The Eden Series: The Complete Collection (78 page)

Her feet hit the ground again, just as a hand shot out and grabbed her arm. She filled her lungs to scream, but another hand covered her mouth. Hot breath fanned her ear. Regaining her wits, after being taken by surprise, Elisa swiftly rammed her elbow into the assailant’s stomach, which was followed by a grunt from behind. As the hold loosened, she slammed her heal into their shin, and quickly moved away, notching an arrow as she did. Turning, she pointed the weapon at the figure bent over holding their stomach, and pulled back, ready to let the arrow fly.

“Put your hands up,” she commanded. Two hands shot up, as the person straightened, their breathing coming out wheezy. “Wolf?” Her jaw dropped, and sudden guilt filled her at his pained look.

“Your elbow is as sharp as a knife,” he complained, rubbing his ribs. She should have known it was him right away. No else goes around half naked in cool weather except him.

“Serves you right!” she shot back. “What are you doing sneaking up behind me like that?”

“I wasn’t sneaking,” he defended. “I happened to see you and was just coming to find out what you were doing. I only covered your mouth, because I could tell you were about to scream bloody murder. The last thing I need is the whole army rushing in here after me.”

“Oh,” shame filled her voice. “Well, you still shouldn’t have done that,” she continued, her anger returning. “Try saying something next time.”

Wolf rolled his eyes like she was the most infuriating thing. “If you weren’t so defensive, and hadn’t freaked out unnecessarily, I would have been able to point out the rabbit that wasn’t too far away from us. Except now it is probably miles away, since you went all warrior woman on me.” She sputtered, but he held out his hand to silence her. “I’m sorry I scared you. Next time I’ll be sure to yell out beforehand.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, not appreciating his sarcasm. “Forgive me for not staying calm when strangers grab me in the dark. I’m clearly not as used to it as you are.” Her hands shook. She tightened her hold on her weapons so he wouldn’t notice. There was something about Wolf that always put her on edge.

“What a surprise, another sarcastic remark about my promiscuity,” he said dryly. “Don’t you ever get any new material?”

“Maybe I would if you didn’t act the same all the time.” She watched his jaw tighten as he clenched his teeth. Before she realized what happened, she found herself backed up against the tree. His arms were on either side of her, his face lowered so they were eye to eye. She was trapped within the confines of his body, which radiated heat despite it being bare.

“I haven’t touched another woman since
you
arrived in the south, just so you know.”

Her breath came out in shaky, shallows pants. “W-why would I care?”

He tilted his head to the side. “If you don’t care, why bring it up?” She suddenly felt extremely stupid, and didn’t know what to say in return. “Don’t act like you don’t care that I’ve been with other women.”

She scoffed, trying desperately to regain some composure, even with him in her personal space. “I
don’t
.”

“Uh-huh”

“Why would I care? I gave you a chance
remember
? You didn’t want it!” She bit the inside of her cheek, cursing herself for saying it. Both of them were breathing harder, even though they had kept their voices low. He was just staring at her, eyes narrowed.

“Give me another one,” he whispered. It was so low, she almost thought she had misheard, but she knew she hadn’t. “One more chance Elisa, I won’t let you down.” Something squeezed around her heart. It had become even harder to take a full breath.
He
didn’t seem to be breathing at all. He just watched her, waiting for a reaction. His close proximity was becoming too much for her. She needed out. She needed air. She lifted her hands to his chest to push him away, but found herself just laying them there. His skin was burning compared to the coldness of hers. She looked hesitantly back up to find him still watching her, a look in his eyes that nearly tore her apart.

Slowly she shook her head. “I need to go,” she said quietly. “Please let me go.” He stayed where he was another second, before pushing off the trunk, and letting his arms drop. Elisa inhaled a deep breath of fresh air, pushing a piece of hair off her face. “I need to get back to hunting,” she said lamely, bending down to grab the bow she had dropped.

Wolf reached out and grabbed her arm. “You don’t just get to walk away every time this gets difficult,” he said, his voice cold. She could practically feel the anger rolling off of him. It caused goose bumps along her arms. Giving his hand a pointed look, he let go, somewhat reluctantly.

“I can walk away anytime I feel like it,” she shot back. “You’ve never had a problem doing that. For years you walked away in every direction. Always with a different woman on your arm, if memory serves me right.”

Wolf moaned loudly, throwing his hands in the air. “Will you never let that drop?”

“What? That you slept with any and everything with a pair of legs? No, no I will not! You
were
betrothed to me, and yet you flaunted your relations in front of my face on a daily basis!” She was yelling now, her face hot against the air around them. She couldn’t remember a time she felt so angry. Blood rushed in her ears, and her head felt light. Finally she was letting go of every drop of anger she had felt all the years she witnessed Wolf’s complete lack of respect for her.

“What did you expect me to do? Pine away at someone who couldn’t even stand me? From the moment I arrived in the Capital you showed no interest in us being together. Was I supposed to still fight for you, knowing I might get hurt in the process?”

“Yes!” she shouted. She was breathing harder now, her hands curled into fists. “Was I not worth the fight? Do not all good things in life deserve to be fought for? Was I so easily replaceable that you could just substitute me for any of the women in the city?” Betraying tears started to fill her eyes. Elisa desperately blinked them back. The last thing she wanted was to cry in front of Wolf. It was a useless attempt. Soon her body shook under the silent tears that fell down her cheeks. Wolf stood silently, his face washed of colour. He took one step towards her, bringing their bodies only inches apart. She knew she should step back again, but something inside her wanted to be close, and she hated that part. Having him close soothed that part of her like nothing else, making her sway even closer towards him. He must have sensed it, because soon his arms were around her, and her face was crushed into his shoulder. One of his hands soothingly stroked her hair, as he rested his cheek against the top of her head.

“I could never replace you Elisa, it would be impossible. You are truly one of kind,” he whispered. She could hear the quick beat of his heart against her ear. She let her body lean fully into him, and without realizing she had done so, she found her arms wrapped tightly around him as well. Tears still fell from her eyes. From finally saying the things she had wanted to say, and from knowing it was all too late. It didn’t matter what either of them said now, it was over. She was officially engaged to another man. The thought brought on new tears. She didn’t understand why. She was happy with Markus, wasn’t she? So many thoughts now swam through her mind, and all the while Wolf just held her, his hand never ceasing the careful stokes through her hair. When he spoke again, his voice was rough with emotion. “I was always afraid I’d never be good enough for you,” he confessed. “Even when you first came to Avalon when you were younger, I could see the strength in you. I remember thinking a girl like you wouldn’t need a man to protect her. You already seemed so capable. When I saw what you had become years later, I knew there would be nothing I could say or do that would ever truly impress you. You didn’t
need
me, Elisa, like I needed you, and I couldn’t handle that.”

Like I needed you.
His words echoed in her head, sending shivers down her spine. Could it be true what he said? It never occurred to her that there was a reason behind how Wolf acted. Elisa didn’t know how to absorb what was being said. They just stood there, holding each other in the dark forest, the stars twinkling above them as the only light. Both moons were hidden behind the canopy of leaves above. Even the animals were silent as the two of them came together in a painful understanding. They had both been blind to each other. Elisa to his lack of self-confidence, and Wolf to her sense of betrayal. Neither of them would know how to move on from this night. Leaves being crushed under foot sounded from close by, causing them to fly apart just as a body came into view.

“Hey,” they heard someone call out. Aiden stepped out from between two trees, his breath coming out in gasps. “What’s up?” he said casually. Elisa tried to smile like nothing was the matter, but doubted she achieved it.

“What are you doing out here?” Wolf asked, his voice resuming his usual nonchalant sound.

“Well,” Aiden said, placing a hand against a tree to hold himself up, while he tried to catch his breath. “Lily had the ingenious idea to play tag in the woods. Guess what? It wasn’t such a great idea. The girl can run a hell of a lot faster than me, and I’m pretty sure some of the trees were actually trying to trip me. I had to dodge a few branches that I could swear weren’t there when she ran through.” He mopped at his brow, a smile hovering on his lips. She heard Wolf chuckle beside her, but she refused to look at him. In fact, she didn’t know how she would
ever
look at him again. “I think I’ve completely lost her now,” he continued with a shake of his head.

“Aren’t you concerned?” Elisa asked, her eyes instinctively looking around for the other girl.

“Nah,” Aiden waved her off. “She’s probably off conversing with some animal or something. She’ll find me when she wants to. What are you two doing out here?”

Elisa raised her bow lamely. “Hunting,” she offered, her voice sounding as unconvincing as ever.

“Nice,” Aiden said. He either didn’t pick up on the tension in the air, or was choosing to ignore it.

Wolf cleared his throat to say something, but Elisa held out her hand to stop him. “Nobody move,” she whispered. Only ten feet away from them sat two rabbits, and she wasn’t going to take the chance of them running off. Very slowly, so as not to alarm them, Elisa slid two arrows out of her pack, and carefully strung them into the bow. She pulled the string back and waited, angling the points just right. Neither of the boys so much as breathed while she worked. Then she let go, the arrows flew perfectly through the air, landing neatly in the rabbits’ necks. Both little bodies fell over, twitching a couple of times before remaining still. She gave herself a tiny smile of triumph, and turned back to Wolf. “You were saying?”

Aiden and Wolf looked at her with undisguised admiration. She could handle it from Aiden, but from Wolf…the feeling it gave her was not something she was comfortable with. Pride? Yes she was proud that he could acknowledge and admire her talent. She pushed those thoughts away before she became overwhelmed again. Even though she hated killing small animals, the process of completing her task had helped her to regain some of her composure. She didn’t want to lose it again, especially not in front of Aiden.

“Aw, poor dears,” they heard Lily’s voice coming from where the rabbits were. The three of them turned in sync to see her crouched beside the bodies. She was petting them gently, offering them quiet words of comfort. “Dinner, I presume?” she asked, looking over at them. Elisa nodded, somewhat guiltily. Lily gave them another pet, and then walked towards them. “Well one of them owed a squirrel a lot of nuts, so you probably did him a favour,” she said, stopping beside Aiden, and winding an arm around his waist. Elisa looked at Aiden questioningly. He simply shrugged.

“She’s kidding, right?” Elisa asked him, rather than Lily herself. To be honest, she wasn’t sure the girl would answer her truthfully.

“We can only hope,” was Aiden’s reply. He shook his head with a smile, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and bringing her in to plant a kiss on her head. Lily simply smiled, neither confirming nor denying the question. Wolf laughed, walking over to retrieve the kill.

“You’re never dull, Lily. That much I can say about you,” he said with another laugh. “I’ll take these to the camp. I was going to leave anyway,” he said, now turning to Elisa, his expression guarded. “You can see if you can get some more. In the meantime, we’ll start on these.” Elisa nodded her head, not fully trusting her voice. Wolf turned to go, his demeanour back to normal, betraying nothing of what happened between them. That suited Elisa just fine, since nothing could really come of it anyway.

“I’ll go with you,” Lily said. “Aiden you can help Elisa. I’m afraid I won’t be able to help without getting upset for the poor creatures.” She gave Aiden a quick peck on the cheek, and disappeared into the dark woods with Wolf.

Aiden turned to her with an apologetic smile. “Looks like you’re stuck with me.”

Elisa smiled back. “Just try to be quieter than you used to be,” she teased, reminding him of how he used to stomp along after her when they first met. He laughed it off, and motioned for her to continue. They walked side by side in companionable silence. She always felt comfortable and at ease with Aiden. It was nice to get him alone for once. “You and Lily are really good together,” she said, sounding almost envious of them, which truthfully she was. She saw him smile out of the corner of his eye.

“Yeah, I guess we are,” he replied. “It’s weird,” he admitted. “Everything has happened so quickly and yet I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. I don’t really know how it happened, we just fell into this routine with each other, and it was all just so – natural.”

“That’s good,” she pointed out.

“I know,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s just that…well eventually I’m going to leave again. I don’t know what will happen at that point.”

“You’ll figure something out,” she said, not knowing if even she believed that.

“We’ll see,” he sighed, looking up at the sky. He was silent a moment before turning to look at her, one eyebrow cocked. “So, what was happening between you and Wolf when I arrived? You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife.”