Autumn Moon Read Online Free PDF

rightness of it defied all challenges to come. If she continued to ignore him, he would correct her soon enough. Their enemies would arrive by evening; of this he had no doubt. But for now he watched her from his new perspective, standing a head above instead of waist-high and looking up.
    His gut tightened as memories flooded his thoughts, made more poignant by the danger that threatened them. How many times had they walked together along this trail to her cottage? Hundreds maybe? Even thousands? He remembered when this path had been the only passage to her home, named Emerald Trail for its endless carpets of moss. But then his observation had been through the eyes of a wolf, keen in ability but useless for what he desired most.
    From either viewpoint, there was no sight in this world more beautiful than Elen in her forest. This place
belonged
to her. Dylan may be its defender, but she was its master. Her fair hair danced in the wind, as if the element of Air couldn’t resist touching a flowing part of her. Slender but sturdy, she kept her shoulders back and her face forward—or any direction away from him.
    He scanned the area for anything amiss, but the only disturbance he found came from her. Now that they were alone, her obvious resentment thickened the air like poison. Was she even aware that trees wept as she passed? Of course she was—or might have been, if fury hadn’t muddled her judgment. Leaves still green, not ready to fall, wilted on their branches in her wake, trickling down like weak rain.
    â€œYou’re angry with me,” he voiced aloud as humans found necessary. Dylan had advised him to talk, so he would to breach this dangerous silence.
    â€œI’m not,” she clipped without lessening her pace. She wore a simple top over a printed skirt that wrapped around her waist, held together by meager strings that formed a bow by her side. One tug would unravel it.
    Did she not know how such things tempted a man? “Now you’re lying.”
    She whipped around so suddenly he almost plowed into her. “I’m hurt,” she corrected, “not angry. There’s a difference.”
    Maybe there was one, but he couldn’t make out the distinction just then. Not when storm clouds held less turbulence than her gaze. “I never meant to hurt you.”
    A delicate frown marred her features as she studied him for a long while. “What are you about, Cormack? You wanted nothing to do with me for six months, and now . . .” She waved her hand about in a frantic gesture as if trying to grasp his reasoning from air. “And now you volunteer as my personal guard. I don’t understand you.”
    â€œWhat’s there to understand? I’ve always protected you.” From the day she’d served him dinner on a porcelain plate and not thrown scraps on the floor, he’d been hers. She’d given a wolf dignity at the price of his trapped human heart.
    â€œNot since last spring, you haven’t.” She folded her arms under her chest, and the delicate mounds rose with her breaths and heated accusations. “You want me to act as if you never left. Well, I can’t. I can’t go back to the way it was.”
    Yes, he much preferred this perspective. “Neither can I.”
    When her lips pressed together, he realized he’d said something wrong. Her gaze held more sadness than the entirety of a barren ocean. They called to him, those eyes, as they always had. A color not uncommon to their race, they were the blue of winter horizons, so light they sometimes appeared gray, but rare because of the kindness within. And they were finally seeing him as he’d always wanted to be seen—as a man.
    â€œBecause of what I did to you?” she asked on a broken whisper. “I’m sorry. Had I known—”
    â€œDon’t!” Cormack wanted to drag her into his arms but resisted the urge. Less than a pace away, her