Blue Violet (19 page)

Alex seemed to
have to drag his eyes away from her mouth. “How do I feel? I’m over the moon,
you crazy girl! And I should also warn you that if you keep licking those
delectable lips, I’m going to have to kiss them. Right now.”

Ellie gulped
as her breath caught in her throat. She glanced away and shook her head.
Obviously she wasn’t totally healed because now she was hallucinating…she
had
to be.

“I know we
barely know each other, and this isn’t exactly the most romantic setting, and
we still have a lot of getting to know each other to do,” Alex continued. “But
I should’ve known exactly what we were the first time we met. Like you, I felt
that connection. An undeniable pull to be with you. And heaven knows I fought
it. You were supposed to be a
normal
girl. Too young… too... well, let’s
just say too
a lot of
things
. And then I didn’t know who or what
you were, or if I could trust you.”

Ellie closed
her eyes, trying to block out his painful words.

 “…But you
kept showing me your heart, over and over. I discovered that you are a kind,
loyal, generous, and brave. You are so damned incredible.” He shrugged and his
voice cracked. “When I saw you risking your life to save my family… and you
went down under those wolves…I realized that if I lost you, there’d be nothing
left for me. And that’s when I knew.” 

He cupped her
face in his hands. “
Te’sorthene
.”

A smile lit up
Ellie’s face. She threw her arms around his neck, laughter bubbling up and
bursting out of her in a gloriously exultant sound. She took his face in her
hands.  “I’ve been fighting it like crazy, too! And have been completely miserable
without you the last several weeks. I didn’t know that someone could become the
center of my world like that so fast.”

The look of
elation in Alex’s eyes took Ellie’s breath away. He leaned forward, resting his
forehead against hers. After a moment he gathered her into his arms and very
gently laid his lips on hers in a kiss so achingly sweet, Ellie thought she
might cry.

“You’re mine
now, Ellie Aubrey,” he whispered in her ear as he ended the kiss and pulled her
into a tight embrace. “Just as I am yours.”

“I wouldn’t
want it any other way,” she whispered back.     

“Can I come in
now?” Griffin called loudly from outside the door.

Their blissful
reverie interrupted, Ellie moved to get off Alex’s lap, but he just tightened
his grip. “Come on in,” Alex called, his arms firmly around Ellie’s waist.

The door swung
open and Griffin walked in, eyebrows raised. “I guess you’re feeling better?”
he teased. He’d never seen his sister look so happy, practically glowing. And
although he felt the slight pinch of his own loss, knowing their relationship
would have to change in some ways, he loved her too much to begrudge her this
happiness.

“Much,” Ellie
answered. “What time is it anyway?”

Griffin
checked his watch. “About six a.m. on Wednesday morning.”

“I’d better
get ready for school then.” She hopped off of Alex’s lap and started opening
drawers.

“Wait,” Alex
said, looking incredulous, “You’re going to
school
?”

“Of course!”
she answered as she pulled out a pair of jeans. “I am a high school student for
the time being. I have to keep up that appearance.”

They all
understood that if they survived this, they’d eventually need to continue their
lives as they had been before. None of them felt like uprooting and starting
over just yet, and so, to the rest of the world, they needed to continue to act
like normal human beings.

“Yes, but…”

“Aren’t Nate,
Lila, and Adelaide all still attending school?” Ellie paused from searching
through drawers to face him, her hands on her hips.

“Yes,” he
admitted.

“Then I should
too. Putting aside the need to keep up appearance, I can protect them better if
I’m right there with them,” she asserted, her chin assuming a stubborn tilt.

“But they
didn’t just spend three days passed out in bed healing from major injuries,” he
pointed out. Alex levered himself off the bed and crossed the room to where she
stood to frame her face with his hands.

“That’s true,”
Ellie conceded. “But I’m better now, so there’s really no excuse.”

Alex ground
his teeth in frustration, pushing away to return to the bed and sit down. He
glanced at Griffin, who was lounging in the doorway watching the exchange with
interest. Griffin gave a resigned shrug, his expression clearly saying,
Good
luck, dude.

“Then I’m
driving you to school,” Alex insisted.

But Ellie was
already shaking her head. “As much as I’d love that, it doesn’t fit with our
story,” she reminded him. In an exaggerated southern accent she said, “You ah
just too old for little ol’ me, Mr. Jenn-ah. It is positively indecent.” She
batted her eyes at him dramatically.

Alex merely
grunted in return, looking highly irritated.

“She’s always
like this,” Griffin confided. “I can’t say that I’m sorry that you get to deal
with it now. I’ve had to put up with her on my own for years.”

Ellie gave her
brother an affectionate slug on the arm.

Seeing that
Alex still wasn’t pleased, she crossed the room and placed a quick kiss on his
lips, feeling a thrill of excitement. She still couldn’t quite believe that he
was her
te’sorthene
, and she his, and that she could kiss him like this
freely. It would take some getting used to.

“I can access
Griffin’s defensive shield from the school if it makes you feel any better,”
Ellie said, attempting to sooth his obvious concern.

“I’d rather he
drive you to school himself. You’re still pretty weak,” Alex replied. “It’s
pretty obvious, Ellie.”

That would
also take some getting used to, this ability of his to read every emotion and
thought without the advantage of a power that allowed him to do so. It was more
like he knew her as well as he knew himself.

Suddenly,
Ellie frowned. “What exactly is your power anyway, Alex?”

His eyebrows
shot up. “You mean you don’t already know?”

She shook her
head. “Not really. It has something to do with freezing stuff, maybe. You’re
very good at hiding what you can do. So what is it?”

“Nope,” he
said with a grin, “I’m not telling you yet. And you’re not allowed to use your
power on me to figure it out.”

“Why won’t you
tell me?” Ellie was perplexed.

“You kept who
you were from me all this time. Put me through hell, I can tell you, fighting
what I felt for you. This is my turn for a little payback…” He waggled his
eyebrows suggestively at her as he rubbed his hands together, anticipating the
different ways he could torment her.

Ellie rolled
her eyes. “I’m going to have to find out pretty soon,” she reminded him. “I
really should start practicing if I’m going to master using all these skills at
once. In fact, now that I’m thinking about it, we should get started on that
tonight after school.”

“Don’t worry.
I won’t put us in danger making you wait.”

“Huh.” With
that, she headed for the bathroom.  She took a long, hot shower, which felt
ridiculously wonderful, and then got dressed for school.

 “The kids are
just getting their gear and are about to head off,” Lucy said as Ellie made her
way to the kitchen. Everyone else was already eating breakfast. “It’s good to
see you up and about,” she added as she came around the table to give Ellie a
hug.

Hugh stood
beside her. “Do you mind?” he asked Ellie, indicating his desire to use his
power on her. Ellie held out her hand with a smile. Hugh concentrated silently
for a few moments and then smiled. “All better I see.”

“Thanks to you.”
She grinned back and snagged a piece of toast off the table. “I’d better get
going or I’ll be late for school.”

“Hey…” Alex
caught her wrist, tugging her to a halt. “At least take Griffin with you.”

“I can’t,” she
said with a shake of her head. “If he comes with me, he can’t protect you here
at the house.”

Alex frowned.
“But he’s been at the school the last two days protecting the others,” he
protested.

“Only because
he knew that I could tap in to his power to protect the house if I had to,” she
explained.

“And how would
he know that?  You were out cold.”

Ellie looked
at him patiently. She knew he’d already figured it out. Alex turned a glare on
Griffin, who just shrugged. “You didn’t think I’d leave my sister undefended
did you?”

“
I
was
here,” Alex insisted. “So were the rest of us. But I guess I should have
figured.” He turned his attention back to the girl standing beside him. Not
that he’d admit it to her yet, but she really was adorably sassy in her
confidence in her powers and her brother’s. “This twin thing is going to take
some getting used to,” he muttered under his breath.

Ellie threaded
her fingers through his and brought their hands up to her lips. She kissed them
softly. He knew she was wordlessly telling him that Griffin would always be her
twin brother, and they would always have their connection, both as siblings and
through their powers. But she was Alex’s
te’sorthene
now. A bond greater
than any other for a Svatura. That’s where her heart lived now and forever.

Lila,
Adelaide, and Nate chose that moment to appear. “Hey, Ellie!” Nate greeted
jovially, giving her a thumbs up. Lila also grinned.

Adelaide
crossed the room to give her friend a big hug. “So now you’ll truly be my
sister!”

 Ellie and
Alex looked only slightly less surprised than everyone else at this statement. 

 “You’re
te’sorthene
.
You have a connection that I’ve only seen a few times, and most of those are in
this group. I assume you’ll eventually get married, right?”

“Oh!” Ellie
and Alex gasped in unison.

“You didn’t
know?” Adelaide asked, confused. She knew what she saw between them, and it was
undeniable.

“It’s still
new to us, munchkin.” Alex lovingly mussed his adoptive sister’s hair. “We just
had our first official kiss…we hadn’t gotten as far as discussing marriage just
yet.”

Ellie didn’t
say anything. She still felt a little shell-shocked. She’d never had a serious romantic
relationship – dates yes, serious no. She’d been so young when her people were
destroyed there’d been no opportunity, and then moving around so frequently and
never meeting her own kind, serious just hadn’t been on the agenda. So having
this brand new one so publically declared and categorized was a little
overwhelming.

Alex gently
nudged her and wrapped his hand around hers again. “You’re not embarrassed
about me already?”

“No!” Ellie
didn’t want him even thinking that, even as a joke. “I’m just new at this.”

“I’m so
sorry!” Adelaide apologized, covering her mouth with her hands. “I assumed you
knew. The relationship is so clear to me.”

Ellie shook
her head. “Don’t worry, Adelaide. You’re not wrong. It’s just we haven’t had
much time to talk about it yet.”  She paused. “I’d love to see how you interpret
what you see,” she added.

Adelaide
grinned.

“Time to get
going,” Nate reminded everyone, handing Adelaide’s bag to her.

With a quick
hug for Griffin, Ellie grabbed her stuff and followed the others out the door.
Alex walked with her to her car. Before she got in, he gave her a concerned
look. “Please be very careful,” he implored. “I only just found you. I can’t
lose you, not now.”

“That goes
ditto for you, you know,” she replied.

He gave her a
brief kiss, not caring that the others were standing right there. As he watched
her drive away, a small smile played around his lips, despite the fact that he
couldn’t quite breathe right when she was away from him.

Ellie had a
horrible time concentrating at school.
How am I supposed to focus on mundane
details like French verb conjugation when I have Alex at home waiting for me,
friends to protect, and this horrible constant fear of losing my new family?

The hands of
the clock seemed stuck in time. Lunch was especially difficult. All she wanted to
do was talk with Adelaide, Lila, and Nate. But of course they had to act normal
for their friends. So instead, Ellie sat next to Brian and Juliette.

“Hey, Jules,
anything new at the theater?” Ellie asked. The two girls shared a mutual love
of movies, and Juliette knew almost as many old films as Ellie did. Of course,
Ellie never mentioned that she’d watched most of those old movies at the time
they were first released. 

Juliette
grinned. “The latest Zach Efron movie is out now,” she said. “It’s great. Two
thumbs up.”  She mimicked her words by sticking her thumbs up into the air.

Ellie laughed.
“Are you sure it’s that good?” she teased. “Or were you just busy watching a
certain hunky actor?”

Juliette
sighed in exaggerated appreciation. “He’s definitely yummy.”

“I’m sitting
right here you know,” Brian grumbled good-naturedly.

Juliette and
Ellie giggled. They spent the rest of the lunch period talking about the recent
releases and debating the talent of the latest crop of teen actors.

As soon as the
final bell for school rang, Ellie made her way outside and to her car. Lila,
Adelaide, and Nate were not too far behind. Ellie hid her initial surprise at
finding Alex waiting at Adelaide and Lila’s car. Still acting as normal as
possible, Ellie sent him a friendly wave. She received a slow, sexy look in
return, and her heart danced a little jig inside her chest.

Hopping in her
car, she was aware of Alex and the others following behind her all the way
home. Once they reached the house, she was headed inside when she felt Alex
grab her hand.