WAKENED (The Silvervane Chronicles Book 1)

by Rachel Berlynn

  “Is he a…druid? I mean, one of them?” Aylie tried to make her voice sound as neutral as possible.

  “Of course not. I’d be dead already if he was.”

  Aylie let out a slow breath. “Wow, they take the whole defection thing really seriously.”

  Ryder nodded. They had arrived at the pasture gate, but he hesitated. “Are your parents expecting you back at a certain time?” He asked.

  Aylie shook her head. “They know I was planning to spend the day with my friends.”

  He looked at her curiously. “Why did you decide to come home so early? It’s not even three O’clock yet.”

  Aylie looked away. “I don’t know, I guess I just needed some time to think.”

  He grabbed her hand, suddenly pulling her in a different direction. “I hope you’re done thinking because I want to show you something.”

  Aylie let him drag her away. She was secretly pleased that he wanted to spend more time with her, even though she had no idea where he was taking her. She’d learned that it was better not to ask questions when it came to Ryder Payne. He let go of her hand when they reached the forest so he could push through the maze of trees, vines, and thorny brush. He held them aside for her to pass through when they were too near the trail or likely to cause injury. Twice, he took her hand to help her over logs that had fallen across the path.

  Aylie couldn’t help noticing how much more caring and thoughtful Ryder was now than he had been when they’d first met. His mannerisms and behavior toward her had completely changed. And he’d held her hand at least three times now—never for long, but always longer than necessary. She wondered if it was something he was doing consciously or if it was just an impulsive behavior. She noted the confident way he walked, with his shoulders back and head held high…perfect posture. His messy brown hair smelled like mint leaves and mountain air, she could smell it wafting toward her in the breeze. Realizing that her mind was straying from anything helpful, Aylie mentally reeled herself back in. She forced herself to forget the sensation of his warm, strong hand when it swallowed hers and the way his presence made her feel completely safe. She attempted to redirect her thoughts. Ryder wasn’t a big talker, so it was up to her to start the conversation if she didn’t want to end up getting lost in her mind again. “How much further are we walking?”

  “Not too far. Less than a mile from here.”

  “So we’re not going to the Mansion?”

  Ryder shook his head. “I’m taking you to one of my special spots.”

  Aylie felt her heart beat faster. She told herself not to read too much into it. Just because he wanted to take her to one of his favorite places didn’t mean he had feelings for her. He was just being the friend she needed right now and she had to be smart about this. Getting too attached now would only make things harder later. Focus, she told herself. He’s just a friend.

  The trail dead-ended into an iron gate with a sign posted that said, DO NOT PASS THIS POINT – DANGER AHEAD. Ryder didn’t even hesitate. He sailed right over the gate with one, long-legged stride.

  Aylie stared at him with her mouth gaping. “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like I’m doing?” He reached for her hand.

  Aylie hesitated. “The sign says there’s danger ahead.”

  Ryder looked at her dubiously. “Seriously, Aylie? What could be more dangerous than me?”

  She sighed. He had a good point. She looked at his outstretched hand and took it hesitantly. Not because she was afraid, but because she really wanted to hold his hand and she knew she shouldn’t be so eager. He helped her over the gate and then guided her down a steep incline, steadying her until they reached the bottom. Now they were practically standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down over a ravine floor covered in boulders, hundreds of feet below. A massive waterfall jutted out from the ravine wall across from them, casting a misty rainbow over the canyon.

  Aylie gasped. It was the most beautiful place she’d ever seen. She had no idea there were waterfalls like this in Silvervane. She wanted to climb down into the canyon and see it up close, but she knew it was too dangerous. She stood there looking out over it all in awe, completely forgetting for a moment that Ryder was standing beside her.

  “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

  Aylie nodded, speechless. “How did you find this place?”

  “My family has lived here for more than five generations. There was a time when we practically owned this entire forest.”

  Aylie tore her eyes away from the waterfall to read his facial expression. There was a mixture of pride and sadness in his eyes as he looked out over the canyon. She knew she was getting to see a side of him that no one apart from his family had ever seen before and she felt the sacredness of the moment in every fiber of her being. “And yet you want to leave it all behind,” she murmured, almost to herself. She felt his gaze shift to her face, but she didn’t dare meet his eyes. She knew he would be able to see right through her and she didn’t want to feel exposed.

  “Does that make you sad?” He asked, his gaze unwavering.

  Aylie debated whether or not to answer his question. If she were honest, he’d know how she felt about him. If she lied, he’d probably be able to sense it. If she didn’t give him an answer at all, he might just try to read her mind anyway. It was a no-win situation. “I’m sad that you’re losing everything you loved because of a curse you have no control over,” she answered diplomatically.

  A gentle breeze stirred the air around them, blowing strands of her blond hair across her face. To her surprise, Ryder reached out and touched a strand. He rubbed it gently between his thumb and forefinger, before tucking it behind her ear. Aylie felt her heart accelerate, her cheeks flushing against her will. She turned away from him and looked down over the edge of the cliff. There was a steep decline of jagged rocks leading down to the bottom of the canyon in a zigzag pattern. It looked treacherous, but she wondered if it might be possible to make it to the bottom if she took her time and paced herself.

  She felt Ryder’s shoulder brush against hers, as she stood there contemplating her options. Even the smallest contact with him sent her heart fluttering and she hated how vulnerable it made her feel. She had to be stronger. She had to protect her heart. She had to remind herself that he was just a friend who would be leaving soon. But then he reached out and took her hand, this time for no apparent reason at all. There were no logs to climb over, no tree branches to dodge, and no gates to scale. She struggled to keep her mind from racing as he laced his fingers through hers, his palm pressing into hers.

  Suddenly she wanted to cry. Being with Ryder felt like waking up for the first time. Everything inside of her came alive when she was near him. He made her brave and fearless. He understood her in a way that no one else ever had. She wanted to be with him like this forever—hand in hand, facing the uncertainties of the future together.

  But it could never happen. He was only teasing her.

  It’s going to be okay, Aylie, his voice resonated in her mind.

  It’s so easy for you to say that, she argued. You’re the one leaving.

  I didn’t think I had a reason to stay.

  Aylie forced back the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks as she pulled her hand away from him. “I want to go home.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  R yder lay awake in his bed thinking about Aylie. He hadn’t meant to overhear her thoughts as they’d stood side by side looking down at the waterfall together. He’d been completely caught off guard by the onslaught of emotions she’d unknowingly disclosed. Up until that moment, he’d had no idea of her true feelings for him and he felt guilty that he’d invaded her privacy by reading her mind. She’d gotten so quiet all of a sudden that he’d been curious to know what she was thinking about.

  Hearing the thoughts in her head made him question his own feelings. He had no experience with the emotions or sentiments of love, apart from the affection he had for his decease
d family members. He couldn’t deny his attraction to Aylie, but he hadn’t allowed himself to entertain anything more than friendship or gratitude toward her. Did he feel more for? He enjoyed being with her—she had been a source of strength and encouragement to him over the past several weeks. He was happy to have someone to share his secrets with and grateful that someone understood him, on some level. He had reached for her hand to comfort her when he’d realized how upset she was, but he wasn’t entirely sure that had been his only motivation for doing it, now that he really thought about it.

  So maybe he did feel more than just friendship, but he wasn’t ready to call it love. Aylie intrigued him, by the way she’d responded when he’d turned into a crazed panther and had nearly taken her head off. She’d been so calm and rational, not at all like a girl of seventeen would normally react to something so insane and otherworldly. She believed there was goodness inside of him, in spite of the evil she knew he was capable of. She’d seen him transition and knew about his tainted blood, and yet she insisted he was innocent. She trusted him almost completely and her faith in him made him want to be a better person.

  And yet there was a part of him that resisted her. Caring for Aylie meant opening up his heart to the possibility of being hurt yet again. If something were to happen to her he didn’t know how he could bear it. He couldn’t even finish the thought. The very possibility of her being mixed up in his fate made his blood boil. He couldn’t allow anything to happen to her—not while he was alive and breathing. Admittedly, it seemed like there was very little he could do if he was the Order’s next target, but he swore to himself that he’d find a way to keep Aylie safe, no matter what.

  He continued to toss and turn until he finally drifted into a troubled sleep. The respite was short-lived when he awoke again two hours later to a strange sound in the hallway just outside his door. He lay completely still, listening to the sound of approaching footsteps. He had hoped at first that it might be the butler or a maid, but the person in question sounded as if they were stumbling around, unsure of where they were going. That could only mean an intruder had found his way into the Mansion. If it was someone from Edyrd’s Order, Ryder wasn’t exactly prepared to fight, but perhaps transitioning would give him an advantage if he were able to change before the intruder reached his door. He slid noiselessly from his bed and went over to his dresser to retrieve his ring.

  Before he was able to slip it onto his finger, the prowler was at his door. Ryder grabbed one of the antique swords his father had mounted on his bedroom wall and crept over to stand behind it. As the doorknob slowly began to turn, he pulled the sword back, poising to strike as soon as his attacker was visible. The door creaked open slowly, revealing a pair of feminine bare feet. Ryder’s eyes followed the pair of small feet to the dainty, white ankles and up the thin, bare skin of Aylie Bryant’s legs. She was standing in his doorway, dressed in nothing but a long nightshirt. She appeared to be completely unconscious.

  Ryder stepped back in shock and allowed her to enter. She walked right past him; unaware of the sharp blade he’d been prepared to slit her throat with. She drifted over to his fireplace and stopped right in front of it. She stood there for a moment, unmoving, as if she were deliberating something. Then she reached up to feel around on the cold, stone mantel. He held his breath as her hand stopped, resting on an ornately carved wooden box his father had given him for his sixteenth birthday. She lifted the lid and reached inside; withdrawing the dagger his father had presented to him the day he’d received the box. It was the same dagger his father had been murdered with, only he’d switched it out with a different one before the police chief had arrived that tragic morning. Now Aylie brought it down to eye level, gazed at it, and collapsed onto the cold, stone floor.

  Ryder rushed over to her, unsure of what to do. If he woke her now she would have no idea where she was and might panic past the point of consolation. But if he left her where she fell, there’s no telling what condition she’d be in when she finally awoke. He couldn’t tell how hard she’d hit her head and he wasn’t willing to take chances if there was the slightest possibility that she might have a concussion. He braced himself for the hysteria he knew was most likely coming and touched her gently on the arm. “Aylie,” he said her name quietly. “Wake up.”

  She didn’t open her eyes at first, and he felt his heart begin to sink as he struggled to wake her from her deep sleep. He shook her gently, saying her name louder and louder. Finally her eyelids fluttered and she slowly opened her eyes. “Ryder?” She gazed up at him, clearly confused as to why he was kneeling over her.

  “Aylie.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “You were sleep-walking.”

  “Sleep-walking?” Her eyes darted around the dark interior of his room, taking in the unfamiliarity of it as coherence began to return. She sat up, panic filling her eyes. She looked down at her half-naked body and her cheeks flushed crimson by the glow of the firelight. She was still holding the dagger in her right hand and dropped it on the floor in horror. “How did I get here?” She cried.

  “I don’t know,” he stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief. “I heard someone stumbling around in the hall and I thought….” he looked at her apologetically. “I thought you were one of Edryd’s Order coming for me.”

  Aylie tried to stand to her feet but lost her balance and landed on her butt. “Ouch,” she felt a lump on the back of her head.

  “I was afraid you might have a concussion, that’s why I decided to wake you.” Ryder stood to his feet. “I’ll get some Advil, I think I have some in my medicine cabinet.” He found the bottle of pain medicine and rushed back to the room. He usually always kept a glass of water on his nightstand and he reached for it now so that Aylie could take the pills he handed her. He watched as she swallowed them one at a time, washing them down with tiny gulps of water. She handed back the glass and thanked him. She looked around the room awkwardly.

  “I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “I have no idea what happened.”

  Ryder shook his head. “We can talk about that tomorrow. Right now we need to figure out what to do with you until morning.”

  “Until morning?” Aylie gasped. “I have to get home. My parents might wake up and realize I’m missing.”

  “Driving you home would wake your parents up for sure, it’s deathly quiet out here in the countryside. And it’s not safe in the forest this late at night, either—especially when you have no shoes on,” he said ardently, “I would know.” His eyes fell on the dagger she’d dropped on the floor and he picked it up, returning it and the box to the fireplace mantel where it belonged. Then he turned to face her.

  Aylie looked like she was in utter shock. She was staring down at her nightshirt, which barely covered her underwear and left practically all of her bare legs exposed. “Can I at least borrow those gym shorts again?” She asked, trying to pull the hem of her shirt down in embarrassment. Ryder went over to his dresser and retrieved the shorts she’d worn the last time she’d visited. Handing them to her, he turned away as she stood to her feet to pull them on. It was hard not to stare at the shapely contours of her body and he found himself struggling to keep his thoughts on the problem at hand.

  “Thank you,” she said, signaling that it was okay for him to turn around.

  When he faced her again, he felt something he’d never felt for her before. A kind of fascination and desire. A desire he knew instinctively he had to keep in check. He could feel his body reacting to the sight of her and he forced himself to think rationally. He had to figure out what to do with her until it was light enough to drive her home without waking her family in the dead of night, and he had to keep her from falling asleep in the meantime in case she had a head injury.

  “I’m so tired,” she said, yawning into her hand.

  “You can’t go to sleep, Aylie. It’s too risky.”

  She sank down onto the cold, stone floor, wrapping her arms around her legs to keep herself warm. He realized she was cold and went o
ver to his bed to pull the comforter off of it. He carried it over to where she was sitting on the floor and handed it to her.

  “What will you sleep with?” She asked, looking over at the messy sheets on his bed.

  “I’m not going to sleep,” he remarked, as if it should be obvious. “Someone has to make sure you stay awake.”

  Aylie put her head in her hands. “This is so humiliating. I really don’t understand how this could have happened.”

  “You couldn’t possibly have walked here, Aylie.”

  She stared at him not comprehending his meaning.

  “You couldn’t have come five miles through the tangled forest while sleep-walking, for one thing.” He lowered himself onto the floor beside her, staring vacantly into the fire. “You couldn’t have gotten past my gate without climbing it or being let in, for another.”

  Aylie stared at him, waiting for him to finish his train of thought.

  “And…not to be blunt, but you’re half naked and the ground is covered in snow. You would’ve gotten frostbite if you’d walked that far with bare feet.”

  Aylie shivered. “How did I get here, then?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never had a half-naked girl show up at my door in the middle of the night like this before, believe it or not.” He said with amusement in his dark eyes.

  Aylie slapped him on the arm.

  “I have something I want to show you, though,” he said, standing to his feet again.

  She huffed. “Another waterfall?”

  “No. Wait here.” He started for the door and then paused to look over his shoulder at her. “Stay awake until I get back, okay?”

  Aylie nodded.

  He sprinted down the hall and through the adjoining corridor, reaching one of the staircases on the west side of the Mansion. He took the stairs two at a time and crossed through the passageway leading to his father’s study on the second floor. He pushed the heavy door open and went straight to his father’s desk. The waning moon sent a small stream of light through the high, stone window, giving him just enough light to see where he was going without having to use a candle. He grabbed his father’s manuscript and sprinted back through the mansion to his bedroom where Aylie was waiting for him on the hard floor, just where he’d left her. She was huddled into a ball beneath his comforter in front of the fireplace. She looked so small and helpless sitting there—it made him want to scoop her up in his arms, but he refrained.