Ranger [ON HOLD]

Chapter Eighteen - Better Left Unsaid

Now the book was down on his lap, his body turned in such a way to show his attention was on me. His eyes briefly scanned over my frame from head to toe, pausing for a few seconds longer on my hand and knee.

"I was... bored." I had to bite back a wince at how my voice sounded too much like a whine. 

A small quirk appeared to the corner of his mouth, as though he were fighting the urge to smile. Or more likely a smirk, given the look in his eyes.

His feet, which had been kicked up onto a sliver of space on the coffee table moved down, and he gave a small wave of his hand toward the couch in invitation. And with what I felt was every ounce of awkwardness in the universe, I made my way over to take a seat.

"You look like you're getting better pretty fast." He commented, picking the book back up as well as propping his feet back into the previous position on the edge of the table.

"You think so?" My eyebrows shot up skeptically. I felt only slightly better than yesterday. Which should have been a feat, but at the same time I felt more sore rather than in pain. So I wasn't entirely sure I was feeling better given that logic.

He nodded, glancing up to meet my eyes for a fraction of a second before looking back down toward the book in hand.

"You're not as pale."

I glanced toward my hands, fingers curling over the hem of my hoodie to push it further down my thighs. The action made me self conscious and very aware of the fact that this hoodie had originally been his. 

"So... can I help somehow?" I fought the urge to glance at the books balanced on the table. As a girl who loves reading, was pulled into a book, and currently sitting in the library of her dreams, I was itching to peel open a few pages. 

At my question Ranger paused, looking up from his book with a somewhat thoughtful expression. 

"Not with reading..." He began, and I felt my shoulders slump. "Ethan and I were going to check the boundaries we have set up. Its good for you to know where they are." 

My shoulders lifted from their slump almost immediately. The chance to see more of the property was too good to pass up. He gave an almost knowing look at the small action, nodding his head once before placing his book down on the table and standing. 

"Lets go then." 

Maybe this had been a bad idea.

Fidgety arms tightened around his shoulders, and he had to fight the urge to tighten his own hold on her legs. 

Ahead of them, Ethan strode along a thin path of hard-packed dirt that circled around the property. The trees around them were bare apart from the few golden leaves that managed to cling to their position. 

Given the walking that they were to do, it probably hadn't been the best idea to ask Ella to join them. The look in Ethan's eyes when he found out the girl would come along was obvious to read. After all, the plan had been to keep her resting inside for the next few days. 

He suspected that this was a form of Ethan's revenge for ignoring that bit of information.

The fingers of her good hand curled into a fist above his shirt, not quite grasping the fabric as she asked question after question. With every question, he could feel her warm breath dance over the back of his neck. Though he had no clue why it effected him the way it did. 

"You mean Wolfsbane actually hurts Werewolves?" 

Ethan nodded, crouching down and brushing a layer of leaves aside to reveal a bare patch of ground. He used two fingers to push on the ground before finding the place he was looking for and using a nearby stick to dig into the dirt. A tiny cloth bag was pulled out of the dirt, brushed off and inspected with a careful eye. When he determined nothing was wrong with it, it was put back into its place and covered once more.