Book Cover created in acrylic by the extremely talented @therealpaul
If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn
Chapter Twenty-Five
Anna felt as if she were being pulled from her body, but she resisted, holding tightly to the world of dreams. Foreign words tumbled through her mind and though she did not know their meaning on a conscious level, something within her understood. She felt a little like she was underwater for a moment and then just as suddenly she was free, breaking through the surface. Her eyes flew open just in time to register Jared rolling off her.
He collapsed against the pillow and she turned over and grinned at him.
“How does coffee sound?” she hopped from the bed with the grin in place.
An eyebrow went up. “I could drink some coffee.”
She pulled on the shirt he was wearing the night before, breathing his scent in deeply and scampered off to the kitchen.
He watched her in bemusement. His little female. He shook his head in bewilderment at the shift in his feelings towards her, literally overnight. A few days ago he couldn’t imagine ever warming to the fickle little pixie.
The word fickle stuck in his mind and he frowned at the reminder of her changeability. It would not be wise for him to completely let go of his misgivings no matter how sweet she suddenly seemed. Especially since he still knew virtually nothing about her. And he wasn’t quite ready to start asking questions. If she lied to him again the punishment of the previous night would be love taps compared to the blistering he’d give her.
He made a sound of disgust at the thought of causing her pain. Damn, this whole mating thing had him turned upside down. No questions for now, he thought firmly.
He took his coffee outside on the porch and she followed him.
“Do you think those Lyncane fight demons all the time?”
He raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
“I wonder if there are more of them around here. Do you think so? I wonder if there are Faerian hunters here too. What about vampires, there has to be more vampires left in the world that still hunt….
He listened to her chatter on, grunting his answers, thinking that coffee might not be her friend. He couldn’t decide if he was more amused or irritated by it. She’d barely said a word to him before last night, walking on eggshells around him. Wisely, he thought, though in retrospect he felt a little bad about it. His ancient instincts were definitely happier with this version of Anna confirming that her happiness was indeed one of the bond’s requirements.
He realized she had quieted and focused on her. She was looking at the wooden floor of the porch, her face flushed.
She looked back at him and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I’m talking too much.” She bit her lip and her face clouded.
“No,” he said quickly. “It’s...I’m not used to conversation.”
She nodded weakly.
He sighed. “I’m going out to hunt. You be good.” He stepped off the porch and blurred to the wilderness.
Later that day he found her standing at the property line and experienced a moment of white hot anger thinking she intended to cross it. But then she turned and waved with a clear conscience and he breathed easier.
“What are you doing?” he asked when he reached her.
“Eavesdropping. There’s a man in town, someone everybody seems to adore, who’s dying of cancer. From the sounds of it he’s only fifty years old and his family is in bad shape. Especially his wife.”
“Is that so.”
She nodded. “I could help him.”
He looked startled and then laughed shortly. “I don’t think so.”
“But...
“He’s human. It was different with the Lyncane, your abilities are made for that type of healing.”
“So it might hurt a little, I won’t die from it…
“NO, Anna. No.” Her face fell and he sighed in frustration. “He’s human, even if you heal him he’ll still die in a breath of time. Ten years, twenty- thirty if he’s really lucky and I’m not certain I would call it luck since by that age he’ll be withered, his body frail if it even works at all. If he’s dying then it’s his time to go.”
She tried again. “Ten or twenty years might not seem like much to you…us, but for them it’s a lifetime. And his wife would be so happy…
He scowled down at her. “What about the word NO don’t you understand? He’s just a fucking human!” He looked angrily up at the sky and missed her cringing. “The people in town adore him? Well that’s today when he’s sick and they’re glorifying his existence. If you’d listened in a year ago you would have likely heard them complaining about the same
“Beloved” man for some slight. Humans are shallow and petty, they have no concept of anything enduring.”
His eyes were flaring with light, indicating the strength of his feelings on the matter and a lump formed in Anna’s throat. He hated them. How could she ever tell him what she was or where she had come from? She couldn’t bear it if he went back to treating her like he did before last night. Or worse, abandoning her all together.
He looked at her fiercely. “You will obey me in this. If I catch you crossing this line I will blister your little ass, and when it heals I’ll do it again. DO NOT make the mistake of doubting me.”
She pushed away her worries and wondered how he could still be so incredibly gorgeous with a thunderous scowl on his face. “I won’t cross the line, I promise,” she assured him and watched his features relax slowly.
When he had calmed she walked up to him and laid her head on his chest. His arms came around her reflexively and he lifted her up placing his large warm palm on the side of her face. His eyes had ceased glittering and were once again ice blue. They were so beautiful it almost hurt to look at them.
“I do appreciate your heart in the matter,” he said softly.
She kissed him on the nose and he pulled his head back and shot her a look. She giggled and he snorted.
“Imp,” he accused and she nodded.
He kept her in his arms until they reached the house, then tossed her playfully on the couch, falling down on top of her while she shrieked in pure joy.
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