B0079G5GMK EBOK (9 page)

The only thing that occasionally broke the silence was the sound of the hunting animal when it moved in the darkness. Brianna breathed with effort and her lungs seemed to burn. She had no idea what
was hunting
her, but she sure was not going to stop a
nd find out. She glanced behind
once more, and then she turned onto a tiny path that was a short cut to her hom
e. When she turned her head
, she saw Adam standing in front of her. She sighed, relieved, and reached out her hand to Adam. Thank God he was here! He would protect her. She felt so relieved that she laughed a little. How stupid she had been, b
eing afraid of the dark woods when
there
was
nothing to be afraid of.

She smiled at Adam, but he
didn't smile back. He just stood there like a statue and didn't move. Brianna took a few scrambling steps to get near him, but the ice-cold look in his eyes stopped her and made her scream. In a few long strides he was next to her. He roughly grabbed her throat.  He lifted her against the nearest tree and pressed her harshly
,
close to its trunk. Brianna tried to scream, but nothing came out of her mouth. Adam's eyes burned her
,
and his mouth was warped into a furious grin that revea
led his sharp, dangerous teeth. Brianna's teeth rattled
and her legs shook violently. She was sure that Adam would kill her right here in this place. He looked like he was ready
to tear her throat open. She
prayed in her mind. She prayed for the God that she knew from her childhood, she prayed for the Devil and she prayed for Adam to give her mercy, and just when she thought
she would pass out, he
released her. She slumped
on
to the icy ground, pressing her burning
throat with her shaking hands.

“Did you think
you would get away this easily?” Adam grunted and punched the tree behind Brianna.

He hit
at
exactly the same spot where Brianna's head was a moment ago.
There was madness gleaming
in his eyes.

“I know what you've been doing behind my back! I know every lie you have told Clarissa.
Don't even try to deny it,” he
kicked Brianna's leg.

Brianna opened her mouth and tried to defend herself, but the look in Adam's eyes stopped her.

“You mean nothing to me,” he snapped with disgust.

Silent tears were falling down her face. She looked at the man she used to love and whom she thought loved her. The pure look of hate on his face told her that he would never again be hers and she cried even more when she realized this.

“You will not contact Clarissa again, ever. Don't speak to her, don't call her and don't even look at her if you want to stay alive! I'm so sick of your childish lies and your stupid plays! In my eyes, you're just a pathetic bitch that I should've gotten rid of a long time ago,”
raged Adam
and kicked the ground in frustration.

“
I thought you loved me,” she whispered uncertainly
and brushed her aching neck with her fingers. “I thought that you and I were together.”

“Loved you?” Adam stared at her contemptuously.

“How could I ever love you? You're nothing. You're just a stupid human child. Nothing more to me than some creepy-crawly,” Adam pushed her lightly and she fell to her side.

“What do you mean just human? Of course I'm human and Clarissa is hu
man as well, isn't she?” she
asked and tried to retain at least a bit of her dignity.

She looked beseechingly at Adam with her big, weepy eyes, but when she saw his face she backed down to a curly position and tried to
cover herself. She was sure he
was going to strike her. However, he just
laugh
ed
at her so mockingly that she was ashamed of herself.

“Don't you ever mention her name again! She is way over your league. You can
't possibly understand it,” he
said and broug
ht his face so close to hers
that she could feel his hot breath on her face.

Even though he
had beaten and yelled at her, she still wished he would lean a little bit closer and kiss her. When she realized that would never happen, she lowered her eyes, defeated, and tried
to wiggle further away from him
.

“I let you into my home and in my bed.
Is that nothing to you?” she
whined.

“Your home means nothing to me. It was you who invited me there. I never asked for that. Do you really think it was easy for me to lie beside you and let you scrabble over my body with your inexperienced hands? It sure was not! Every second, I wished that bed was Clarissa's and that those hands were hers. Every damn time you tried to kiss me, I would've given anything if those lips had been hers,”
snorted Adam
and pushed her further.

“You enjoyed it,” Brianna accused him quietly.

“You could never bring me any pleasure,”
laughed Adam
sarcastically. “I admit I have felt pleasure with others besides Clarissa, but at that time I didn't kno
w anything so incredible as her could exist,” he
leaned against the tree, looking quite relaxed and not even seeming to notice   Brianna, who
was crawling
at his feet, shaking.

“You mostly amused me, until you got mixed up with your own stup
idity and called Clarissa,” he
thundered
,
and his face darkened with anger again as he glanced at her.

“How can you know about that?” Brianna gulped, terrified.

“I know everything about you. You're a whining, ordinary, overweight girl who has some issues with her self-esteem. I bet no one has ever asked you out, right? Not seriously. The only thing they ever wanted from you, they got without dating.”

Brianna stayed quiet and s
tared at Adam. The terror had left
her eyes and
instead replaced by hatred
.

“I thought so,” Adam mumbl
ed. “No one's interested in the kind of slut they can't get rid of
after.”

“I don't want to
hear that! I won't listen to you! You're a liar!” Brianna yelled and stood up. She stared at him challengingly. She was still scared, but she dared to jab her fist at his chest.

Adam grabbed her hand and held it in his iron grip.

“I am beautiful and even if I'm not as thin as your precious Clarissa, I have an awesome curvy body that boys can't take their eyes off!”

Adam broke down and laughed
,
pushing her away effortlessly.

“You can bet the whole school will hear what kind of
a jerk you really are,” she
spat out toxically.

Faster than lightning, Adam grabbed and shook her.

“One word about me or Clarissa, and you can be sure yo
u won't see the next dawn,” he
said dangerously.

“Okay,”
declared Brianna
with eyes wide open with fear.

“I will know if you even breathe our names and then I will hunt you for real next time,”
threatened Adam
and looked at her for so long that Brianna was afraid he would change his mind and attack her again.

Brianna nodded tearfully. “I said okay. Please let me go.”

Adam pushed her down harshly and spat next to her. Then he stepped into the shadows of the woods and disappeared. Brianna sat there for a long time, listening for any sound from the woods, afraid that he would come back. But she heard nothing.

Finally she left, half-crawling and half running to her home. Silent sobs crushed her
. S
he felt sorry for herself and for her loss of Adam. The worst thing was that she knew that if Adam came back right now and held her, she would forgive hi
m. There were no words that he
could say to her that could hurt her so badly that she wouldn't forgive him. The pain that broke her heart had nothing to do with Adam being so hard on her or with what he had said. It was only the knowledge that Adam would never again be hers
that spread the killing pain in
her heart. Adam had left her and even though she knew that he was never really hers, she grieved for those shor
t moments that she had with him
.

“Adam,” Brianna moaned quietly, but no one answered her. The silence of the woods wrapped around her like a thin haze and she stopped once more to listen, but the only answer she got was the wind that silently moved the trees, dropping the last leaves, yellowed by the autumn, to cover her.

Clarissa rolled in her dreams, unsettled, but Marie's gentle hands comforted her in a second and so
on her nightmare was hidden and forgotten back in the recess of her mind
as it changed to another dream, where she hunted with the other wolves. Soon Clarissa felt a peaceful, nice feeling taking over her.

Sofia

I kept Clarissa home for several days, but when our house was cleaned from top to bottom and
the yard was made ready for
winter, she made our lives so unbearable with her ongoing tantrums that I gave up. My condition, however, was that Jonas would sign up for her class and that Blake would move to the same class with them as well. I didn't want to risk anything with her again and even though Blake was not the strongest one, he could complete
Jonas's strength with his brain
. Jonas was one of the strongest wolves I knew and I could only hope that those two men were strong enough together to protect Clarissa from Adam.

Joshua was furious. He was way stronger than Jonas and Blake combined and yet he had to stand aside. He couldn't understand why I didn't want to let him sign up for Clarissa's school. I couldn't understand that either, but something in my mind warned me not to trust him and I trusted my own instincts completely. Joshua was so young and full of temper
that, regardless of my trust,
he might do something really stupid, like challenging Adam in secret. Unfortunately, I knew exactly how that would end. I was also convinced that Clarissa's teachers knew him too well by now. He had driven Clarissa to school all autumn, so it might cause unnecessary questions, and I didn't want anyone to turn their gaze on our family. At this moment any outsider would have thought that something wasn't right in our home. Even I thought it was weird to see our home full of young handsome guys and our younger daughter who was barely fifteen, living with one of them. No. I couldn't risk anything now, so I didn't change my mind even when Joshua's
eyes begged me to do so. He
cursed and stated loud protests that were justified, but I didn't give in an inch. Clarissa needed someone to cover h
er back and I truly believed no
one could do it better than Joshua. So I watched, terrified, while he drove away from our house with Clarissa. Even though Marie and Tiamhaidh promised to watch over her as well, I couldn't make my restless heart settle.

Clarissa

Clarissa stepped out of the car
timidly, and turned quickly to face Joshua.

“I can't do this. I can't go to school without you. Can't you come,
too?” she asked with a hint
of panic in her voice.

“You heard what your mother said,”
grunted Joshua
frustrated.

“Still. I don't think I can do this without you,” Clarissa stood next to the car and didn't move.

“Of course you can,” Joshua bent over, catching one tress and placing it behind her ear. “Jonas and Blake will be next to you and I'll be there in a second, if you need me.”

“Joshua,” she
whispered, shivering and looking at him with her eyes full of tears.

Joshua sighed and let his face soften. He pressed her to his arms and held her for a long time.

“It's going to be alright. Trust me,” he stroked her back with his long, strong fingers.

“But…
”
began Clarissa
.

“Jonas, I think you’d better go now,”
said Joshua
steadily and looked at Jonas. Jonas saw the pain of losing Clarissa flicker in his eyes. He nodded firmly to his friend and Joshua knew he had to let go of her and push her to face her fears.

Jonas took her hand and placed himself beside her. Blake took the other side. Little by little they managed to take her inside the school. Clarissa glanced at Joshua
many times before the
doors banged close behind her.

The hall was empty
save for some late students
running to make it to their classes before the teacher, so Clarissa had a moment to relax and calm down before she had to face her class. Blake opened the
door and everyone in the class
room quieted down. Adam stared at Clarissa with his burning black eyes from the back of the room, but when he saw how pale she was with fear, he lowered his eyes, hum
iliated. Every girl in the room drooled at the
handsome Jonas
with his Viking looks and sighed aloud when he
looked at them with his deep golden br
own eyes. Clarissa couldn't hide
her smile. Blake found three chairs that were next to each other and as far as possible from Adam
. T
he moment Clarissa sat down, Stella was there.