Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
TYNAN
Istood by the window, staring out at the outlines of the mountains in the dim light of the moon. Alina shifted in the bed, and my eyes snapped back to her. She looked so exhausted that, despite how much I wanted to take her again, I did not dare wake her.
My mind revisited the last two hours as I admired her gorgeous body with soft creamy skin with a gold dust of freckles on her shoulders and arms. Her agonizingly slow movements when she mounted my hips.
Just thinking about the perfect curve of her breasts, her eyes on my face, her careful motions and I was hard again.
When the first rays of light touched the mountains on the horizon, I carefully opened the door and stepped into the corridor. My steps were light as I left the castle and hurried down the sets of stairs.
My body craved the exhaustion of intense training.
I started to run along the side road and only stopped when the sun lit up the whole valley.
I walked for a while, breathing heavily, before performing some light exercises until my arms were shaking, and only then I took out the knives and practiced throwing them in quick succession.
I just walked over to collect my knives and bent to pick up one of the blades that fell to the ground.
The sound of voices made me pause.
“If you would just let me –” Frid’s voice carried loud and clear.
“There’s nothing to explain.” Victor responded.
“Do you or do you not?”
“Just move on.”
“I don’t want to move on.”
“Well, that’s your problem, isn’t it?”
“Then stop being so weird!”
“What?”
“You are. Why are you watching me all the time? Is there something that bothers you? Spit it out!”
“Fuck! Just leave me alone, will you?” Victor was losing his patience.
“Fine. I get it.” Frid walked past me, without realizing that I was crouched behind the wood target.
“I’m curious now. What exactly do you get?”
“It doesn’t matter what the others say. There’s no way, and both of us know it. There’s no reason to keep thinking about it. I’m surely not going to spend a minute of my day thinking about you.”
“Fine.”
“Great!”
“Fine.”
“There’s just one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Fuck you!” Frid sped up, leaving Victor standing alone.
I rubbed my eyes, and stood up.
Victor turned toward me. His face was unusually irritated.
“What the fuck? You scared me to death!”
“Sorry.”
“Did you hear everything?”
“Yah.”
“Any advice?”
“Nah, I’d rather stay out of it.” I said, sheathing my knives.
“Good, because you really suck at this. What are you up to?”
“Going to find Hanoch.” I secured my belt.
“Can I go with you?”
“If you want.”
“I’d rather stay busy.”
“Sure.”
“Don’t you dare tell me that I’m avoiding her.”
“Wasn’t going to.”
“Because I’m not.”
“Sure.”
We headed back to the castle.
When I found my older brother, he was sitting at his desk, surrounded by maps, papers, and opened books.
He barely glanced at Victor and me when I closed the door behind us.
“Ah, it’s you. Should I ask where you were?”
“We went back to the temple to get the sacred water.”
Hanoch stood up and walked around his desk, he looked exhausted with dark purple lines under his eyes. His hair was tangled as if he had not slept at all.
“You went, after the clan decided that every capable male should be available in case of an attack.”
“Yes.”
“What do you expect for this? A basket of sweet pies?” He scrutinized my face.
“It’s stupid to have nothing to fight with.”
“We don’t even know if it will work,” he said.
“It works. We just fought a shit ton of them back at the sacred city,” Victor chimed in.
“Why are you here?” Hanoch squinted, looking at Victor.
Victor crossed his arms on his chest, saying nothing in return.
“This is why I’m the clan leader, not you. You have to respect the opinions of the majority.” Hanoch continued.
“Is that so? Have you come up with a better plan?”
“That’s not my point. Anyway, how much water did you get?”
Hanoch was silent for a few moments after I finished speaking. His fingers began drumming on the surface of the table. Then he looked out the window and gave us a quick nod.
“You will get some scorn when the others learn that you have disregarded the clan’s decision,” he said.
“I know you can smooth it out.” I said, opening the door.
“Yeah. Right.” Hanoch muttered, returning back to his seat behind the table.
As we entered the corridor, I glanced at Victor.
“I’m going back to Alina,” I said.
"What? You can't go a couple of hours without her?" he asked.
“Nope.” I said already walking down the corridor.
“You are such a traitor!”
“Tell Frid how you feel before it’s too late,” I responded, not looking back.
“Why would it be too late?”
“She may find someone better than you.” I turned the corner clearly hearing the swears directed at me.
When I stepped into my room, Alina was still asleep.
Without wasting any time, I got out of my clothes, washed up, and then went back to bed, watching the soft twitching of her long eyelashes beneath the golden light of the morning sun.
Before I could stop myself, my hand traced the skin of her exposed shoulder.
“Tynan?” she whispered, not opening her eyes.
“Princess?” I placed a light kiss on her arm.
She opened her eyes, and a soft smile spread across her perfectly pink lips.
“Where did you go?”
“I went for a run and talked to Hanoch afterward.”
“Your brother’s a good man,” she said.
“He’s alright.” My hand traced the constellation of freckles on her skin.
She finally opened her eyes and studied my face. “I wish . . . I really want you to meet my brother someday.” She sighed.
“Tell me about your home.”
She told me about her life in Gora, her friends, how they found a forest witch, and how it changed the course of their lives forever.
“A witch? I had no idea they were real.” I smiled, watching her glowing face.
"Where I come from, there are no shifters. I always thought I was the only one in the world."
"You’re not alone." I placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Do you think we'll ever find a way below?"
"I will find it for you. I promise."