Perfekt Order (The Ære Saga Book 1) by S.T. Bende Read Free Book Online Page A

you
for a run?” Tyr raised one eyebrow.
    “Well, now you’re just mocking me. I’ll jog
alone, thank you very much. Toodles.” I marched up the hill and
bumped Tyr’s arm as I passed him. The contact sent a wave of heat
along my side.
    “Mia.” Tyr’s tone was low. “I told you not to
go that way.”
    I whirled around, planting one hand firmly on
my hip. “You don’t get to tell me what trail to take.”
    “I do when it’s for your own good. Let’s go.”
Tyr jogged thirty feet along the ridge then turned around. “You
coming?”
    “My own good? Excuse me, who exactly do you
think you are?”
    “You don’t want to know.” Tyr met my stare as
I sized him up.
    “Maybe I don’t.”
    “You just have to trust me, Mia.”
    I played with the thin gold band I wore on my
pointer finger, an heirloom my Meemaw gave me when I graduated high
school. On the one hand, I didn’t like being told what to do,
especially by someone who was pretty much a stranger, and without
any kind of an explanation, or so much as a ‘please.’ But the truth
was, I did want to run with Tyr. And that bothered me. Because I
was in the middle of proving a very important point about my
independence to a man who seemed to have an unfortunately backwards
attitude about women—or maybe he just had a backwards attitude
about me. Either way, caving at this particular moment seemed like
a giant fail for the sisterhood, not to mention a landslide for my
personal self-esteem.
    But dang it, he’d seemed like a pretty decent
guy the other night—one I wanted to get to know better. Plus, he
looked really, really good in those shorts.
    I raised my chin in a futile attempt to feign
control. “Fine. I’ll let you run with me. And we’ll go your way… today . But Wednesday I’m taking the Woodside Trail. And
you’re not coming with me.”
    “It’s a public trail. And I’m usually in the
forest about this time.”
    “Well, next time I won’t be so agreeable.
This is a one-off, buddy. Don’t get used to ordering me
around.”
    “Whatever you say, prinsessa .” Tyr
took off at a slow lope, and I ran after him.
    “Why do you care so much what trail I take,
anyway?” We hung a left at the big rock and followed the sign
pointing to the Sequoia Trail.
    “It’s not safe.”
    “You’re worried about me?” I shot him a grin
as we rounded the corner.
    “You don’t have the greatest sense of
self-preservation.” He looked down at me.
    “Okay, now you’re just being rude.”
    “A hiker was nearly attacked on the Woodside
Trail last week. The rangers only just took down the signs warning
about a possibly rabid animal. Didn’t your roommates tell you?”
    “No.” My arm throbbed at the phantom animal
bite, and I shivered. Maybe my imagination hadn’t been so off after
all.
    “Well, they should have. It’s not safe for
anyone to be up there. Especially not someone who runs as slow as
you do.”
    My head whipped up, evil eye at the ready,
but Tyr grinned back at me.
    “Oh, it’s on.” I lowered my head and pushed
off the balls of my feet. Using all the force I could muster, I
barreled through the thick grove of trees. Tyr’s easy laugh sounded
beside me as he kept my pace. I pumped my arms and pounded the
dirt, cold air whipping my face as I moved. My eyes darted to the
side. Dang it . He hadn’t even broken a sweat. “Well, it’s
easy to run fast when your legs are seven feet long,” I
muttered.
    “Mmm. Tell yourself whatever you need to
hear.”
    “Rude.” Realizing my chances of outrunning
the Swedish giant were nil, I slowed to a normal pace. Tyr matched
my stride.
    “Speaking of rude, I’m sorry about the other
night,” he offered after a moment of silence. “About taking off
like that.”
    “You definitely know how to make a dramatic
exit. Everything okay?”
    “Not really. But there’s not a lot I can do
right now.”
    “Want to talk about it?” I asked.
    “No.”
    That was clear.
    “I didn’t do