Grounded (Grounded #1) Read Free Page B

the door. He didn’t look surprised to see me; actually, he looked unnervingly relaxed in a worn pair of cargo shorts and a black t-shirt.
    Before he could get a word out, I grabbed his neck, shoving him inside against the far wall. It felt good to exert some energy.
    “What are you up to?” I spat through clenched teeth, giving my fingers an extra squeeze against his trachea, feeling his heart pound at the pulse point, the natural reaction to being choked.
    “Jesus, Alyssum.” The words came out hoarse enough that I decided to loosen my grip just a couple of notches so I could hear him. “I’m here for the same reason as you are. To stop the war.”
    I smirked. “I just want to make sure we win it.”
    After a little hesitation, I relaxed my hand and released his throat. I backed away and walked across the apartment to put some distance between us. I folded my arms under my breasts the way I always did when I was giving my parents a hard time. Usually, though, with guys it just made them look at my chest. He was definitely a guy.
    “Wouldn’t it be even better if we could stop it from happening in the first place? I think he can do that. You do too, right?”
    “I’m not telling you what I do or do not know, Gobel.” I wasn’t entirely certain what Heath could do, if anything—shoot, what Jensen could do.
    “I’ve heard of you…strong, fierce,” Aric started. I felt a cocky smile spread across my face. Then he continued with, “pigheaded, rule breaker.”
    “Yeah, yeah, flattery isn’t going to help you today.”
    He told me his grand plan to get Jensen home to Delaware, which, if he was as powerful as they feared, might make the Gobel council back down. The legend of Glen Sorrel went deeper than I thought if the mere thought of what Jensen possessed could be enough to make the Gobel back down. I saw the flaws. The chances he’d be taking assumed Jensen packed the punch we both hoped he did. It was the same chance I was taking, even though Jensen’s return might not be enough. A fight might still happen. My muscles relaxed. I agreed with him about one thing, though. Jensen had to come home.
    “Okay, Gob—Aric.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m going out on a limb here and giving you the benefit of the doubt on this one.” My wedged heels thudded against the linoleum as I stalked toward him. “But if you’re up to something, your throat isn’t the only one I’ll rip out.”
    His eyes widened. “Damn. What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “I mean,” another step closer, “your mother, your father and, honestly, since you’re Gobel, you must have like a dozen or so brothers and sisters. I’ll hunt each one down and end their existence. Capisce?”
    “Yeah, yeah. Christ, Alyssum, you need to calm down.”
    Turning on my heels, I left the kitchen to sit on the tired couch in his living room. I swung a leg over my knee, thinking about how I loved it when I got to be badass, but even I had to admit I probably looked pretty silly. I’m five foot three; he’s more than six foot. I hardly looked threatening in comparison, but I can follow through on everything I said. I knew it. I’m sure he knew it too.
    We sat in the sparsely furnished room for two hours, discussing our options. I didn’t give him much information about what I thought should happen after we got Jensen on board. That would be up to my council, not his. Then something occurred to me. Aric was risking his life just by being here. If his people found out, they’d kill him for fraternizing with the enemy or some other stupid code of conduct violation.
    With that in mind, I started to trust him, at least a little. My entire body unclenched. I hadn’t even realized I was rigid until my muscles released. We were raised to fear Gobel, to want to end them and to never, ever allow them into our life. I always did have a hard time following the rules.
    After returning to the motel, I ate while surfing the internet on my laptop, even though