The Soul Mate Read Free

maybe
someone could fix us?” I braced myself for his anger. It always
surfaced when I brought this up.
    He took a deep breath before answering.
“There’s nothing wrong with us.”
    “But…it’s magic, it’s got to be.”
    “Trinity,” He said, turning to face me. “I
don’t know how many times I have to tell you: no one cast a spell
on us. There are no witches casting love spells, like in your Greek
stories. And before you even suggest it again, there are no fairies
either. The magic the Romani possess is ancient and was gifted to
our people by Nature. It isn’t something that is thrown around for
silly little things like love or lust spells. But that’s all I can
tell you about it, my little Gaje princess. You know the
rules.”
    Yes, I knew them. Being a Gaje, a non-Gypsy,
I wasn’t privy to the Roma secrets, the origins of their magic, or
their true history. Unless I was allowed to marry into the clan,
something that would only happen if I cut my ties with the Gaje
world completely and a council of elders deemed me worthy. Then, a
ceremony that consisted of purging my Gaje blood would be
performed, all before the marriage could even occur…
    According to their laws, it was forbidden for
me to even live here. An apocalypse changes everything.
    I crossed my arms over my chest. “Stupid
rules.”
    He shrugged. “They have protected my people
for centuries.”
    “Fine, whatever. You go on protecting your
Viking sex hoodoo and keep me in the dark,” I pouted.
    “I’m not purposely keeping you in the-
    He paused and his eyebrows rose. “Did you say
Viking sex hoodoo?”
    I narrowed my eyes and snarled. “Don’t make
fun of me!”
    “So what you’re saying is, no one is actually
attracted to me, hmm?” He grinned “They only want me for my long
ship and battleaxe skills, yeah?”
    I couldn’t look at him when he started
flirting with me; it was nearly as bad as him touching me.
    I cleared my throat, embarrassed. “You are
such a guy.”
    “You want me too, Trinity.” He spoke softly.
“And don’t pretend it’s magic.”
    I couldn’t share the sentiment. “Shoo.” I
waved him away. “I need to get dressed.”

CHAPTER TWO
    The Romani camp was in set up in a clearing,
roughly the size of a football field, in the Catskills Mountain
Region of New York State. The Gypsies had strategically parked
their trucks, vans and motorcycle trailers in a circle surrounding
camp. Outside of the clearing a thick forest surrounded us on all
sides.
    Camp consisted of three main areas, the
biggest being the very center, where a hodgepodge of RV’s, trailers
and two and three room canvas tents were parked in neat rows,
called the living lot. The trailers ranged in age and style from a
typical 70’s aluminum Winnebago to top of line Recreational
Vehicle’s that could comfortably house families of five. Every home
had their own small fire pit for cooking, heating water and
individual light, since propane was hard to come by these days.
    A small stream ran through the front lot that
deepened into a water hole which the clan utilized for bathing. The
front lot was used mainly for chopping wood, cleaning dishes,
laundry, and gutting and cleaning the animals hunted in the area.
It was also home to a family of chickens and one mean as hell
rooster that I’d nicknamed Frank after my old next door neighbor
who refused to give out Halloween candy.
    The back lot was strictly for fire meetings.
A large fire pit had been dug out for entire clan gatherings. The
area was roomy enough for nearly eighty clan members to fit
comfortably together.
    Everyone was already hard at work, working in
sync together like a well oiled machine, when I’d left my trailer.
That was the way of the Gypsies. Not even an end of the world like
assault could stop them from living their lives the way they always
had.
    At first it had seemed impossible that I
would somehow be able to fit in among this close nit group of
people, half of whom were