“As if you ever needed one.” Jack
chuckled.
“And who always baked lemon meringue pie for
you?” Liv said.
“Ah, Mrs. Frazer. I mentioned once how much I
liked lemony desserts.”
“For a wizard with less than perfect social
skills, people liked you just fine,” Liv said, laughing.
“Who could resist her?” Tristan said and
patted my cheek.
THE RELAXED conversation around the table
continued. Only Jack was more quiet than usual. I longed for him,
and no matter how much I liked being with my family, I missed the
time we’d spent together.
I was aware of his mother’s occasional
glances, and tried to be myself as much as I could. Betty Mohegan
wasn’t a person who would take someone else’s opinion for granted;
she wanted to come to her own conclusion.
I didn’t think the fact that Rowena was my
mother bothered her at all. She wanted to see if the girl her son
brought home was the right person for him: decent enough, good
enough, smart enough. As far as she was concerned, the fact that I
was the clan’s Ellida, a wizard, a doctor, was irrelevant. She was
determined to see beyond that: she wanted to know if I was going to
make her son happy. She would smile at me, gently and pleasantly,
and I was certain she knew that I knew what she was doing, but
beyond that, her expression was unreadable. I would know when she
was done with her evaluation, and I could only hope she would like
what she found.
With her deep insight into human nature, Liv
was also correctly reading Betty’s gentle smiles and discreet
looks, and skillfully controlled the conversation. Without making
her intentions too obvious, she let Tristan or my grandparents tell
the little stories of my life, introducing to my werewolf relatives
an Astrid she loved and respected: compassionate, gentle,
hardworking, emotional, in short, a good, decent being. Tristan
immediately figured out what Liv was doing and backed up her story.
I was deeply touched by my friends’ support and love.
“I’M TAKING Astrid to Seattle tomorrow,” Jack
suddenly announced before James and Betty retired to their room.
“She needs to buy some warm clothes and pick up something from her
condo.”
I nodded, hoping that I didn’t look too
surprised. He hadn’t mentioned anything about going to Seattle.
Tristan, who’d just come back from the garage
with a suitcase in his hand, said, “Liv and I’ll go with them.”
“Is my room ready?” I said.
“It’s always ready, love,” my grandmother
said and kissed my hair.
I sighed. “Before I have time to see you
properly, I’ll be gone again.”
“I’m so happy we’re coming to Red Cliffs,
Astrid. We’ve missed you so much.”
My chest tightened. “Oh, Ella, I’ve missed
you, too,” I said and gently tucked a stray lock of her soft blond
hair behind her ear.
My beautiful grandmother. To James, Hal and I
could be two peas in a pod, but there was lots of Ella in me. She
was tall and slim, with the same dark blue eyes, although Hal had
them, too. Ella’s golden-blond hair, a shade lighter than mine, was
a mass of thick locks that shone like a halo around her pretty
head. I also had her straight, narrow nose, a tiny bit longer than
current fashion required, but nice and feminine nonetheless. With
her perfectly smooth skin, her vibrancy and vitality, she looked
too young to be my mother, let alone my grandmother.
There was little of my mother in me, though.
In a physical sense, my mother greatly resembled Arnaldur.
According to the few photos I had, she was also dark haired with
almond shaped gray eyes and an oval, well-proportioned face. The
most beautiful part of her stunning face was her lips: full, soft,
wide, perfect.
She was tall, womanly and beautiful. But no
matter how hard I stared into her eyes in those photos, I was never
able to decipher the true expression they held. They appeared
serious and mischievous, warm and ironic, inquiring, intriguing,
sensual, all at the same time. There was nothing mean in them, and
that was the only thing I was sure about. Through the years I’d
learned how to hide my pain deep inside me, only to be crushed by
its unbearable magnitude every time I looked at her picture.
Ella’s voice cut through my painful thoughts.
“We’ve tried to protect you, and it almost backfired. Thank God
your grandfather was smarter than I when it came to your
training.”
“Ella, please don’t. Try to see the big
picture: I found Jack. That’s far more than I’ve ever hoped for. We
are not going to have this conversation again. I’m happy you’re
coming to spend some time with me. I need you.” I tenderly kissed
Ella’s cheek and gently yet firmly closed the subject.
My grandfather joined us, bringing his
familiar, dear scent, subtly mingled with
Aramis Tuscany
,
his favorite cologne, the same one Jack liked to use. The three of
us sat in the salon. The rest were already in their rooms.
“Ingmar came a couple of times,” he said. “He
was upset because we didn’t want to tell him anything about your
whereabouts. He went to Africa, but he phoned from there every
week, I’ve already told you that. And then he came again a few days
ago to tell us he’d seen you.”
I smiled, remembering Ingmar’s unexpected
visit. It seemed so long ago. “He just showed up one evening in
Rosenthal. I told him what was going on,” I said. “He offered to
help.”
“Yes, he said that. That’s Ingmar. I’m not
surprised.”
WE CONTINUED chatting until well after
midnight. “Astrid,” my grandmother said, “you’re still recovering
from the last change. You should go to sleep.”
I’m a twenty-six-year old woman, Ella
,
I wanted to say.
I don’t need to be sent to bed
.
I sighed. I’d be always their little girl,
even when I was one hundred and twenty six.
“You’re right, Ella.” I sighed. “I do feel a
bit tired. It’s been a long day.”
I kissed them both and went to my old
room.
I didn’t bother to undress and just lay
across the covers; I wasn’t sleepy or tired at all. I went over the
whole afternoon again: James and his evident delight upon seeing
me, Jack’s mother and her gentle, inquiring eyes, Jack’s unusual
quietness, my grandparents and their irrational feeling of guilt,
Liv and Tristan’s display of loyalty and love.
I could sense them all, scattered in
different rooms. James and Betty were in the east wing, Jack’s room
was beside theirs. The Blakes were on the west side, with me. Had
anybody released them from their bodyguard duty? I hugged the
pillow, my thoughts drifting back to Jack.
This time I didn’t even have his jacket with
me.
MY SHARPENED senses detected faint traces of
my own scent from long ago, lingering in the room of my childhood
and youth. I opened the window and peeked outside, onto the
familiar landscape. The oak tree now reached almost to the roof. I
remembered it being much smaller when I was a child.
The night was cool and quiet, and smelled of
earth and rain. “One more place to leave too soon,” I whispered and
swallowed back tears.
A barely audible knock on the door brought me
back. “It’s me, Astrid. May I come in?” I heard Liv’s soft
whisper.
I opened the door and she stepped in. “Jack
asks if you could do whatever you did the night he arrived to
Rosenthal. To leave your aura here.”
I smiled. “Sure. But why?”
“Then do it, he’ll tell you why. By the way,
our car is parked behind the gate, but make sure you muffle the
engine, just in case. Don’t stay too long,” she said with a soft
chuckle and disappeared.
I did as Jack had asked me and sat on my bed,
waiting, leaving the door ajar. Sure thing, he came in within a
minute, and closed the door behind. He pulled me to his chest.
“You’re still dressed, that’s good. Let’s
go,” he said.
“Where? What are you up to, Jack Canagan?” I
whispered, burying my nose into his neck. It didn’t look like we
were going anywhere any time soon. “Oh, I missed you. Don’t forget
to leave your jacket here later,” I whispered.
“We’re going out. On our first date. I know a
couple of restaurants that are still open.”
“Jack, I don’t think I can soundproof the
whole house so quickly. What if they catch us?” I giggled while I
cast the spell that would leave our outlines in our rooms. I felt
as if I was fifteen again.
“They won’t,” he said. “We’ll go through the
window. Just leave it open so that we can come back the same way,
if necessary.”
And with that, he walked to the window and
jumped down. I gasped, my heart stopped. In two long strides I was
beside the window peeking out, half expecting to see him sprawled
on the ground. He smiled at me from below, his white teeth flashing
in the dark. “Jump, I’ll catch you,” he whispered.
And I did, without a second thought, and
landed right in Jack’s firm embrace.
“Are you rebelling against your father?
Aren’t you a little bit too old for that?” I whispered, suppressing
a laugh.
“I didn’t do much of it when it was time for
it. It seems I’ve got a chance to catch up with my rebellion in the
next few months. Come, Tristan’s car is right over there.”
“He let you drive his beloved Mercedes?”
“The other option was to steal James’ rental.
Let’s go.”
We took off, leaving the quiet house and its
sleeping inhabitants behind, and spent the next several hours in
the city wrapped in night, neon and rain.
JACK TOOK Astrid to Pegasus, a Greek
restaurant in downtown Seattle. The owner was Jack’s friend.
Knossos seemed to be a family business. As soon as Astrid and Jack
were seated, the owner’s family—his wife, their two sons and their
wives, and one unmarried daughter—had started emerging from the
different parts of the restaurant to greet Astrid and Jack.
“May I ask you not to put garlic in our salad
dressing, please,” Astrid said to Simeon, the owner, who had come
personally to take their order. “It really upsets my stomach
sometimes,” she explained to Jack when Simeon returned to the
kitchen.
Jack laughed. “It doesn’t upset mine, as you
know, Miss Spock. You’re hoping we’ll end up kissing, that’s why
you wanted our salads garlic-free.”
“It did cross my mind, I won’t deny it.
Better safe than sorry.”
THEY entered St. Patrick’s Purgatory, an
Irish pub two blocks down from Pegasus. Astrid was sure their
impromptu rendezvous had actually been well planned, even if in
haste, somewhere between the time Jack had gone to his room and Liv
had knocked on Astrid’s door.
Jack introduced Astrid to the owners, three
red-haired, blue-eyed Moore siblings: Riley, Liam and Bridget.
“You have lots friends here in Seattle,”
Astrid said. “They’re werewolves, as well as Simeon and his family,
aren’t they?” Astrid whispered in Jack’s ear. “Why can’t I smell
them, then? Today I traced my own old scent in my room.”
“They know how to hide it, baby. And your own
sense of smell still isn’t fully developed.”
Bridget took them to their table in the
corner of the pub, dimly lit and shielded from the gaze of other
guests by two tall and wide wooden beams—a perfect place for
holding hands and kissing. They talked about decorating their home,
the number of kids they wanted to have, places where they would go
for their summer vacation, their favorite ski-resorts. “I like Lake
Louise. They definitely have the best trails,” Jack said.
Astrid had her own favorite places. “The
Canadian Rockies are beautiful, but a bit wild. I like Madonna di
Campilio and Garmisch-Partenkirchen the best.”
“Say that again, please.”
“What?”
“Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It sounds like a
quirky sex toy when you roll all those r’s over your tongue. Say
it.”
She did, and Jack kissed her until she was
breathless.
“You speak German, do you?” Jack said when he
caught his breath again.
“Klar. Warum fragst du?”
“I’m asking because German is such a great
turn on. Don’t do it now, mind you, I don’t think I can take more
turning on. I’m just telling you for the future. Whisper some dirty
German words to me sometime, will you?”
“What languages do you speak?”
“Enough of them to make you moan without
using my hands or anything else. Italian is, for example, very good
for it.”
“Oh, you got me there. How about French?”
“Let’s try it.” He bent his head until his
lips touched Astrid’s ear and whispered a few words.
“I also speak French, Jack Canagan.” Astrid’s
voice was a raspy whisper interrupted by laughter. “And you call
me
kinky? Those were naughty words, Jack. I didn’t catch the
last part, though. Would you mind repeating it?”
THEY CAME back through the back door,
tiptoeing across the hall, and up the staircase. Although she
hadn’t touched anything stronger than mineral water, Astrid felt
lightheaded and giddy, and absolutely in love with her
boyfriend.
They stood in front of Astrid’s room. Jack
braced his hands on the wall on each side of Astrid’s head,
efficiently blocking her potential escape.
“How about one more kiss, baby,” he murmured
as his mouth moved to Astrid’s.
She leaned forward and met him halfway.
Jack’s tongue slipped inside without resistance, gently exploring.
His hands moved to Astrid’s back, rubbing it softly. She buried her
fingers in his hair and pressed her body firmly against Jack’s.
“I’ve never touched your breasts,” Jack
murmured over the kiss. “I briefly saw you naked when you changed,
but I didn’t touch you. May I?” His hand lazily moved up.
“You may,” Astrid whispered.
Jack’s fingers brushed the outer slope of
Astrid’s breast. Her heart stopped and then continued beating
somewhere in her ears.