“Leave James to me, baby. Besides, Alec is your cousin, so he’s out of the game anyway. It’s irrelevant whether he knows or not.” He turned to Tristan. “Have you finished? Everything okay? Can she get dressed now?”
“Everything’s perfect,” Tristan said. “There won’t even be a scar. The wound healed right in front of our eyes.”
Jack’s fingers ran along my leg. The scar was almost invisible. “A paltry knife wound is no match for your wizard-werewolf blood, honey,” he said.
“What runs through her veins is a powerful healing serum,” Tristan said and patted my leg. “Get up, Astrid, we’re done.”
I picked up my clothes and started dressing.
“When do we go to Seattle? Do we go to Seattle at all, after this?” Tristan asked over his shoulder as he packed his instruments back into his black doctor bag. He was turned away from us to give me some privacy.
Jack helped me first with the bra clasp and then with the buttons of my shirt. When I bent to tie my sneakers, he kneeled down and did it for me. I lowered my head and kissed the crown of his head, closing my arms around his neck. I took a deep breath, inhaling his scent.
“I wanted to go to see Ella and Arnaldur, but I won’t insist on it and jeopardize my safety. Or anybody else’s,” I said.
“James will probably insist on bypassing Seattle, but we’ll go nonetheless. I promised Astrid.” Jack stood up and wrapped his arms protectively around my shoulders. His head bent down to kiss my temple, but at that precise moment I moved and his lips brushed the sensitive skin behind my ear. I was instantly aroused, my heart raced, my cheeks flushed. My wolf, still close, made a soft growl.
“Oops! I’m sorry,” Jack said and took a step back, breaking the physical connection. I looked at Tristan, with a shrug and an apologetic smile.
Clearing his throat, Tristan said, “Astrid, don’t forget about the farewell party at the hospital tomorrow. I need to see Liv now. See you in a bit.” He turned on his heels and walked toward the bedroom door.
“My wolf’s still awake. Be careful,” I said when Jack and I were alone.
“Mine, too. You saw him in action a few minutes ago.” Jack took my hands between his and his warm honey-golden eyes found mine. “Your wolf, she never gives up, huh? Astrid, do you remember anything?”
I made a quick mental inventory. “I clearly remember the fight. I remember lying here on the bed. The colors of my fur, reddish, like my hair. My human part was up, that’s why I remember. When I was a wolf, however... I’m sorry, Jack.” I shrugged and shook my head.
“That’s okay, baby. Just try.”
I closed my eyes and concentrated. At the beginning there was only emptiness, as if I had dived into a dark, bottomless well. And then, suddenly, a flashback. I saw a pond and my reflection on its surface. It was so brief I wasn’t sure if it was a memory or a trick of my mind.
“A pond... We were outside. The night... I looked at the moon. Your fur, golden-brown, thick and warm. You’re a big wolf. Jack, I do remember! At least something,” I said, excited.
“Try again.”
I took a breath. Another tiny recollection. “I told you I was in love with you. Yes, I was on the couch in the sitting room, and I told you about that scandalous dress.”
“You told me to ask you a test question.”
“I did, indeed, John William Canagan!” I laughed happily.
Jack lifted me up and swirled me around. “You do remember! That’s awesome!”
I continue searching through my memory but with no results. “I’m sorry, Jack, that was it.”
“It’s amazing that you have some memories this time. The rest will come back, sooner or later, you’ll see.”
“Jack, tell me, did I behave? I wasn’t naughty, was I?”
Jack laughed and kissed the tip of my nose. “I believe you used the word kinky. We had an interesting conversation.”
Knowing a little bit about my wolf, I could easily imagine that conversation.
Oh, dear. “I was kinky?”
“Very. Don’t worry, that treasure isn’t lost forever. Your wolf generously promised to transfer all her knowledge and expertise to you when the time comes.”
“I’d never turn down a chance to broaden my horizons. Jack, tell me about her, aside from that kinky stuff.”
“She’s smart, brave and strong. And she’s sexy, in a pure, innocent way. She protects you. She can cope better with the change and pain, so she takes over. I was surprised that she was young, younger than you.”
“Is that because she emerged so late?”
“That’s possible. It’s also possible that she is your inner, well, not child; she’s too old for that. Rather your inner adolescent, that mischievous part that always stays young. She’s spontaneous, natural and funny and she balances your rational side well. We laughed a lot. She’s a charming little beast.”
“I’m big, am I not? Liv and Tristan always say that.”
“You are the biggest and the most magnificent female wolf I’ve ever seen, Astrid. And you’re a natural Alpha.”
“I am?”
“Yep.”
“I’m glad.”
I’d never thought I would be, but I was now. “We must be quite a sight, then, you and me?” I said.
Jack pulled me close and I rested my head against his chest. “We are, baby! Oh, yes, we are!” His tender lips cautiously brushed mine. “Astrid, I want you so much that it hurts. But we have to wait, you understand that.”
I ran my hands across his powerful arms, moving slowly down to his waist and thighs. “This constant tension’s just killing me. I’m sometimes afraid to touch you because I’m not sure if I’ll be able to control my desire.” Another image flashed through my mind. “I saw you naked, and I liked what I saw, Jack.”
He tilted up my chin and glanced at my eyes. “Uh-oh, we’re going toward amber.” He stood up. “Let’s go the living room. We can talk about your wolf later. She’s still too close.”
“It’s still a full moon.”
“I know. Come.” Jack took my hand and towed me toward the door.
My nose detected a wonderful aroma of smoke and meat, and my stomach rumbled. “Mmm, smells good. I bet Tristan’s at the grill.”
“Liv and Tristan are hunting,” Jack said. “There are lots of deer here.”
Occasionally Tristan and Liv would give in to their predatory nature by going to hunt, Jack explained further. It wasn’t so much about feeding. They needed the thrill of hunting: the speed, the adrenaline, the smell of animals, the night and its sounds and shadows. In fact, werewolves did it from time to time, and for similar reasons.
From a medical point of view, I thought it was an excellent idea. “Liv’s still quite upset. Hunting will soothe her anger,” I concluded.
ALEC AND Drew jumped to their feet as soon as we stepped into the living room.
“That’s awesome, Astrid!” Drew hugged me again. “You are Jack’s mate! That’s fantastic!”
“I’m so happy for you!” Alec said, patting my shoulder in a well-done gesture.
I smiled and felt the blood rush toward my cheeks. “Nobody else can know,” I stuttered, taken aback by their enthusiastic response. “I’m supposed to choose a mate after a while, not to arrive with him.”
“We won’t tell anybody, don’t worry, although I don’t see why you should wait,” Alec said. “You’re bond-mates. Nothing can change that. ”
“James has his reasons, Alec,” Jack said. “Astrid is not just my mate, she’s our Ellida as well. There is a protocol that has to be respected, and James is absolutely right to insist on it. That’s it.”
I smiled. What a nice display of the loyalty and trust that existed between the two most powerful men of Red Cliffs, in spite of all their differences.
Drew had made a simple but delicious dinner—cob salad, grilled sausages and baked potatoes—and we sat at the table waiting for the Blakes to return from their hunting trip.
They joined us much later than we’d expected, and something in their glowing eyes told me that they hadn’t spent all the time hunting. After all, making love was one of the best ways to deal with accumulated stress, I though with envy.
If only Jack and I could de-stress in the same manner.
Chapter Thirty-Four
LATER THAT night the whole party drove back to Rosenthal.
Once at home, Astrid continued packing up her little household. She prepared only a small suitcase to take to Seattle.
She had liked this little house, and a part of her was going to miss it. The same part that was also unsettled about her imminent future: her new life in Red Cliffs, meeting her relatives, her duties as the clan’s Ellida.
On the positive side, she didn’t feel terrified of Seth Withali anymore. She knew he’d try something again, sooner or later, but she was determined to fight him. She smiled, remembering the words she’d heard from her grandfather long ago: “Conquer your fear and you’ll conquer your enemy.” After the Sunday morning attack, those wise yet romantic words suddenly sounded real and true.
It was close to dawn when she finally fell asleep on the couch. Jack lay on the bed in his room, awake. Drew and Alec were sleeping in her bedroom.
JAMES WAS out of his mind with worry when he heard about the attack and wanted them to come to Red Cliffs without any further delay, but Jack didn’t budge. “Astrid wants to go to Seattle. She hasn’t seen Ella and Arnaldur for a long time. She’ll be fine. Seth wouldn’t risk an open attack,” Jack had said in a non-negotiable voice. James had reluctantly agreed, and then immediately adjusted the initial plan: he and Betty would meet them in Seattle.
“We’ll fly home in James’s private plane,” Jack said.
Astrid raised her eyebrow. “He has his own plane?”
“Uh-huh. A five-seat Baron 55.”
“Cool.”
MARK AND Sid Brandon, the Blues Brothers, arrived on Tuesday morning.
Mark was tall, blond, blue-eyed, and athletic. Sid was one inch taller, with brown eyes, dark hair, light brown-skin, and also athletic. They were half-brothers; they had the same mother but different fathers, Sid explained. “I’m younger, smarter and more handsome, as you can see,” he said with a wide, toothy smile.
They hugged Astrid like she was an old friend they hadn’t seen for a long time. Sid placed his hands on her shoulders, looking approvingly at her face. “Sweet Nancy, aren’t you pretty! Now, you don’t have a husband or a boyfriend, do you?”
“Um, do you want some coffee?” Astrid asked and walked to the kitchen. She knew she would eventually get used to the werewolf way of exposing emotions, but she wasn’t sure how Jack would deal with all the attention she was about to receive.
He stood with his back pressed against the wall and arms firmly crossed. He looked calm, but Astrid knew he was tense.
“Have a coffee, guys, and start loading the truck,” Jack said casually, yet with an unmistakable command in his voice. “Drew, darling, will you please help Astrid finish packing? We’ll leave around noon.”
ASTRID WAS fighting tears as the small convoy left the sleepy town. When they passed the hospital, she had a nice, cathartic meltdown.
On the back seat of the car lay a sumi-e ink painting, the farewell present from the hospital staff. Dr. Ahmed Demmir had come to Tristan’s office last week, Tristan had explained, asking him to suggest a present for Astrid. Tristan had mentioned the ink paintings that she’d had in her house. The next day Ahmed and Liv had gone to a gallery in Vancouver and come back with a beautiful sumi-e of a bamboo grove at night.
“I’ll miss Ahmed more than anyone else,” Astrid said through the sobs. “We’re not particularly close, but I liked working with him more than with anyone else except Tristan.”
“You haven’t figured out he’s one of us, have you?” Jack said.
Jack’s last remark efficiently stopped her crying. “What? A werewolf?”
“Yes, a loner. Came here twelve years ago from the East Coast. He’s originally from Turkey, from a town called— ”
“Konya, in Central Anatolia, he told me that. The city of Mevlana Jaleleddin Rumi and Whirling Dervishes. And, according to Ahmed, the best baklava in the world,” Astrid said, brushing away the last tears. “I baked it once for his birthday, and he said it was as good as if it was from Konya. How come I didn’t know? Did Tristan know?”
“He did. Demmir wasn’t a threat to you; on the contrary. By the way, I told him he was welcome to come to Red Cliffs, so you might see him again soon.”
“But he looks older than a werewolf should. I was sure he was in his mid-forties.”
“It’s a disguise. He’s about thirty. He’s been here for more than ten years. If he wanted to stay, he had to make himself look older.”
“Now that I think about it, his hands did look younger than the rest of him. He has the ability to change his look, right? You mentioned once some werewolves can do that.”
Jack nodded. “A useful skill, particularly when you live among humans, like he does. He can change everything except his hands.”
“Does Ahmed know about me?” Astrid said.
“Uh-huh. He can smell you, remember? And then, you used to disappear on a regular basis, every full moon.”
The story about the secret life of her favorite anesthesiologist distracted Astrid from her melancholy thoughts. “I hope he’ll come,” she said.
“Maybe not tomorrow, but eventually, I’m sure he will.”
JACK’S BENTLEY was sandwiched between the Blakes’ Mercedes in front and Sid Brandon’s Jeep Grand Cherokee behind. Mark was driving Astrid’s Honda at the back of the small convoy.
Jack was holding Astrid’s hand, bringing it every once in a while up to his lips. They chatted and laughed, yet both were tense. “A month or two, love,” he said quietly. “Ellida Morgaine is coming by the end of the week. She’ll keep you busy.”
“Where am I going to live?”
“It’s up to you. I’m sure James will try to convince you stay with them, at least at the beginning, but you have your house.”
“Where are you going to be?” Astrid said. “Am I going to see you at all?”
Jack smiled and stroked her face with his knuckles. “I’ll be at home as much as possible, and I’ll try to be there for your next change. I don’t want anybody else around you.”
“Jack,” she said, leaning her head against Jack’s shoulder, “when everything’s over, can we please date first? You know, to go to a restaurant, or a movie theater. You come and pick me up, and then drive me home, and kiss me at my door, hoping that I will ask you to come in for a cup of coffee. That sort of a date.”
“Will you ask me to come in?” Jack laughed and stole another kiss.
“Probably not on our first date. I should keep you intrigued, otherwise you could lose interest.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s gonna happen... Astrid, you have to help me renovate my house. I want it ready for you. You’ll tell me how you would like it. I know you want an aquamarine bathroom, but you should tell me about the kitchen, living room, bedroom.”
Astrid’s fingers gently stroked the nape of his neck. “Oh, I’m sure whatever you already have in your bedroom will be fine.” Her voice was a soft, promising purr.
“I was thinking about a color scheme, not the bed, Miss Mohegan. Oh, I’ll miss having you around, you kinky beast. These ten days with you were the best time of my life.”
WITH THE Blakes leading the way, they made the 350-mile trip to Seattle in record time. It was raining cats and dogs, and Astrid realized how much she’d missed rainfall.
Ella and Arnaldur’s family house was outside the city, nestled in the middle of a 10-acre private park, and was hidden from the road and unwanted curiosity behind chestnut and oak trees. Built around 1890 in the Tudor Revival style, with heavy chimneys and dark decorative timbering, the sturdy, off-white house was a luxurious eight-bedroom dwelling. The central part and two
wings had steeply pitched roofs, prominent cross-gables and plenty of tall and narrow windows. Astrid’s quarters were on the west side.
They all stood in the front of the house, rain notwithstanding: Ella and Arnaldur, James and Betty. With a squeak of joy, Astrid jumped out of the car, ran toward her grandparents and threw herself into Arnaldur’s outstretched arms.
Having such an emotional creature for a granddaughter had long ago taught Ella and Arnaldur to respond with similar affection. So long ago that it had become their natural reaction. Arnaldur hugged Astrid tight, kissing her forehead.
“Oh, Astrid, are you all right? Let me see you! We heard what happened!”
Then her grandmother embraced her, looking deep into her eyes. “I’m so relieved you are fine, Astrid. You are okay, everything’s fine, isn’t it?”
“Everything’s okay, Ella. Oh, I missed you so much!”
Astrid kissed her grandmother and then turned to the couple beside. “Hello, Uncle and Aunt,” she said, smiling shyly, and took a small step forward.
The next moment she found herself in another strong and tight embrace. She could hear her Uncle’s frantic heartbeats.
“Astrid, my child,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “My dear child...”
When James eventually released her, Astrid greeted her aunt.
Elizabeth Mohegan smiled and hugged her too, kissing both her cheeks. “I’m happy to meet you, Astrid,” she said in her pleasant, soft voice that reminded Astrid of Jack’s. And not only the voice. The soft, amber eyes that looked at Astrid were so like her son’s. They had the same light brown hair, similar facial features—Betty’s were soft and feminine, as much as Jack’s were sharp and masculine.
The others waited patiently for their chance to exchange greetings, before the whole group—by that time thoroughly soaked with rain—moved into the house.
Inside, the house revealed a functional, informal and comfortable space. The heavy wooden interior of the original Tudor house had been reduced to a massive staircase and parquet floor.
Asanni Page 23