AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For a brief moment, my mind wandered to her being pregnant. We’d talked about it but hadn’t decided if it was time or not.
We didn’t have eternity. As selfish as it sounded, I wanted to take from her before we had a child because I knew how demanding one could be.
“Say it.”
Her blue gaze lifted toward mine. “Someone is following me.”
My fingers curled into fists around my fork. I raked my brain with questions. I hadn’t seen anyone around her. I noticed things like that because of my career and the one I was pulled out of.
“I haven’t noticed anyone—”
She cleared her throat. “It’s not a someone,” she whispered. “It’s a ...” Her gaze shifted toward the balcony doors.
I followed her line of sight to the moonlit balcony railing. A crow sat on the edge, staring at her through the glass. I stood immediately and stalked toward the balcony.
Pulling the doors open, a gust of humid wind slapped me in the face. The crow didn’t budge. It stared with familiar red eyes. “What the hell do you want?” I asked.
It tilted its head back and forth in concentration.
Josephine stepped out beside me, and the crow flew to her shoulder. I gawked at their interaction. “I take it you have done this before?”
Josie glared at the bird. “No. He’s been trying. I don’t know what this means,” she whispered, touching the tail end of his feather. “I don’t know why he’s here.”
The bird sat quietly for several moments before flying away. She watched him fly into the distance until he was so small, he disappeared. When she turned to me, her eyes were full of questions that I didn’t know the answer to.
“Maybe speaking with Ernest isn’t a bad idea,” I suggested.
She nibbled on her bottom lip for several minutes. “Maybe ... but we should eat. I can hear your stomach growling.”
I followed her back inside and locked the sliding glass door. Josie looked completely enamored with her meal when I sat down.
“This doesn’t mean you’re bad,” I said over a mouthful. “It means he found his way to the other descendant of Deidamia.”
“I have nothing for him.”
“Maybe he’ll like that. Deidamia used him for so long to do her bidding. Maybe that’s why he isn’t squawking around anymore. He seemed at peace, and I think you need to be too. If you ever need to use your powers, use them. Don’t sit and dwell on them. The guilt of something you can’t control will eat you alive.”
Josie gave me a sheepish look. “The silent anti-hero is now the counselor. How the tables have turned.”
“Here we go again with the anti-hero stuff,” I mumbled, winking at her when she smiled. “I thought saving your life would have completely shut that door.”
“You know I like when you wink at me. Better stop. Or I may shove all this food to the floor and take you on this table.”
“Oh,” I said, waving my fork around. “You’re taking me, huh? I’d like to see you try.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” she said. “Or you may end up with a rugged ex-immortal dragging you through realms and discovering secrets that change your life.”
“That sounds like Heaven on Earth to me.”
“It is,” she said, licking cheese dip from her lip. “Beats being in a relationship that didn’t fulfill me for years.”
“Speaking of, I heard Jacob gets out next year.”
Josie put her finger into her mouth and pretended to gag. “Well, let’s hope the time in prison changed him.”
Leaning back in my chair, I smiled. “Or my wife will have to stop his attempts, yet again.”
“Damn straight,” Josephine said. “I don’t think he’ll be back. I’m sure he’s needed counseling after seeing me stop bullets.”
