A Pull Towards Him

(From Ella's Perspective)

I felt my head unbelievably lighter when I woke up. I was not in Jed's room. Rather I was in my new comfort place- on Leandro's mattress under the fluffy white blanket. The warmth coming from the fireplace made my skin warm and the soft crackling sound coming from the fireplace comforted my ears.

But another warmth was missing. Every time Leandro was near me, I could feel some kind of heat radiating from him as if it was his aura. But he was not here, not on the mattress, not in the room.

I had fallen asleep on Jed's bed. Leandro had surely brought me here. Alas! I wished I had been awoken at that time. I wanted to feel being in his arms again. But he would not carry me if I was not sleeping. I wondered if he would if I asked him to. Perhaps he would, but he would surely want to make another deal, his kind of deal.

The kiss came to my mind. I could not believe he kissed me like that in front of Jed. Jed did not mind, I knew. But still... I felt very embarrassed. I wondered how my face looked like when he was kissing my throat. God, the effect the kiss had on me!

I quickly shook the thought away remembering that I needed to tell Leandro about the whole thing that I had found out. His life was in danger. They would come to kill him tomorrow.

I hastily got off the bed. I looked for him everywhere. But he was not in the cave. Did he have to leave now that I had to tell him very important things?

That man said that King Nicklaus's men would come to kill Leandro tomorrow. It meant they would not come here tonight. I decided to go look for Leandro outside the cave. Perhaps he was near.

The cold air landed on my skin, letting a quiver of chill mixed with an unusual but calming sensation run through my veins. The smell of wildflowers filled my nostrils. It was the same smell I used to get when I would go to the haunted mansion inside the forest of my town. The resemblance made me wonder how my life would have been if I had not found the portal. I was still not sure if I had done the right thing by coming inside the entryway and into this world of monstrous creatures. Now I was trapped here. Even if I wanted to go back, I could not. But did I want to go back?

I did not know where to look for him. And going to look for him deep inside this forest seemed to be a very idea now even though I thought about doing so before. I decided to stay here and call him.

"Leandro!" I called out his name as loud as I could.

My voice echoed throughout the forest, but there was no sign of Leandro. "Leandro!" I called again. And again and again. But there was no sign of his handsome stature, only the heavy cold air with a mixed forest smell.

What if he was in danger? What if his brother changed his plan and attacked him? My heart tightened painfully at the thought. I did not even know him properly, but I felt compelled to save him. The thought of losing him was more than painful.

I started running to my left. I fell once tripping over a broken branch, scratched my hand with something that I could not figure out what it was in the dark, but I did not stop. After searching for thirty minutes here and there, I was left empty hearted finding no sign of him.

I made my way to the cave again, with my heart feeling empty. I prayed again and again that he was alright, nothing had happened to him. Nothing could happen to him, right? He was strong and everyone feared him.

"Ella!"

Suddenly I heard his voice. My eyes widened with relief and the urge to see him. His voice came from the way where his cave was. I ran in that direction, tripping over the same branch again. My knees got bruised, but I did not care. I needed to see him, to make sure he was alright.

As soon as the cave got into view, I found him looking in my direction with an angry look on his face. I did not care if he was angry. I ran towards him and flung my arms around him.

"Don't... don't ever do that," I said, hugging him tightly.

He wrapped his arms gently around me after processing the whole thing. But I was hugging him tightly as if I was not ready to let him go.

"Don't. Just don't. Don't do that."

"Don't do what?" he asked.

"Leave me in the cave alone."

"Are you afraid of being alone? And you're the one who goes to a haunted mansion alone," he said.

"No, I'm not afraid. I thought... I thought that... Let's go inside, Leandro. Please. I need to talk to you. I really thought..."

"What, Ella?"

"Let's go inside," I said pulling back. I took his firm hand in my tiny hand and led him inside the cave. His hand was warm and rough, but even the roughness seemed to make me feel safe.

I sat on the bed and pulled him to sit beside me. "Where were you?" I asked.

"That's none of your business," he said, but his gaze did not say it at all. I had a feeling that he was worried about me. But why would he be worried about me? It was him who he should be worried about.

I sighed and looked down at my lap. Perhaps my gaze led him to look down at me as he asked, "What happened to you?"

"These?" I asked pointing at the wounds on my wrists. "I think some kind of thorn from a tree did those. It's not my fault. I could not... are you alright, Leandro? Did they do anything to you? Did you kill them? Did they manage to hurt you at all? It's not like I want you hurt. Just asking. Do you need me to do anything? Any ointment... oh I forgot. You can heal. Anyway, there is no... blood... they could not do anything to you, right? Thank god! I was really worried."

"Who are you talking about?" he asked. He clearly had no idea what I was talking about. But how... did that mean that they did not try to kill him tonight? I knew they were not supposed to. But I was worried that what if they had changed their plan.

"You didn't meet them then, right?"

"I didn't meet anyone, Ella."

"Good then. I need to tell you a lot of things, really lots of things. Well, I got some information," I said.

"I'm listening. But first, tell me what happened to your knees."

"I fell... twice. I was running, looking for you. I thought... never mind," I said. "You know, I found a book in the library while cleaning. It looked interesting. So, I thought that perhaps I should read it. Oh my god! I left it at Jed's."

"I brought it," he said calmly.

"Oh, thank god. Anyway, then I could not just take it away from in front of everyone, right? I'm just a servant there. So, I took the secret passageways from the library," I said. "I came across a narrow alley. The place is abandoned. Two men were inside a house, talking. I mean, discussing. I eavesdropped. They were saying that your brother's men will attack you tomorrow night, in the forest. I don't know from which way, but I'm sure that they will try to kill you. Those two men don't work for the king. They are humans and they are kind of determined to free this world from shifters. They want to kill your brother. That's not the problem, right? But what I don't understand is that why would they attack you? They know that you're more powerful than them and besides, you told me that they don't come to this part of the forest because of you. But then why? Why will they risk their lives? You'll kill them, right? Do you think they have something that they can use against you? Oh, and they were talking about those first-class shifters. The men, I mean your brother's men, they are the first-class shifters. They are going to come here to kill you," I said breathlessly.

I was trying to remember what I had said to make sure that I did not leave anything behind. He needed to know everything. I could not afford to lose him, not when there was some kind of pull I felt towards him.