“Hey-a, William. Welcome back!” Patrick hollered across the room, though he was less than five paces from the four sets of Immortal ears that could have heard him a mile away at that volume. “Didn’t you just leave?”
Patrick smiled one that was the devil incarnate at me. I sneered back. This had been a typical transaction between Patrick and me this summer and a large reason why I’d become such an adept and capable student: the sooner I learned how to kick his butt, the sooner I could actually do it.
“Go away, Patrick,” I snapped, but it was half-hearted in delivery at best. It was impossible to be irritated by anything with William’s and my reunion just minutes fresh.
His smile grew and the tease in his eyes was so extreme it was spilling from them. “You don’t think you’re going to skip out of training today just because my brother . . . whom you’ve mistaken for god,” Patrick said, raising an eyebrow, “is home now, do you?”
“Actually I do and I’ve got something else to add,” I said in my no-room-for-negotiation tone. “No training any day William’s home.”
Patrick huffed, crossing his arms. “The Council will love that. I’m sure I’ll have no problem whatsoever getting that approved. This is how I’ll put it before them—my student, Bryn Dawson, you know, the rebellious, chip on her shoulder newbie, requests that she not have to undergo any kind of training when my brother, William Hayward, is in town, so they can do a handful of filthy little things they’re admonished from doing by a law that was laid down by the ancients of our kind. Could you just sign off on that right here?” Patrick air-clicked an imaginary pen, smirking at my scowl.
“Actually, why don’t you spend the afternoon with Patrick,” William said, fastening his hands over my h*ps and hoisting me up with him. “I’ve got a meeting with the Council this afternoon, so I’ll be gone until later this evening.”
My face was already in full pout mode when I turned to him. “You’re leaving? You’ve been here a whole three and a half minutes,” I whined. He’d been gone a whole month and the Council couldn’t give us an hour to catch up before stealing him away for some silly meeting that was scheduled to keep us apart (or at least that’s what the paranoid piece of me thought).
He ran his fingers down the side of my cheek. “I’ll be back soon,” he reassured me. “Once you’re done showing Patrick a thing or two. I’ve got big plans for tonight.”
My heart flat-lined before charging back to life. “What kind of big plans?”
William’s eyes left me and created a triangle between the three Haywards. “If you’ll excuse us, I need to talk to Bryn for a moment alone.”
“Of course,” Cora said, already clearing out of the living room, grabbing the sleeve of Joseph and pulling him with her.
She cleared her throat once they were in the hall. “Patrick?”
“I’m coming, bossy,” he yelled at her as he approached us.
William stepped around me and crushed his arms around him. “Thank you, Patrick. Thank you for taking care of her.”
Patrick slapped William’s back a couple of times. “Not a problem,” he said, turning to me and winking. “I think I get what you see in her.”
I smiled, but had to counter it by rolling my eyes.
“I’ll let you say your . . .”—Patrick cleared his throat—“goodbyes.” He nudged his brother and swerved towards the hall. “I’ll be in the kitchen whenever you’re ready, Bryn,” he hollered back needlessly. If he wasn’t in the Maserati or exchanging spars and sweeps with me in the training arena, he was in the kitchen. He would have slept in the kitchen if a bed would have fit in Charles’.
William wrapped his hand around mine and pulled me to the front door, holding the screen open for me to pass through.
“Have any plans this evening?” he asked, settling a piece of my hair behind my ear.
“I had so many,” I replied, trying to keep a straight face. “I suppose I could cancel and reschedule if you had something else to persuade me with.”
His eyes were so pale in the early morning light they glowed as he leaned his face down to mine. The pale blue all Immortals are reborn with, until a sapphire color takes its place once a couple is United . . . in more than one way. “I think I have an evening planned that promises persuade-ability,” he whispered, his breath fanning over my face.
I understood why he’d excused us from his family; he had a special night planned for just the two of us, something the Immortal world didn’t allow since we didn’t technically belong to one another in their eyes. Not that the three family members back in the kitchen cared if we spent as much time together as possible, but William and I were emphatic that we would not jeopardize them. Their faithfulness to us would not be returned with discipline from the Council if they discovered Patrick, Joseph or Cora knew about out private meetings.
Deniability—that’s what William and I called it and next to our commitment to each other, it was a top priority. That’s why every night William was home, he would sneak out my bedroom window before Joseph or Cora roused for the morning and that’s why we planned our secret meetings with no one else around.
“I’ll come back for you later tonight once I’m done with the Council,” he said, dropping his mouth to mine. His lips barely grazed mine before they retreated, but it had been enough.
Not thinking, I pressed up on my tip-toes and smashed my mouth back into his, grabbing the back of his neck should he attempt to step back. I encouraged his mouth open with my lips, pressing my body against his with such force I imagined myself melting into him. The instant he responded, I pulled away. I wasn’t sure who it’d been harder on.
His eyes were still closed as he smiled. “You’re cruel, you know that?”
I was too preoccupied forcing my body to settle down to respond.
“How do you expect me to leave you after that?” His eyes were wide, pupils dilated. It didn’t seem possible my lack of experience in every form of male intimacy could expunge such a reaction from the man before me, but I was thanking my lucky stars it did.
“Just in case you needed a little incentive to return tonight,” I replied, sounding as breathless as I felt.
“I see your sensibilities haven’t improved any while I was gone.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, not taking my eyes from him for one blink. The precious days I had him in front of me were not going to be wasted.
“Your sensibilities regarding how there’s nothing that could or would keep me from you,” he said, as if this was as obvious as the world is round. “As long as you want me, I’ll always come back,” he vowed, reaching for me. “No matter how long they try to keep us apart.”
“I’ll be waiting,” I said, hoping I wouldn’t be waiting long.
“Bring a swimsuit.” He winked before gliding down the front porch stairs.
“Why?” I asked, turning to watch him.
He stopped, turning to face me—mischief was sparking like a flare over his face. “Actually, don’t. You won’t need one, it will be a perfect night for skinny-dipping.”
I swallowed back the heat rising up my throat imagining the two of us with nothing but a coat of water separating our bodies. “It seems tramping around Africa for a month didn’t improve your sensibilities, either,” I said, trying to sound calm.
“Or maybe it did,” he said, his face losing the mischief and growing serious. “Maybe I’m the one seeing everything clear, Bryn.”
I knew what he meant. He was referring to the impossible situation we were in. The crossroads before us, at which neither of us would yield and go down the other’s chosen path, so instead we stood at a standstill and waited. I wanted the Council’s blessing, never willing to put him in danger again and he wanted to run away and be with me—nothing more, nothing less.
The truth of the whole thing—the most agonizing bit to it—was this is exactly what I wanted, too. I didn’t care about some stupid Betrothal Ball or an over-the-top Unity ceremony. I would have been blessed beyond one person’s measure just having him, but I knew if we defied the Council, I could never be assured that William wouldn’t be forced to pay for our indignations to the Immortal way. It was a classic Bryn situation, also known as a lose-lose situation. My Mortal vex had followed me into Immortality.
“Hurry back,” I said, unable to respond. I knew he was thinking clearly, but I wouldn’t let his life be threatened. Ever.
His eyes embraced me one last time before he loped across Joseph and Cora’s front lawn, leapt over the fence without breaking stride, and was lost in a blur of colors. My eyes lingered over the spot he’d disappeared, hoping I could conjure him back if I stared long enough. I came to the conclusion conjuring wasn’t my thing by the time fifteen minutes had passed. I sighed and turned to head back into the house. The sooner I was done with Patrick, the sooner I could skinny-dip with William.
CHAPTER TWO
CHOSEN
A sweet voice broke my daydream that had involved water, William, and me sans clothing, bringing me back to the kitchen table and three pairs of eyes pointed at me.
“Done in,” I replied while Cora reached for my dinner plate that sat cold and untouched.
“Did you lose your appetite or something?” Joseph asked, sounding concerned, and rightfully so. Since moving into their house, I’d led the food-scarfing campaign that had become known as “Leave no morsel behind.” It seemed a sacrilege given Cora’s aptitude for putting together meals that Julia Child would have tipped her wine glass at.
Patrick chuckled. “I’d say her appetite has merely swung from food to something else.”
I didn’t bother to dignify his comment with a response, although he was dead on. I’d waited long enough. I’d done my part and spent the afternoon training (mostly sulking) with Patrick and I’d made it through dinner. Surely William would be back from his meeting with the Council and waiting for me somewhere out in the endless acres of the Hayward estate.
“I’m going up to my room for the night,” I said, rising from my chair. I wasn’t able to meet any of their eyes. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“Sweet dreams,” Patrick’s voice gushed with implications.
I continued my journey down the hall and up the stairs, careful to keep my rhythm slow and steady. My feet were desperate to tear at the ground beneath them until I hit Mach 3, but I couldn’t yet.
I shoved open the door to my room, my eyes falling on a piece of paper folded in the shape of a crane. My heart sputtered when I visualized him walking into my room and placing the note on my bed while I was chained to a table of responsibility one floor below. I sprung onto the bed, grabbing up the crane. Unfolding it, I found a map leading to a location I was unfamiliar with, but the directions were clear enough. I’d tear the entire forest up trying to find this place if need be.