Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series) by Bonnie Wheeler Read Free Book Online

st read her mind as she bit on her lower lip , h er tired face showing a hint of alarm .
    “I don’t sleep,” he explained. “ Y ou can have th e bed, while I rest by the window . ” Pointing to the small table and chair, at least he could guard her from the door while she slept.
    As she glanced warily around the shared space , h e knew Liz would have preferred a private room for the evening , but he just couldn’t bring himself to sit alone for the next eighteen hours . Not when he could take comfort from her presence .
    Besides, s he might take off before I send her back to Maine.
    “Well, this is a first.” Liz dropped her bag on the bed and sat down. “As long as you never tell anyone we shared a motel room for the night,” she kidded . A slight flu sh stained her cheeks. Breaking eye contact, s he glanced down at her nails. The polished tips were painted black like her hair .
    “Are you hungry?” He watched her carefully, afraid she might change her mind and leave.
    “I could eat,” she smiled. “Do you want to order in while I take a shower? I just want to get out of these clothes.” She tugged on her black cargo pants that were adorned with strange zippers and buckles.
    Braden resisted the urge to smirk . “Sure.”
    If Teagan was here, this conversation would be taken differently.
    After ordering a Pizza, Braden forced himself to sit instead of pacing mindlessly around the ro om. He tapped his fingers on the arm rest, trying to release some of his pent up anxiety.
    It was still surreal that he made the call and was told to go to Vancouver. He had imagined facing his death in the old country or down south whe re nests were rumored to exist, not in British Columbia, the land of winter recreation and the former Olympics .
    Braden didn’t want to come here; there was still so much left unfinished . Even after making the call and coming to terms with what needed to be done, h e wasn’t sure how his li fe made a difference in the worl d . Now that his last moments were winding down, he hoped that once he was gone, his family could move on .
    Braden listened to Liz move around the bathroom. Even with the rhythmic hum of the shower spray, he could hear her soft voice rise and fall lightly as she sang. Although her iPod held songs that belonged to bands who se fan base belonged in mosh pits , he was pretty sure she was singing something by Katy Perry. Despite the growing disquiet in the pit of his stomach , the odd girl made him smile.
    It was ironic that he found someone he could fall for now that his life had boiled down to mere minutes . From across the lawn yesterday , h e hear d Liz insist to Lexie that he wasn’t her type. At first he felt the same way , but after spending time alone with her, more than just her sm ell and touch appealed to him.
    Liz’s quirk y humor and the softness behind her independence lured him in . Life fascinated her, and she was fearless about facing it. Strong, inquisitive, and passionate about topics that interested her – she was as mysterious as she was straightforward .
    It was okay that she didn’t find him attractive ; just being with her for his last day was enough. Closing his eyes, he imagined how amazing it would have been to dream of Liz and to become her fate-partner the way Lexie and Torin did . With Liz’s spunk, he would have been able to let go of his past and start living.
    W hat would happen when he died? Would he be reborn into his family or would he find his way through the afterlife? With all of the stories and legends that encompassed his ancestry, very little was said about the death of a damphyr.
    As he sat in stillness, his memories took him back to when he was just ten years old. His boarding school in Nova Scotia had been his home for three months when one cold November evening he wa s sitting alone o n his bed after lights-out had been called. With his cousins asleep in their private rooms just down the hall, he had stayed awake reading whe n