Free Timeless (Immortal Love Series) by Amy Richie Page A

the hole full of ashes was a square shaped wooden table. There were three chairs placed around it. I narrowed my eyes slightly. Why did he need so many chairs if he lived alone?
    I had to step around the animal to make it to the door. I stood on my toes and danced towards the door — careful not to touch the fur. I shuddered when I got to the head and saw the large teeth. “Eww.”
    I was quick to open the front door and get outside. My mind was still on the horrible toothy grin on Nickolas’s floor when I stepped off the front porch. It took me a moment to remember why I had come outside in the first place. I looked around at the scenery for the first time. Trees. I shook my head in disbelief. The clearing in front of Nickolas’s house was just big enough for a few items that I did not recognize.
    The trees seemed eager to come up and swallow the house and me. I took two steps back. I thought about running back to the safety of the bed but I had come out here on a mission. With a firm resolve, I straightened my shoulders and set out to find Nickolas and the house I must live in.
    I ran all the way around the wooden house and didn’t find anything. Nickolas was nowhere to be seen. And I couldn’t see any houses either. In fact, the only thing I could see was trees. “I won’t go further than I can hear you.” I remembered Nickolas’s promise from earlier.
    I cupped my hands around my mouth and called as loud as I could. “Nickolas!” I counted to ten in my head before I tried again. “Nickolas!” I rolled my eyes at my own foolishness. If he did know my family he would have said something by now.
    I had already turned to go back inside when I heard his voice. “Eva?” he called. He shot out of the trees in a near blur, freezing me in my steps. His relief when he saw me was evident. “Are you hurt?” I couldn’t even shake my head before he was at my side. His hands felt down the length of my body, checking for injury. Almost instantaneously he was crouching low in front of me. “What is it? What happened? Is someone here?” he asked without looking at me.
    I hadn’t even blinked yet and I was feeling incredibly stupid for calling him. “There’s no one here,” I muttered. I was angry, but only at myself for acting so impulsively. And now I was embarrassed.
    He spun around to face me. “Then what…I mean why…?”
    “ I wanted to ask you a question.” I crossed my arms and looked away from him.
    “ You mean to tell me,” he began angrily but then took a breath, “that I just ran faster than…maybe than I ever have, so you could ask me a question?”
    “ You said you wouldn’t go far,” I reminded him. I was moments away from stomping my feet.
    He stood there chewing the inside of his lip while I blazed red. Finally, after an extended eternity, a huge grin broke out on his face. “Well, it better be one hell of a question,” he teased.
    I gave him my best glare, turned back to the door, and stomped all the way back inside. I placed myself in one of the chairs by the hole of ashes. I sat and scowled, expecting him to follow. But I sat there pouting for quite a while before he came in. He was holding a large plate full of food. He set it down on the table and turned towards me.
    “ Your lunch Milady.” He bowed foolishly low in front of me.
    I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him. He winked. I got up with a haughty air. “Your animal over there is dead,” I informed him with a flip of my hair.
    His loud laughter startled me and I jumped. He was still laughing when I sat down and started eating. The food was delicious. I would have told him that if he didn’t aggravate me by laughing so much. Really, what was so funny?
    Nickolas kept chuckling while he made several trips outside to make a small pile of wood by the door. When he finally quit laughing, he would look at me and start up again. I sighed loudly and got up from the table. I would just go to bed, that would solve his