AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So,” she said, plopping back into her pile of fluffy blankets. “I’m a cat, you’re a bride of death. What about By?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, perching on her desk, my feathered cloak thrown over the chair to dry. “He left before everything happened, and I don’t remember seeing him when the house started to glow. I think… he might have escaped it.”
“Good. That’s good.”
“Except we’re cursed and he’s not and it’s a pretty big secret to keep from him.” I rubbed my eyes, tired.
“We could just tell him,” she suggested, flexing her fingers like a cat extending and retracting their claws.
I shook my head swiftly. “No. He’s got enough to worry about. You know Sterling’s pregnant?”
“Shit! He didn’t tell me that.” Her eyes were impossibly wide.
“That’s why he ran out of the party. He got a call from her. He told me when I got home after… after everything happened.” I shrugged, still hurt by the way he looked at me, snapped at me. “He’s freaking out about their parents finding out. I don’t think we should make him even more stressed with this curse shit.”
Honey sighed and climbed off the bed again, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing until I grunted. “We’ll figure this out, Cat. I know it’s scary, and we don’t really know what it means to be a cat or death’s bride, but curses can be broken, right?”
“Right,” I agreed weakly.
She hadn’t felt the full force of Nightmare’s power. I wished I’d drunk more that night so my memories were muddied too, wished I couldn’t recall the exact way the air throbbed when people died. I swallowed hard, squeezing her back.
“And hey,” she said, pulling back but giving me a reassuring smile. “I’ve always loved cats. Dad never let me get one. He said they smell because of all the litter trays and—oh god, am I gonna need a litter tray?”
Her eyes were very wide, her mouth hanging open.
“I reckon you can keep using the toilet as normal,” I assured her, squeezing her shoulder.
She deflated with a sigh. “Thank fuck for that. My legs muscles aren’t strong enough for all that squatting.”
I snorted. She grinned, a laugh bubbling up from her stomach, and then we were both laughing for no reason at all, expelling stress and panic and traumatic memories in wild laughter.
Honey fell back on her bed, laughing until she calmed and gave me a sly look. “Are they hot? Your three husbands.”
“They’re not my three husbands,” I instantly argued, my face hot.
She waggled her eyebrows. “I think that’s a yes.”
“Fine, yes, they’re insanely, unfairly hot. But it’s not like they’re interested in me. The only reason they know I exist is because of the curse.”
“They call that a meet cute.”
“Pretty sure a curse is not a meet cute,” I drawled, but I was smiling again. “And anyway, one of them hates me and one of them is wayyy too intense.”
Her smile hooked deeper. “That’s only two. What about the third?”
I scowled, but the expression softened when my memories went to the way Death held me, his kisses travelling over my neck, my shoulder, his voice steady and warm, his smoky eyes patient and kind.
“He’s terrifying,” I sighed, leaning back against the dresser. “Beyond scary. He’d make even serial killers run screaming. But he’s kind.”
Honey nodded. “And kindness is your kink.”
“Hey,” I protested. “I have more kinky kinks than that.”
“Oh yeah?” She grinned, sprawling out on the bed as she watched me. “Like what?”
“I immediately regret protesting. I have no kinky kinks. Perfectly ordinary, thank you very much.”
“I know you like older guys, so I guess that’s a kink?”
