MARKED (Hunter Awakened) (18 page)

I was still berating myself when sleep
finally claimed me.

Chapter Nineteen

When I woke up, the light coming in through
the window told me that it was late, but not evening just quite
yet. I probably had an hour or so until it was completely dark.
Maybe I should use this time away to get back on a regular schedule
for hiatus. I got up and took my time getting cleaned up and
changed. The shower worked beautifully, but I was mindful of both
the fuel being used by the generator and the amount of hot water I
was using. I didn't know if Elias had already showered or if he'd
need to once I was done. I tried not to think about Elias in the
shower, standing under the hot spray, soap sliding across his
chest... I shook my head and re-focused.

I walked into the main room, bracing myself
for seeing Elias for the first time after the kiss. Heat suffused
my face, but I wasn't sure if it was because I was embarrassed or
because I was remembering what it had felt like to have Elias's
lips against mine. To my surprise, Elias wasn't there. The fire in
the fireplace had burned down a bit, but not by much. The candles
had been extinguished, but the lanterns were still going strong,
supplementing the weak rays of winter sun that managed to work
their way through the trees. Maybe Elias gone to bed to get some
sleep. That might be a good thing. Sleep would definitely help him
put things in perspective.

I headed into the kitchen. Even though I knew
it had only been a few hours since I'd eaten, I was ravenous. My
lack of eating over the past week was catching up with me. I
rummaged through the half-stocked cabinets and finally found some
oatmeal. One of the benefits of having been on my own since I was a
teenager and refusing to hire a cook was that I knew how to make my
own meals.

I couldn't find any sugar or milk, but I was
hungry enough that even the plain oatmeal tasted good. The fact
that I hadn't found any perishables was a good thing, I thought. It
meant that he hadn't stocked the cabin with the intention of
bringing me up here. Any supplies that were here were just for
sudden visits.

Once I finished eating, I washed and dried my
dishes, expecting Elias to come out at any moment. When he didn't,
I decided to take a closer look around the main area. It wasn't
until I was halfway through that I realized that there weren't any
personal items anywhere. No pictures, no decorations that really
seemed like they belonged to Elias. Then I saw the books. They were
old, worn and dog-eared. These were well-loved volumes.

I ran my finger along the spines, skimming
the titles. When I saw an old favorite, I pulled it out. I opened
it and confirmed what I'd been thinking. It was a first edition.
Then something else caught my eye. It was a signature.

“'To Elias, may you one day find a land of
wonder. Kind regards, L.C.'” I read aloud. “'L.C.'? That can't be
who I'm thinking it is.” I studied the message. “Then again, I
guess it is possible that Elias's great-grandfather or uncle or
someone else in his family knew Carroll. Didn't Harrison say that
he'd been born in Wales?”

I walked over to the couch. I'd read this
particular book half a dozen times, but having the chance to look
through a signed first edition was something I couldn't pass up.
Even so, I couldn't fully immerse myself in the volume. I kept
replaying the scenario from last night over and over in my
head.

Finally, I shut the book and sighed. This was
pointless. I was never going to be able to concentrate in here. I
stood up. I needed some air and some exercise, even if it was just
a walk. I always exercised when I needed to clear my head, and I'd
never needed to clear it more than I did now. I pulled on my coat
and boots. There was no need for a hat or gloves since I didn't
intend to be gone for very long.

It was so quiet, I thought as I stepped
outside. I'd never really spent much time outside of cities, and
the few times I had, it had been for a movie or television show,
which meant that I was usually surrounded by at least two dozen
members of the cast and crew, sometimes as many as a hundred for a
single shot. My house was somewhat secluded, being set away from
the road in a fairly quiet neighborhood, but it was still in the
Los Angeles vicinity. This was pure isolation and it wasn't as
scary as I'd originally thought.

I wandered through the trees, my walk slow,
my eyes roaming around the forest. We were high enough that a thin
dusting of snow covered the tree branches, though little reached
the ground. In fact, the trees were so thick that I didn't realize
it had started snowing again until I reached a small clearing and
found the flakes drifting to join the rest of the snow on the
ground. That was also when I realized that it wasn't just getting
darker inside the forest, but that the sun had all but disappeared
from the sky.

“Damnit,” I muttered. I needed to get back
before it got too dark for me to see the way.

I hurried back the way I'd come, my icy hands
in my pockets as the wind picked up, whipping aside the branches to
allow showers of snow to fall on me. Less than a quarter of an hour
passed before I was wet and shivering. I really needed to get
inside. I was sure Elias would have a fire going and something
wonderful cooking. I moved faster.

After another fifteen minutes, I was starting
to get worried. I hadn't been out for this long, had I? What time
had I left the cabin? I checked my pockets and realized that I'd
left my phone in the cabin. After all, there wasn't a signal up
here, so what was the point in risking getting it wet or broken?
Maybe time was just playing tricks on me.

I squinted at the ground, but couldn't make
out anything beyond the shadowy white that was the snow. It was
beginning to stick down here now too. If I had been leaving
footprints, they'd be all but invisible now. My jaw was aching from
the strain of trying to keep my teeth from chattering and my face
was numb, but still, I kept walking. I should just need to walk
straight back the way I'd come and I'd run into the cabin
eventually.

That logic drove me even as the last of the
light disappeared and I had to slow down so that I didn't run into
or trip over anything. The last thing I needed was a broken leg or
something equally as stupid. I'd gone for another half hour or more
when I realized the flaw in my logic.

I hadn't been walking in a straight line
before. When I'd gone into the woods, I'd walked around things,
never bothering to adjust my course back to a straight line. More
than once, I'd also found myself drifting. It hadn't seemed like a
big deal at the time, but now there was a good possibility that my
absent-mindedness was going to cost me my life. I didn't know how
cold it could get up here in December, but I was fairly certain
that I wasn't dressed for it.

I pressed on as the cold sapped the strength
from my muscles and made my bones ache. Finally, I stumbled and
nearly fell. I couldn't go on, not without a break. A voice in the
back of my head told me that what I was thinking was dangerous, but
I didn't have a choice. If I tried to keep going, I would
eventually fall and hurt myself. Better to rest my legs for just a
moment.

I found a relatively clear spot under a tall
fir tree and sat down. It was far more comfortable than I'd have
thought possible. I leaned my head back against the trunk of the
tree. I was so tired. If I just closed my eyes for a minute, I'd
feel so much better. Already I wasn't feeling the cold quite so
much. My eyelids drifted shut even as I was reminding myself that
I'd need to open them again soon. Just not right now. I was good
for just a little while longer.

Chapter Twenty

This was getting ridiculous. One of the
reasons I'd never been a big drinker, aside from the fact that I'd
had ultra-strict parents, was that I was a bit of a control...
enthusiast. The idea of my inhibitions being lowered scared me half
to death. Even more so was the thought of doing something and not
remembering it. I'd never wanted to be one of those girls who woke
up in a strange bed with no memory of how I'd gotten there.

In fact, until I'd been attacked, it had
never happened. Now, however, I was experiencing a second
occurrence in less than a month. Granted, neither one had been the
result of alcohol, but it didn't make it any less
disconcerting.

As consciousness started to return to me, I
began to take analysis based on my previous experience. Check one:
was I hurt? The short answer seemed to be no. That was good. It
meant that I probably wasn't in the hospital. Unless, of course,
I'd passed out for some reason. I really hoped that wasn't the
case. That would be so embarrassing, and the last thing I needed
was something else to be embarrassed about around Elias. I'd taken
care of that all on my own.

Check two: assess the remainder of the
physical surroundings. I was laying on something soft and vaguely
familiar, as if I knew it from recent memory rather than
repetition. I was under blankets, but none of them were unique, the
same with the pillows. I seemed to be in my own pajamas, a pair of
comfy striped ones that were soft to the touch. They were the only
fuzzy ones I'd packed. That information as well as the lack of
noise and the non-antiseptic smell led me to believe that I was
back in the cabin.

The question then became how did I get in my
pajamas, in the cabin when the last thing I remembered was going
for a walk in the woods. I was pretty sure I knew the answer even
before I opened my eyes. I did so slowly, the room coming into
view. As my brain began to catch up with my eyes, I realized that
the room was dark. I really hoped that just meant that it was late
at night, or early in the morning, and not that I'd been out for
more than a day. I had a feeling that this was going to be awkward
enough.

“Teal?”

I turned my head to see Elias sitting on the
edge of the bed. His expression was one of such concern that I
immediately knew that whatever had happened had been fairly
serious. The depth of worry in his eyes also told me that had been
happening between us since we'd met was as real as I'd hoped. He
reached out and took my hand. His fingers were warm against my skin
and I shivered at the contact.

“Here,” he used his free hand to pull another
blanket up over me.

That was when I realized that I was under
yellow, red and green blankets. He'd cleared the other two beds,
including his own. I used my free hand to pull the green blanket up
around my chin, taking the opportunity to inhale deeply. It smelled
like the deep velvet blue of a winter sky at midnight. It was
something spicy and intense without being overwhelming. I couldn't
really describe it and I knew that there wasn't anyone on earth who
could either. It was definitely the blanket Elias had used.

“What happened?” I asked. My voice was
rough.

Elias stood, still holding on to my hand, and
held out a glass of water. I wasn't lying flat, so I was able to
take the glass from him and drink without a real struggle to sit
up. To my surprise, I drained the entire thing before handing the
glass back to him and sinking back on my pillows. When Elias sat
down again, he moved closer.

“What do you remember?” he asked.

I thought hard, having an eerie sense of deja
vu. The cops had asked me the same thing. Suddenly, it hit me. “I
went for a walk and I got lost. I remember being cold and tired,
but then there's nothing.”

Elias's fingers tightened around mine. “I
found you sleeping, curled up and covered with snow. You were so
cold that your skin had a blue tinge to it. I almost could not find
your pulse.”

My pulse wasn't having any issues at the
moment. In fact, it was starting to race as Elias continued, either
not able or choosing not to conceal the remembered panic in his
voice.

“I believed that I had lost you.” He raised
his head so that our eyes could meet and his were shining with so
much emotion that I could barely breath. “Promise me, Teal, please
promise me, that you will never do anything like that again. I
could not bear to lose you.”

After his reaction the night before, I knew I
was taking a risk, but last night had been for me. This was for
him, to erase all of that pain that I saw on his face, in his eyes.
I couldn't just do nothing, not when I knew, deep inside of me,
that he wanted this as much as I did.

I sat up and reached out. I wrapped my hand
around the back of his neck as I moved closer. I felt him tense as
our mouths touched, but I didn't let go. I rose onto my knees,
tilting my head as I went. My lips parted and my tongue teased
against his lips. I felt him start to pull away, and I gently took
his bottom lip between my teeth.

Elias made a sound like a growl, and then his
arms were around my waist, pulling me closer to him. The blankets
were bunched between us as I wrapped my arms around his neck,
keeping us from being as close as I wanted. A heat like nothing I'd
felt before was washing over me, warming me down to every cell in
my body. I slid a hand down his chest, wondering what it would feel
like to have his skin beneath my palm rather than the soft cotton
of his shirt.

He pulled back and I sucked in air,
previously unaware that I'd needed it. Kissing him had been enough.
I hadn't needed anything else.

“Teal, this is not right.”

I could see the desperation on his face,
though I suspected it was as much because he wanted this as it was
about him not wanting to do it for whatever his reason was. I
pushed aside the blankets and took his hand in mine. “Do you want
me?”

I could see the answer in his eyes as his
desire warred with something else. I used my free hand to slowly
unbutton my shirt. I knew that he'd changed me out of my wet
clothes and into my pajamas, but there was a big difference between
that and me willingly taking off my clothes when the sexual tension
between us was nearly palpable. His eyes dropped to my moving
fingers and I saw him swallow hard. The shirt hung on me in such a
way that a strip of pale flesh showed, exposing only the barest
hint of my breasts.