Read Ellida for Free Online Page B

me. Oh, please don’t go! Don’t
leave me here!
    “May I talk to you for a minute, Astrid?”
Jack said.
    I excused myself and walked him to the
door.
    He locked his arms around me. I pressed my
forehead against his chest, listening to his heart and letting the
warm current run between us, enwrapping us protectively.
    Since we’d arrived in Red Cliffs, we hadn’t
had an opportunity to be alone. I wanted to ask him about Peyton. I
wanted to hear there was nothing to worry about. Now it was too
late for that. Whatever it had been, I told myself, it was over,
otherwise Jack would have told me.
    “Take care, Jack. Don’t be long.”
    “I would be a fool to let you wait for too
long,” he said quietly and sought my lips, claiming them in a
fierce kiss. “I love you Astrid,” he whispered into my hair. “More
than I’d ever thought was possible.”
    And with that, he was gone.
    I licked my lips that tasted of Jack, numb
and swollen from his dark, ferocious kiss, and walked back to the
dining room. As I passed by Morgaine, she reached out and took my
hand, motioning to the chair beside her.
    “We’ll start with our training on Monday,
Astrid,” she said. “Takeshi can work with you in the morning and
you and I will meet every afternoon. Sound good?”
    “Sounds good,” I said and gently squeezed
Morgaine’s hand in confirmation. “I’m looking forward to
starting.”
     
    LATER IN my room, I took a shower and put on
a long, midnight-blue silk nightgown. Tonight I didn’t feel like
sleeping only with the nail polish on my toes. Although I was
tired, sleep refused to come. From the bottom of my purse I dug out
my phone and checked the messages. Liv, Ella, another one from
Liv.
    I crossed the room and peered outside. The
lights in the big house across the yard were still on.
    I sat on the bed and leaned on the pillows.
Arms behind my head, I stared into the semidarkness of the room.
The images of the day came back: the cold eyes of Heather Kincaid,
Peyton’s small hand clutched around Jack’s arm, love and pain in
her eyes, my wolf’s angry, jealous roars. Henry’s questions,
Betty’s story, Morgaine, her son… And Jack, who was leaving
tomorrow. My throat ached and my chest tightened.
    Luckily, my mind never liked to dwell too
long on unhappy thoughts, so I immediately crossed to the sunny
side of the street: the night Jack and I had met, the exciting and
confusing first days, our first kiss, our hiking trips, our talks,
laughs and fights.
    A soft knock on the windowpane broke the
string of happy memories. I leaped from the bed and dashed across
the room.
    I opened the window and Jack softly landed
inside.
    I launched myself into his outstretched arms.
Our mouths touched and our bodies pressed, and the world resumed
its normal shape.
    “I can’t go before I check if there’s a
monster in your closet,” he whispered between kisses, and then
swept me into his arms and carried me to the bed. I closed my arms
around his neck, pulling him down on me.
    “Oh, Jack, I’m already missing you.”
    Gripping my wrists, he unlocked my arms and
held them above my head. “You looked a bit lost tonight. I’ve never
seen you like that before, not even when I told you about the bond.
What’s going on?”
    I decided I wouldn’t ask about Peyton. Not
tonight.
    “That girl, Peyton,” I said and closed my
eyes, embarrassed.
    “Ah, I knew there was a monster here, a
green-eyed one,” Jack said and kissed the tip of my nose. “It was
long ago, it didn’t last long, and it wasn’t serious. You asked me,
and I told you there was nobody else. Open your eyes, Astrid.”
    I did, and my face burned.
    “There is nobody else, Astrid. You are the
only one. I love you .” His lips gently brushed mine. “Talk
to me, always. Don’t wrestle with your demons alone.”
    “Oh, Jack, my wolf almost came out today.
She’s among her own kind, she wants to be here, where she belongs.
And then that girl came and… Jack, she’s