Page 46 of Take

I gratefully took his hand and he bent, picking up his bag. We walked another couple minutes before I saw an orange glow through the trees. A few seconds later, a large wooden log cabin appeared with firelight blazing in the window. It was pretty massive and I had pictured something small and rustic, but this was beautiful with a wide deck in the front that had one of those double-seater wood swings.

Jasper tugged on me.

I hadn’t realized I had stopped walking and was staring at the house. I think partially it was my body finally shutting down with relief. And then it hit me . . . a woman. This place belonged to a woman of his and that was where the punch came from.

“A bear or woman?”

At first, he looked confused and then he grinned, which had me hating him more because despite my reservations on what I was walking into, when Jasper grinned so casually and without the hardness . . . it lit up my insides like a Christmas tree laden with colorful blinking lights.

“Holden—my brother.”

I jerked. “Oh.” Now, that shocked me. I hadn’t considered Jasper having a brother or family. It just seemed . . . foreign.

“I sent him on an errand. He didn’t like it. Now, can we go inside before you freeze to death?”

I nodded.

The moment we stepped inside and the heat from the fire blanketed me with warmth, I closed my eyes and sighed. Jasper led me over to the fireplace, set me down on the floor and I immediately put my hands out to warm them. He hesitated, before gently lowering his hand and stroking my hair. I glanced up at him, his fingers curled into the back of my neck and his hard features flickered in the firelight.

I swallowed, my eyes trailing down to his mouth, wanting to taste him again.

Jasper nodded. I wasn’t sure at what, then he turned away, tossed his bag on a black leather couch and walked into the kitchen and began opening cupboards.

“You like tomato soup?” He held up a can.

“Sure.”

I watched him move around the kitchen easily, as if he was familiar with what he was doing. I wondered if he had a house of his own and what it was like. Did he cook? For the type of person he was, I didn’t think he would, but I was beginning to see him differently.

I imagined him having a small house, nothing special—simple. It would be on the edge of a cliff, the ocean crashing against the jagged rocks below. He’d stand out on his porch when he couldn’t sleep and listen to the rhythmic sound of the waves.

I was staring and as if sensing me, he glanced up from stirring the soup and looked at me. The stirring stopped and my breath hitched as his grey, penetrating eyes let me in. They were naked and open and without shields. I saw him—Jasper. Casual and easygoing, but still with a wealth of self-confidence. I knew it was a glimpse of who he’d once been and who he hid from everyone.

It was beautiful.

The wood suddenly crackled and snapped, making me jump. Turning away and distracting myself, I grabbed the iron poker hanging on the hook beside the fire.

The second I did, I froze and the poker slipped from my grasp, making a loud clang as it hit the floor. The shivers were no longer from the cold but from the memories as they plowed into me. The red hot tip of the iron, the agony as it pressed into the top of my foot while Drake held me in his arms.

The smell. God, the smell of my burning flesh had been worse than the pain. I screamed and cried and begged Drake not to do it, but he rocked me back and forth while the vampire burned the bridge of my foot, killing my Ink.

“Max. Max.” Jasper crouched in front of me. “Max.” He reached forward and I jerked away. “Jesus, you’re crying.”

I hadn’t realized I’d been crying and quickly used of my arm to wipe away the tears.

He put his hand around the back of my neck, fingers weaving into my hair. It wasn’t harsh and insisting like I expected from Jasper; instead, it was gentle and comforting. With his other hand, he pushed back the few tendrils that clung to my damp cheek. “You’re safe here. You’re safe with me.”

Jasper may think so, and he was cocky enough to believe that, but I knew differently. If Drake was after me, then I wasn’t safe no matter where we were or who was trying to shield me from him. “I’m fine.”

“You can lie, but I’ll always know the truth.” I was about to argue when he leaned closer, his mouth so close to mine I could taste him on the tip of my tongue without even touching. “I won’t let him near you.”

I stiffened. “For two weeks, you mean.”

His fingers flinched on my neck. “I won’t let him have you.”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“Max . . .” He brushed his lips against mine and instantly my stomach whirled and it was an invasion of butterflies. “Fuck, baby. I don’t know how to do this,” he said beneath his breath and then let me go. Standing, he strode toward the kitchen. “Sit at the table.”