Elfin (22 page)

So he was honest. “I don’t know.”

They sat in companionable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Cassie was careful not to touch Trik because she didn’t want him to see the worry or fear in her. No matter how he tried to act, she could tell he was pulling away.

Trik watched Cassie out of the corner of his eye. She was incredible sitting there with sun shining on her blonde hair and smooth skin. He had never been so attracted to someone and it was all he could do to keep from pulling her into his arms and kissing that worried look off her face. He wanted to see her smile, to see the sparkle in her eyes. He stood up and reached for her hand. She looked up at him , the confusion of his actions written clearly on her face.

“I
have a surprise for you.” He smiled at her as he waited for her to put her hand in his.

Finally she
did and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She followed him through the lush forest, her eyes constantly roving over the life that was so apparent. A cool breeze blew across her face and raised the tendrils of hair that fell from her bun onto her neck. Trik stopped just before a small clearing appeared.

She started to speak but stopped when he raised a finger to his lips. Trik cupped his hands around his face and made a sound that Cassie could only describe as a cat growling. She cocked her head to the side as she watched him.

“Just wait,” he whispered as he pointed in the direction of the clearing.

Cassie tried to breathe as quietly as possible, but felt like the harder she tried to be quiet, the louder she became. After several minutes she began to see the leaves and grass on the other side of the clearing move. Her breathing stopped as she waited in rapt attention to see what was going to emerge from the lush foliage.

She let out a gasp and clamped her hand over her mouth as she watched two large white tigers walk smoothly into the clearing. They were looking around as if they were expecting someone. Without any word to her, Trik stood up and began to walk towards them. The tigers tensed. When Trik came into their view, they relaxed. Her mouth dropped open when one of the tigers playfully bounded up to him as if it were only a ten pound kitten rather than a two hundred pound tiger. Trik reached his hand out and the beast rubbed his head against it. Trik turned back to where she still knelt watching him. He motioned for her to come over.

She stood slowly and began moving forward, when the two tigers
’ eyes finally noticed her she froze.

“They won’t hurt you
, Cassie,” Trik told her.

After a moment’s hesitation s
he got her feet to continue on towards Trik and the beautiful cats. When they had first walked into the clearing, Cassie had thought their stripes were white, but the closer she came, the more she realized that their stripes were actually dark silver; and slightly shimmered when they moved. Their eyes were large, gold and lined in black as if they were wearing eye liner. She stopped when she made it to Trik’s side. The tigers where less than three feet from her and she stilled, waiting for what would happen next.

“Tyndril,” Trik spoke to the tiger closest to her, “come say hello.”

The tiger he had called Tyndril took slow steps towards Cassie, as if she understood her fear. She sat down on her haunches directly in front of Cassie and stared at her. Cassie reached her hand out and couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face as the large cat pressed her head into it. She looked over at Trik who was smiling at her.

“What are they?”

“They are called
tiriths . They are the equivalent of your tiger species, only they are a little special.”

“Special how?”
Cassie asked as Tyndril moved closer so she could rub her body against Cassie’s. She laughed as the large cat nearly pushed her over trying to snuggle closer.

“For one, they understand us.”

Cassie’s eyes snapped up. “What do you mean they understand us?”

“I mean they have a superior
intellect and understand our language, and I have taught these two English.”

Cassie looked at Tyndril closely. “Can you understand me?” The large cat nodded
its large head. Cassie’s eyes widened and her grin grew impossibly large.

“That is so cool!”

Trik laughed at her enthusiasm.

“This affectionate girl
is Tyndril, and this guy is Tao.”

“They are beautiful,” Cassie walked around Tyndril towards Tao and reached her hand out to him. He stepped forward and bowed to her before pressing his head into her hand.

“What else makes them special?”

“They have a healing ability which makes them dangerous in battle. Their wounds restore almost instantly.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

“Their noses are about four times stronger than that of your tigers and once they have your scent it’s committed to memory, they will never forget you and would be able to track you to the ends of any realm.”

“The
y are really amazing. Thank you so much for introducing me to them.”

“Tyndril, Tao,” Trik addressed them and the two
large tigers both looked at him. “What do you think of my Chosen.” He gestured to Cassie.

Cassie didn’t know what to expect but when both tigers stood, placed one leg out in front of them and bowed their heads to her, she knew that was not it.

Cassie looked up at Trik, her eyes wide in question.

“They honor you and are pleased
that the Forest Lords have chosen you to be mine. It also means that they will always protect you against any threat.”

Cassie bowed her head in return. “Thank you. I treasure your friendship.”

Trik watched as the woman who held the other half of his soul, the woman not of his realm, accepted a part of his world. She took joy in the two cats. He hadn’t expected to be so affected by her presence in his realm, or by her reaction to it.

They spent
the day walking through the forest, sometimes talking, sometimes not. Tyndril and Tao, their constant sentries, were never far away. They finally ended up back in front of Trik’s small cabin and he pulled her to a halt before she could reach the door. Cassie turned to look up at him and her breath caught in her throat at the emotion that shone through his silver eyes. His hair blew gently in the breeze and his full lips caught her attention.

Trik reached out and pulled her to him. One hand at the base of her neck the other gripped her hip. He pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes.

“This has been the best day of my life,” he whispered to her.

Cassie smiled. “I can’t decide if I should be flattered or feel sad that hanging out with a girl in a field is the highlight of your thousand plus years.”

Trik chuckled. His fingers traced up her arm and across her neck to her jaw line.

“What’s sad is that I’ve been waiting a thousand years for you, and now I no longer deserve you—if I ever did.”

Cassie heard the sadness in his voice and it broke her heart.

“It doesn’t matter what’s in the past, or what’s in the future, Trik. What matters is this moment, now, and what we choose to do with it.” Cassie opened her mind to him as his fingers traced her collarbone. She wanted him to see exactly how much she meant those words. She didn’t care about his past, and all the ugly things. All she cared about was now.

Trik pulled her into his arms and held her close. He kept back the part of him that would show her the love that had grown painfully strong in his heart for her . While he kept this back, he couldn’t stop his soul from reaching for hers. He heard her gasp at the sensation that was so hard to describe to anyone who had never felt it. She tilted her head back to look up at him and to his surprise she grabbed his face and pulled him to her. She kissed him with an intensity he had never before felt. He felt her soul reach into him and wrap him in warmth and love. In that moment he felt protected and cherished.

He deepened the kiss and pulled her body closer. His han
d reached up and pulled her messy bun free from its confines. Her hair flowed down over his hand and he ran his fingers through it and felt her shudder. His other hand moved from her hip slipping to her lower back bunching her shirt in his fist. His fingers grazed the soft skin of her back drawing a hiss from her lips as she pulled back. Her lips glistened from their kiss, swollen and red. He smiled down at her and she blushed.

“Beautiful,” he wh
ispered as he stroked her cheek. “My beautiful Cassie.”

Cassie didn’t know what to say. She had tried to show him through her kiss that she wanted him, all of him.

“I know
A'maelamin , and I believe you.”

“Then why the sad face?” She asked him.

He shook his head. “Not sad, just trying to memorize everything about you so that while I’m gone tomorrow, I can remember. Remember your smell, your taste, the way you feel in my arms.”

“Oh,” Cassie said as she tried to breathe around the lump in her throat.

“I think it’s time for me to take you back.” He stepped back and took her hand in his.

Cassie smiled and nodded
, though she didn’t want the day to end.

He followed her out of the park to where Cassie had told Elora to meet her through a text message.

“So you aren’t coming back tonight?” Cassie asked
remembering that her parents had wanted her to invite him for dinner.

“I’ve got some things to take care of. I’ll be by in the morning before you leave to give you the dress to wear for the party.”

Cassie nodded, not wanting to think about going to the party that the Dark Elf King and Queen were throwing in honor of Trik finding his Chosen.

“When you come to get me tomorrow evening you are going to have to meet my dad.”

Trik noticed the worry in her eyes.

He laughed.
“You act like I will be going before a firing squad.”

“Oh
, he won’t try to kill you. He will simply pry into your life seeking out your deepest, darkest secrets. So just be prepared.”

Just then
Elora’s car pulled up. Trik leaned down and placed a sweet kiss to her lips and then waved at Elora, who gave him the finger.

“I don’t think she’s happy with me.” Trik smirked.

Cassie simply shrugged and backed away towards Elora’s car.

“Oh,” she called out as she opened the car door, “and rem
ember. Any question that he asks about sex, your answer is that you never plan to have sex with me.”

Trik
’s brow furrowed. “You want me to lie?”

“Through your
ever-loving teeth,” she said with a smile and a wink.

Trik watched as Elora backed
up and then drove away with his heart. He would check on her later that night, after…

~

“You’re glowing,” Elora said to Cassie as they drove to her house.

“Am I?” Cassie asked nonchalantly.

Elora let out a disgusted groan. “I have a feeling that I should get used to the taste of vomit because I’m going to be throwing up in my mouth a lot around you two.”

Cassie laughed.

“That wasn’t meant to be funny,” Elora said dryly. But Cassie wasn’t listening. She was lost in the memories of the most incredible day of her life.

They pulled into Cassie’s driveway and Elora turned the engine off. She turned in her seat so that she could face her friend.

“Okay, wipe that googly eyed look off your face long enough to think clearly.”

Cassie smiled but quickly sobered under the single raised brow stare of her gothic friend.

“Are you sure
you should be going to see the spawn of Satan Elfin style? Do you think it’s safe?”

“You know Trik won’t let anything happen to me,” Cassie assured her.

“I hate to burst your bubble,” said Elora.

“No you don’t,” Cassie quipped.

“Okay you’re right; I don’t give a damn if I burst your bubble. I know Trik may be the best assassin to ever grace any realm, but even he can be killed.”

Cassie frowned.
“I know that, but Lorsan isn’t going to kill him.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don’t know, but something tells me he won’t.”

Elora rolled her eyes.
“Fine, but if quiver boy gets put out of commission, don’t come crying to me. I won’t be offering you a comforting shoulder.”

Cassie snorted.
“Yeah right. You’d be the first one on your knees to hold me together.”

Elora waved her out of her car. “That may
be true but once you had pulled yourself together I wouldn’t hesitate to point out that we sat in this very car and I told you it could happen.”

Cassie pushed the door open and climbed out of the car.
“Now that I believe.” She closed the door and with a wave headed towards her house.

“Mom, Dad, I’m home!” Cassie yelled into the quiet house. The smell of food wafted to her from the kitchen and she followed the smell.