Forged by Greed (13 page)
Authors: Angela Orlowski-Peart
Jasmira nodded and smiled sadly at her best friend. She glanced at a
human girl who climbed one of the sliding ladders used to retrieve a book from
the upper shelves.
“Let’s go, J.” Jasmira pulled Jatred toward the heavy door. “Pen, I’ll
call you after third period.”
CHAPTER 14
Human World. September 9,
noon.
“No, this can’t be!” Jasmira shouted. “Why is she doing this? We aren’t
hurting anybody or doing anything stupid. We stay out of everybody’s way.”
Jasmira looked horrified, her body tense, panic buzzing in her
head.
Images and sounds of her past with
Jatred raced through her mind: the black wolf chasing her through the woods, the
Summer Goddess holding her arms out to her, the Space Needle against the
watercolor of the sunset, Jatred rollerblading on Alki Beach, his legs lean and
tanned, the rain drops on the Hood Canal cabin window. All these beautiful
memories were about to remain just that—memories. With no new ones to add to
them.
Jatred grabbed her hands and pulled her close, settling her on his
lap. “Shh, come here.”
She fell quiet, feeling resigned. Her head hung low, her eyes fixed
on a round dark freckle just above her knee.
Jatred hugged her tight. T
he warmth of his body seeped through the fabric of
her yellow t-shirt. He gently ran his thumb across Jasmira’s cheek. Her face
was wet with tears. They locked eyes and sat in silence, holding onto each
other.
“J? Maybe we can just wait it out…” He
trailed off. “I don’t know.”
Jasmira made a small high-pitched noise
and put her face into her hands. A large blue opal ring shone on her finger.
Jatred squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his cheek to her hair. He felt her
body shudder in short, uncontrollable sobs. His hands lightly glided up and
down her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and now her wet face touched
his.
“It will never be the same without you,”
she said.
“I can’t… I don’t want to lose you,” he
whispered.
She sobbed quietly. They sat on a wooden bench overlooking the
peaceful pond in the Seattle Arboretum Japanese garden. A few brown ducks swam
toward them, anticipating a treat. The afternoon sun bathed the park in a
golden glow, bringing out the brilliance of the late summer colors.
Jasmira sat up and turned her face to look at the water.
“Thanks for bringing me here. I love this place.”
“It’s your favorite spot,” Jatred said quietly. “This is where you
told me the first time that you love me.”
She looked at him, astonished, her lips parting. “You remember it?”
“I remember everything. I’ll
always
remember everything. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.” He
cupped her face in his hands.
Tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped from her chin onto her
shirt. They left small wet dots on the yellow fabric. Jatred managed a half-smile
but his throat felt tight.
“There is no other way?” Jasmira creased her forehead.
He shook his head, grimly. “I’m afraid there is no way. At least not
now. The Goddess is furious.”
“I will talk to Amber then, she can—”
“No,” Jatred interrupted. “That will only make matters worse. The
Goddesses hate each other. Amber can’t make Crystal change her mind.”
Jasmira took his face in her hands.
“For a moment I thought she tried to kill me. She made it clear—this
was just a warning. I don’t want her to hurt my uncle or anybody else if she
can’t break me.” Jatred didn’t want to look at Jasmira’s face, to see the fear
in her eyes.
They sat in silence. Jasmira leaned forward and touched her forehead
to Jatred’s.
“There is something the adults don’t tell us. I can feel it. I just
don’t know what that is,” he whispered.
“What?”
Jatred looked away, his eyes narrowing. “Don’t you ever feel there
are some things we’re not told? It’s like everyone… I mean, the adults, the
Goddess. They all keep some kind of a secret. I’m sick of being treated like a
child.”
“You think this has something to do with the Amulet? And with our
coronations? It’s only about three more months before the Amulet must pass from
Winter to Summer.” Jasmira’s brows arched. The tears left dry shiny tracks on
her face.
“Maybe. Ever since I can remember, the Amulet has been stashed away
in the vault in my house. We can never do anything with it. But it’s impossibly
powerful, I’m sure of it. It’s just… I don’t think we know all that much about
all this stuff. Uncle says I have to wait till I’m seventeen, when I’m an adult,
to learn more.”
“That’s what Grannie says to me too. Weird, isn’t it? Like we
couldn’t handle the truth now.”
Jatred’s phone shrilled in his shorts pocket. He took it out and
looked at the screen.
“It’s Bogdan,” he told her. “I told Erik I can’t play basketball
tonight.”
“You’re not gonna talk to Bogdan?”
“No. I’m sure this can wait—whatever it is.” Jatred put the phone
back and smiled.
“So now what? We can’t even see each other?”
Jatred didn’t answer. He felt miserable, his shoulders slumped
again. She put her hands on his back and wrapped her legs around his waist. She
propped her feet on the large rock behind the bench. He held her close, and
they sat motionless, embraced in a perfect union.
“I can’t let you go. I just
can’t, I can’t, I can’t,” she kept repeating, like it was a mantra that could
erase the pain.
He kissed Jasmira gently on the lips, and then pulled away to look
into her eyes. The tears spilled down her cheeks again. She kissed him back,
first softly then hard and deep. Taking a shaky breath, Jatred pressed her
closer to him.
“I love you so much,” he whispered with his mind. “I’m not a human.
I’m a wolf, and you’re my mate for life.”
“I am yours in this life and in any other life that might be. We’ll
be together again; I know we will.” He heard her sad voice in his head.
His vision blurred. Two silent tears spilled from his eyes, leaving
shiny streaks on his skin, matching the ones on Jasmira’s face.
CHAPTER 15
Human World. October1st,
early afternoon.
The rain was falling in sheets. Jasmira’s hair was plastered to her
face in long black strands. Her True Religion jeans and hoodie were already soaked
through, and so were her light-blue Converse shoes. She sat on the grass,
oblivious to the rain, hugging her knees to her chest. She started to rock back
and forth. Her back shook from irrepressible sobs, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
In her mind, she saw Jatred. There was a sad smile on his face, coming and
disappearing, while she held his hands.
During the last few weeks
they had seen each other between classes, but had to act as if they had hardly
known one another. After school they had kept away. The risk was too real, too
serious. The Goddess was ruthless, and they both understood she wouldn’t
hesitate to take extreme measures to separate them.
Jatred was furious and wanted to stand up to Crystal, but Jasmira
knew better. She calmed him down each time, putting on a cheerful face, despite
the turmoil she felt inside.
“I love you so damn much,” he
whispered to her today, right when she left her
AP English classroom. He
wanted to kiss her, to hold her close and feel her warm skin against his. But
they had to be careful, so he only added with his mind, keeping up the mental
shield, “I don’t care about anything. I have to be with you.”
She took him by the wrist and
led him outside to the school garden. There, she made him listen, as she
reminded him of the Winter Goddess’s ultimatum.
“It’s hard for me too. But
it’s the only way right now. I miss you terribly. It’s like a part of me is
gone,” she told him, holding back the tears.
Now, sitting in her backyard,
she let herself break down and cry, permitting frustration to take charge. She
lifted her face to the gray sky and allowed the rain to wash the tears away. A
shiver ran through her. Another feeling resurfaced
—anger.
She clenched her jaws and dug her fingers in the dirt. Her face set in an ugly
mask of rage.
The air around her pulsed in short thin waves, the edges of her
hair, clothes, and body momentarily distorted. With a throaty roar she shifted,
leapt forward, and sprinted toward the woods.
***
Human World, November 15,
late afternoon.
Amber glanced at Jasmira and
drummed her long red-painted nails on the table. She leaned back into her chair
and crossed her legs. Jasmira’s elbows were propped on the table, her face
buried in her hands. Her long hair was braided into a loose plait. A few thin
long strands curled around her face.
“So you want him back.” Amber
lifted her brows and reached into her tiny purse. She pulled out a red lipstick
and a compact case with a mirror.
Jasmira watched her from
between her fingers. Holding the mirror in front of her face, the Goddess traced
her lips with the lipstick. She pressed them together and slowly parted them,
examining the effect. A new shiny coat of red contrasted with Amber’s fair
skin. She closed the lipstick and the compact, dropping them unhurriedly into
her purse.
“You know, I can’t help with
this in the Human World. He’s not my Shifter, so I don’t have any powers over
him here,” she spoke in a level voice. “But you could try the Amulet.”
“What?” Jasmira sat up
straight.
“The Amulet is still in the
Winter’s custody. It will revert back to us during the upcoming winter
solstice, but until then, Jatred is its protector.” Amber leaned forward and looked
straight into Jasmira’s dark eyes.
“You
need to ask him to show it to you. When he does, you have to make sure to hold
it. Or better yet, put it on. I will be able to guide you, but it has to touch
your skin. I will make Jatred forget about the Amulet’s existence until you are
safely away with it.”
“But how? What does the Amulet
do?”
“And then what?”
“He’ll see how powerful the Amulet is. And how
powerless
Crystal is without it. I can give Jatred my protection,
but he must agree to it. This way you two will be able to stay together, and
Crystal won’t have authority over him, just in time for the ten-thousand-year
mark. You need to be together before that time, and the best way to do so is to
bring Jatred to my Realm. There, I can help—without Crystal’s intervention.”
Jasmira looked away. “But I don’t know if Jatred will ever submit to
you, my Goddess. He might not be fond of Crystal, but he is a Winter Shifter
after all.”
Amber smiled, and it wasn’t a friendly smile. Jasmira heard the
Goddess’s voice clearly in her head, “Get the Amulet. Leave the rest to me.”
