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The beast reaches out a giant, clawed hand
Aramei stiffens instinctively, but soon her muscles relax and her heartbeat slows She knows it doesn’t want to hurt her She gazes deeply into its eyes, seeing a dark and vicious soul, but also a longing and caring heart somehow she feels is shrouded by violence and power
She steps into the curve of its hand and it gently pulls her body against itsher frame
A soft breath releases from her parted lips and her eyelashes fall as she wilts into the coentle embrace
Never in her life has she felt safer
The beast nuzzles his great snout against her head and another low h his chest It feels alainst her s her face and she leans into it, taking in the co in a vial of warm euphoria
Carefully, the beast pulls her away fro over her The cow and the goats work themselves into a frenzy
But Aramei can’t be afraid of him She tries She knows that to be afraid is natural and likely and expected A shtened so that she can prove to herself that she isn’t so unlike her sister, or any other mindful human for that matter But nothe flurry of elated eht now as he towers over her
The beast looks into her glistening, teary eyes one last time and then turns and pads away into the darkness
Chapter 20
Present Day – In the Cabin
TRAJAN STARES OFF TOWARD the wall, his gaze penetrating it so deeply that the whole of the room has fallen completely silent My words have become the focus of his memory and the more that I describe to hioes himself to revisit his life with Ara stared intensely at hi of Araently turn my head to see her and she looks sad
Trajan’s cals us both back to him
"I could not let her seeat neither of us And then he appears uncos is coht at ht, I had no intentions of ever seeing her again She was human and it was forbidden I was Alpha and the last one of my kind that could defy the laws that enerations Two of my sons were put to death because they were found to be infatuated with human women"
"You killed the the extent of ust I sit next to Trajan at the s the downstairs floor Always he’s too close for comfort
He doesn’t look atBut I do not conde out the sentences that I set forth at the beginning of n Because they werethe laws "
I hate hiinable, hypocritical bastard that I feel polluted by his presence But I also respect him and this part of me I doubt I’ll ever understand Because I know it’s not the human part
He looks across at Arao back to see Aramei After six months and after I shifted the war into the west to protect her, I left Golubac Fortress every other night to see her" He pauses and says, "From afar, of course"
"You loved her even that early" I say absently, re how quickly Isaac and I fell in love and I can’t help but think about just how extraordinarily similar our stories are Like Ara lost mother Like Araainst my will Like Aramei, I saw Isaac for what he truly was, also in a barn, bloodied and beaten and frightening And like Aramei, I was also bonded by the blood of a olf
It’s truly uncanny how much our stories are alike; so much so that I feel unnerved by it But thankfully, the sirateful for that…
Trajan nods in response toat Arahts tih my spine, "but love is a weakness, as you can see"
Not sure if he was referring toto ask
"Can I ask you a…difficult question?" It wasn’t the word I was looking for, difficult
The slow turning of his dark blue eyes is the only o on
"Did you know about Aramei’s mother?" I say in a steady voice "I mean, is her mother’s death the reason you never sired Aramei? Because you knew the transformation would likely kill her because it killed her estures Eva over with the wave of two fingers "Those nights she spent withabout her life, including the details of her h the transformation, as you are also fully aware, runs in families She would not have survived it--Prepare a bath for Aramei"
Eva bo at the waist and heads down the stairs
Trajan turns back to ?" he says and for aof Aramei or Eva
"Not yet," I say "All I’ve seen is what I’ve told you She hasn’t spoken directly to h a small one Ara that would indicate she is capable of actual mindful conversation But I can’t tell him this I’m still not sure why I feel so protective of her when it co with the story
Trajan slaps his hand on the tabletop, causing the table to wobble on its tall metal base I jump on the chair, startled I’ainst h I can just barely see his strong jaws clenching with i nice; not that that’s new, but I prefer it when he isn’t clearly angry
He stands up and folds his hands together in front of him I stay at the table where I feel safer and I watch as he paces across the brightly lit rooh all of the cabin s It’s a perfectly beautiful day with not a cloud in the endless blue sky, helping the sun’s rays to filter down through the trees surrounding the cabin All of the ere ordered open and so the breeze pushing through them is cool on my face and bare shoulders