that instant, I knew I had fallen in love with him and that the bond we shared would make this love grow stronger.
"I promise," I said softly.
He smiled and leaned closer until our lips almost met. "Soph, I'll follow you everywhere. I'll do anything you want." His lips crushed mine. My mind began to spin and I let myself fall into his embrace, abandoning my own being to become a part of him, even if only for a few brief seconds. The room seemed forgotten. My fingers began to unbutton his shirt when a loud screech pierced my eardrums. I broke free and pressed my hands against my ears to stop the unnerving sound.
Chapter 19
The screech piercing my eardrums came out of nowhere. If it weren't for Thrain to jump up and run outside, I would've thought it was all happening in my head again, which wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. My palms pressed harder against my ears to drown out the noise as I followed a step behind Thrain. He turned and frowned at me.
"What?" I mouthed.
"Please, stay inside." His voice was low, barely more than a whisper. I was amazed to find I was able to hear him over the shrilling screech coming from outside.
I shook my head. "There's no way I'm staying here and you get to have all the fun." For a moment, our gazes locked in a fierce battle for control. The corners of his lips twitched, and I found myself smiling with him. He seemed to find my defiance endearing just as much as I found his protective nature one of the most attractive features about him. I grabbed his hand and dragged him behind me out the door. "Come on. You're wasting time."
He sighed but didn't argue, which suited me just fine. I had enough distractions already and didn't need another one. The noise came from the woods, near the gate. My shoe soles barely made any noise on the cobblestones as we took off down the declining path. For a moment I even felt a bit like the immortals, until my breathing started to sound like a whistle and I vowed to give up smoking. By the time Thrain and I reached the gate the noise had stopped. Aidan and Amber were already there, searching the thicket.
"Did you hear that noise?" I asked. "What was it?"
Aidan stopped in his tracks and turned to look at me. "What noise?"
I groaned inwardly. It had all been a figment of my imagination. The fact that I couldn't distinguish between fact and fiction was slowly starting to piss me off. "You didn't hear it?"
"Nope." He cocked a brow. That didn't make any sense. Why would they be running out like maniacs if they didn't hear anything? Aidan pointed behind him at the gate. "I felt their presence."
"And I picked up his thoughts," Amber said, touching the wall. "Shadows."
"I thought so too," Aidan said. "But it's different. Look—" He leaned forward to smell a stone in the wall. I inched closer and took a whiff. All I could smell was rain and dust.
"I smell it too," Amber whispered. "It's strange. So similar to their scent and yet not quite. What bothers me though is the fact that it's on the inside of the wall."
I followed her line of vision from the wall to Aidan whose face had just turned into a mask of fury. "They wouldn't dare enter my property."
"Last time I checked they literally couldn't enter so maybe it's just a coincidence," Amber said.
Coincidences were nothing but poor excuses to shrug off the unbelievable, my grandmother always said. My gaze scanned the trees and bushes around us as the others decided to get back to the house and start searching the area for any intruders. But they didn't need to.
He was waiting for us in the living room, sitting on the couch like an invited guest. Lost for words, I blinked several times, unsure whether I was seeing a ghost. And yet I knew it was Gael because no ghost would ever regard me the way he did. Cold. Arrogant. Accusing. I cleared my throat, suddenly feeling guilty for dumping him via email. He didn't deserve it.
"So you're Gael, and mortal. That certainly explains how you got in," Amber said, planting herself in front of me.
I appreciated the concern but pushed her aside and took a step forward. "How did you find me?"
"There's a lovely invention called IP address, which is quite easy to track.