MARKED (Hunter Awakened) (8 page)

“'Under the moonlit sky / I wait, I watch, I
lie.”

I turned my head towards Elias as he spoke in
a soft, sing-song voice, the rhythm telling me that he was quoting
something I didn't recognize. He didn't look at me, keeping his
eyes fixed at some invisible point ahead of him.

“'The grass soft beneath me / The stars
bright above / Time has stilled / The future unrevealed / All is
right with me.'” He turned his head so that we were looking into
each other's eyes. “'Then I see you / Under the moonlit sky / I
wait, I watch, I lie / You are the moon / The stars / All the
future holds / If you are here then / All is right with me.'”

“That's beautiful,” I smiled at him, but I
could feel that it was a sleepy sort of smile. I was having a hard
time keeping my eyes open.

“A man I once knew wrote it for the woman he
loved,” Elias said.

“That's nice,” I murmured. My blinks were
getting longer and longer as I fought against sleep.

“You need to go to bed.” He sounded
amused.

“Nope.” I tried to shake my head but it only
bobbled. “Don't wanna.”

I didn't see him get up because my eyes were
refusing to cooperate with the commands I was giving them. Stupid
eyes. I felt Elias's arms around me, and a gentle rocking motion.
He was carrying me. I knew I should protest, tell him to put me
down and I would walk. He didn't need to carry me like a child...
or a drunken prom date. I wasn't either. The two glasses of wine
I'd had throughout the entire night had barely made me fuzzy.

Then I felt my bed beneath me and my eyes
managed to open just a crack. It was enough to watch as Elias
pulled off my boots and set them aside. He looked at me and I could
see the debate on his face. After a minute, he removed my socks,
then maneuvered me under the sheets. He leaned over me as he tucked
the blanket around me, his fingers brushing against my cheek.

“Don't go,” I said. “I'm safe when you're
here.”

An expression my sleep-addled mind couldn't
read crossed his face. “Very well,” he whispered. “I will stay and
keep you safe.”

They could have just been words, but I never
doubted them. He wouldn't promise me that and then not do it. I
could trust him.

He sat on the edge of the bed and, as my eyes
closed again, he began to speak. “Shall I tell you a story while
you go to sleep?” His hand brushed over my hair. “Perhaps a story
of the past. A story of a man who was willing to sacrifice
everything for the woman he loved and the family they had made. A
man who taught his son what it meant to love someone with all his
heart. And a son who would find that person only to lose her
again.”

This didn't sound like a very nice story, I
thought, but I was already drifting away and couldn't say
anything.

“This son believed that he would never love
again, but perhaps, he was wrong...”

I didn't hear anything else as the darkness
washed over me and I slept.

Chapter Nine

When I rolled over and looked at the clock, I
thought for sure that it had to be wrong. There was no way I'd
slept twelve hours. Then I saw the way the light was coming in from
between my curtains and knew that the clock was right. I stretched,
my body stiff from not having moved in so long. For the first time
in a long time, I actually felt rested. A little voice in my head
told me that Elias was the reason, that it had been his voice
lulling me to sleep that had allowed me to finally beat the
insomnia that had been plaguing me for so long. I wasn't entirely
sure if that was true, but I wasn't going to discount it
either.

I decided to take advantage of my long
weekend and kept things very slow. I changed out of the clothes I'd
slept in and took a nice, long bath, letting the hot water soothe
away the last of my stiffness. I pulled on my favorite 'around the
house' outfit of black and light blue flannel pants, and a black
t-shirt that declared me 'Pineapple Princess' for a reason I no
longer remembered. They weren't pajamas, but they were close. After
I dressed, I wandered around the house, admiring the work that
Elias and I had done the night before.

My orchids were still on the kitchen table
and I smiled as I saw them. It was too bad they would start to wilt
soon, their delicate petals unable to stay fresh for long. I wanted
to keep them, to remember, and I knew a way I could preserve them.
I'd done it to the orchid I'd received from the studio after my
Golden Globe nomination for my role as Orchid Lane. I hadn't won,
as my parents had continually reminded me, but I'd been proud of
the work I'd done.

I took them from the vase and carried them
into my library. I laid them on the table, then went in search of
the perfect book. Once I found it, I pressed the orchids between
the pages and then left them to dry as I set off on my second
mission of the day. I wanted to find a Christmas tree. As I
searched for the best place in LA to buy a live tree and have it
delivered, I remembered one of the reasons why I actually didn't
hate the internet.

Once I set up delivery for this weekend, I
was starting to feel restless again. I spent the remainder of the
day doing all sorts of little things around the house, things that
I'd been putting off due to the insanity of recent events. By the
time I finished, it was dark and I was planning a night of watching
movies and reading a good book. What I wasn't expecting was a knock
on my door.

Even as I walked towards it, I knew who was
on the other side. I didn't really have a logical reason for it,
but I knew it all the same. No matter how crazy it sounded, the
connection was real. When I opened the door, I was already smiling.
“Hey there.” The expression on Elias's face made my smile widen. He
was wearing was his almost-shy look, the one that twisted my heart.
“Come on in.”

He spoke as he stepped inside. “I was
wondering if you would like to accompany me on a picnic.” His tone
was still formal-sounding, but there was a vulnerability to his
voice wasn't usually present.

“A picnic? You mean like for lunch
tomorrow?”

He shook his head and gave me a small smile.
“Have you ever had a picnic under a full moon?”

“No,” I said. The memory of the poem he'd
recited the night before came back to me. “But I'd love to.”

The smile on his face blossomed and his eyes
shone. “I had noticed yesterday that many of the leftovers would be
perfect for a picnic. Shall I prepare them?”

I nodded. I suddenly remembered what I was
wearing and heat rushed to my face. “And I'll go change.”

“Why?” Elias asked, already half-way towards
the kitchen. “If you are comfortable, then, please, remain as you
are.” This time I could hear the smile. “I rather like the
attire.”

After a brief internal debate, I decided to
do as he said and stay in my comfy clothes. He'd already seen them,
so what was the point of dressing up? Besides, he'd said that he
liked them. I smiled as I hurried up to my room to grab a
sweatshirt. LA was far from in a cold zone, but night this time of
year could get a bit nippy.

By the time I made it back to the kitchen,
Elias was waiting with everything packed into a picnic basket I'd
never seen before. Over his arm was a fleece blanket the exact
shade of his eyes. I didn't recognize that either. He must've
brought them with him. As I closed the distance between us, he set
the blanket on top of the basket and walked towards me. We both
stopped when we were less than a foot apart.

Without a word, he raised his hand towards my
face. At first, I thought he was reaching for me, but then I caught
a glimpse of color and turned my eyes towards his hand. He was
holding another orchid, the bright blue
Thelymitra Ixioides
.
He tucked it behind my ear, the tips of his fingers brushing down
my cheek as he dropped his hand. I couldn't breathe. My skin was
tingling where he'd touched me.

“Beautiful.”

He breathed the word and I wasn't sure if he
was talking about the flower or about me. I really hoped it was the
latter, though I could understand it being the former. It really
was an amazing flower.

He took a step back and the spell was broken,
or at least dampened. He held out his arm like something from an
old-fashioned move. “Shall we?”

I put my arm through the crook of his and
earned a smile. He picked up the basket and blanket and we headed
for the French doors that led from my kitchen to my backyard I was
a bit confused.

“Where're we going?” I asked as we stepped
outside. A cool breeze greeted me and I was glad I'd gotten the
sweatshirt.

“Considering recent events, I did not think
it wise to be out and about at night. Here, the wall surrounding
your property will prevent any issues,” Elias said,
matter-of-factly.

Thinking like a bodyguard even when he was
off duty, I mused. He and I walked between the in-ground pool and
the covered patio to the hill that led down into the rest of my
property. When I'd purchased the house years ago, most of the land
acres behind my house had been covered with stone, leaving only a
thin strip of grass surrounding the servants' quarters slash
guesthouse at the far edge of the property.

One of the first things I'd done after taking
my first job after buying the house was hire a landscaper to come
in, tear down the guesthouse, and redo the entire thing. Now, the
hill that sloped down from the patio and pool turned into something
that looked like the entrance to a wild fantasy garden.

A path wound through artfully tangled trees
and flowers. I had climbing roses that twisted up around trellis
that arched over the pathway, desert lavender that lined the edges
of the path and myriad other flowers and plants that were scattered
throughout the two acres. When everything was blooming, the scent
was intoxicating.

We stopped at the edge of the garden and
Elias released my arm to spread the blanket on the ground. The
grass was damp, but the blanket was thick enough that I didn't feel
a thing as I sat down. Elias fussed over making sure everything was
laying just so and I watched, a smile playing at my lips as he
smoothed down the blanket and straightened the edges. I hadn't
realized he was so particular.

It wasn't until he was sitting down that he
looked at me and realized that I was, for lack of a better term,
smirking. “Something is amusing?”

“Not really.” I shook my head. “I was just
watching you make sure everything was perfect.” To my surprise,
Elias looked almost embarrassed, and I saw a flash of vulnerability
go across his eyes. “I thought it was adorable, by the way.”

The smile that curved his lips was one of
relief. “That is what I wanted,” he said. “For it to be perfect.”
He ducked his head as he said the last word and a chunk of hair
fell across his forehead.

I reached out and put my hand over his since
I didn't know how he'd respond to me pushing back that hair like I
wanted to do. His head snapped back towards me, eyes wide with more
shock than I'd have anticipated. “Thank you, Elias.”

“For what?” he asked.

“For all of this. For coming over yesterday
so I didn't have to spend Thanksgiving alone, again. For helping me
decorate last night.” My cheeks flamed. “For putting me to bed when
I fell asleep and staying when I asked you to. And for coming over
tonight with this wonderful idea.”

The moment froze, my hand on his, my body
leaning towards him. I was pretty sure that my heart had stopped in
my chest. I didn't want to pull away first. I wanted him to move
closer, his lips to touch mine. Just the idea made my heart beat
again and time moved onward. He slid his hand out from under mine
and turned towards the picnic basket.

I sat back, hoping my breathing didn't sound
as loud and harsh to him as it did to me. It was nearing midnight
and the already quiet by comparison neighborhood was virtually
silent. There was the faint sound of cars passing by, but it was
just background noise. My heart was pounding louder than that. It
was maddening how this man could have such an effect on my body
with barely a touch, and often without one at all.

Elias opened the basket and began setting out
all of the food he'd packed. I'll admit it, I thought for sure that
his idea of packing leftovers would be to put all of the containers
from my fridge into the basket. Not that it would've been bad, but
I still hadn't been expecting what he did produce.

A plate with turkey sandwiches made with
homemade rolls. A bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy, both still
steaming. Two slices of pumpkin pie with whipped cream and a
spoonful of cranberry sauce next to each one. He had silverware for
each dish and two silver thermoses. When I gave him a questioning
look, he spoke.

“Hot cider.”

My stomach growled and I realized that I
hadn't eaten since I'd first woken up and nibbled at some cold
turkey. I would've been embarrassed at the sound if I hadn't been
so hungry. Without acknowledging what I knew he'd heard, Elias held
out the plate of sandwiches.

I'd eaten half of the sandwich before I
noticed that Elias was watching me. Suddenly self-conscious, I
lowered it. “What?”

“I apologize,” he said. “You remind me of
someone I knew when I was younger.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I
asked.

He shook his head and reached for the bowl of
mashed potatoes. “It does not matter either way. I have not seen
her in a long time.” He handed the bowl to me. “You do not want
them to get cold.”

He had a point. I set to work eating them as
he started on a sandwich of his own.

“May I ask you something?”

I nodded and prepared for one of the hundreds
of questions people threw my way after first meeting me. True, we'd
spent some time together, but it wasn't like we'd really talked
about anything other than just hobbies and such.