Asanni

by J. F. Kaufmann

  “Promise.”

  “No more throwing your irresistible self at me?”

  “No more.”

  “Okay, let’s enjoy the movie. Astrid,” he paused, then added, “I think we should go to the cabin tomorrow night or Thursday morning. Is that okay?”

  “I suggest packing a lot of garlic. I’m okay, but you’ll be dealing with my wolf. She’s a loose cannon, and all yours.”

  “Leave her to me, and you stop talking now. Here comes your boyfriend.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Astrid

  I WOKE up the next morning feverish and tired. I could have blamed it on staying up late the previous night, but I knew better. It was three days before my change and my symptoms were picking up.

  I stretched in my bed and forced myself to open my eyes. I could hear Jack in the kitchen. I smelled coffee and pancakes. My stomach rumbled. I was hungry—another symptom of my upcoming change. Shape shifting required lots of energy and I always had an incredible appetite before and after the transformation. I ate in my wolf form too—raw meat, of course. I apparently liked it, but I didn’t remember that part, so I took Liv’s word for it.

  My hand reached for the black leather jacket seized from its owner a week ago, and I buried my head into it. Although milder, Jack’s scent was still there. I breathed it in deeply and decided to ask him to wear it for a while and then give it back to me.

  I SMILED thinking about last night.

  Forced by a lingering taste of garlic in my mouth that two vigorous tooth brushings plus a mouthwash still couldn’t neutralize, I’d decided to keep my promise, and curled up in my corner. We’d watched Seven Samurai in a comfortable silence, simply enjoying being together.

  Later we’d talked about the film industry and our favorite movies. Jack had admitted to being fond of westerns and Sci Fi, and he was glad to hear that some of my best-loved movies belonged to those two genres. I’d stopped teasing him about my celluloid crushes and let him tell me about his favorite movies.

  From there we moved to music, from music to books, from books to fine art. “Your hair’s turning red, like in those Renaissance paintings we both seem to like very much, by the way,” he’d said, tucking a lock behind my ear. “I love it.” We had continued talking about painters and paintings and museums and art galleries we had visited.

  He had an incredible grasp of politics, philosophy, law, science... I’d probed him in almost every field a man who pretended to have my heart had to be knowledgeable about. He never failed. Not once. And he’d been gentleman enough not to ask me about the NFL or the maximum speed of the Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise.

  He’d figured out what I had been doing and showed me his vast erudition: his expertise in many fields, his open-mindedness and deep understanding of all kinds of human nature, his intelligence, keen observation. He had an almost naïve honesty—natural, easy, without a trace of vanity or self-admiration. “Are you sure you are not an asyr?” I’d said, smiling at him from my end of the sofa. I knew I’d been forced to feel for him because of the bond. Last night I’d realized I would have fallen in love, our bond notwithstanding. And for the first time I was happy, completely, absolutely happy, that there was the bond between us, that it was unbreakable, and that there was no other woman or man for Jack and me, as long as we both lived.

  “ARE YOU okay there? You’ve been awake for at least half an hour.”

  Jack’s voice came from the kitchen. My hearing had significantly improved in the last week, and I was able to hear him from a greater distance. I responded with irregular heartbeats and flutters in my stomach. I wasn’t hungry anymore. I was craving his touch only.

  “I’m fine,” I said quietly, certain that he would hear me.

  I stumbled out of my room, toward the bathroom, where I attacked the garlicky-metallic bitterness in my mouth with a double squirt of toothpaste, and then showered. My body felt warm and icy at the same time, but the hot shower temporarily made me feel better.

  With my palm I whipped off the steam from the mirror and took a look into my reflection. I was pale, my eyes were darker, almost steel-gray, but there were sparks in them, tiny flames that had never resided there before. Little glows of happiness.

  I lifted up a thick lock of my hair studying it carefully. Jack was right. It was lighter and definitely more on the red side. I’d noticed that yesterday, but thought it was because of the flaming red dress I’d worn.

  I always liked my hair the way it was: thick, silky, in different shades of honey-blond, light brown and copper-reddish, slightly wavy, soft and pleasant to touch. In my opinion, it was the most exquisite part of my physical appearance. I heard many times how my eyes were pretty, with that unusually dark tone of blue, or my mouth perfect with its full, equally shaped upper and lower lips. On rare occasions when I purposely studied myself in a mirror, I found my nose a little bit too long, and my chin too square. And there was more: I was perhaps a bit too tall, my breasts could be a size bigger, my hips could be more rounded. These were silly little complaints, small vanities no woman was immune to. In fact, I was happy with that body of mine, strong and healthy, and rarely spared a thought, in physical terms, either for its particular parts or it as a whole. Plus, Jack obviously liked it the way it was.

  I dressed in my old jeans and apricot angora, trying to mask my paleness with its cheery color, and followed the tantalizing aroma of sausages, eggs, maple syrup and blueberries.

  JACK LOOKED gorgeous, like always. He sat at the kitchen table, with the laptop in front of him. As I entered, he closed the lid and gave me an inquiring look. He stood up and came closer, placing his hands gently and cautiously on my shoulders.

  “How are you feeling? You look pale,” he said in a soft voice and pressed the back of his hand against my forehead. “Your skin is hot to the touch.”

  “It’s always like that before the change. It’s just a bit earlier this time,” I said and put my head on his chest. “I don’t want you to worry, Jack. No matter how hard it may look, nothing bad happens. There is no damage. I’m not sure if it would be completely safe to continue with this kind of uncontrollable transformation indefinitely, but it won’t hurt me to do it a few more times.”

  “It’s going to stop soon, I promise.”

  I nodded and reluctantly parted from him. I wasn’t sure what my wolf was going to do—I suspected she would try to misbehave, at least—but I would try not to make it too difficult for Jack.

  “More protein,” Jack said and put several more breakfast sausages on my plate. “I spoke to James this morning. Alec and Drew will be here tomorrow to pack your stuff and take it to Red Cliffs. Today we can go through it so you can decide what you want to bring with you.”

  I looked around, feeling uneasy all of a sudden, realizing that I was indeed going to leave my little house. Throughout my life, I’d lived in many different places, but it was never easy for me to leave any of them. That included this tiny house, which would probably completely fit into my Seattle penthouse’s living room. I liked the compactness of it, my small nest with its carefully chosen furniture and sliding doors, clean and tidy. I liked my uguisubari, the nightingale floor that was a miniature replica of the famous floor in Nijo Castle in Kyoto. Liv, Tristan and I’d had such fun making it.

  “So soon?” I whispered, as the magnitude of the change that I was about to make struck me hard: Red Cliffs, my relatives, new people that I would live among…

  Jack took my hands between his. “It’s going to be okay, Astrid. You won’t be alone.” He ran his knuckles along my face. “You can live with James and Betty for a while. Maggie will come soon, Eamon won’t let you be alone, even if you want it, as long as you can tolerate his music. Or you can move to your house. You’ll get a job fairly soon, I think. I might go here and there, but I won’t stay long.”

  “What about your Government job?”

  My contract expires next month, and I’m not going to renew it.”
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  “So you are retiring?”

  “It’s about time,” he said, smiling. “You know, at my age...”

  “As long as your age doesn’t affect other areas of your life,” I said and came closer. My lips found his, soft, gentle.

  “I wouldn’t worry about that, love.” Jack said. He rose and pulled me to my feet. “We are playing with fire, again.”

  His warm, sweet breath burned my oversensitive skin. I pressed the whole length of my body against his, feeling him solid and hard. He held me tight, restraining my movements yet keeping me close. I placed my hands on his arms, caressing the strong, elegant muscles under the sleeves.

  “I want to see you naked, Jack.” My wolf put the words in my mouth.

  So much for my efforts to make her behave.

  “Push her back, Astrid,” Jack said and grabbing my wrists, held my arms pressed to my side. “God, what am I doing?! I’m sorry, honey. I should be under better control.”

  He marched across the room and disappeared into the bathroom.

  I HEARD the shower, and when he came out fifteen minutes later, his hair was wet. He grabbed his phone and made a call. “Liv, are you busy? Could you come over to help us pack Astrid’s stuff? No, she is not fine. She has a fever and her wolf’s playing peek-a-boo.”

  He turned to me when he’d ended the call. “Astrid, we have to get through this somehow. Please help me.”

  I nodded, without pointing out that I wasn’t the only one who’d misbehaved this time.

  “James isn’t taking any chances. He’s sending two more people to travel with us to Red Cliffs.”

  “But you’d promised we would go to see Ella and Arnaldur.”

  “We’ll make a detour, no worries. We’ll all go to Seattle. Liv and Tristan are coming with us.”

  I exploded suddenly. “Aren’t you overdoing things a bit?! James, you, the Blakes… all of you. Oh, I’m so tired of this! I have more bodyguards than the President!”

  Being angry helped me turn my attention away from my erotic thoughts.

  “That’s because you’re more important,” Jack said, unconcerned with my outburst. “A new president is elected every four years or so, but you are the first Ellida in the last three hundred years. Stop complaining.”

  “Why didn’t James talk to me? You two plan everything without me and then you just let me know what I need to do. Great!”

  “Go ahead, be as angry as you want. You were sleeping when he called. Do you want to talk to him now? Phone him. He’ll be happy.” He inhaled loudly. “Sweetheart, James is as excited for and afraid of your meeting as you are. You are the only child of his only brother. He hasn’t seen you since you were a baby. Astrid, he loves you very much. He’ll do everything he can to bring you home safely.”

  “You love him, do you?” I said quietly, all my anger gone.

  Jack smiled. “I do. He’s not only my stepfather, but he is also my friend.”

  THE DOORBELL interrupted any further conversation. Tristan and Liv came in equipped with cardboard boxes, tape, scissors and markers. After Tristan had checked my temperature and pulse, we started with the sad job of packing my little household.

  “What are we going to do with the floor?” Tristan asked. “Who else would need a nightingale floor?”

  “Just leave it. The future tenant can deal with it,” I decided.

  Liv made a pot of fresh coffee and insisted that I should rest on the sofa while the three of them continued with cleaning, sorting and packing. My room was left to me to pack later, when we came back from the woods.

  Later we ate, and I fell asleep in the living room. I was woken up just before dawn by the sound of a truck that stopped in front of the house. Tristan and Liv were long gone. The neat piles of boxes along the wall reminded me that I would be gone soon, too.

  Jack appeared immediately. He’d pulled on his jeans, but he was barefoot and shirtless. Still too much clothing, I thought hazily.

  “That’s Alec and Drew. They are early.”

  I stood up to greet our early morning guests—my cousin and his girlfriend. “Hi Astrid! I’m glad to finally meet you in person,” a tall young man said, smiling broadly. He came close to me and hugged me. “I’m Alec Randall, your cousin, and this is Drew Falconer, my girlfriend.”

  A petite and pretty blond girl stepped forward and greeted me in the same manner. “You don’t know us, but Alec and I sort of know you well,” she said and turned to Jack. “You told her, didn’t you?”

  “She knows, but she wasn’t happy when she heard. So watch your step,” Jack said, smiling. “How was your trip? Are you hungry?”

  “I’ll make coffee, and then we’ll see about breakfast,” I suggested shyly and went to the kitchen.

  “I’ll help you,” Drew said and came after me.

  I’D NEVER felt comfortable around unknown people so I made myself busy with the coffee machine. To my relief, Drew was a friendly and talkative creature. She told me about their trip here, the plans for the next day, Red Cliffs… and soon we were frying eggs and bacon, chatting in a friendly way. She told me more about the time when she and Alec had watched over me and how Alec and I were related. (“His mother is your father and James’ second cousin…You have a lot of cousins back home, some close, some not. Oh, you’ll like it there, I’m sure. We are so happy you are coming home…”)

  She used the word home often, and it sounded right. I peeked through the open door to catch a glimpse of Jack, the foundation, walls and roof of that home.

  We came back to the living room with the plates overloaded with scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon.

  From time to time Jack would throw a worried glance at me, assessing my current condition. My cousin looked at me openly, with a warm smile on his handsome face.

  I smiled back at him, and a strong, new feeling swept over me. This young man was my own blood. I studied his clean facial features: broad forehead, high cheeks, dark eyes, strong nose and jaw. His skin had a beautiful bronze tone, and he wore his shoulder-length jet-black hair tied in a ponytail. He was tall, and walked with elegant, soft movements of his long limbs.

  Physically, his girlfriend was a feminine antithesis of his evident masculinity: willowy and fair, like a porcelain doll. Her heart-shaped face was cute and sweet rather than conventionally beautiful, with creamy skin, blue eyes, small nose and soft, rosy lips. Her fragile appearance was, of course, deceiving. Her scent told me she was a werewolf, too, and therefore strong by default. Her whole person revealed the same natural confidence, elegance and harmony with the surrounding world that was so apparent with Jack and Alec. Definitely a werewolf attribute.

  They too threw occasional and discreet looks at me, probably as curious as I was. I didn’t feel uncomfortable under their gaze. I just wanted them to be pleased with whatever they saw.

  Alec and Drew knew about my troubles with transformation. “When are you going to the cabin?” my cousin asked.

  Jack glanced at his watch. “In about two hours. The full moon is on Saturday night, but Astrid’s already tired and feverish. Her wolf’s trying to come out.”

  “Betty and James say that will stop eventually,” Drew added.

  “It will,” Jack said and changed the subject. “Who’s coming tomorrow?”

  “The Blues Brothers.” Alec said and turned to me. “Here is the plan: Drew and I leave on Tuesday morning. We’ll take your stuff to Red Cliffs. Everybody else is going to Seattle. You and Jack are taking his car, Mark and Sid, the Blues Brothers—they play for Rawhide, hence the nickname—are going to drive your Honda, and leave it there with your grandparents. Tristan and Liv will go in their car. The next day, Jack, Mark and the Blakes fly with you to Denver, Sid will drive Jack’s car back. James, Betty, and Eamon wait for you in Denver with three cars. A few more hours on the road, and you’re home, Astrid.”

  “I’m disappointed. No bulletproof cars, tanks and helicopters from above,” I said, amused by all the unnecessary precautions.
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  Alec laughed. “Oh, we can throw that in, too. Jack and I can surely secure a couple of choppers on short notice, right Jack?”

  He pulled out a phone from his pocket. “I should talk to James. This evacuation plan is his and Jack’s idea, so we better not complain.” He winked at me.

  Alec briefly updated my uncle about their travel and the plan for the next few days. My hearing was still not good enough as to hear what James was saying, so I was completely unprepared when Alec said, “Here she is,” and pushed the phone into my hand.

  My voice was a bit shaky and my heart pounded fast when I said hello to my uncle.

  “Hello, sweetheart.” I heard his deep baritone. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine, thank you. How are you, Uncle?”

  “Happy now that I know you’re coming. God, I can’t wait to see you, child.”

  I swallowed a big lump that tightened my throat. “I’m looking forward to seeing you, too. How is, er, Aunt Betty?”

  I wasn’t sure how to address his wife, and Jack’s mother, since I’d never spoken to her.

  “Good. She’s looking forward to meeting you. Eamon’s coming with us to Denver, and Maggie will be here next week. Is that son of mine treating you well?” my uncle said lightly.

  “Well, I have a couple of complaints.” I chuckled. “I’ve been chased out of my kitchen, and he can be quite bossy from time to time.”

  “Otherwise, he’s been a perfect gentleman, thanks to you.” I heard an inside, mocking voice.

  “Be quiet!” I said my wolf.

  Thank God, my uncle was unaware of my inner dialogue. I heard him laughing. “Take care, Astrid. I’ll see you on Wednesday, then. Say hello to Ella and Arnaldur. And put Jack on the line, will you?”