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I’ve seen the view from this ridge a thousand times.Instead, I watched Edie take it in for the first time.
Her eyes were wide, as if she was trying to see the whole vista at once.Below us lay a tranquil green valley bathed in afternoon light.A burbling stream ambled though the field, fed by a thin waterfall that poured off the eastern slope.Beyond, the mountains crowded the horizon, the highest peaks already outlined with snow.
On the edge of the ridge, an enormous tree had sunk its roots deep into the rock.It seemed to lean into the space, peering over the edge to the steep drop below.Leaves danced along its limbs, but they couldn’t disguise the jagged white scar that ran all the way up the deep brown of the trunk.
“Talk about Middle Earth,” she breathed.“This place is magic.”
I wondered if she’d used the word casually, or if she could actually feel the magic swirling around the place.That’s why, even though this spot was gorgeous, members of the clan didn’t exactly hang out here.Our wolves felt a little too close to taking over in the presence of the Old Tree.
“Come on, I’ll help you down,” I said, swinging off Midnight and standing next to Betty.
She looked at the distance dubiously.“Any tips?”
“Yeah.Don’t fall.”
“Thanks,” she said.When she seemed certain Betty wouldn’t move, she stood up in the stirrups and cautiously brought her leg around.“Do I just, like, jump?”
“Yeah.Fast is better than slow,” I said.Saliva pooled in my mouth as I stared up at her ass.Maybe I had underestimated how much the tree would affect me.Wildness was itching at me, urging me to take what I wanted.
“Okay, here goes,” she said.
Her leap was so ungainly that even Betty was thrown off balance.When Edie stumbled, I reached out to keep her upright.“You okay?”
“That’s probably not how that’s supposed to go,” she said.
“You’ll get better with practice.”
“I’m not sure how much time I’ll have for horses in Baltimore,” she said.
I was still holding her in the circle of my arms, but she was talking about leaving.My newly-discovered possessive side tugged at the leash I’d placed on it.“You’ll just have to come back and visit,” I said, as casually as I could.
“I’d like that,” she said.She was taking in my face with the same hunger with which she’d taken in the view.“I didn’t know what I was missing.”
When she spoke, my gaze was drawn to her lips.My mouth was dry with the need to kiss hers.My hands instinctively clenched at her arms as my body screamed to pull her closer, make her mine.
They very intensity of the need shocked me into dropping my hands.I never lost control, never.
Clearly, I’d made a grave mistake bringing her here.I’d considered how to keep the trip quiet, but I hadn’t thought about how being this close to the tree would erode my civility.Stick to the plan, I reminded myself.Scaring her off by ravishing her in the woods was not in the plan.“I promised you explanations.And sandwiches,” I said, managing a smile.
I spread a blanket on the ground, set out the sandwiches and fruit that Dominic had sent, and poured iced tea into tin cups.Meanwhile, Edie edged closer to the tree.Hundreds of years of wind and snow had warped it into a craggy thing, though the bark was smooth as silk along the lightning scar.“That’s the Old Tree.It’s our sacred to us.”
Edie jumped back, putting her hands behind her back like she was in a museum.“Sacred tree?I didn’t see anything about that in my father’s research.”
“You wouldn’t.It’s not something we talk about with outsiders.”I let her get the implication on her own.“Come, sit down, I’ll tell you the story.”
