Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“I think I’m going to throw up,” Declan announced, and bolted from the room.
I cackled under my breath.
Lorne tapped me on the shoulder.
“Yes?”
“You have so much explaining to do.”
“Yes, but we have to go and eat at your house and then go back to mine for dessert.” His scowl took all the wind out of my sails. “No?”
“First, that was terrible and lame, but really, I can’t imagine a point in the evening where you won’t be talking,” he informed me.
The only good part was that when I leaned against Declan’s desk, Lorne put his arm around me and made sure I was tucked in close. I had really missed being hugged, and I hadn’t realized how much.
SEVEN
Dinner was amazing, and yes, the food was fantastic, but the company was even better. I missed having a family. The spaghetti was made without meat, which was lucky because I was starving and had forgotten to mention to James that I was a vegetarian. As I ate like it was going to be my last meal, James explained that he’d been taught to cook this by his college roommate’s grandmother, and she, herself, preferred it meatless.
“She said the flavors come out better this way, and I’m so glad I didn’t add sausage or meatballs. It wouldn’t be the same with you just having salad.”
“Thank you.” I mopped up sauce with the bread that was thankfully not garlic. I didn’t want Lorne to have any reason not to kiss me.
“It does feel so much better in here,” Cass said, smiling at me. “And thank you for blessing the bells when you came back.”
“Of course.”
“And is the rice only placed at the front door?”
I nodded. “That needs to be changed monthly. Dig a hole in the back yard and return it to the earth.”
“Got it,” she stated firmly. “Now, is the mat at the front door going to need to stay flipped over like that forever, or does it eventually get to be right side up again?”
“Remember what I told you?”
“Oh yes, right. We’ll need to get a new one. Nothing with the word welcome.”
“Or any other invitation. A picture would be best. My friend Amanda, for example, has the sign from The Hobbit about party business. That’s fine.”
“Didn’t we have a sign outside as well?” Lorne asked.
“It’s in the trunk of your car,” I told him. “You could put it up at the jail; it would be ironic that way.”
He scowled at me.
We did the dishes since James cooked, and afterward, we all sat down in the living room, around the fireplace, to talk. I was surprised Lorne wasn’t suggesting we leave, when I noted his drooping eyes.
“You know,” I offered, “I should go home and—”
“No,” he husked, even as his eyes drifted closed. “Stay with me.”
When I glanced over at Cass, she was lying on the opposite end of the couch from her father, passed out, and James himself had his head back, mouth open, and he was snoring away.
I attributed this lethargy to the food coma, along with having all that negative energy blasted out of the house, which in itself took an emotional toll. It didn’t occur to me until I saw a face for a moment at the window, a misshapen head, a grotesque fusion of wolf and man, that vargrs were skulking outside Lorne’s home. I recognized then that a spell had been cast as well, one that was working on the others, lulling them to sleep, making them easy prey for when the wolves breached the door. They couldn’t come right in, not anymore, since the house was, to an extent, now warded. As I’d told Lorne, it wasn’t locked nor sealed, which would take more time. So eventually, with repeated tries at rushing the door, the vargrs could break it down and enter. I needed to lead them away. I could only keep everyone safe if I ran.
I had to get out.
Running to the kitchen, I stripped fast and darted naked to the back door. Opening and closing it, making sure it locked behind me, I thought fly, as I always did before taking a running leap into the air. This time I dived off the back patio, and suddenly the wind caught me and I was soaring over the ground.
A vargr tried to reach me, the vault from the roof of the house an excellent try, but I was fast and nimble in flight. I saw them below me, five of them running now to catch up, and saw something else, perhaps the creature from earlier in the day, following the wolves.
As high as I was, I didn’t worry about what was happening below me, only that they had gone to the house to find me and were now tracking me home. I didn’t want them near Lorne and his family. I would have to put greater protections in place for his home, as well as Amanda’s. Hers because I loved her, she was practically family; his because I could see myself falling for him, was already starting to. I cared about many others in town, but their homes did not pulse with my energy and couldn’t be sensed by those from other realms. Whoever or whatever was after me wanted to threaten me with maximum pain, so they would threaten only those I loved, not merely liked.