Asanni (25 page)

He’d figured out what I had been doing and
showed me his vast erudition: his expertise in many fields, his
open-mindedness and deep understanding of all kinds of human
nature, his intelligence, keen observation. He had an almost naïve
honesty—natural, easy, without a trace of vanity or
self-admiration. “Are you sure you are not an asyr?” I’d said,
smiling at him from my end of the sofa. I knew I’d been forced to
feel for him because of the bond. Last night I’d realized I would
have fallen in love, our bond notwithstanding. And for the first
time I was happy, completely, absolutely happy, that there was the
bond between us, that it was unbreakable, and that there was no
other woman or man for Jack and me, as long as we both lived.

“ARE YOU okay there? You’ve been awake for at
least half an hour.”

Jack’s voice came from the kitchen. My
hearing had significantly improved in the last week, and I was able
to hear him from a greater distance. I responded with irregular
heartbeats and flutters in my stomach. I wasn’t hungry anymore. I
was craving his touch only.

“I’m fine,” I said quietly, certain that he
would hear me.

I stumbled out of my room, toward the
bathroom, where I attacked the garlicky-metallic bitterness in my
mouth with a double squirt of toothpaste, and then showered. My
body felt warm and icy at the same time, but the hot shower
temporarily made me feel better.

With my palm I whipped off the steam from the
mirror and took a look into my reflection. I was pale, my eyes were
darker, almost steel-gray, but there were sparks in them, tiny
flames that had never resided there before. Little glows of
happiness.

I lifted up a thick lock of my hair studying
it carefully. Jack was right. It was lighter and definitely more on
the red side. I’d noticed that yesterday, but thought it was
because of the flaming red dress I’d worn.

I always liked my hair the way it was: thick,
silky, in different shades of honey-blond, light brown and
copper-reddish, slightly wavy, soft and pleasant to touch. In my
opinion, it was the most exquisite part of my physical appearance.
I heard many times how my eyes were pretty, with that unusually
dark tone of blue, or my mouth perfect with its full, equally
shaped upper and lower lips. On rare occasions when I purposely
studied myself in a mirror, I found my nose a little bit too long,
and my chin too square. And there was more: I was perhaps a bit too
tall, my breasts could be a size bigger, my hips could be more
rounded. These were silly little complaints, small vanities no
woman was immune to. In fact, I was happy with that body of mine,
strong and healthy, and rarely spared a thought, in physical terms,
either for its particular parts or it as a whole. Plus, Jack
obviously liked it the way it was.

I dressed in my old jeans and apricot angora,
trying to mask my paleness with its cheery color, and followed the
tantalizing aroma of sausages, eggs, maple syrup and
blueberries.

JACK LOOKED gorgeous, like always. He sat at
the kitchen table, with the laptop in front of him. As I entered,
he closed the lid and gave me an inquiring look. He stood up and
came closer, placing his hands gently and cautiously on my
shoulders.

“How are you feeling? You look pale,” he said
in a soft voice and pressed the back of his hand against my
forehead. “Your skin is hot to the touch.”

“It’s always like that before the change.
It’s just a bit earlier this time,” I said and put my head on his
chest. “I don’t want you to worry, Jack. No matter how hard it may
look, nothing bad happens. There is no damage. I’m not sure if it
would be completely safe to continue with this kind of
uncontrollable transformation indefinitely, but it won’t hurt me to
do it a few more times.”

“It’s going to stop soon, I promise.”

I nodded and reluctantly parted from him. I
wasn’t sure what my wolf was going to do—I suspected she would try
to misbehave, at least—but
I
would try not to make it too
difficult for Jack.

“More protein,” Jack said and put several
more breakfast sausages on my plate. “I spoke to James this
morning. Alec and Drew will be here tomorrow to pack your stuff and
take it to Red Cliffs. Today we can go through it so you can decide
what you want to bring with you.”

I looked around, feeling uneasy all of a
sudden, realizing that I was indeed going to leave my little house.
Throughout my life, I’d lived in many different places, but it was
never easy for me to leave any of them. That included this tiny
house, which would probably completely fit into my Seattle
penthouse’s living room. I liked the compactness of it, my small
nest with its carefully chosen furniture and sliding doors, clean
and tidy. I liked my
uguisubari,
the nightingale floor that
was a miniature replica of the famous floor in Nijo Castle in
Kyoto. Liv, Tristan and I’d had such fun making it.

“So soon?” I whispered, as the magnitude of
the change that I was about to make struck me hard: Red Cliffs, my
relatives, new people that I would live among…

Jack took my hands between his. “It’s going
to be okay, Astrid. You won’t be alone.” He ran his knuckles along
my face. “You can live with James and Betty for a while. Maggie
will come soon, Eamon won’t let you be alone, even if you want it,
as long as you can tolerate his music. Or you can move to your
house. You’ll get a job fairly soon, I think. I might go here and
there, but I won’t stay long.”

“What about your Government job?”

My contract expires next month, and I’m not
going to renew it.”

“So you are retiring?”

“It’s about time,” he said, smiling. “You
know, at my age...”

“As long as your age doesn’t affect other
areas of your life,” I said and came closer. My lips found his,
soft, gentle.

“I wouldn’t worry about that, love.” Jack
said. He rose and pulled me to my feet. “We are playing with fire,
again.”

His warm, sweet breath burned my
oversensitive skin. I pressed the whole length of my body against
his, feeling him solid and hard. He held me tight, restraining my
movements yet keeping me close. I placed my hands on his arms,
caressing the strong, elegant muscles under the sleeves.

“I want to see you naked, Jack.” My wolf put
the words in my mouth.

So much for my efforts to make her
behave.

“Push her back, Astrid,” Jack said and
grabbing my wrists, held my arms pressed to my side. “God, what am
I doing?! I’m sorry, honey. I should be under better control.”

He marched across the room and disappeared
into the bathroom.

I HEARD the shower, and when he came out
fifteen minutes later, his hair was wet. He grabbed his phone and
made a call. “Liv, are you busy? Could you come over to help us
pack Astrid’s stuff? No, she is not fine. She has a fever and her
wolf’s playing peek-a-boo.”

He turned to me when he’d ended the call.
“Astrid, we have to get through this somehow. Please help me.”

I nodded, without pointing out that I wasn’t
the only one who’d misbehaved this time.

“James isn’t taking any chances. He’s sending
two more people to travel with us to Red Cliffs.”

“But you’d promised we would go to see Ella
and Arnaldur.”

“We’ll make a detour, no worries. We’ll all
go to Seattle. Liv and Tristan are coming with us.”

I exploded suddenly. “Aren’t you overdoing
things a bit?! James, you, the Blakes… all of you. Oh, I’m so tired
of this! I have more bodyguards than the President!”

Being angry helped me turn my attention away
from my erotic thoughts.

“That’s because you’re more important,” Jack
said, unconcerned with my outburst. “A new president is elected
every four years or so, but you are the first Ellida in the last
three hundred years. Stop complaining.”

“Why didn’t James talk to me? You two plan
everything without me and then you just let me know what I need to
do. Great!”

“Go ahead, be as angry as you want. You were
sleeping when he called. Do you want to talk to him now? Phone him.
He’ll be happy.” He inhaled loudly. “Sweetheart, James is as
excited for and afraid of your meeting as you are. You are the only
child of his only brother. He hasn’t seen you since you were a
baby. Astrid, he loves you very much. He’ll do everything he can to
bring you home safely.”

“You love him, do you?” I said quietly, all
my anger gone.

Jack smiled. “I do. He’s not only my
stepfather, but he is also my friend.”

THE DOORBELL interrupted any further
conversation. Tristan and Liv came in equipped with cardboard
boxes, tape, scissors and markers. After Tristan had checked my
temperature and pulse, we started with the sad job of packing my
little household.

“What are we going to do with the floor?”
Tristan asked. “Who else would need a nightingale floor?”

“Just leave it. The future tenant can deal
with it,” I decided.

Liv made a pot of fresh coffee and insisted
that I should rest on the sofa while the three of them continued
with cleaning, sorting and packing. My room was left to me to pack
later, when we came back from the woods.

Later we ate, and I fell asleep in the living
room. I was woken up just before dawn by the sound of a truck that
stopped in front of the house. Tristan and Liv were long gone. The
neat piles of boxes along the wall reminded me that I would be gone
soon, too.

Jack appeared immediately. He’d pulled on his
jeans, but he was barefoot and shirtless. Still too much clothing,
I thought hazily.

“That’s Alec and Drew. They are early.”

I stood up to greet our early morning
guests—my cousin and his girlfriend. “Hi Astrid! I’m glad to
finally meet you in person,” a tall young man said, smiling
broadly. He came close to me and hugged me. “I’m Alec Randall, your
cousin, and this is Drew Falconer, my girlfriend.”

A petite and pretty blond girl stepped
forward and greeted me in the same manner. “You don’t know us, but
Alec and I sort of know you well,” she said and turned to Jack.
“You told her, didn’t you?”

“She knows, but she wasn’t happy when she
heard. So watch your step,” Jack said, smiling. “How was your trip?
Are you hungry?”

“I’ll make coffee, and then we’ll see about
breakfast,” I suggested shyly and went to the kitchen.

“I’ll help you,” Drew said and came after
me.

I’D NEVER felt comfortable around unknown
people so I made myself busy with the coffee machine. To my relief,
Drew was a friendly and talkative creature. She told me about their
trip here, the plans for the next day, Red Cliffs… and soon we were
frying eggs and bacon, chatting in a friendly way. She told me more
about the time when she and Alec had watched over me and how Alec
and I were related. (“His mother is your father and James’ second
cousin…You have a lot of cousins back home, some close, some not.
Oh, you’ll like it there, I’m sure. We are so happy you are coming
home…”)

She used the word
home
often, and it
sounded right. I peeked through the open door to catch a glimpse of
Jack, the foundation, walls and roof of that home.

We came back to the living room with the
plates overloaded with scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon.

From time to time Jack would throw a worried
glance at me, assessing my current condition. My cousin looked at
me openly, with a warm smile on his handsome face.

I smiled back at him, and a strong, new
feeling swept over me. This young man was my own blood. I studied
his clean facial features: broad forehead, high cheeks, dark eyes,
strong nose and jaw. His skin had a beautiful bronze tone, and he
wore his shoulder-length jet-black hair tied in a ponytail. He was
tall, and walked with elegant, soft movements of his long
limbs.

Physically, his girlfriend was a feminine
antithesis of his evident masculinity: willowy and fair, like a
porcelain doll. Her heart-shaped face was cute and sweet rather
than conventionally beautiful, with creamy skin, blue eyes, small
nose and soft, rosy lips. Her fragile appearance was, of course,
deceiving. Her scent told me she was a werewolf, too, and therefore
strong by default. Her whole person revealed the same natural
confidence, elegance and harmony with the surrounding world that
was so apparent with Jack and Alec. Definitely a werewolf
attribute.

They too threw occasional and discreet looks
at me, probably as curious as I was. I didn’t feel uncomfortable
under their gaze. I just wanted them to be pleased with whatever
they saw.

Alec and Drew knew about my troubles with
transformation. “When are you going to the cabin?” my cousin
asked.

Jack glanced at his watch. “In about two
hours. The full moon is on Saturday night, but Astrid’s already
tired and feverish. Her wolf’s trying to come out.”

“Betty and James say that will stop
eventually,” Drew added.

“It will,” Jack said and changed the subject.
“Who’s coming tomorrow?”

“The Blues Brothers.” Alec said and turned to
me. “Here is the plan: Drew and I leave on Tuesday morning. We’ll
take your stuff to Red Cliffs. Everybody else is going to Seattle.
You and Jack are taking his car, Mark and Sid, the Blues
Brothers—they play for Rawhide, hence the nickname—are going to
drive your Honda, and leave it there with your grandparents.
Tristan and Liv will go in their car. The next day, Jack, Mark and
the Blakes fly with you to Denver, Sid will drive Jack’s car back.
James, Betty, and Eamon wait for you in Denver with three cars. A
few more hours on the road, and you’re home, Astrid.”

“I’m disappointed. No bulletproof cars, tanks
and helicopters from above,” I said, amused by all the unnecessary
precautions.

Alec laughed. “Oh, we can throw that in, too.
Jack and I can surely secure a couple of choppers on short notice,
right Jack?”