AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That sounds good. The fact is, it smells delicious.” She popped a dried apricot in her mouth.
Once the shepherd’s pie was finished cooking, she and Carson set the table, grabbed a couple of wine glasses and sat down. He poured her a glass of the pinot.
“You have questions. Do you want to ask them, or do you just want me to tell you what I know and then you can ask questions?”
“I have a couple of questions, then I’d like to know what you know.”
“Good enough. Fire away?”
“What the hell is your last name?”
“Payne. I’m Carson Payne and I have a twin brother named Mason. Our parents are dead and even though we live halfway across the world from each other, we get together at least twice a year and keep in contact the rest of the time.”
She nodded, listening closely as she took a bite of the shepherd’s pie. “Oh my god, this is delicious. If you aren’t a chef somewhere, you should be.”
“Thank you. I’m not a chef. I’m a geneticist and work for a company in Reykjavik called Northern Lights Genome Project. Mason at one time was an investigative and scientific journalist. I understand now from friends of his in Otter Cove that he has been investigating a group he probably shouldn’t have been.”
“I’ll get back to that. What’s a geneticist working in Iceland doing in his brother’s secluded cabin in Alaska?”
“I overheard a conversation I shouldn’t have, and I think my employers are either the same people Mason was investigating or are controlled by them.”
“Do you know where your brother is?”
“Not specifically. When I saw your plane heading down, I was coming back from Otter Cove where I’d gone to see if anyone knew anything.”
“Did they?”
“Not sure. They don’t really know me. I think they know more than they let on, but I also know they were concerned for him.”
“So you came here looking for your brother and a safe place to stay. When he wasn’t here you went to Otter Cove, and on your way back saw my plane go down.” He nodded. “Are we close to the lake?”
“Not very. It was a clear day, and I could hear you were having engine trouble. When I saw the smoke coming out of your engine and the floats, I figured you had spotted the lake. I ran to help. When I saw the nose of your plane submerged, I swam out and pulled you out. I brought you back here and took care of you as best I could. You have to understand, it had started snowing. By the time I got you back to my gear, a blizzard was in full swing, and I didn’t think I could get you down to any kind of medical facility.”
“I kind of remember that. Mostly I remember being in pain and at some point thinking I was going to die. I remember floating above my body and watching with a kind of detached interest, which is when I saw you bite me.”
“Yes. I bit you. I had no other choice. I could feel your life slipping away. You weren’t coherent enough to make a choice, so I made it for you.”
“And the choice you made was to bite me?” she asked incredulously, but without any real rancor.
He chuckled. “Yes. You’re going to throw that in my face for the rest of our lives, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely.” She realized what she’d said. He’d made it sound like they would be together for the rest of their lives, and she’d kind of agreed with him.
Carson reached out, laying his hand gently on her arm. “It’s all right, Amelia. I know it’s confusing, but you need to trust in your feelings. I know it’s a big thing to ask you to trust me, so instead I’ll ask that you trust yourself.”
“I’m so confused. One minute I get all the warm fuzzy feelings when I think about you, and the next you scare the hell out of me.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m in uncharted waters as well. I’ve never felt this way, but I have an understanding of what we’re experiencing, which I doubt you do. For me it’s a kind of recognition and a good feeling. For you, my guess is that there’s some good, but it’s offset by a whole lot of ‘what the fuck.’”
She laughed, feeling herself relax somewhat. “You nailed it.”
He smiled. “Just know that whatever this is—be it us or whatever is going on—we’re in it together.”
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“Between us? Yes. In the bigger sense of things? Only partly.”
“So, what’s the ‘choice’ you had to make?”
