Claimed (14 page)

“Yeah, that would be great,” he said aloud, his mouth drawn into a tight, grim line.

“I’d rather
not stop, Edmund,” Ellie said quickly. “Why don’t we all meet at the cottage?”

His image hovered in the air quietly, watching her. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes, please Edmund. Let’s just get there as soon as we can, shall we? I hate it when we travel in the dark.”

“Ok,” he nodded. “We’ll see you all there then.”

He switched off. Ellie bit her lip as she raised her eyes to look at Jared. He was still busily focusing on the tail-lights of Liam’s truck.

“I don’t like travelling in the dark,” she muttered.

“I heard,” he said.

“That’s why I didn’t want to stop.”

He nodded silently without looking at her.

She tapped the phone in her hand, feeling slightly awkward as she turned back to stare outside her window.

Jared braced an elbow against his window, his hand veiling the small smile he couldn’t resist any longer.

*****

Jared slowed down, pulling the vehicle to a stop by the front steps of the moderately large cottage. It was a beautiful grand wooden structure in the middle of the dense forest, high up in the mountains. He admired it as he stepped outside the truck.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Tara whispered to him.

“Aha,” he said simply.

“To think they have the money to put something like this up and only for a retreat
, while kids starve back home,” she sighed.

Jared grew quiet, contemplating her words. “Tara, about Ellie…,” he began but she interrupted him.

“Let’s leave it for now. We can always talk about it later,” she smiled at him and joined the women now gathering on the veranda, eager to get inside.

Ellie fumbled for her key before turning it in the
front door.

Jared pulled down the bags from the roof rack
of Edmund’s vehicle. Liam and Edmund came over to help with the luggage.

“
Why is it that women can’t live without their accessories?” Liam complained as he tugged onto another. “We’re in the middle of a god-damned forest. Who the heck is going to see them here?”

“You,” Edmund grinned. “You should be lucky Kayla even makes that effort. I’d be happy to tow any extra bags for Ellie on those grounds.”

Jared frowned. The man just spoke as if his engagement was a one-sided affair.

Edmund huffed as he picked the bags up. He walked in stride with Jared towards the house. “That was some awesome driving considering you just broke out of Central,” he muttered under his breath.

Jared’s jaw tensed. So he had been right. Edmund was testing his worth on joining his new clique of friends. “Yeah well, I lived in Central but that didn’t mean I didn’t keep in touch with my father.”

They walked over the threshold and dumped the bags in the middle of the living room.

“Keeping in touch is good,” Edmund gave him a small clap of approval on the back as he turned around to return to his truck.

“Edmund,” Jared said, before he could leave. “What if I didn’t know how to drive? Weren’t you afraid I’d have risked everyone’s lives?
Ellie’s?”

Edmund put his hands on hips as he tried to catch his breath. “I don’t think you’re that
stupid.” He glanced over at Ellie busy in the kitchen with Tara. “We should get the rest of the stuff before it gets dark. And it does get awfully dark here.” He gave him a sly smile. “I’ve heard people go missing in these forests to never find their way out again. Have you been in a forest before, Ryder? I would hate to leave you behind in one of these.”

The first night was terrible. Jared tossed and turned sleeplessly on the living room couch.

There were four bedrooms in the cottage. Liam and Kayla being one of the two couples on the trip, assumedly were to occupy one and Edmund and Ellie, the other. He had stood a distance away as they sorted out the sharing arrangements. In truth, he was really trying to avoid imagining Ellie in bed with Edmund. Knowing she was engaged was one thing. But having to see them display their affections was simply a different hard pill to swallow.

He crouched down at the fireplace, arranging the wood in it as its flames ravaged yet another dry log.

“You are welcome to share the room with Edmund if you wish,” Ellie said from behind him.

He glanced at her over his shoulder, surprised that she had sought him out
. He stood up with his hands in his pockets. “What about you?”

“I’ll share the room with
Lynnie,” she smiled.

His eyes shifted to the others who were
chatting loudly as they gathered their bags, before heading towards their assigned bedrooms. Edmund didn’t look too happy though, which somehow pleased him instead.

“Aren’t you guys engaged? Shouldn’t you be sharing
the room with Edmund?” he asked curiously.

“Do you want me to?” her eyes narrowed.

His jaw clenched. Did he? He didn’t answer.

Evelyn’s voice broke their
locked gazes. “Ellie, I’m not sharing the room with you. It’s your problem where you sleep if you can’t possibly share it with your fiancé,” she grumbled, before disappearing into one of the rooms.

Tara ambled up to them. “I’ll share
the room with Evelyn so you can sort out the last room between yourselves,” she smiled. “Goodnight then. I don’t think I can stay up any longer. I’m a little tired for any more talk.”

“Yea
h, it’s been a pretty long trip,” Ellie said. “But it’s brave of you to share the room with Evelyn. She won’t let you sleep so easy,” she teased.

Tara chuckled. “I guess I’ll have to pay the price
for it then. Well, you two had better decide what you’re gonna do now,” she trailed off as she disappeared into Evelyn’s bedroom.

They stood awkwardly
alone now; at a loss for words.

“You
can take the room,” Jared said at last. “I’ll make do on the couch.”

“Are you sure?” her eyes darting to the small, narrow sofa. There was no way it would accommodate Jared’
s tall frame.

“I don’t think Edmund
will be too keen on me sharing a room with you and there is no way I’d let you sleep here,” he said, looking up at her over his eyebrows.

She bit her lips, shifting at her feet. “I’ll see you in the morning then.”

“Goodnight, Ellie,” he said softly.

She looked up at him with surprise. She had not known her pulse would beat so rapidly at the mere sound of her name from his lips. She flushed just on envisioning him whisper it in her ear.

“Goodnight,” she whispered back.

That had been five hours ago. It was past midnight and the only sounds that could be heard in the house were the crackling of the twigs in the fireplace.

Jared turned again on the sofa. Perhaps, the fire was too bright for him to get any sleep or perhaps, it was too warm. Either way, it looked as if
its heat needed to be quenched in order for him to get any decent shut eye.

Giving into his insomnia, he pulled away some kindling from the fire, stifling the flames slightly. Ensuring the spark screen was intact and
secured, he changed into his running gear and headed out the door.

The forest was as dark as the night could get but he didn’t need any light to find his way through it. It didn’t make any difference to him as he sped through it, trying to release the pent-up adrenaline in his body.
Free running through the trees, he felt the rush speeding through his veins. His wings extracted and he felt himself float through the air, rising faster and stronger than ever. Hopefully, when he was truly ready to head back to the cottage, he would be too tired to imagine Ellie sleeping all alone in a bedroom, only a few feet from him.

*****

Ellie watched the shadows of the tree tops dance through her curtains. After a seemingly endless torturous length of time, she finally rose out of bed. She paced her room in a dilemma of what she should do with the man lying outside her bedroom, completely at her reach; no longer in her dreams. She couldn’t go to sleep knowing he was out there while she desperately needed to sort out how she felt about him.

She clenched her fists
tightly and opened her door. Gathering a little courage, she stepped lightly towards the living room. The fire was dying out and the cold was beginning to seep into the room. She felt guilty for leaving him without a bedroom. She could have simply shared with Edmund and given hers up to him. But for some strange reason, that option had become an impossibility recently.

She didn’t hear a sound; not even his breathing. She stopped, wondering if she would disturb him. Decid
ing it wouldn’t do her any good riveted to where she was and assuming he was asleep unlike her, she stepped around the couch only intending to peer at him.

Her eyes strained in the dim light, trying to focus on his sleeping form. But it seemed
unoccupied.

“Jared?” she said
softly. And when he didn’t answer, she had to reach out and touch the chaotic lump of blankets. It felt hollow and as she ran her hand over the couch, she realized it was indeed empty.

Her eyes darted about the room and then she raced to turn the light on. A quick survey of the house told her she was needlessly searching it because he wasn’t in it at all. She peered through the curtains at the dark, looming forest. He must have gone out, she thought. But who would dare venture into it at such an hour? She bit her lips, confused at what she should do. She didn’t want to wake everyone up in case he had only taken a walk, skirting the edges of the property. He had to. There was no rational reasoning as to why a
ny sane man would want to explore the forest in the dark.

She turned the lights out and sat heavily into the couch.
He must have been sleepless too and taken a stroll to get some air, she reasoned. If there was another explanation to his disappearance, she couldn’t think of it. She forcibly calmed herself down, taking in deep, long meditative breaths. If he didn’t arrive in an hour, she would alert everyone. In the meanwhile, she could only wait for him to return.

She smooth
ed a pillow at the end of the couch and then lay down; watching the tiny dying flames in the fireplace desperately dancing to keep alive, clinging to every little heat lingering in it. It was admirable how valiantly blind it was in its fight to stop the cold from killing out all its embers. “
Your time has come little flame
,” she thought. “
Have your last dance because soon you too will be gone… like everything else… like us.”

Her eyes fluttered sleepily and when she realized it was him who had cupped her face, she smiled, trying to shake out of her drowsiness.

“Hey,” she whispered. “I waited for you but I fell asleep.”

“I know,” he whispered back.

“Where were you?”

“Just taking a walk.”

“It’s too dark. You would have got lost.”

“I’m here now.”

“But…,” she groaned as she tried to sit up.

“Ssshhhh,” he whispered, stroking her hair.

She closed her eyes, lying back again.
His hands felt warm against her, stirring up the heat in her veins. Perhaps, it was from the roaring fire in the fireplace. When had he fueled it? She felt him gather her in his arms, lifting her up easily from the couch.

“What are you doing?” she asked sleepily.

“Taking you back to your room.”

“Put me down. I can walk.”

He tugged her closer to him and she gladly nestled her head in the curve of his neck. He continued walking towards her room and she was secretly elated that he had decided to ignore her last request.

He laid her down in her bed, pulling the covers over her.

“It’s warmer here,” he said, threading his fingers through her hair.

“Then stay,”
she whispered, clasping his hand before he could leave.

He sat down beside her, leaning into her, his eyes eagerly soaking in the contours of her face. “You know I can’t. It’s too tempting, Ellie.” He kissed her hand. “It isn’t right.”

“I know how I feel about you. Nothing can be more right than that.”

He caressed her fingers with his thumb. “Go to sleep, Ellie. We’ll talk in the morning.”

She held his hand against her face. They felt chapped and rugged against her soft skin and she loved how they bristled against her face. She had never met a man with hands as rough as his. They were strong and protective. And she never wanted to let go of it.

*****

He had returned to the house to find her curled up in a fetal position. The fire had almost died out, its embers glowing from its last remaining heat.

He had immediately covered her with his blankets and then rekindled the fire. Satisfied that the flames were now strong enough to engulf the cold in the room, he had returned to her side to wake her up. Instead, he had sat there watching her breathe soundly in her sleep.
He didn’t know how long he had sat there; held captive by her. But the gradually increasing audibility of the pounding of his heart told him that it had been long.

And when she had asked him to stay with her,
it had torn him apart to let her go. It wouldn’t have been right. She had been asleep and she had not been fully aware of what she had said. But what if she had been conscious? His palms sweated at the thought of it, his body growing hard. Would he have had the courage to accept her offer and stay? Would it matter that her fiancé slept in the bedroom next to hers?

He lay awake a long
time, running over the morality of taking her despite her betrothal to another man. She was attracted to him, he was certain of that. But was that enough to lay claim to her?

The twigs crackled in the fire. T
he flames delightfully consumed the dry kindling as it grew larger, swamping the room with its heat. He threw off his covers. His body was already hot for her and the fire didn’t help cool it down either. He closed his eyes hoping he would be able to ignore the throbbing ache in his lower body. He placed his hands under his head, his breathing forcibly tempered. Hopefully, he’d get some sleep before twilight would begin to break the sky in a few hours.

*****

The men gathered in the small clearing outside the house.

“Do you know how to use a bow and arrow, Jared?” Edmund teased. “Have you seen one?”

In normal circumstances, the question would have offended Jared, but not today. His thoughts were occupied with Ellie instead and how she had been tip-toeing around him all morning. He watched her sitting on the swing in the porch, reading.

“Jared, archery dude, do you know anything about it?” Edmund interrupted him.

“Why the sudden interest in it?” Jared almost snapped back but then let it out in feigned inquisitiveness.

“We’re going hunting, man!” Edmund laughed, slapping his back.

Jared didn’t miss the little wink Edmund gave Liam who was just as much amused with Jared’s supposed ignorance on archery and the forest.

“Have you seen one of these?” Edmund held up a bow.

No, he actually had never seen a fiberglass re-curve bow in his life. He took the one Edmund held out to him in his hand and ran his palm over it, admiring it. Unlike it, his long bow was actually carved out of willow by his father.

“I’ve seen pictures of it. James doesn’t like having weapons in the house,” he said
.

The other two men laughed.

“We all know how James feels about weapons,” Edmund grinned. “It’s not quite a secret amongst everyone who does know James.”

Jared didn’t share Edmund’s little amusement on James. He was suddenly feeling protective of the man even though James hardly made
it into his list of favorite people. He handed back the bow.

“It’s yours to
use for the hunt,” Edmund said, waving his hands at him and then picked up his own bow. “I’m gonna give you a few lessons on shooting an arrow and then we’ll have to start off deer hunting.” He nocked an arrow into his bow string. “Mind you, this is no kid’s play. You’ve gotta be really careful you don’t get this into any one of our butts.”

“How about you guys going off to hunt then? I don’t mind lying back and resting in the meanwhile,” Jared offered.

Edmund couldn’t help but glance up at Ellie in the porch. Jared watched him carefully. Did he know how Ellie and he felt for each other?