Awakened

by Inger Iversen

  He turned from the frozen landscape to face me. His eyes were dark, and I could see the stress and worry in the caused dark circles under his eyes.

  “Ella, when do you not have some sort of question for me?” His voice was low and playful.

  I smiled. “What are we?” I didn’t feel shy or nervous. I wanted to know where Kale and I stood.

  I’d had boyfriends before; boyfriends that I’d cared about, but nothing like what I was starting to feel for Kale. Kale and I hadn’t known each other long enough to fall in love, but it seemed inevitable, and I had finally found something in my life to get excited about. Being with Kale and learning about his past, the things he loved and the things he hated, excited me. It didn’t take my mind completely off of Alex and the things that had happened to us, but it was something to look forward to, and for that, I was happy.

  “What?” Kale’s eyes furrowed, and he sat up straighter.

  “You and I—what are we?” I moved closer, hoping he’d get my point.

  Kale pulled me closer to him and placed his face into my neck, sending sparks of pleasure down my spine. I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled as close as I could get to him.

  “I guess I am trying to DTR. You want help me out, here?” I kissed his neck and felt him shiver.

  “I have no clue what DTR means, but if it gets me more kisses like that, I’m willing to DTR right here right now.”

  I giggled and kissed Kale again. “‘Define The Relationship.’ I want to know what we are to each other. You know, like—”

  “Ella, I am always yours, but things are a bit more complicated than ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend.’ You have so much to deal with over these next few weeks, and I will be here for you, but—”

  “But what, Kale?” I pulled back to see his face. “But what? Are you saying that you don’t want to be with me?” It felt foolish to say, but my insecurities creeped below the surface.

  “No, I’m not saying that at all, Ella. I’m saying that there are more important things to handle right now, don’t you think?” Kale searched my eyes, possibly looking for understanding, but finding none.

  “It’s important to me,” I whispered.

  Kale rubbed my back and chuckled. “Yes, it is important, so let’s handle it now.” He walked towards the sofa, pulling me along with him. “Okay, okay. Let’s talk about it before Jace and Mia come in.” We sat down side by side.

  “I want to be with you,” I blurted.

  Kale took a deep breath and smiled.

  “What do you want?”

  “You. I’ve always wanted you, but I also want you to be happy, Ella. I want you to have a life you deserve, and I don’t know if that includes me.”

  “You want me to be happy, and that includes you.”

  “And my immorality?” Kale sat back. “There’s more.”

  Finally, we were getting somewhere. I was excited to get to know Kale more and nervous about knowing what he’d done in the past. “Well, what else is there?”

  “La Luxure,” Jace said from the front door.

  I hadn’t noticed Mia and Jace enter the house. Mia’s eyes were red and puffy along with her cheeks. I ignored Jace and went and hugged her. I didn’t expect much of a hug back. No matter what Kale and Deacon said, Alex was dead because of me.

  Mia hugged me back, more tightly than I was ready for, taking my breath away.

  “Are you okay?” I asked in her ear.

  “Yeah, I will be. I just can’t believe Alex is gone.” Mia sniffled and released me.

  “Let’s go in the bedroom and talk.” I guided Mia to the back where Kale’s bedroom was, but not before I told Kale that we would finish our conversation later—and that meant explaining what la Luxure was and why it would stop us from being together.

  ***

  “Did you see it happen?” Mia asked. She sat cross-legged on the edge of Kale’s bed. “I mean, was he—”

  I decided to tell her the truth. “Mia, he told me to run, so I ran. I wish I would have stayed.”

  I waited for her to get angry and ask me why I didn’t stay or why I didn’t get help.

  “I’m glad you ran, Ella. If you hadn’t, then you and Alex would both be gone.”

  I hadn’t expected that reaction. “Yeah, I guess,” I said hesitantly.

  “Jace said that you have been blaming yourself for Alex’s death. Ella, you can’t do that.” Mia shook her head and got off of the bed.

  “Don’t listen to anything that liar says!”

  “Who, Jace? Why is he a liar? Are you not blaming yourself?” Mia sounded confused by my outburst.

  I didn’t feel like explaining to her my new hatred for Jace and the Council, so I shrugged and tried to downplay it. “No, I’m just tired and stressed, Mia. I have to figure out what to tell Alex’s parents about his death. That’s going to be hard, and then there’s Ana.” Would the Council accept her or not?

  “Ana? Who is that?”

  “She is one of the Immortals that held me on that island, but then she turned on Laurent. She and Darke let me go once Kale and everyone got to the island to save me.”

  Mia nodded. Did nobody at least fill her in on something other than Alex’s death? “Yeah, that Darke guy is dead. Jace said that his brother killed him or something like that. Why would the Council kill someone that helped you?”

  I didn’t know what to tell Mia at that point. I could have told her what I believed to be the truth, that the Council was full of a bunch of murderous liars, but I didn’t. It was much more complicated than that, and I wasn’t ready to get into what the Council had done, at the moment. Mia was still dealing with what happened at Alex, as was I—plus, I felt angry with and betrayed by the Council.

  “I don’t know, Mia. I wasn’t there at that point.” I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and brushed it back.

  Mia came over and took the brush from my hands. “Here, I’ll braid it for you.”

  “Thanks.” I looked at Mia in the mirror and took in her perfect appearance. Her blond hair was bone straight and fell around her face, her makeup looked much better than the caked-on crap she’d worn when I first met her, and her blue eyes were perfectly rimmed with dark liner and topped with smoky gray and black eye shadow.

  Mia smiled, revealing her white teeth. “You have thick hair, Ella.” She pulled my hair back and started to braid it.

  I closed my eyes and relaxed. It had always felt good when my mother braided my hair.

  “I have the dye we bought last week in my car, if you still want me to dye your hair. It will give us something to do to take our minds off of all the stuff that’s going on,” Mia suggested.

  I didn’t see any reason to say no. “Okay.”

  Mia grabbed her coat and headed out.

  Kale walked in moments after she left. “How are you doing?” He took me in his arms and lightly kissed my forehead.

  “I’m good. Mia is going to dye my hair.”

  Kale’s nose scrunched up in distaste. “I think your hair is fine the way it looks.” He grabbed a lock and tugged lightly before running his hand through my hair, grazing my scalp as he moved his fingers expertly through my hair. I groaned and placed my head on his shoulder.

  “It’s not going to change much, just add some highlights. Besides, I think that stuff like this helps Mia deal.” I placed my arms around him and pulled him closer.

  “I was thinking about what we were talking about earlier.”

  “DTR?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’d like that.” I looked up at Kale and smiled.

  “You’d like what?” I smirked, knowing what Kale wanted, but wanting to hear him say it out loud.

  “I want you to be mine,” he whispered, moving his head closer to mine.

  I knew he was going to kiss me, and I couldn’t wait. It had been too long since I’d felt his lips on mine. “I am yours Kale, but what else do you want from me?” I tilted my head slightly in his direction as I moved in closer, want
ing to complete the emotional connection that Kale had started with a physical touch, but I held back, waiting for Kale to speak again.

  “I want you.”

  I giggled when Kale repeated himself. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t going to say he wanted to be my boyfriend, but I knew that was what he wanted, and when his lips touched mine, the spark travelled from my lips down my spine to my toes confirmed it.

  Kale placed his hand in the middle of my back and pulled my body flush against his as he deepened the kiss. I tightened my arms around his waist and fell into our kiss. I’d never felt a connection in a kiss the way I felt it when I kissed Kale. He pulled back and gently tilted my chin up. “I—want—you—to—be—my—” he began, placing soft kisses on my chin and neck between each word.

  “I’ll be your girlfriend,” I said before he could finish his sentence. I moved my lips back to his for a searing kiss to seal that deal.

  Kale and I would be together forever, and all I had to do was either convince Kale to turn me or find someone in the Council to do it. Though my heart soared as Kale ran his hands through my hair and kissed me back, my brain ran through all the ways that Kale and I could possibly be together longer than my mortal lifetime.

  Chapter 29

  Kale

  Since the night I drank Laurent’s blood, I’d felt different or better. The beast’s growl was low and controllable, and even as I kissed Ella and held her in my arms, my lust for her blood was held at bay.

  Deek and I had discussed what immortal blood did for la Luxure, and he and I planned to talk about it more after I’d checked on Ella. I had planned on telling Ella that it would be best if she and I remained as we were, so that she could go her separate way when the time came, but Deek advised me against it. “Look at me and Chelle,” he’d said. “I’m Chorý, and she’s human.”

  “Yeah, I know, but what about—”

  “She and I discussed that, the same way you and Ella should. We decided that loving someone isn’t something everyone is fortunate to experience. She and I have both had hard lives, and when we met each other, everything fell into place, and it seemed so easy.” Deek looked into the sky and smiled. “It’s a full moon out, and I know it sounds silly, but knowing that my girl is sitting at home under her blanket—warm and safe, looking at the same moon as I am—makes me happy, man. I couldn’t live without her.”

  “But you will have to,” I reminded him. She was human; she would die, leaving him without her.

  “Yeah, you’re right, but Kale, this feels so right.” Deek placed his hand over his heart. “She feels so right, every kiss and every touch makes me feel that my place, for as long as she allows, it is right beside her. I love her, and the only thing that will ever take her away from me is the Reaper.” Deek sat back onto the couch.

  “And how will you handle that? What if it pushes you into your first bout of Blood Lust, what then?” I asked. I hated to rain on his parade, but it was a legitimate question, and I wanted to know what he was going to do. I had already planned my next defensive attack against it, which was one of the reasons Deek was here.

  “I’ve been thinking about that, and look at you.”

  “Look at me what?”

  “You haven’t had any bad cravings, gone out and hunted, and you said that the beast talks to you, but you still control yourself. These three days since what happened with Laurent have been a lot better than before you took his blood.”

  He was right. I felt better. Tired, but better. Tired was never something that I’d felt as a Chorý, but after battling the Blood Lust, I knew that it was to be expected. “What are you saying?”

  “Well, what if we found the cure that Laurent was muttering about as you drained him?”

  “Yeah, right. Deek, you know that that was just a dying man using his last breath to lie. I didn’t buy his words then, and I don’t now.”

  Deek sat up and leaned in close, as if about to impart a secret. “What if immortal blood is the cure to la Luxure? What if that is why Darke wanted to send Ana to the Council?” he asked, tone serious. “I think that’s why you don’t need me to place you in that cage downstairs.”

  I shook my head. “I’ve heard the same rumors about the Zdrowy, the cleansed, but I’m trying not to hear it. There is no proof, not one iota of proof. No, you will place me there. I feel better now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come back!” I shook my head, wishing that Deek would understand that the only way to protect Ella was to distance myself from her and as if he read my mind he commented on my fear.

  “You keep pushing her away, and that will hurt her. You can tell her the truth, and she will stand by you until you’re better. That’s what I don’t get about you, man.”

  “What? Like I am so damned complicated.”

  Deek ignored my annoyance. “For a man who is willing to chase a girl for a hundred years, you are real unwilling to let her return the favor.” He shook his head and leaned back again.

  “What?”

  “Do you love her?”

  I paused. I hadn’t known Ella long, but I knew how strong my feelings were for her, and I knew her soul long before Ella the body even existed. “I know her soul, and I love it.” I admitted, hoping Deek would understand. Maybe I was complicated and didn’t even know it.

  “I see.” He looked pensive and was quiet for a moment. “So you are falling in love with Ella, and you are afraid to.”

  I thought about it for a moment and realized that I didn’t only fear for Ella’s safety. I also feared that there’d come a time when I’d have to live without her,, but that wasn’t the point I was trying to make.

  “Maybe that’s part of the reason, but there is her safety, as well, Deek. This isn’t just some romantic story; Ella’s life can be in danger when she is with me.” I was afraid of losing her, but it wasn’t just that, and Deek should have known that.

  “Yeah, but Laurent’s blood may have cured you, and even if it didn’t, I’m sure that Ella will stand by you. You need to give her a chance, man. I thought that’s what all this was for, to save her and you two ride off into the sunset.”

  I laughed. “If only.”

  “Well, from where I’m standing, you are the only obstacle in the way of your happily ever after, so move!” Deek shoved me and got off of the couch to check on Ella’s lunch just as Mia walked out of the room.

  She looked improved. Her cheeks had color, and her eyes weren’t as puffy as they had been over the past four days. “Where’s Jace?”

  “He normally stays in the study. He should be in there.”

  “Oh, okay. I’m gonna check on him before I grab my bag out of my car.” Mia headed back in the direction she’d come from, and I got off of the couch to go and check on Ella. In one conversation, Deek had convinced me to forget what I had been worried about and give Ella and me a chance.

  Though I wasn’t wholly convinced, once I stepped in that room where she was and kissed her, I knew that she and I were going to “DTR,” as she called it, and the outcome would be in her favor.

  We all sat around the fire later that as we tried to come up with a plan for sending Ella back to the Alex’s parents and what story we were sending her back with. I felt guilty, starting off my relationship with Ella with a lie, but I had made a promise, and I was going to keep it.

  I wasn’t honor-bound. This secret had the potential to kill Ella, and I wasn’t taking that chance. Ana was a big help, and even though the situation was her fault, I needed her, and the job as babysitter was fitting. She would handle the mess she’d made until further notice.

  “It’s been four days, and Sarah and Eric are freaking out. Ella is gone, Alex is gone, and I moved back to my parents’, since they are back in town. We seriously need to send her back, and fast,” Mia explained.

  “I can’t believe that I’m going to have to tell them that their son is dead,” Ella said. She snuggled up close to me, and my guilt flared.

  “I’ll tell them.” I didn’t know how
I could make it work, but I felt as if it were my responsibility.

  Ella shook her head. “No, I will. I think it will be better coming from me.”

  Chapter 30

  Ella

  It was our last night together before I went back to Sarah and Eric, and Kale and I snuggled on the bed in our pajamas. His scent was strong and crisp.

  “How do you feel about the plan, Ella?” he asked.

  I nuzzled his chest, refusing to answer. We’d talked about the plan well into the night, and now all I wanted was to be with Kale, without the interruption of our lives.

  “Hey,” Kale said softly. He pulled my head from his chest and stared into my eyes.

  My heart sped up so fast that I lost my breath, and Kale’s eyes took on a hooded stare.

  “May I kiss you again?” His lips, soft and full, were on mine before I had a chance to answer. Kale completely dominated the kiss. His hand left my hair and traced a warm path down my side.

  He pulled back slightly, then kissed my cheek and slid his mouth to my ear. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” he whispered, kissing the outer shell of my ear.

  I quivered in response. There were so many things that I wanted from Kale, but this was still something I wasn’t ready for. I knew that I was falling in love with him, and that I wanted him to be my first, but it wasn’t the time. I was about to go through so much emotionally with Alex’s parents, and I didn’t want that to interfere with a special moment like this.

  “I just want to keep kissing you, Kale.” I threaded my fingers through his. “I won’t see you for three or four weeks, and I really want to enjoy this time with you now.” I smiled as I thought of those three weeks without him.

  “Hey,” Kale kissed my chin. “It’ll be okay. I’ll be here when you get back, and then we’ll figure out our future together.” He pulled me closer to his side. I could barely breathe, but that was all right.

  “What’s to figure out?” I asked. “We are going to be together and live happily ever after.” I smiled. As silly as the childish comment sounded, I was actually looking forward to a happily ever after or something similar. I knew our lives would be nothing close to normal, but I was willing to live that kind of life if it meant being with Kale.