Freefall-Book One

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

You don’t belong here.  When they know your past, they won’t want you.  He’s still searching.  He still wants you, and he won’t stop until you’re either dead, or his.  If you stay here, they will fight for you, and they will die.  You will have more blood on your hands.  Can you risk that for a small amount of happiness?  Don’t I deserve to be happy?  No, a life for a life makes you a killer.  A murderer.  Happiness is beyond you, Sofia Elizabeth Harris.  You don’t deserve it for the death you’ve caused.

“Who did you kill, Sofia?  Whose blood is on your hands?”  His voice was deadly, rolling like water off his tongue.  I jumped, it couldn’t be helped.  Silent conversations with yourself in this pack were proving to be impossible.   I slowly sat up on the cot, turning to plant my feet in front of me as I stared at the young Alpha of this pack.  He leaned casually against the door frame, the wind from the open door ruffling his black hair.  His green eyes pierced my own gray ones, and he moved forward out of the doorway, shutting the door behind him with a kick of the frame.  In less than three steps, he stood before me, glaring, and his eyes unreadable.

“It’s rude to eavesdrop,” I said, sarcasm tainting the words, dripping off my tongue like poison.  I looked up, anger welling to the front, and something else I couldn’t describe.  I growled as he took another step towards me, hoping he would understand it for the warning it was.  He unsettled me, and the feeling wasn’t comfortable, or wanted.

“You’re hard to ignore.  You look uncomfortable, Sofia.  Am I bothering you?”  I wanted to lose my tempter; shout at him, scream, rant, and rave.  Tell him he was unnerving, unsettling, and a pain in my ass.  But that wouldn’t get me out of these chains, or away from his pack.  Instead, I collected myself, breathing deeply, and whispered, “Yes, you are.  I’d like to suffer in silence, and without company, if you don’t mind.”

“I mind.  You never answered my question.  Who did you kill?”

“None of your damn business!”  I shouted.  I could hear the rustling of the guards outside my door, itching for a chance to fight.  That’s all they wanted, a fight, because it had been too long since they’d had one.  I sighed.  This man was frustrating beyond belief.  He had no respect for anyone’s sacred thoughts; if your mind was open, he let himself in.  And questioned these thoughts without remorse.

“You’re here, in my house, through my grace.  A rogue who has no past that we can find and no future if I don’t will it.  It is my damn business when someone that I’m keeping alive admits to herself that she’s a murderer.  I’ll ask you again, and you had better tell me.  Who did you kill, Sofia Harris?”

“And I’ll tell you again that it’s rude to invade the thoughts of others.  And it’s rude to demand answers to questions that don’t concern you.”

“WHO DID YOU KILL?” Kristopher shouted, his voice rising with each passing second that I stayed silent.  I shrunk further into the corner of the room, not really afraid, but hating the anger that rolled of him in waves.  He called to my wolf, and she wanted to tell him the truth.  That I had killed my father.  That it was my fault he had died.  That I had let him trade his life for my freedom from the pack.  I had as good as killed him.  His blood was on my hands, as well as Robert’s.

“Sofia.”  This one word was soft, gentle, it caressed my damaged soul, but I pulled at it, begged it to leave me alone.  This feeling he gave to me, of love, of heartache, the yearning, I couldn’t take it.  I had to be free of this place.

“It wasn’t your fault.  Your father made his choice, and it was a brave one.  Go to sleep.  I’m sorry if I hurt you, or scared you.”  Gently, he touched the top of my head, his hand moving down my cheek to caress my neck.  I shivered, biting back any retorts.  I wanted him with a force I had never felt before.  I wanted his mark, to be his mate.  But to mate with him would mean to stay.  To stay would kill him.  I couldn’t win.  Looking up at him, I saw him smile softly, bending to keep his eyes level with mine.

“Sofia,” he said his voice barely a whisper.  Human ears wouldn’t have heard it, nor would they have heard the pain that one word was laced with.  Before I could register this fact, his lips had met mine in a chaste kiss.  My wolf paced within the cage of my body, begging for release.  I didn’t want this, but I couldn’t seem to stop my hand from moving lightly up his arms to rest serenely around his neck.  I couldn’t stop myself as the kiss became so much more; full of passion and excitement, and lust.

“Stop Kristopher…”I whispered against his lips, pulling away.  His arm, which was next to me and had been supporting the majority of his weight, while his other hand had played with my hair, buckled, and he swore, cursing me.  He moved his body away from mine, anger in every step.

“I don’t play games, Sofia.  You need to remember that.  I take what is mine when it is mine, never before.  Mark my words on this.”