UNCHANGED (Unremembered #3) - Excerpt

3: Mated

The attacker moves so quickly I barely have time to process what is happening. One minute I’m standing upright and the next I’m lying on my back, a massive body pressing down on me. I grunt at the impact of my head slamming against the ground.

I open my eyes and blink. A face comes into focus. Oval shaped, framed by a fringe of silky dark blonde hair that falls across his forehead, veiling his vibrant turquoise

 eyes. An impish grin curves his perfect pale pink lips.

“Kaelen,” I say, relieved, releasing a nervous giggle.

“Uw reflexen zijn traag.”

Translation: Your reflexes are slow.

So he’s switched to Dutch. This morning it was Arabic.

“I wasn’t prepared to be attacked in the middle of the garden,” I defend in the same tongue without missing a beat. Kaelen thinks he can trick me, switching languages throughout the day. He hasn’t succeeded once.

“Exactly my point. You should always be prepared.”

I groan and plant two hands on his chest, attempting to shove him off of me, but he doesn’t budge. He’s stronger than me. He always has been. He’s the second generation ExGen, while I’m the first.

He likes to joke that he’s an improved version of me.

I like to joke that he’s just a watered-down copy of an original masterpiece.

He smirks at my effort, enjoying watching me struggle. Then he grabs each of my hands in his and pins them down next to my shoulders.

“What are you going to do now?” he goads, keeping with the smooth Dutch.

I puff out a breath, pretending to resign, letting my muscles and limbs slacken under him, before launching another escape attempt.

Kaelen only laughs as he continues to restrain me without much effort. “Pitiful.”

“You’re stronger than I am!” I cry. “There’s nothing I can do.”

“You can kiss me back.”

“Wha—?”

And then his lips are on mine, stopping the word from ever completing. His kiss isn’t soft or tentative. Kaelen doesn’t do soft or tentative. Kaelen does fierce. He does eager. He does commanding. His lips part mine as he releases some of his body weight against me.

He lets go of my wrists and I immediately reach for his hair, loving the way it feels between my fingers. Softer than human hair is supposed to be. I pull him closer to me and he responds instantly by deepening the kiss, reading my body language perfectly, the way only he can do.

The way he’s always been able to do.

We are fluent in every language on earth. But it’s the silent language between us that we speak best.

That’s what happens when you’re Print Mates—created from two complementary genetic blue prints. You can almost feel what the other person is going to do before they do it.

Dr. A says it’s like soul mates but without the heart ache. Print Mates are scientifically proven to be compatible matches, while the concept of “soul mates” is just an idea invented by humans a long time ago in an effort to explain the unexplainable.

There’s not much in today’s world that is unexplainable.

Dr. A has made sure of that.

Taking advantage of Kaelen’s distraction, in one swift motion, I pull away from him and roll myself to the left. He collapses into the space I just vacated, landing on his stomach with an oomph. Before he has time to process, I’m on my feet, flashing him a teasing smile.