Page 60 of Ensnared
With great reluctance, I finally let go of him and try my best to ignore Ty’s knowing smirk. I do what Aiden told me to, then shut myself in the cabin while the three of them go off in search of my dog. The beams of their flashlights dance in the dark, growing ever fainter as they walk farther into the woods.
To keep myself from worrying, I obey my orders: I pick up discarded pieces of clothing, mop up the spilled water, and clean up. The weirdest thing is that nothing seems to be missing. Not that I had anything of high value hidden in the cabin—I’d thrown away my broken old phone, and I’d carried my laptop to Anchorage today.
Anything else in here had sentimental value, sure, but wasn’t expensive, like the small statue of the Goddess that is now broken and headless. I can’t bring myself to throw it in the trash. It’s been with me for most of my life, a gift from Alice on my eighth birthday. Back then, she still hoped that my magical powers might manifest late.
Whoever broke into my cabin was either after something they thought I had, or this was an act of vandalism, pure and simple. I don’t know which thought is scarier. Will the burglar return to finish what he started? And is this at all related to who and what I am?
If Miss Georgia figured out that I was a witch, like Ty told me, then others might have, too. And if the villagers decided to attack me because of it, my days here in Amber Bay could be numbered. I don’t want to leave, but I also don’t want to put Aiden in a position where he has to choose between his clan and me. He’d brought me here, sure, but that wouldn’t be fair at all.
I shudder as I mop the floor, crawling on my hands and knees to reach under the couch. Something sharp stings my hand.
“Ow,” I curse and withdraw.
A shard of glass is stuck in my left thumb. I gently pull it out, and a small trickle of blood flows from the wound. The shard smells like my perfume: the unwanted visitor broke the bottle. Did they do it to mask their scent? Or was it purely malice that drove them?
I put on a Band-Aid and try hard to keep myself from falling apart. After everything I’ve been through in the past months, this isn’t the worst incident, but it feels personal somehow. An intruder came into my new home and destroyed the things I loved. I don’t know how I’ll ever feel safe here again.
From the distance, a bark echoes through the evening air. I drop the first-aid kit to the kitchen table and stumble outside to find a beam of light bobbing up the path that leads to the village.
“I found her,” Aiden calls from the darkness.
My knees go weak from relief, so I can’t even hurry down the steps to intercept them. He walks right up to me and hands me Princess Penny, unharmed but a little dirty. I bury my face in her damp fur and cry, huge, heaving sobs that release the tension inside me.
Aiden hugs me again, whispering comforting nonsense into my hair. It’s not until Princess wriggles in my hands that we break apart. I put her down in front of the door, and she zooms into the cabin. We follow more slowly, and I put extra kibble in her bowl while Aiden fetches a clean towel to dry her off. Once she’s busy scarfing down her dinner, I turn to Aiden.
“Thank you,” I whisper, my throat still raw from crying. “You don’t know what it means to me.”
He shoves his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, of course. I mean, I’m glad I could help.”
He looks so adorably flustered, I step right up to him and kiss him full on the mouth. Aiden pauses for a second, and I think he might push me away, so I slant my head to the side and touch my tongue lightly to his lower lip.
Then he groans and pulls me closer, until our bodies are pressed together. We fit perfectly, my shorter frame molding around his taller, muscular one. I bring my hands up to his jaw and caress his cheeks. I want to show him what I feel, because I’m not sure I can articulate it.
He jerks as though I’ve electrocuted him and lifts his head. “Are you kissing me because you’re grateful? Because I don’t—”
I kiss him again, long enough that his eyelids flutter closed, and his hands tighten on my back.
“No,” I murmur in his ear. “Iamgrateful, but that’s not why.”
He shivers as my lips graze his ear, and I file that away for some future moment. Right now, I want to just kiss him some more, because I’ve been dreaming of this moment for weeks, if not months.
The door bangs open behind Aiden’s back.
“We didn’t find her on the east side of the—whoa.” Jack breaks off and stands on the threshold, his eyes going wide.
“What are you—?” Ty comes up behind him and falls silent with a comical expression of surprise.
I step away from Aiden. “Hey, it’s okay. Aiden found Princess. He only just, um, returned with her. We would have called you, only…” I bite my lip and peer up at Aiden to see if he wants to navigate this.
“Only you were too busy making out,” Ty supplies with a grin. “It’s fine.”
Aiden blinks, then drops his hands from my waist as though he just now realized he was still holding me. “Yeah, the dog ran straight to Mrs. Hobb’s bakery. She was about to call the Lodge to tell us about it.”
The thought sobers me. “So this must have happened right before we arrived. We just missed whoever did this.”
Jack comes over to me and rubs my back, soothing me. “Grab whatever you need for yourself and the dog. You’re not staying here tonight.”
Aiden, his hands at his hips, turns slowly in a circle. “You’re not staying here anymore, period. This is a summer cabin, and you’d need to move out sooner or later. Might as well do it now.”
