He told me 3 weeks ago that I wasn’t developed enough to see his features in dream form. I wonder if behind the anger and threats, he is that handsome boy I saw in his dream. He had to be no more than eighteen when he died, and I don’t know what a person looks like after they die, or if they continue to age through the years. I guess if that were the case though, I’d be looking at a two-hundred-year-old man sitting next to me. That can’t be too scary right?
“You will not get to your full strength in this lifetime, young Ganis.” His words are matter-of-fact, but a very clear threat lies beneath his statement.
“Why are you even here, Barron? I don’t think you can harm me in my dreams, or you would have by now. Do you just enjoy hanging out?” I laugh humorlessly. As if a higher demon of hell would sneak into a teenager’s dreams to just chill.
Barron clears his throat next to me. “Hanging out is not something a being like me ‘enjoys’. I have come to see my competition and assess my next move.”
A thought occurs to me. “Why haven’t you killed me yet?” I can’t believe that question feels so normal to ask.
Barron the blurry blob shifts in his seat. If I could describe the motion in any way, it would be the motion of nervousness.
I speak up again and tilt my head at him. “Can you not find me?”
He grunts. “I do not usually have a problem finding people. Someone very powerful is protecting you. It had to be why I was not aware of your existence for these thirteen years. It is no bother, though. It will only be a matter of time.”
I shudder at the thought of him ever finding me in person. “It’s okay to move on. I am not a threat to you, Barron. I am a nobody.”
He mutters something in another language that sounds ‘demonic,’ if demonic has a sound. His silhouette turns to me and leans in. The slight scent of dust hits my nose and I feel the need to sneeze. “You have not the slightest idea of the power that surrounds your existence.”
“What is that supposed to mean…?” I blink and Barron is gone. I am laying back on the couch once again, staring up at the high ceiling above me.
I turn my head slightly and Gavin is sitting on the floor next to me, lost in the flickering flames of the fire as it slowly dies out. I watch his stubble covered jaw clench and unclench as he mulls over whatever thoughts plague him. A smile graces my lips and I reach a hand up to his unruly dark hair. I run my fingers through the untamable locks. Gavin closes his eyes and sighs.
He turns to me and his golden eyes sparkle, as if the burning fire had managed to leak into his irises. He studies my face for a moment. “Good morning, Aella.”
His voice warms me more than the heat from the fireplace. “Good morning, Gavin.” My words come out less steady than his. I wonder if I’ll always be so dumb-struck by his presence.
He throws a broad grin in my direction and leans against the couch on his elbows, almost nose to nose with me. “I’m sorry I woke you. I tried to be quiet and let you rest. I ended up stuck in meetings with my Uncle Hagan way longer than necessary.”
I shake my head. “You didn’t wake me. I just had a bad dream.” The truth of how bad this particular dream was doesn’t need to come out just yet.
His eyebrows knit together in worry. “What was your dream about?” he asks.
I just shrug, nonchalant about it. “It doesn’t matter now that you’re here with me. I can’t remember the last time we were completely alone together.”
He reaches up and strokes my cheek with his fingertips, sparking electricity through his touch. The gold in his eyes darkens and he watches my mouth. “I can remember it perfectly,” he says and licks his lips.
I nod. “Oh, right. Now I remember,” I whisper back at him. I’m very aware of how quickly my chest rises and falls beneath my tight, baby-blue v-neck.
Gavin moves farther onto the couch, and the black leather sinks beneath us with a small creaking sound. His upper body is now directly above me, where I lay on my back. He is smiling again, and I bring my hand up to touch his perfect dimple. He speaks quietly to me. “Do you remember when we were in my car, that first time I brought you to meet my family?”
“Yes, I do.” I whisper back.
He lightly touches his nose to mine in an eskimo kiss. “Well, if I remember correctly, I’m pretty sure you told me that you’d go on a picnic with me in the woods sometime.”
I giggle at the memory of accidentally asking him out. “I definitely did say that.”
His smile broadens. “Good. Then how does tomorrow around lunchtime sound? I have a favorite spot I’d love for you to see.”
“Sounds perfect. It’s a date,” I say, making it official. My very first date with my Intended. Boy, how things are flip-flopped around here.
He lets out a breath he was holding and the sweet scent of spearmint fills my nose. “Thank goodness. I was worried you’d reject me.”
My mouth drops open. “Why on earth would you think that?” My shock at his ridiculous words is quite evident in my voice.
He lifts one shoulder. “I haven’t exactly been great to be around lately.” He looks at my chin, avoiding eye contact. “It has been kind of a struggle to understand priorities. I wanted things to go differently for us, but the job took over. My uncle hasn’t let up about making sure I know what is expected of me. I’m not supposed to show weakness when I’m on an assignment but you, Aella… you definitely make me weak.” His eyes flick back up to mine.
I stop breathing, taking in his last statement and my whole body turns to jelly. I reach to him to stroke his cheek and feel the rough bristle against the palm of my hand. I once asked him not to kiss me for fear I’d never get over him, but I’m not afraid of that anymore.
“Gavin,” I whisper to him. He tilts his head slightly in question, so I continue. “Will you please kiss me already?”
He chuckles right before his lips crash into mine. His kiss is urgent and full of longing, matching my own urgency. He explores my mouth with his before climbing fully onto the couch next to me. His arms slide to my back and press against me, tighten their hold. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him further into the kiss.
Gavin’s hands move up my back and into my hair, tugging gently and causing my head to tilt back. His lips press soft kisses across my jawline and down to my neck, sparking an electric trail along with them. I gasp at the feel of his lips on my exposed neck.
Gavin pulls back at the sound and studies my face. His heavy breath fans my warm cheeks. “Are you okay?” he asks me sweetly.
I nod, unable to speak. I grip the back of his neck and pull his lips back down to mine. My fingers tangle in his hair and I gently bite down on his bottom lip, completely lost for any kind of control.
Gavin sucks in a sharp breath and grabs my hands from behind his neck. He presses his palms into mine and holds them against the pillow behind my head. Gavin’s entire body lowers onto mine and the feel of him on top of me wakes up every nerve in my body. I shiver from the electricity flowing through me and release a small groan deep in my throat.
Gavin instantly pulls his mouth away from me, and before I can even think, he and I are off the couch and standing on the floor. He presses his forehead to mine and makes a noise inside his chest like a deep growl. He looks into my eyes and his golden irises are lit up like I’ve never seen them before.
He lets a long breath out and whispers my name as a question. “Aella?”
I am out of breath, but respond to his questioning eyes. “Yes?” is all I say.
“Could you please unwrap your legs from my waist before I lose the last bit of control I have left in me?”
I tilt my head in question at him but when I look down, I can clearly see that my legs are indeed firmly wrapped around Gavin and his hands are in tight fists by my hips.
My eyes go wide, and a burning blush creeps up my neck. I hop off of Gavin, and back myself a good foot away from him, not sure what my body will do next if I stay so close. Apparently, it has its o
wn ideas that I am completely unaware of.
Gavin rubs a hand through his messed-up hair and chuckles at my confused face. I shake my head at him, completely at a loss for words.
“I can tell by your confusion that Lex hasn’t taught you about this part of your development yet…” He laughs. “I guess now you know what it feels like as a teenage boy going through puberty.”
I bury my red face in my hands and plop back down on the sofa. I feel Gavin sit next to me and I shake my head. “Just leave me here to die of embarrassment, Gavin.”
His rich laughter cuts through the air. He pulls the hands from my face and kisses my cheek so tenderly that I want to jump back onto him. Thankfully, I am able to stay in place.
I sigh. “Gavin, my body just attacked you of its own free will. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”
He shakes his head. “It’s completely normal for a developing Seer to express their feelings more strongly than normal humans. In your case, the expression just happened to be physical this time.”
I groan. “Wonderful. Now I’ll just be throwing myself at you all willy-nilly with no control over any of it!”
Gavin raises his shoulders. “Hey, I’m not complaining in the slightest.”
My mouth drops open and I gently shove him. “Quit it!” I say through embarrassed laughter of my own.
Gavin pulls me back to my feet and wraps me in a warm hug. He tilts my chin up with his fingers and softly kisses my lips. “Don’t worry. I will try to remain a perfect gentleman, I promise.”
I lay my head against his chest and listen to his soothing heartbeat. “Thank you, Gavin… But I can’t promise you that I will.”
Gavin’s chest rumbles against my cheek as he continues to laugh at my predicament. He pulls me in tighter, and all of my worries are gone.
Chapter 4
My ankle throbs every time my right foot hits the treadmill. I groan and push the red stop button. “I’m sorry, Lex. It felt good for the first ten minutes or so, but now every step feels worse than the last.” I step off the machine and limp over to where Alexa and Kassy stand by the target wall. Kassy has just shot three bullseyes in a row with the crossbow. She really is amazing with that thing.
Alexa pats my shoulder. “That’s okay. It’s day one back at it. We can absolutely slow down.”
Kassy pulls her arrows from the center of the round target and turns to me with a flick of her long brown hair. “Are you okay, El? Do you need to rest?”
I shake my head. “No, I want to keep going, but maybe just not run anymore today.” I nudge Alexa in the arm. “What else could we do? I like the throwing knives and I feel like I could maybe do better without that stupid cast taking up half of my leg.”
“Yes! I think that would be a great thing to do next.” She super-speeds over to the black bag on the large wooden table full of all kinds of knives and daggers. Gavin keeps the table so neat, and every weapon has its place, just like the tons of swords, arrows, spears, and some things I’ve never even heard of along the high walls.
Alexa bends in front of me, and hooks a sleek leather belt that I haven’t seen before around my waist. Three narrow leather sheaths hang from the right side of the belt and fall against my hip. Alexa pulls the metal throwing knives from the small bag and sticks each knife into the belt’s pockets. I study the amazingly intricate engravings along the belt and notice they are like swirls of wind flowing in a circle around my body. A whirlwind.
“Gavin had it made for you. He said that he wanted you to have something of your very own to represent your ferocity.” I look up at Alexa from where I study the belt. She winks and giggles at me.
“This is beautiful. Why didn’t he give it to me himself?” I ask her.
Alexa shrugs. “I don’t really know. He just left it on the table and said to give it to you when you were ready to start training with knives again.”
I shake my head and I can feel the happy grin on my face, stretching my cheeks. “How does he know me so well?” I say in amazement at the way Gavin’s mind works.
Kassy jumps into the conversation. “He is your Intended right? You guys are literally meant to be. I imagine that helps when it comes to knowing your desires.”
Alexa points a finger at her like she has hit the jackpot. “Exactly! Do you ever feel like you just know how to comfort him when he is down, or he seems to say the right thing when you need it most?” I nod. “That’s the wonderful world of soulmates for ya, El.”
I sigh, feeling loved. “Boy, did I hit the money with my first love,” I say, feeling so lucky to have met Gavin.
Kassy giggles. “You sure did. And speaking of love… How did last night go?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me and throws in a shoulder shimmy.
Alexa jumps up and down in excitement. “Yeah! Tell us everything!” she shouts before rephrasing. “Well, not everything. I mean, he is my brother…”
I groan. “We do not need to discuss this. It’s too embarrassing.” I really don’t want to tell them the details about my make-out session with Gavin. Especially the part about me learning that I’m basically a horny teenager until I develop fully. Gotta love my life.
Kassy swipes the air in front of her. “No, absolutely not! You don’t get to have an epic romance and just skip telling your best friends about it.” She places her hands on her hips, officially meaning business now.
I stare at my hands as I twirl my fingers together. “I’ll share bits and pieces, okay? Like Lex said, the details are about her twin brother so let’s not get carried away.”
Neither of them responds, and instead they just scooch together and stare at me, waiting for the dish on my night back together with Gavin. I take a deep breath and think about where to start.
“So, after you guys left last night, I got a nice fire started and snuggled up on the couch to wait for Gavin to get home. I texted him but didn’t get a response, so I just started reading an old book from one of his bookshelves.” Kassy flips her hand in circles and nods her head, letting me know to get on to the good part. “Well, I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up, Gavin was sitting on the floor by me and watching the fire. I got his attention and we talked for a minute.”
Kassy holds her hands up when I pause. “And then what? Did you kiss him again?”
I nod. “Yes, I kissed him. He asked me on a picnic date for this afternoon and I kissed him. It was really nice.”
Alexa rolls her eyes at me. “Nice? That’s all we get?”
“Geez, you guys! What do you want from me? Hot and heavy details?”
They both look at each other and grin. “So, there was hot and heaviness then?” Kassy asks in shock.
I let out a sound of exasperation. “You both are incorrigible. It wasn’t like that. We kissed for a minute. He held me close and… That’s it. He’s a gentleman and really sweet.”
Alexa studies me, knowing I left something important out. “So, he was a gentleman, which is great, but were you a gentlewoman ?” She winks at me.
I gasp. “Alexa! It wasn’t that bad.”
Kassy looks back and forth between the two of us, lost from the conversation. “What are you guys talking about right now? I feel like I missed something good.”
Alexa bends forward and laughs. “Well, I’ve been through the whole transition into a fully developed Seer. And, although I didn’t really have a boyfriend at the time, I heard stories and got warnings from my mom and Gram to stay away from guys.” She smiles at me. “I guess, since the whole experience is basically going through puberty, but ten times worse, sensual feelings can become overwhelming and a person can pretty much feel like a wild animal in heat.”
Kassy’s mouth drops open and she stares at me. “Do you feel that way around Gavin, El?” she asks, not at all concerned for my privacy.
I blush and figure I might as well fess up. “I mean, I wasn’t terrible, but at some point I was basically clinging onto him like a monkey and probably wouldn’t have stopped kissing him i
f he hadn’t stopped me first.”
Kassy and Alexa both double over in laughter and my entire body flushes with embarrassment. I can’t help but join into their infectious laughter and I end up cackling along with the maniacs.
Kassy wraps me in a hug, still catching her breath from laughing so hard. “I’m so sorry you’re going through so much, El. But I’m also glad that Gavin is such a good guy. You’ll make it through all of the craziness together.” She leans away from me and her face becomes suddenly serious. “Don’t forget who you are, though, and remember that we are both waiting for marriage before... you-know-what.” She winks at me.
I roll my eyes this time and quickly change the subject. “I am so ready to move onto throwing these knives now, if that’s okay with the two of you.”
They both smile at me and Alexa nods. “Okay, okay. We are done with the prying… for now. Go ahead and shoot for the big target to start off.”
I stand like Gavin taught me and pull one of the knives from its sheath. I release a steady breath and flick the knife from my hand. It sticks into the outer black rim of the large circle target. Alexa claps and waves her hand at me to move on.
With another steadying breath, I pull more energy from within my body, trying to keep control of the surreal heat flowing beneath my skin. After a tamed fiery stream is moving through me, I let loose the power and the dagger at the same time. An audible whistle sounds out as the knife whips through the air and into the target with a hard thunk. Alexa and I run up to study my work, and only about an inch of the knife is sticking out of the target, just off center.
Kassy claps behind us and Alexa beams with pride. “That right there is not human strength, El. Only a Seer can get a knife that deep into these walls without a hammer and a lot of force.”
I beam at my good work. Only a Seer, huh? I hadn’t really absorbed it all before, because everything feels so unreachable and there are so many roadblocks, but I can actually see it now. I am a Seer.
Intended Series Collection: Books 1-6 Page 20
