Yes, I texted back. 10 works.
I knew Aunt Dellie would probably be asleep before then. She was an early to bed and early to rise kind of person and besides, she often taught a sunrise medication class. So sneaking out at ten to meet Griffin should present no problem at all.
Except the fact that it was probably hazardous to my health to be alone with the tall Nocturne.
But again, I couldn’t make myself care. The necklace at my throat burned and throbbed and my heart pounded. I craved his cool touch and wanted to look into those lightning and pitch eyes again.
Even if they were the last thing I ever saw.
52
Sneaking out of the house proved to be no problem at all. In fact, I didn’t so much sneak as just walked right out the front door and locked it behind me with the spare key Aunt Dellie had given me.
My aunt was already asleep, just as I had predicted. I had heard her snoring gently as I crept down the creaky wooden stairs, trying not to step on the steps that made especially loud noises.
The minute I found myself out in the moonlight in the middle of Aunt Dellie’s garden, I heard a low voice calling my name. Turning, I saw Griffin standing there, at the front gate of the low wooden fence which bordered the front lawn.
“You have to come to me, little witch,” he said when I waded carefully through the blooming flowers which were mixed in with vegetable plants. “I can’t come in to you unless the owner of the property invites me.”
Somehow I doubted Aunt Dellie would invite a Censured Nocturne onto her land so I came to the front gate to meet him. I was about to go through it when Griffin put a hand on mine, keeping me from opening the latch.
“Wait—consider if you should do this, Megan,” he murmured. He was wearing jeans and a white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up and the collar open to show the Blood Stone lock around his neck. “Consider if it is safe.”
“Are you telling me you’re planning to hurt me?” I asked, frowning at him. The cool touch of his hand on mine was making it hard to think and already I could smell his wintry scent, sharp and crisp, even over the lush, heavy floral smell of the flowers of the garden.
“All I can tell you is that I desire you more than ever,” Griffin murmured and his eyes were deep enough to drown in. “All I can tell you is that I have never wanted a female as badly as I want you. And…that I will try to control myself.”
These last words probably shouldn’t have been very reassuring, but I found myself reassured anyway.
He doesn’t want to hurt me, I told myself. It occurred to me that I probably should have called or texted Emma and Avery and Kaitlyn but somehow I hadn’t. Somehow I had wanted to keep this meeting secret, even from my coven-mates, though I had promised to keep them in the loop. Why had I done such a thing?
I didn’t know. I only knew I wanted to see Griffin desperately and now, here he was and I was going to take a chance and leave the safety of my aunt’s house and go with him, risks be damned.
I opened the gate and went to him.
53
It wasn’t very smart, I know, and I don’t recommend that anyone else walk out into a dark night with a Censured Nocturne. But the moment Griffin laced his long, cool fingers with mine, I couldn’t feel anything but a desire to get closer to him. There was literally no room for any other emotion—not fear or caution or anything else.
I just wanted to be with him.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day,” Griffin admitted in a low voice as he led me around the back of my aunt’s house towards the wilderness that grew there. And when I say wilderness, I mean it. It wasn’t just a few trees and some underbrush—there were thickets of vines and ivy all tangled together, making what looked like an impenetrable mass.
“I’ve been thinking about you too,” I said. Since he was being honest, I would too, I decided. Not that I had much choice since his mark on me made me tell him the truth, especially when he asked me direct questions.
Of course, that went both ways and I had some questions I was dying to ask him. But I wanted to wait until we got where we were going.
“How are we going to get through all this?” I asked. We had reached the edge of the tangled wilderness and I couldn’t see any way through it in the silvery light of the moon.
“This way—I made a path,” Griffin answered casually. Stooping down, he lifted a curtain of ivy and sure enough—I saw a narrow tunnel had been made through the greenery—which looked black in the moonlight.