some more of the family, Kane. I’m Tyler and Brandon’s wife.”

She stroked her rounded belly in a protective way, and Kane liked her in an instant. He grinned at her without thought and felt the unfamiliar stretch of his face muscles. It felt good to smile again.

“Nice to meet you, Laura.”

Laura turned to Sam, who was waiting patiently. “This is my cousin, Samantha. She’s a teacher from Toronto. Sam, this is obviously Kane, and you know Scott from the wedding I assume?”

Sam turned her eyes to Scott for a moment, smiling brightly. “I do. It was a beautiful wedding, and I’m so happy for you guys. Especially Ash. She’s just glowing.”

“Thanks heaps.” Scott stuck out his hand in a rather rapid gesture, and Sam laughed, shaking his hand in a polite way.

Then she turned her eyes on him, and his heart squeezed in his chest.

Scott elbowed him, and he looked up at his cousin.  “Shake her hand.”

Sam laughed musically, the sound causing goosebumps to break out on his forearms despite the sunshine. “Teaching etiquette are you, Scott?”

Oh, the touch thing. Right.

“I’m trying, but it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.”

Kane elbowed his older cousin back and forced his hand out, his arm shaking slightly as he waited for her to reach out.

“Oh, I think we’re never too old to learn anything. It’s nice to meet you, Kane.”

She reached out and connected with his hand, and an electrical bolt shot right through him. His hand burned, and every nerve in his body tingled as his knees gave out. He dropped to one knee, and Sam ripped her hand away, her breathing changed to a pant.

“What the hell did you do?” She wobbled away and fell into a nearby chair, rubbing her hand along her leg as though she, too, felt the burn he did.

A hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked up to see his brother’s worried face.

“Kane, what happened? You ok?”

He held up his non burning hand, and Reid pulled him up, his knees still too wobbly to let go of Reid straight away.

“She’s ours, they were right.”

Reid frowned, his worried eyes flying over Kane’s face, obviously looking for signs of injury. “What are you talking about? What happened to you?”

Since their wife had died, Reid had lost a lot of his strength and size, but Kane hadn’t forgotten that Reid was the one who wore their brawn. He was the carpenter, the funny one, the hulk, and as Reid squeezed Kane’s biceps and pain began to slide through his skin, he knew his twin’s strength hadn’t disappeared.

“I’m talking about Sam. You need to go touch her.”

Reid’s eyebrows drew together as he glared down at him. “No way.”

Sam staggered over to them. “What on earth are you two talking about, and what did you do to me, Kane? It felt like you were holding one of those old fashioned buzzers in your hand.”

Reid stepped away from her. “We need to go.”

Sam grabbed a hold of Kane’s hand again, and they both gasped, the sensation more bearable this time but still unnatural.

“What’s he going on about?” Sam clung to him, her eyes wide and intense.

May as well be honest. “He’s scared of the electricity thing.”

Sam’s eyes went even wider, though Kane hadn’t thought that was possible.

“He has it, too?”

Without warning, Sam launched herself across the space between her and Reid and grabbed his hand with her own. Reid went down with a gasp, his head thrown back and his eyes closed as he sank to both knees.

“Wow. That is just incredible.” Sam was staring down at Reid with a look of pure wonderment on her face. She let go of the hand she held of Kane’s and put both hands on Reid, shivering with whatever she felt, and bending towards him.

“Can you get up, honey?”

Kane shuddered with longing as his brother forced his head up and stared at the woman whose touch had forced them both to their knees. What on earth had they found here?

****

Reid stared up at the woman above him, electrical impulses of sensation still zinging all over his body. He’d never felt anything like it before and wasn’t sure he ever wanted to again. It was like being on the biggest rollercoaster of your life and swimming through fire, all at the same time.

What had she said again?
Oh yeah.

“I’m fine.” He forced out, his voice gravelly and almost incoherent even to his own ears. She was staring at him with a look too close to pity, and he yanked his hands out of her grip, making her cry out and his stomach to roll from breaking the contact.

“Step away.” His voice sounded strangled, but he said the words that were necessary for his own protection. He had to get to his feet, and he couldn’t with her standing so close.

Then, he had to get away from this woman. There was something wrong at work here, and he wasn’t hanging around to find out what it was.

Sam took a few shuffling steps back and continued to stare at him with wide, begging eyes.

Scott grabbed his shoulder, and he brushed it away. “Leave me alone.”

Traitor. How dare you let her touch me?

He lifted one leg, then pushed up, dragging his shocked body upright, the pain in his legs considerably close to having run a marathon. They cramped, they shook, but then he locked them in place, drawing in much needed breath as he straightened up his torso.

He dragged his eyes away from Sam’s rather beautiful face and focused on his brother.

“Home. Now.”

Kane’s face crumpled. Then he opened his mouth to speak. Reid was sure that his brother would want to stop them from leaving and a rebuttal would soon follow. He couldn’t have that.

“I’ll go then. Get a lift with someone else.”

He turned and walked away, though staggered was probably a better word for the way he was moving. He felt completely hollow, weak and far too much alive.