The Chosen Ones (20 page)

Slowly, I turned my head to
study the cabin. Thane was nowhere, the place empty, the door open. But he had
been here, I could still smell him.

A dream.

It was merely a dream. So why
then did my lips tingle? Why did my body thrum with some odd need I didn’t
understand? And why did I taste blood? I touched my lip, pulling my finger
back. Not much, but the tiniest bit of red marked my hand.

“No,” I whispered.

My heart hammered madly as I
stared at my fingers.

No. He hadn’t kissed me, he
wasn’t even here.

Slowly, I swung my legs from the
cot and settled my feet on the ground. I must have bit my own lip while
dreaming. I rested my head in my hands, trying to make sense of everything. My
brain felt fuzzy, my own skin tight. I needed air. Clean, clear air.

It was as I started to stand
that I noticed the boots sitting neatly, side by side, next to the bed. Thane
had found me new shoes. Even while I slept his thoughts were on me: protecting
me, making sure I had all that I needed. But I knew better than to think he
cared. Perhaps he did it merely because he had promised Will. I slid my feet
into the boots. They were a tad big, but they were dry.

I sighed, raking my knotted hair
from my face. How I wished I could remember something of last night. Anything
at all. But I had slept deeply, too deeply. Embarrassment fought with
resignation. I stood and moved to the door determined to find Thane, face him,
and get it over with.

“Just a dream, Jane,” I
whispered, reminding myself.

Steeling my resolve, I stepped
into the cool morning air. I shivered, but was unsure if it was because of the
breeze or Thane sitting at the end of the dock. For a brief moment I merely
stood there, taking in the picture he made and I couldn’t stop thinking about
that kiss. His sleeves were rolled up, showing sinewy forearms roped with
muscle and scars. The early morning fog rolled across the shore, making him appear
even more mysterious than he already was. Slowly, I moved down the dock, the
wooden boards creaking underfoot. Although he didn’t look my way, I had no
doubt he knew I was there. Thane always knew.

“How long did I sleep?”

“All night.” He glanced out at
the water. “I’d say it’s six in the morning.”
 

I paused about five feet away,
feeling oddly unsure around him thanks to my unsettling dream. “Thanks. You
know…for warming me.” I blushed, realizing how stupid I sounded. “And the
boots,” I added quickly. “Thanks for the boots.”

He held out his hand, an apple on
his palm. “I found some food.”

My stomach grumbled and I had to
resist the urge to snatch it from his palm and devour it in one bite. Although
I’d been living in the wilds, I still managed to retain some manners. “Thanks. I’m
starving.” I took the apple. A meager meal, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“Where’d you find it?”

I bit into the fruit, my teeth
sinking into the flesh. Slightly wrinkled and soft, but it was something and
I’d take it gratefully.
 

“Near his cottage.”

I stiffened, surprised. “What?
You went to his house?”

“I scouted the area.”

I took another bite, chewing
slowly. So, we were at the right place. I admit, I’d had my doubts, and had
wondered plenty of times if Raven was someone made up in their minds, desperate
for hope. “Was he there?”

“No.”

I lowered to sit next to him,
crossing my legs underneath me. “Did we come here for nothing?”

He was busy cutting an apple. “No.
He’s on the island, just wasn’t at home.”

I glanced back, taking in the
shadows. If not at home, where was he? I bit into my apple, eating as much of
the fruit as I could, my body needing nourishment. I knew Thane had a plan, but
he didn’t seem intent on sharing. Not surprising, the guy didn’t open easily.

“Are you going to eat?” I asked,
swiping the juice from my mouth.

“Already did.”

Slowly, I lowered my apple, my
hunger disappearing as quickly as it had come. He’d fed…on what, exactly?

“What is it?” he asked, not
lifting his head to meet my gaze, but continuing to slice the apple into
pieces. He’d felt my interest. How much could he sense? “What’s wrong?”

How did he know, I wondered, when
I was uneasy about something without even looking at me? “Do you…feed off
blood?”

“Not this morning, if that’s
what you’re worried about.” He set the slices down next to me, another
offering. Then he picked up an apple from his meager pile and leaned over,
dipping it into the water to clean it. “As I said, I can feed off blood or
food.”

But that wasn’t the real answer
I was looking for. I tossed my apple core toward the shore. “Which do you crave
more?”

He paused for one telling
moment, his gaze on the water splashing softly against the dock. “Blood.”

My body went cold. “Oh.”

We didn’t speak, I merely
watched as he washed the last apple, then placed all three into a satchel he
had found, or stolen. “We should take as much as we can.”

He stood and so I stood as well,
without realizing how close we would be. Our gazes met and held. For one brief
moment I thought maybe he would actually kiss me as he had in my dream. He
lifted his hand, his thumb brushing across my lower lip. Shocked, I froze as a
shiver raced over my skin.
 

“You cut your lip.”

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t.

Just a dream. Just a dream.

He lowered his hand and moved
around me. “We should take our clothing. It’s not completely dry, but as you
know, they’re hard to find.”

On unsteady legs I followed him
back toward the small boathouse. How did he do it? How did he make me feel so
unsteady, so unlike myself? I shoved aside my confusing feelings. The kiss had
been a dream. Thane wasn’t loving and romantic, he was a ruthless killer. “If
you drink blood, how are you different from the beautiful ones?”

It was a bold question, but as
always he didn’t seem offended. He stepped back into the boat house. “We can
survive on regular food, which the beautiful ones can’t. You can see why they are
bitter toward us. The fact that they can only live on blood is actually a
weakness.”

He tossed me my jacket and I
stuffed it into the bag he had placed on the floor. We worked in silence for
those few moments, but the entire time my mind was spinning.

“So, they can starve to death?”

“Yes, although it can take
months.”

Thinking about Thane and his
beautiful blood made me think about the other chosen ones. As much as I wanted
to forget, I couldn’t stop yesterday’s events from racing through my mind.
Will, Kelly…they could be dead. I should have stayed and fought with them, but I
hadn’t had a choice. Will had forced me to go.

“Why?” I finally asked. “Why
me?”

Thane glanced warily my way. “What
do you mean?”

I lifted the satchel. “There’s
something that’s bothered me since we jumped. Will said to protect me. Like I’m
important for some reason. Why?”

He took the bag from my hands. “Perhaps
he’s in love with you.”

I flushed. If only it was that
easy. “Tell me the truth.”

He sighed, looking frustrated
and annoyed. “I don’t think you realize how smart you are, Jane.”

I released a harsh laugh and
started for the door. “The books? This is all about the books?”

“Yes, it is.” He gripped my wrist,
forcing me to stop. “You read for over a year. While you read almost a hundred books,
most people read only a few. And while most people tossed them aside when they
were finished, you reread them, no doubt memorizing every line, every word.”

I felt uneasy, unsure if he was
complimenting me or not. “So what?”

“I heard you talking to your
friend Tom and I realized just how much you knew. Hell, you know more than most
of the people out here in the real world.”

The realization that he had listened
to our private conversations horrified me and brought to life everything I had
worried about. Frantic, I searched through my mind, trying to remember what I
had said in those private moments. “You spied on me?”

He shrugged, completely
unconcerned. “I needed to know who I could trust.”

I wanted to be angry at him, but
part of me realized how right he was. It was so hard to know who was enemy and
who was a friend out here. “And what else did you hear?”

He slid me a look. “Nothing. You
people aren’t very exciting.”

I frowned, unsure if I should be
offended or not. “And so from those few conversations, you deduced that I’m a
genius?”

He laughed, the corners of his
eyes crinkling into half-moons. “Listen to yourself. Deduced?”

I frowned. “What?”

“You do not speak or act like
most people, Jane. Just face it.”

I could feel the heat race to my
cheeks. I’d been told many times over the years that I didn’t belong.
Why can’t you just act like everyone else
,
Tom had asked me one day.
Why can’t you
be content?
I’d tried, but I hadn’t known why I felt so restless. I still
didn’t know why I wanted more while others were content with what they had.

He reached into his bag. “Here.”
From his fingers dangled Tom’s rose necklace.

Stunned, I merely looked at it for
a few moments, unsure how to feel. I realized it was a peace offering of some
sort, but I wasn’t sure I wanted it. “How?”

“When I returned to the castle I
found the necklace.” He shrugged. “Do you want it?”

Did I? Tom hadn’t trusted me. We
were no longer friends. He could be dead now. But the Tom who had given me the
rose had been good, had been my friend. I studied the waves breaking against
the shore. Part of me wanted to grab it and toss it into the ocean. I couldn’t.

Instead, I took the necklace,
pulling it over my head and letting the rose drop between my breasts as it had
those many, many days ago. “Thanks.”

He shrugged and stepped outside
onto the dock as if his act meant nothing. Why had he picked it up? More
importantly, why had he saved it?

The sun was just beginning to
rise, the ocean outside a mirror of red and pink. “Think nothing of it. I was
merely getting rid of any evidence.”

Maybe. Or maybe he actually
cared. There was so much to this man I didn’t understand, and I wondered if I
ever would.

He jumped off the dock onto the
rocky shore. “Let’s go.”

I jumped down, scrambling after
him. “Thane?”

He didn’t respond, but I knew he
heard me.

“I know there’s something you
aren’t telling me and until you admit the truth, I can’t trust you.”

“Good,” he muttered, finding a
trail and moving into the woods. “You shouldn’t.”
 

Chapter
12

“Good. You shouldn’t.”

What had he meant by that?

The question rolled through my
mind over and over as we hiked along the shoreline, in and out of the woods. We
didn’t speak as we walked, and it gave me plenty of time to think about Thane’s
odd response.

For three hours we hiked,
following the perimeter of the island, and still we hadn’t made it back to the
dock, which made me realize the island was larger than what I’d expected, and
how many places this Raven could be hiding. Every snap of a branch, every
slight shift of a shadow had my heart jumping into my throat. Where was this
supposed leader?

I wasn’t sure why we continued,
or when we would stop, but I assumed Thane knew what he was doing and so I
didn’t question his plan. Still, the large boots rubbed against my heels, and the
raw skin stung. Blisters were dangerous, or so Will had told me. They could get
infected, they made it hard to hike, and more importantly…to run. But the fact
that we had to wear clothes we’d stolen or found made it difficult to find perfect
sizes, and I’d had to learn to adjust.

“We’ll find smaller boots soon,”
Thane said.

I resisted the urge to curse.
How did he always know? “I’m fine.”

“You’re not. You’re walking
funny.”

I frowned, unsure how he knew
considering he hadn’t once looked back. “Do you have eyes on the back of your
head? Is that a blood drinker trait?”

“No. I can hear the way you
step.”

Of course…superb hearing. I
stared at his back, watching the way his hair gleamed and glistened under the
sunlight that managed to pierce the branches above, and wondered for what
seemed like the millionth time what else he could do that I couldn’t. There was
no doubt about it, Thane could see better, hear better, and somehow sense
things much better than I’d ever be able to thanks to his beautiful blood.

Taking in a deep breath, I
forced my attention away from his broad shoulders and looked back at the
shadows. I’d been out here a month, but it felt like years. I realized now that
Will had been right to push me so hard at the skyscraper those first two weeks.
In this world you had to grow up fast, accept what it was and move on…always
move. Never stop. Never rest.
 

We followed the coastline,
climbing over rocks and more rocks until my mind grew almost numb to the effort.
The water was rough, slamming against the shore as if angry with the land. Rain
was coming and the very wind that tore at my hair had somehow made the waves
larger. How very interesting that everything in the world seemed to affect
something else…it was all connected.
 

Even if Will and the others had
survived, they would never be able to swim through such a fierce ocean. I
glanced toward the horizon, but we were on the other side of the island and the
mainland was nowhere. Water. Lots and lots of water. It made me nervous to
realize I was trapped on this small piece of land. Not just trapped, but
trapped with Thane, with no supplies, little food, and Raven somewhere lurking
out there in the shadows.