Shenuah's Heart (Living Among Us Book 1)

Book summary

Shenuah's Heart follows Shenuah, who, after 32 years believing she was human, discovers her true identity and long-lost mate through vivid dreams. As she regains lost memories and embraces her dual heritage, Shenuah and her son Jacob must evade the relentless Reptoids and adapt to their new reality.

Excerpt from Shenuah's Heart (Living Among Us Book 1)

Chapter 1: Earth

As I started to walked to the store my mind started to wander to my dream. I had yet another dream about some man named Ashkari. Why kind of name was Ashkari? I also was thinking about this person he told me I would be meeting. Wouldn’t that be cool to meet a man. I have spent the last near fourteen years caring for my son, Jacob.

Suddenly, a long white van with painted windows sped up next to me. The sliding door opened and someone grabbed me and pulled me into the van. After what seemed like many hours the men dragged me out of the woods and toward the trees. As the men dragged me out of the van I looked toward the clock on the dashboard. It seems We have only been driving for an hour. I noticed there was three men.

Oh, great, how am I going to fight them off? I thought to myself, fighting the urge to show any kind of fear. I may not have known how I was going to fight them off, but I was the type of person that always fought back. I kicked the man nearest to my feet. He let out a guttural grunt as my foot met with his waist.

“RebelClan attack.” I heard a deep voice. My muscles instantly relax at the sound of this voice. I should have been terrified but there I was suddenly fear-free. The voice came from the trees before a bunch of mammoth men came charging out. One of the men started to rip my shirt, so I tried to fight back again. These new men had deep brown skin with flowing black hair held up in tight ponytails. They all looked like they could snap a tree at the trunk. When the man with the deep voice looked at me, I noticed his nose curved out slightly at the tip, giving him a sort of button-like look. He was also considerably larger than the others. His eyes were a dark blue while the man right next to him had jet-black eyes. He looked angry.

My three abductors ran away from the men that chased them. “Get her back to Abby,” the largest man said as the others helped me to my feet. He seemed to be the one in charge. All of a sudden, the ground disappeared beneath my waist as one of the men picked me up like I was nothing but feathers.

“Who are you and where are you going to take me?” I asked, preparing myself for a fight. I punched the man that held my arm only to get no response. I hit him right in the chest. After failing with my first hit, I aimed for his face. Well, that was a terrible idea, he still seemed to not feel it but my hand started hurting. Why didn’t he feel that? I thought to myself as I got dragged alongside. His muscles were as hard as stone. I might as well have not even hit him; he simply pulled me along even harder.

“We are taking you back to our camp so our healer can help stop your arm and cheek from bleeding. Oh, and we are warriors from RebelClan,” said the youngest-looking man, who was dragging me further into the woods. “Be careful.” He groaned as I tripped over a stone. Jerk.

“Abby, this woman needs your help,” said the man with black eyes. He was a little smaller than the one that seemed to be in charge. I couldn’t get over how angry he looked. Especially when his eyes landed on me. Chills trickled down my spine when I spotted him staring at me. “Irina was injured. Joshua will be bringing her soon. It is bad.”

“Thank you, Norman,” Abby said with a smile. This Abby lady looked at me with a small smile as she walked toward me. Maybe she was the one in charge. Or maybe she and the man with the deep voice were husband and wife. As she got closer, I took the chance to look at her. She had a pleasant face that looked like she loved everyone she met. Her hair only went to her shoulders and was completely straight. Brown speckles enhanced her deep blue eyes. “Sam, I want you to help me get her into my private place.” The younger man I now knew as Sam came over and lifted me clearly with no concern for hurting me.

“Ow,” I said as rudely as I could.

“Sorry,” Sam said but he didn’t care. I saw what looked like pain on his face as he scrunched up his nose and eyes. Maybe I did hurt him when I punched. Perhaps he is just good at hiding his pain, I thought as I looked at his face. He was rather cute. He had a baby face with cobalt blue eyes. His skin was slightly paler than the other men and he was less muscular. He looked to be only maybe twenty.

“Here, set her down. When Joshua brings Irina in, have her stay out there. Here, dear, eat this, it will help you sleep,” Abby said in a kind voice. I wasn’t sure if I should eat the green stuff, but Abby had a face that said she could be trusted.

“I could use some sleep,” I murmured as I ate the green thing she gave me. My mouth was now full of vinegar flavor. It was bitter but not too unpleasant. As I started to fall asleep, a relaxing voice drifted to my ears. I realized it was the same voice I had heard in the woods.

“Did you get her here?”

“Yes, she is in Albulah’s private place.”

“Sam, silence. We can’t have the human knowing our real names. She could inform the authorities and we would all be in great danger. You know my father’s hate for humans.”

The human. Real names. What does that all mean? I thought as I tried to fight falling asleep.

“So, you found your way to the person I told you about,” Ashkari said, causing me to realize I had failed in my fight and fell asleep. Ashkari had appeared in my dreams so many times, he seemed as real as anyone else I had ever met. Why would he appear in my dreams? Why would my mind make him up?

“I don’t know exactly what you mean,” I replied crossing my arms dramatically and holding my head up high. We stood amidst a forest of leafy trees. “Who are you?”

“Watch this,” Ashkari said suddenly after a moment of silence with him just staring at me. He lit the trees on fire. I started to panic as I watched the fire and thought it would destroy everything.

“Why would you do that?” I said hysterically, voicing my worries.

“I am sending the healer of RebelClan a message. Don’t worry, no trees will be damaged. This is all in her mind right now.” He replied with a smile. As I watched the fire rage, a young girl started to dance around the fire.

“Who is that?” I asked, becoming worried about the girl. I had a strong urge to run to the girl and save her. Why was she dancing in the fire? Didn’t she know fire was dangerous?

“That is Abby’s sister. She died in a way six thousand Earth years ago. Her name was Shenuah. She is you,” Ashkari said as he came and stood right beside me. “You will wake up now.” He put his hand over my eyes and forehead. The tingling feeling, I always felt when he touched my forehead let me know I was waking up.

“Six thousand Earth years ago?” I blinked and saw Abby. I wasn’t done trying to get information from Ashkari. I wanted to know who it was I was supposed to have found my way to, but I woke up too soon. Every time I would come up with questions for him, he would cause me to wake up. “Sorry, I was dreaming about a man named Ashkari.”

“It is all right,” Abby said with the biggest smile I have ever seen. She had a beautiful smile. I could see why the largest man liked her. “You may get up. Joshua wants to see you now. He wants to see for himself that you are all right before he sends you on your way. I have to speak to him first.” Abby led the way toward a large clearing. As we walked she kept her smile.

“Who is that? Am I not a hostage here?” I asked as I noticed a person lying on the ground. She had red skin that looked like she was suffering a severe sunburn and red hair that looked frizzy and dry.

“That is Irina. Sam, take Irina into my private place,” Abby said as she continued to lead me toward a small door. She ignored my second question. If she said that this Joshua person would be sending me on my way that means he isn’t going to be forcing me to stay here, I thought as I stood in front of a solid black door that had weird symbols on it. I looked around and noticed there were a lot of doors with similar writing on them. I had never seen this language. I wondered what country these people are from. “Joshua, I have brought our guest.” I watched as Sam gently picked up Irina and carefully took her to the same place I had just come out of. Why couldn’t he have been gentle with me?

“Come in,” Joshua said from the other side of the door. I wondered why his deep voice sent butterflies fluttering around in my stomach and tingles fluttering up my spine like butterflies crawling around. As we walked into the room, I noticed the handsome man sitting reading something that looked like a strange book.

“She mentioned something about Shenuah’s father visiting her in her dreams. When she woke up, she said something about six thousand Earth years ago,” Abby whispered with the same giant smile as she approached the muscular man walking toward us. I felt as though I would faint. My heart was pounding.