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“Holy shit,” Ajax said as we crested the top. The night sky stretched out before us, close enough that I imagined reaching out to touch the thin wisps of clouds decorating the starry sky.
A blink, and we hurtled downward, a free fall like no other stealing any scream I may have managed. I threw my hands in the air, a smile stretching wide as we kept falling, the wind biting my cheeks as we soared forward.
I turned my gaze to Ajax, noting a grin on his face too, a wild sort of twinkling in his eyes as we spiraled upside down and forward again until we finally leveled out. The coaster brought us to a halt so sharp I felt it in my chest, but I couldn’t stop laughing as Ajax helped me climb out of the ride.
“That was amazing!” I bounced on the balls of my feet, feeling the rush jolt through me, my heart racing. All those years, I’d been afraid something like this would kill me, and here I was, exhilarated and thrilled and craving more. “Let’s do it again!”
Ajax grinned. “Whatever you want,” he said, only further proving that he wasn’t real. I mean, what kind of stranger would indulge me for this long?
Two hours and way too many coaster rides later, Ajax lingered outside my car in the parking lot. While waiting in line, I’d learned that he was in collections, but he wouldn’t tell me what kind of collecting he did. From the look of him, I imagined him as a bounty hunter, but then again, I also could easily see him being an angel of death here to collect my soul, so it worked out either way. I also discovered he was a fantastic listener with a quick wit who had a weakness for reality shows. He also loved snacks as much as me. Yeah, I was leaning toward him being too perfect to be real.
But I couldn’t remember a time I’d had more fun.
“Can I text you sometime?” I asked. “Unless you plan on stalking me all the way home, angel?”
Ajax took my phone from my extended hand, typing a little aggressively on the screen before handing it back to me.
I grinned down at the contact name he’d given himself.Grace’s Grim Reaper.
“Nice touch,” I said, hating that I didn’t have the courage to say what I was thinking—that I wanted him to come home with me.
Three months.
That’s all I had to live as much as I could, and I knew one night with him—hell, onehour—would be truly living.
But just because I knew I was dying didn’t mean I could easily change my entire personality. I was still the shy Grace who felt more comfortable lost in a book world than in the real one. I enjoyed studying minds as long as they weren’t my own, and I drank coffee at midnight because I hated sleeping. And nowhere in that list of qualities did I find the courage I needed to ask him to come with me.
“I’ll be seeing you,” Ajax said, slowly backing away from my car.
“I hope so,” I said, reaching into my bag for my keys. “Wait, how are you going to get home?” I asked, looking up from my bag to find nothing but emptiness before me. I glanced around the parking lot, noticing other park patrons returning to their cars, but no sign of the six-seven giant that had kept me company all night.
I hurried into my car, my fingers slightly trembling as I took a deep breath.
Maybe I really had manifested him, but if that was the case, couldn’t I have thrown myself a bone and manifested him coming home with me?
“Thanks a lot,” I grumbled to myself before heading home.
I parked outside the little two-bedroom house I rented, noting my porch light had gone out. I glanced over my shoulder, unable to shake the sense that someone was watching me, but I didn’t see anyone on my quiet street. Not even my nosy neighbor, Karen. The town was quiet except for the sound of insects chirping their nightly tunes.
Still, I rushed inside my house, quickly locking the door behind me, unable to shake that feeling. After a few deep breaths, I shook my head at myself. It was probably just death lurking over my shoulder, and I knew I’d never be able to outrun him.
3
AJAX
“We’ve checked this area at least three times in the past month,” Talon said, his annoyance more than obvious as we walked on the witch-side of the forested border between our territories with Benedict on our last route of the evening.
“And we’ll check it every week next month,” Benedict answered with a sigh, approaching the empty farmhouse in front of us that had belonged to the Greenbriar coven. “Jocelyn’s sister asked us for help bringing the rest of the traitors in the Greenbriar coven to justice, so that’s what we’ll do by order of the Conclave.”
Talon shot me a look behind Benedict’s back, then rolled his eyes.
I grinned and shook my head.
“I saw that,” Benedict said over his shoulder. After weeks of being paired with the two of us to patrol witch lands, he’d generally had it with our shit, which only made me smile wider. It wasn’t his fault that his relation as the brother-in-law of the witch queen made it so he was required to be on every patrol in their territory.
“The fuck you did,” Talon answered. “And come on, I know your mate is a witch hybrid and her sister is the Queen of the Witches, but you’re seriously going to tell me that patrolling for possible turncoat witches is the best use of our time?”
The moon shone on the clearing between forest and farmhouse, making it easy to see that the last footprints around this area were ours.
