The Awakening Aidan - By Abby Niles Page 0,61
seen him today.”
She pressed her hand to her mouth, her gaze automatically drawn to the storm brewing outside. Fear for Aidan consumed her. He may be a shifter, almost invincible, but he wasn’t immortal. Anything could happen to him out there. Something that could take him away from her forever.
Just when she’d been ready to open herself up to the possibility of a “them.”
Wouldn’t it be what she deserved for being so shortsighted and continuously denying him?
“Did you hear me?”
She blinked, her attention slamming back to the box. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“It’s getting closer. Go on now. Don’t worry about Mr. O’Connell. He can take care of himself.”
“Right.”
Not worry. As if.
As she stepped away from the intercom, a gust of wind whipped through the room and sent magazines scattering to the floor. She quickly closed the wall-sized shutters and stepped back. She couldn’t see outside, couldn’t search for Aidan. She’d locked him out. Again.
Such an irrational thought, but the wall towered over her, becoming a symbol of every wall she’d put between her and Aidan.
Claustrophobia pressed on her chest.
No more walls. She’d no longer protect herself at his expense.
It was time to weather the storm, both literally and figuratively.
She yanked one side open and slipped out onto the deck. The wind whipped her hair across her face and flattened her robe to her body. Hurrying down the stairs onto the sand, she called his name, hoping if he heard her, he’d know she was worried about him and at least come back inside. She didn’t care if he went into another room and completely ignored her, just as long as he was out of danger.
Howling wind carried her voice away as if she hadn’t even spoken. The first droplets of rain hit her face. Within seconds, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour ensued, soaking her through in seconds.
“Aidan! Please! Answer me!”
As she surveyed the wall of trees, she pushed her drenched hair away from her face. He was in there somewhere. Her mind went crazy with possible scenarios. Hurt? Trapped? Dying?
What if she never got to make amends and he died thinking she didn’t care for him? He died hating her?
Her throat tightened in terror. Oh God, she had to find him. Tell him how she felt, so there was no longer any doubt.
“Please be okay. Please be okay.”
She stepped into the woods, wincing as the earth shook beneath her feet as another round of thunder boomed overhead.
“Aidan! I’m so sorry! Please come out!”
She took a dozen more steps before a shadow moved out from underneath a dead tree about twenty feet away.
A cougar.
Aidan.
He transformed and shouted, “What the hell are you doing out here?”
Relief almost brought her to her knees. He wasn’t hurt. Dying. He was whole.
All her misgiving left, leaving her feeling liberated, truly free.
She loved this man.
She stepped toward him, wanting to wrap herself around him and never let go. Orange sparks followed by a sickening crack stopped her in her tracks and she ducked, covering her head with her arms.
Everything slowed to a crawl.
The crashing sound of the branch hurtling toward her, Aidan roaring her name as he stumbled forward, the gasp of realization that the split second she’d needed to move was gone. The thick limb crushed her to the ground. A moment of pain ricocheted throughout her body.
Then she felt nothing.
…
“No!”
Aidan shoved the huge limb aside as if it weighed no more than a piece of paper, and he knelt beside her. Terror made his body tremble, leaving his beast momentarily stunned.
It’d happened so fast. One moment he’d been trying to convince himself that love hadn’t just softened her face, the next he’d been running toward her in a blind panic. Her body crumbled beneath the weight of the wood.
And now she lay on her side. So still.
“Jay—” his voice cracked, and he cleared it. “Jaylin?”
Hands shaking, he gently turned her over. His throat constricted. Blood mixed with rain, creating a watery red trail from one corner of her mouth to across her cheek. Aidan moved over her, protecting her head from the downpour, as he pressed two fingers into the side of her neck.
Faint, but there. He closed his eyes in relief.
Another boom of thunder shook around them, then hail pelted his naked skin with sharp needle-like pricks. He huddled closer to Jaylin, wrapping his arms around her head, blinking the water out of his eyes as he calculated the distance to the house.
Moving her was a horrible idea,