Midnight Eclipse (Paranormal Viking Romance, Completed)

Chapter 5: Running Away

Greenland, present day

I wake up with a gasp, still lingering in a flurry of uneasy dreams.

Bluebells braided into red curls. Twirling tattoos on freckled skin. Runes carved onto an ivory surface. Thorny blackberry bushes. My ring glimmering in the sun as it's held out by an unknown hand.

And then there's him. A face etched in hardship and cold. Frayed hair dancing over hunched shoulders. Hands with dark spots from exposure to freezing temperatures. Eyes as dark blue as the treacherous sea, but around the pupil there's a small line of blue, like the clear sky of polar summer.

I don't know him, but his face won't leave me. Those eyes peer into mine even as my brain wakes from slumber.

Björn.

The name echoes through my mind as I blink awake. I hear the woman in the water calling this name and I recall Mikk shouting his warning from the cliffs.

Mikk.

His face won't leave me either. It's not etched into my dreams but rather into my waked thoughts. Thinking of him gives me a sense of calm, just like the cold island he hails from.

I relish in the difference between this place and my usual surroundings as I slowly become more alert. The sound is different; the ruckus from busy Stockholm streets is replaced by a humming draft from the wind. The light is different; the smog of city life no longer clouds the rays of the sun. Even the smells are different; smoked fish and seaweed permeate the air instead of asphalt and sweat.

I'm in Greenland. I've run to the end of the world.

The realization excites me. I actually did it. I left everything behind. I felt Stefan and his asshole-ish ways thousands of miles behind me.

Here, I will be able to breathe as I process everything that has happened over the last few weeks. Here, I can be free.

If only I can rise from the heavenly bed that Mikk's mother, Anu, showed me to last night, after first serving me piping hot fish stew. Mikk himself left once he knew I was cared for, after promising to return today to check on me.

I need to be out of here before then. Because I can't get sucked in by eyes that are as deep and dark as the polar sea. I can't get mesmerized by a smile as bright as the midnight sun. I can't get lost in the wilderness of love once again.

I didn't come here for a vacation fling with the Greenlandic version of a hot surfer boy (which is apparently a cool whale safari guide). I didn't come here to have my already shattered heart pulverized.

I have to protect myself. I have to run.

A knock on the door jolts me out of my anxious spiral of thoughts. "I got your stuff from the shore," a voice that already makes my heart race calls out from the other side of the door. "I'll put it right out here for you."

Mikk's already here.

Grabbing a bathrobe from the bed stand, I ascend from the nest of sheets and blankets that have been thawing my frozen limbs. Before opening the door, I peek through the peephole to make sure the hunky Greenlander isn't there. Once I discover that the coast is clear, I cautiously push the door open, snatch my bag and shoes, and pull the items into the room.

Now there's no reason for me not to leave. I have everything I need. My clothes, my laptop, my toothbrush.

So then why am I just standing there in the middle of the room, basking in the warm embrace of the morning sun while smelling newly baked bread from downstairs?

With a sigh, I shake my head to break the spell.

I cannot stay. That's a fact.

About fifteen minutes later, I've showered, got dressed, and packed all my stuff to leave. Quietly, I open the door a mere inch, making sure no one is around. I'm quite sure I saw a back door when I arrived, so I plan to sneak out through it before anyone notices. Sure, I will seem like an ungrateful bitch for just leaving, but at least my heart will be intact.