BlackWind Read Online Free PDF

forward.
    “Stop obsessing about it, Bronwyn,” he demanded. “Let them think whatever they want. You and I know we will be together, so what they think doesn't count.”
    “They'll know you failed so you could stay behind and be with me.”
    “But they can't prove that I'm not just a retard.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Well, that, I might agree with them about.”
    He smiled, crossed his eyes, comically twisted his lips, and sent her into gales of laughter.
    “You goofy nincompoop,” she said.
    He drew her from the swing and into his arms, arms now thick with muscles from his daily workout with the weights at the school gym. “But I'm your goofy nincompoop.”
    She circled his neck with her arms, laid her head against his chest, and sighed. “That you are.”
    He looked about them. Bronnie knew that prying eyes was something about which he constantly worried. Not only prying eyes, but wagging tongues that would carry tales to both her father and his. Seeing that no one was watching them, he put his finger under her chin, lifted her face, and bent down to claim her lips.
    Sean's kisses—so few and so far between—were precious to Bronnie. They were intoxicating moments in which their two souls seemed to blend through the pressure of their lips. The taste of his tongue as it slipped gently, tenderly, and possessively into her mouth was a mating of their souls and sent shivers of ecstasy through her body. Unconsciously, she pressed closer against him, needing the feel of his masculine length against hers.
    He released her lips and stepped back, putting distance between them. As her eyes fused with his, he shook his head. “One day, little one,” he promised.
    “I'm a woman.”
    “Not quite yet. You're going to have to wait a while for that to happen.”
    “I don't want to wait.”
    “But we will,” he said firmly. “When this...” He hooked a finger under the chain around her neck and pulled out the amulet she had not removed since the day she put it on. “When this can be replaced with a ring to signify our lawful Joining as bondmates.”
    She groaned with frustration. “You're a beast, Sean Cullen.”
    “I'm a good Catholic boy even if you're a wicked Catholic girl,” he teased. “Stop trying to seduce me. You're giving me sinful thoughts. I'm gonna wind up confessing to Father Mike tomorrow.”
    “I take it back—you're not a beast, Sean Cullen, you're a priest in training!” She pouted.
    “You will thank me when you're able to tell our grandchildren their granny went to her Joining bed as pure as the white gown she was entitled to wear.”
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
    He chuckled, cupped her cheeks, slanted his mouth brutally across hers for a moment, then set her aside. “Take that to your dreams this eve, Milady!”
    She lifted her hand to swat him, but he danced away, wiggling his fingers toward him. “Come on, witchling! Give it your best shot!”
    She ran at him but he skipped away, darting around the merry-go-round and setting out for the cages where the zoo animals were kept. She chased him, dodging between the tall pines and occasional park visitor.
    “Be careful!” one elderly man warned, drawing Bronnie's attention to him and away from Sean.
    “Sorry,” she said, blushing.
    When she turned around, she didn't see Sean. She slowed to a walk, knowing full well where he would be.
    She found him at the manatee tank. His shoulders were hunched, his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his jeans. She went up to him and put her hand on his back.
    “It isn't right,” he said.
    She looked down into the tank and felt her heart ache. “I agree. It isn't.”
    The huge creature was barely able to move about the tank as it swam in an aimless, awkward circle.
    “Sometimes,” he said, “I wish it would die. At least then it would be free.”
    She slipped her arm around his waist. “I know.” They had had this conversation before.
    “The gods didn't mean for wild creatures to be caged out of