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Dannie was busy making herself breakfast when Cecily and I entered through the front door. She craned her neck to see over the kitchen divider, then disappeared back into the kitchen.
“You guys are back early. How was your aunt?”
“Our aunt?” Cecily asked, and I mentally kicked myself for forgetting to tell her my cover story.
“Yes, our aunt, she’s great. We had to get back early so Cecily could study for a test she forgot about,” I lied, and Cecily took up the reins.
“Yes, the test. Better get to it then.” Cecily’s eyes were wide, a telltale sign she was lying, but luckily Dannie was bent over the stove making scrambled eggs, so she didn’t notice.
“Since you’re back,” Dannie began, “I was wondering if it would be too much trouble to switch shifts with me today? I was going to ask Tanya, but you know how whiny she gets about switching.”
I was beyond exhausted, but Dannie had adjusted her schedule more than once to accommodate me, so it was only fair I return the favor. “What time is it?”
She turned around with a guilty grin on her face. “In an hour?”
I hid my disappointment with a weak smile and a nod. “Sure, just let me shower, and I’ll do it.”
“Want some eggs first?” She didn’t bother to wait for a response, just slid the plate across the counter to me.
It was odd, a thing like scrambled eggs should taste the same regardless of who made them, but for some reason, hers were always better. I took the plate and sat at the kitchen table. The chairs were rickety, and the table had a book under one leg, a tad short after Jack insisted he could fix the wobble with a little sanding, which turned into a little sawing, then a lopsided table with a book under one leg. In all, it did turn out okay. The table was no longer wobbly.
“These are so good. What are you up to today?”
She flicked her wrist, waving off my question as no big deal. “Oh, you know, just errands and stuff that can’t wait until this afternoon. Mostly getting everything squared away for the move and stuff like that. Sorry it’s so last minute, but I completely forgot I actually need a moving van to move. Any luck with a roommate yet?”
I knew Dannie would be the best doctor the world had ever seen, but she was the most scattered person on the planet. How she managed to keep it together with her life spread everywhere astonished me. I craved organization and neatness, but Dannie thrived in chaos—probably why she wanted to be a trauma surgeon.
“No, not really. The last two people I interviewed were so...” I paused. Strange had a whole new perspective after meeting Ely and his friends, but I couldn’t think of another word to describe a woman with a talking cat who needed his own bedroom, or the man who worked as a mime and insisted he stay in character twenty-four-seven.
“What about Jack?”
“Haven’t really broached the subject just yet, only dropped a few hints that we were desperate.”
“You’d think he’d jump at the opportunity to live with two gorgeous girls instead four smelly, rambunctious boys,” Dannie said with a tinge of annoyance in her voice—one of those smelly, rambunctious boys was her ex-boyfriend. I would never forget the late nights I pulled listening to her curse the ground Joel, her ex, walked on, plotting his imaginary death, and eating ice cream straight out of the tub until she could finish a sentence without crying.
“I’m sure he will do it once I ask. You know Jack, always a bit slow on the uptake, bless his heart,” I said. It was true, but I felt terrible for saying it out loud all the same.
She chuckled, then checked the time. “You better get ready if we’re swapping. I’ll make you a coffee to go. Thanks again. I’m so sorry to spring this on you, but I’m happy to take a shift next week if you need me to.”
“That’s okay. I can always use the extra money.”
I grumbled to myself, cursing the wolf inside, but got up and got ready for a long and boring day at the diner. Long and boring... it would have been nice if it had been, but I barely clocked in and tied my apron around my waist before I was assaulted by Ely again.
I turned around and there he was not two inches from my face. I jumped, startled not only by his presence but his very close proximity. I gasped. “Ely, you scared me half to... what are you doing here? Are you stalking me, now?”
He recoiled in feigned shock. “Do I look like the type of man who must stalk a woman for attention?”
“Truth or lie?”
“Isn’t the game truth or dare?” he asked.
“You’re infuriating. What do you want?”
He slid onto one of the stools at the counter and placed both hands on the surface, palms down as if he were waiting for a lecture. He gazed at me expectantly.
“What?” I asked.
“Let it all out. Tell me what you think of me, so we can get past it and focus on the important information you need to hear,” he replied, dead serious. He waited, purposely arching his eyebrows slightly, a slight pout on his lips.
“Are you seriously trying to puppy dog eye me right now? You followed my sister and me into the...” I glanced around, realizing people were watching our interaction. I took a few steps closer and leaned toward him, so my whispers could be heard. “You followed us to the restaurant, then into the forest with your nonsense. Now you show up here again to bother me. Tell me what it is you want, then leave before I call the police.”
“Please don’t do that.”
“Well, it’s what a sane woman does when she’s being stalked by a weirdo who thinks he’s a prince descended from a fairy tale queen,” I whispered, but it was getting increasingly difficult to control my frustration.
“That’s not what I meant. Call the police if you must, just don’t... just please don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
Instantly his puppy dog face morphed into something altogether different. He was so sad, so utterly defeated I almost felt sorry for him. Whatever was going on in his head was hurting him, and I hoped he would get the psychological help he desperately needed.
“Stop looking at me like I’m crazy. I’m not, Sierra. I know I sound crazy, but a lot of things sound crazy that aren’t.”
I released a heavy, frustrated sigh. I did not have the time or the energy to deal with him, not when customers were coming in by the truckload for breakfast. A guilty look spread across his face. He knew I was barely keeping it together, so he decided to get straight to the point.
“I’m sorry, Sierra. I know this is all so frustrating. Normally I would take it slow, try to be your friend and ease you into it, but I’m afraid time is a bit of an issue here. There are... factors, other people who... you regaining your memory is important to someone who is important to me. Please try to understand, I mean you no harm. I only want a chance to explain that’s all.”
I studied him, really looked at the whole picture and not just those stupid eyes that seemed to hypnotize me if I stared too long. He was well put together, not a sloppy dresser, but not necessarily ripped from a famous label catalog. He’d taken the time to comb his hair and shave, an improvement over the previous day. I took a breath and prepared my argument.
“I loathe mystery. I’ve had to lie about who I really am since I was seven-years-old, so I want everything else in my life to be as clear and simple as possible. It’s what I need to function with this... this thing inside me. When someone like you comes along and messes up the happy balance, it makes me a very cranky person. So, what I am about to say, please understand it is reluctantly and most definitely against my better judgment, am I understood?”
“Yes,” he said, succinct and firm.
“Fine. Come to my apartment in eight hours. That’s four sharp. You may tell me your story, then I want you to disappear back to whatever crazy house you came from and leave my sister and me alone.”
“Your apartment? I don’t know where—”
“Don’t lie to me.”
He grinned, caught already. “Sorry, I didn’t want to appear the stalker you believe I am. I’ll be there, four sharp with bells on.”
“That’s just the kind of annoying thing I’d expect from you,” I said.
He grinned and tapped the countertop with his knuckles, then started to rise from the stool. I stopped him. A little time to observe him couldn’t hurt, and judging from the way his stomach rumbled, I’d say he probably needed a bit of that elk he helped us capture. He paused, gawking at me as if I’d just done something incredible. I suppose not throwing him out on his butt or calling the police was incredible, considering every fiber of my being told me I was an idiot for giving him even a sliver of a chance.
I almost forgot why I stopped him, but when the front door opened, and a customer sat at the counter, it reminded me I was at the diner. We serve food at the diner... yes, food, that’s what I was going to offer, I thought.
“Do you always say what you’re thinking out loud?” Ely asked, but I ignored him and shoved a menu in front of his face.
“Sometimes. It’s a bad habit. Pick something horrible to eat, and I’ll be back in a minute,” I said, then rushed to the bathroom, suddenly ill.
My head swirled, and my skin prickled. I soon noticed I was sweating profusely. What on earth? I splashed water on my face to ease the heat that bubbled under my skin. I pulled a paper towel from the dispenser to dry my face, but it spontaneously combusted in my hands before I had the chance.
“Oh!” I cried and dropped the flaming paper onto the ceramic tile floor. I stomped on it several times, glad I didn’t trigger the sprinkler system. It was the most peculiar thing I’d ever witnessed, aside from turning into a wolf. I wiped my hands on my apron, deposited the ash into the wastebasket and took a deep, cleansing breath. When I placed my hand on the door handle, I somehow knew it was no coincidence. Something strange was happening, and though I thought Ely was off his rocker, I was beginning to think we might be riding the same rocking chair.
It wasn’t as if I’d never read about other supernatural entities, but I always assumed my own condition was a genetic anomaly. I never considered other things may exist, but something in my gut told me I’d better open my mind a little—or a lot considering a paper towel had just burned to ash in my hands. I tried not to freak out, which was practically impossible, spackled on a smile and opened the door.
“Sierra?” Ely asked when I was in his sight again. The concern on his face might have been attractive if I weren’t freaking out over the fire.
“I’m okay,” I said. “I um... I think I need to hear that story. The sooner, the better. I’ll make an excuse to get off early. Can you meet me in an hour?”
“No, I’ll wait for you. We’ll go together,” he insisted. The way he said it made me believe it would take a front-loader to remove him from his seat. Still, I didn’t need him hanging around making my supervisor suspicious.
“My boss will think I want to leave just to run off with you, and he won’t let me go. Just meet me in an hour, Ely.”
“In fairness, you do want off work just to run off with me,” he said with a little snicker, but rose from his seat and headed toward the door without another word. He glanced over his shoulder before he went out the door, worry on his face again.
By the time my supervisor arrived, I really was sick. I couldn’t stop the chills from coursing through my body, yet my forehead dripped sweat. The paper towel incident happened once more, and I knew, beyond doubt, that whatever was happening to me was not only abnormal but somehow the fault of my new stalker. After proclaiming to have the flu, my supervisor practically shoved me out the door. I checked my watch and realized Cecily would be home sleeping when Ely arrived. Hopefully, I’d get there before him, or else I couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t have him carted off to jail.
I’m sure I violated several traffic laws on my way home, but I was worried about so many things, not the least of which was my newfound concern that anything I touched would burst into flames. I whipped my little car into the apartment complex and followed the winding road to the rear where my building stood nestled in the trees. Its seclusion was one of the reasons I loved it.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” I said aloud when I pulled into my assigned parking space. Ely brought his friends, and they stood right in front of my building.
I got out and slammed my door closed. I felt betrayed, but I couldn’t say why. I expected Ely to show up alone, give me his undivided attention while I spilled the details of my new, fun talent, then I’d listen to him as he explained what it was he needed to tell me so badly. I had not anticipated four people ganging up on me.
I walked with purpose, a scowl on my face as my irritation grew. Ely pulled his hands from his pockets and tensed as I approached him.
“I didn’t intend for you to bring them, Ely,” I spat.
He drew his hands up in defense. “Trust me, I didn’t want to, but they wouldn’t let me come alone. They’re afraid I’ll say something stupid,” he defended.
“I can’t imagine why,” Felix commented flippantly.
Paper towels combusting in my hands felt like serious business to me, and I didn’t care for the passive way he leaned against the front door of the building, as if he owned it. Heidi and Brody said nothing, only looked at me expectantly. I found myself still wanting to know what it was they had to say but feeling far too betrayed by Ely to rationalize that it wasn’t that big a deal, and I should let it go.
“Forget it. I changed my mind. Leave before I call the cops,” I said, then strode toward the door.
“You can’t escape, Sierra,” Ely said in a sing-song voice that made me want to scream. “It doesn’t matter how far you run, this is your destiny.”
I spun around to face him just as my sister opened the front door, causing Felix to stumble and fall at her feet. She glanced down at him sprawled on the ground, then up to me. “What’s going on out here? I could hear you yelling from inside.”
Felix scuttled away from Cecily and sprang to his feet, embarrassed that he’d fallen in front of us all. My sister was cautious, scanning the faces until her eyes landed on Ely. Fear crossed her face, and it was all the convincing I needed that the entire situation had gone on long enough. I had her to think of, and the four of them were nothing but trouble.
“Go now, or I mean it, I will call the police and have you arrested.” I ushered my sister into the building, but not before Ely got in one last snide remark.
“Aw, but then who would protect you from the big, bad... oh, wait, I guess you are the big, bad wolf, aren’t you? Never mind.” He shrugged, which pushed me too far.
He pushed the button, the over-protective sister button that no one in their right mind should go near, let alone push. Forget push, Ely and his merry band of annoyances were jumping up and down on it. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my sister, and I intended to let him in on that bit of information. Only, he didn’t give me much of a chance to exert my fury. He stunned me into silence with his next declaration.
“Sierra Monroe, mark my words. You will take your rightful place in the world, and when you do, I will be standing right beside you.” He took a few steps closer, and I took one back, bumping into my sister. “You are the Crown Princess of Goldene Stadt, the future queen, like it or not.”
His Cheshire grin was a good indicator he was leaving out a large chunk of information, but he soon threw that on me as well, leaving Cecily as stunned as I was. “And I have every intention of being your king.”
My jaw fell open of its own accord, and I heard the blonde woman, the one Ely called a Grimm, sigh loudly.
“Ely, I believe that will be enough. Why don’t you occupy yourself while Brody and I have a productive meeting with Miss Monroe and her dear sister,” she said.
Ely smirked and turned on his heel. He looked over his shoulder, his mahogany eyes locking with mine before he turned and disappeared behind the building. Say what you will, but his outburst did the trick. They had my attention again, against my better judgment.
Heidi spoke again, pulling my attention back to her rather than the place Ely disappeared. “My apologies again for my friend. He’s always been a little... a bit...”
“Stupid?” Cecily finished.
“Yes. Stupid. That’s a good word,” Brody responded, his laid back and carefree personality much more approachable than Ely’s brooding overconfidence. He offered his hand to my sister. “Miss Monroe, I’m Brody Morrison. This is my wife, Heidi, and our friend Felix. May we have a word with the two of you? In private?”
Cecily shook Brody’s hand hesitantly. I was concerned that I suddenly felt much more comfortable with them than I should. I didn’t like it; it was far too suspicious. I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. When I looked to the ground, I saw Heidi’s hands were rigid, her fingers outstretched, palms slightly facing me.
“Are you... doing something to us?” I asked, finding her stance odd.
“What?” she asked nervously. “Um... n-no. Why would you—”
“Stop that,” I said, smacking her hands. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s something. I feel strange, and I’m pretty sure you’re doing it somehow!” For a moment I thought maybe she caused the burning paper towels, but it couldn’t have been her. She wasn’t even at the diner when it happened.
Heidi relaxed her hands and pursed her lips. “I’m sorry, I just thought—”
“If you want us to trust you, maybe you should start with a little honesty,” I spat, taking my sister by the hand and dragging her inside.
We climbed the stairs two at a time, desperate to get away from the people I knew, I just knew were going to cause more trouble than they were worth. Whatever was wrong with me, Cecily and I could figure out on our own just as we had done our entire lives.
I heard the front door of the apartment building slam behind me, then the shuffling of feet. If nothing else, they were persistent. I tried to ignore the fact that I was still curious and kept moving. I pushed our apartment door open and shoved my sister in. She entered with a huff, one that said she was perfectly capable of handling herself, and I didn’t need to treat her like a child. I ignored it and glanced down the stairs to see who was following us.
“It’s just me,” Brody said. “Just the lowly human with zero powers, I swear.”
He held his hands up, a defensive position that exhibited his willingness to walk away if I wanted him to.
“All I ask is you hear us out. I understand, I really do. This has been a circus from minute one, and I totally get why you’d want to run away. Believe me, I was as freaked out as you when I found out my best friend was... is... like you. And Ely, that jerk face almost ate me, so I’m not really his biggest fan either, but I promise he kinda grows on you after a while. Like, five years. Give it five years, and you won’t want to stab him in the face with a butter knife at dinner,” he joked.
I didn’t want to, but I chuckled at his attempt at making fun of Ely. But all jokes aside, I didn’t want trouble. I avoided trouble as much as possible.
“Look, I hear you, but we can’t deal with this right now, okay?”
“Okay,” he said and turned around. He let his hand fall on the door handle and slowly turned it, then eased the front door open, ready to leave as promised.
“Wait, that’s it?” I asked, shocked.
He looked back and said, “If you don’t want to listen, I can’t make you.” Then, he shrugged and pushed the door open and exited without so much as a single how-do-you-do. Darn him.
“Wait!” I yelled, jogging halfway down the stairs to meet him.
He ducked his head through the door, a goofy smirk on his face.
“I just know I’m gonna regret this, but come in. Bring your friend and your wife but tell her to check her weird abilities at the door.”
He smiled, and a cute little dimple appeared in his cheek. I hadn’t noticed just how handsome he was until then, but his flashy smile, adorable dimple, and curiously excited eyes made for a fine-looking face. Heidi Grimm, what a lucky little witch—Oh! That’s it, she’s a... geez, this is getting confusing.
He waved them in, and the three climbed the stairs eagerly. I let them into our cramped apartment, said a prayer Dannie wouldn’t come home anytime soon, then shut the door.
“Spotless, a girl after my own heart,” Heidi said, her German accent thick now that we were behind closed doors.
“Sierra?” Cecily asked, peeking around the corner from the kitchen. “What’s going on? You let them in?”
“Calm down and let me think,” I scolded.
She narrowed her eyes at me but shut her mouth all the same. I felt sorry for snapping at her, but my limits had been passed long ago.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lash out at you. I just want to hear them out, then they’ll go, right?” I asked Brody.
“Right,” he said with finality.
Cecily pursed her lips and chewed the inside of her cheek, a bad habit I usually fussed about, but all things considered, it didn’t really matter. She wiped her hands on a towel and tossed it on the counter, then joined us in the living room. Heidi and Brody sat on our sofa while I took the chair. Felix seemed unnerved and paced at the front door. If he really was a guard, I assumed it was his usual state of being. Cecily wouldn’t sit. Much like Felix, she liked to pace when she was nervous, annoyed, frustrated—she just liked to pace.
“I know this is all so overwhelming, and that’s why I was trying to ease the tension for your sake. I’m... well, everything on the table, I am a witch, but I promise I had your best interest at heart. I’m sorry. I see now it was wrong to control your emotions, and it won’t happen again,” Heidi said.
“And what are those interests?” I asked, surprised she confirmed my earlier suspicion, but more surprised I actually believed her. What other explanation was there?
“Perhaps I should begin at the beginning,” Heidi replied.
“Always a good place to start,” Cecily said, her sarcasm strong after very little sleep.
Heidi didn’t seem to notice and continued, “A very long time ago, an evil princess cast a spell on her own family. She cursed her siblings to turned into wolves, the same as you. Just in the nick of time, their mother was able to cast a spell that protected them from harm by, shall we say, adjusting the curse. Her seven children, they’re all just like you, cursed to turn on a blue moon.”
“Are you saying we’re one of her children? Because we turn on every full moon, not just a blue moon,” I clarified.
“Heavens no. All the Salien children are accounted for, and Snow White has been... dealt with,” Heidi said, giving us a moment to process.
“Snow White, you say?” I asked.
She nodded her agreement, then said, “It’s a long story, and one day I may have the time to tell you every detail, but it’s your story that concerns us today. You see, we assumed Snow was the evil mastermind behind the curse, but it seems it’s your aunt who developed the spell in the first place.”
“Our aunt?” Cecily remained quiet while I questioned Heidi’s story.
“Yes. Your aunt, Cinderella. Ella, I’m told she goes by.”
Brody had been quiet while Heidi explained, but he chose to speak when the tale took another turn toward crazy town— more insane than what we were used to, at least.
“I know this is nuts, and if it will help you understand, Calla is happy to speak to you anytime you want. We can even take you to Schwarzwald, and you can see the—”
“I’m so confused,” Cecily interrupted. “Are you implying that Cinderella is real, and she cursed us to be wolves? Why would she do that?” Her tone was skeptical, not unlike my own wandering mind.
“She wanted the crown, and the only way to do that was to eliminate her competition. She couldn’t simply eliminate her step-sisters, the rightful heirs. That wouldn’t have been enough. She also had to dispose of their children who would fall in line before her. From what we have gathered from our informants, she assumed as Snow did, that she could turn you, tell the world the wolves ate you, then send her huntsmen to slaughter the wolves leaving no trace of foul play.”
Try as I may, I couldn’t wrap my mind around her words. “Complicated does not begin to describe this plan of hers, but even if I did believe you, how could we be her nieces? That story is over two hundred years old.”
“The stories were published over two-hundred years ago in a misguided attempt to find the Salien children. My brothers tried everything else, so in desperation, they had the stories printed with the hope someone may read them and connect,” Heidi said.
“Connect?”
“Yes, um... somehow know the stories were about them.”
“I see, so... if they were written long ago...” I began, then paused to think.
Heidi and Brody shared a measured look that made me nervous, so I stopped my line of questioning. Heidi nodded, alluding that Brody should take this one. He looked at us both with confidence.
“I really hope you’re not the kind of girl who worries about her age,” he joked, once again trying to use humor to smooth over a complicated situation. It worked—for a minute.
I laughed. “Okay then, how old am I supposed to be?”
“Fifteen hundred and ten, give or take a couple. I’m not perfectly clear on the exact year of birth,” Brody said.
He was met with blank stares and blinking from both of us. Cecily looked at me and laughed, probably not believing a word Heidi said. If she’d been in the bathroom with me when the paper towels caught fire, she might not have brushed them off so easily.
“We look pretty good for ancient people,” she teased.
“I’m serious, Cecily. This is no laughing matter despite my husband’s penchant for humor. I fear for your safety and that of your sister. You see, this is not the first life you’ve lived. You’ve lived plenty, but you’ve also died plenty. Each time you reappear just as you always have, with the same curse in your DNA.”
“I’m sorry, are you saying we reincarnate? Impossible. I don’t believe in such things,” I said, though I was beginning to question almost everything.
Heidi sighed, accepting that she would not force anything on us, no matter what she did.
“This is a lot to take in, but the main thing I need you to understand is that you are the rightful heir to the throne of Goldene Stadt, and your people suffer greatly without you. Your father is recovering from his own curse, and your mother is a pigeon, an actual bird stuck in a cage. I do not kid you when I say, the situation for your people is dire. We must act soon.”
“Sierra?” a male voice startled me, and I realized I didn’t lock my front door. Ely stood in the doorway, cautiously, with his hands clasped in front of him.
“Ely, not now. We were just discussing—”
“You were throwing information at them like an audio version of Encyclopedia Britannica, Heidi. Look at them! Their eyes are glazed over. And what is that? What is that thing Cecily is doing?” He pointed to my sister, his gaze locked on her hands.
“It’s a nervous twitch, screw off,” she said, her fingers tapping against her palms quickly. She did it whenever she needed soothing. I remembered it well from our childhood, the last time she’d ever done it.
“You’ve given them twitches, Grimm. Way to go,” Ely said, stepping fully into the apartment and shutting the door behind him.
“Twitches or not, I believe them. What do you want from us?” Cecily asked.
My head instinctively jerked toward my sister. “What? You must be kidding me. You cannot be serious right now,” I said, but I couldn’t tell if I was more shocked she believed them so easily, or that I was beginning to feel less trusting with each bit of the story. “This is insane.”
Cecily stopped pacing and pointed her full attention at me.
“Si, cool your jets and think about it for a minute. How normal are we? Seriously, we turn into wolves! Wolves, Sierra! Haven’t you ever wondered why?”
“Of course! However, I assumed it was a genetic mutation, a little quirk in the DNA. Never once did I think, oh, I must be the descendant of a sociopathic fairytale princess,” I yelled back at her.
“Aline Vogel, the step-sister of Cinderella to be exact,” Ely said, and I shot him a deathly glare. “But who cares?” he backpedaled, throwing his hands in the air.
“I want to hear more, Si. It can’t hurt to hear everything, right? What if...” she paused, afraid to push me when I was on the verge of—honestly, I had no idea what I was on the verge of but going off the deep end seemed like a good place to start.
“Go ahead,” I urged, vowing to give her a chance to speak, to offer her opinion. I had a bad habit of making all the decisions, and it was tiring after so many years.
“What if we were meant for so much more than working at a crummy diner and living in a cramped apartment?” she asked.
“So, you want to pretend you’re a princess instead? We’re a little old to run around pretending to be something we aren’t, something we can never be. We have lives, Cecily. They may not be great, but we cannot afford to traipse around acting as if we’re royals. This is our reality, and I’m sorry it’s not good enough for you, but I have tried.”
Cecily looked crushed, but she couldn’t possibly feel as bad as I did. I’d given up everything to make sure she had a bright future, only to discover it wasn’t enough.
“Actually, she is a real princess. You’re a crown princess, but again who cares about the semantics?” Ely interjected, determined to get himself killed by one of the butter knives in my kitchen Brody mentioned. Five years my butt. I doubted he’d live that long in my presence.
“This is ridiculous. I need some fresh air,” I said firmly, then stomped to the front door.
I turned the handle and pushed, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Darn door!” I kicked it, then tried to push it again. I threw myself at it, hurling my shoulder into the solid wood once, twice, again and again until it was too painful to attempt another time. I kicked it again, frustrated. I cursed it once more, then took a breath. One last time, I turned the knob and pushed, yet it held true.
Ely took my hand gently and pulled me away from the door. He gripped the handle, turned it and pulled it open.
“I often forget which way doors open when I’m frustrated. Don’t sweat it sweet cheeks. Come, let’s go for a little walk,” he said, pulling me out the door by my wrist.
“I don’t want to walk with you. Don’t ever call me sweet cheeks again, or I’ll punch you in the face,” I snapped, jogging down the stairs ahead of him.
“At least let me show you how to shift at will. It will be so much easier on you. You won’t be a slave to the schedule any longer, Sierra. You can do what you want when you want,” he called from the top of the stairs.
His offer was tempting. I hated to admit, but it would be nice to learn how he pulled that stunt in the forest.
“Let me teach you, and if you still don’t trust me by then, I’ll leave forever... but I have a feeling you’ll want me to stay.”
I rolled my eyes but waited while he descended the stairs with painstaking slowness. Such dramatics for a grown man.
“You think I’ll want you to stay? Why is that?” I asked, making the mistake of assuming he had information that would be valuable to my sister and me that he was willing to share during our walk. It was an incorrect assumption.
“I told you already. You’re going to fall in love with me Sierra, and once you accept that bit of information, everything else will fall into place just as it should.”
“I highly doubt that, but I will take you up on the offer. The walk, not the falling in love nonsense. I don’t do love. It’s a waste of time,” I stated, quite sure I would always feel that way.
There was nothing about Ely that was any different from any other man I’d ever encountered. He was egotistical, narcissistic, annoying, cocky, aggressive... adventurous, ambitious, honest, handsome, quick-witted, and his smirk was a little lopsided, which made me... oh, dear heavens.