Chapter 7
Corbin
Thea eventually showed up for brunch as well—I figured Jude had texted her.
Sometimes she joined us for stuff like this, and sometimes she didn’t.
Jude and I tried to give her space and freedom even though she lived here a lot of the time.
Something told me that although she was a part of the pack, her place wouldn’t be to stay here in Paradise Falls with the rest of us.
She was also still a little skittish about being a hellhound, which I understood.
It was probably hard to find that out after so many years thinking she was human.
I’d have to do a reading on her; I thought the cards would probably have some insight into things.
Sebbie was cute as hell with her when she showed up.
He made a space for her to sit next to him, and he chatted with her, asked her questions, and generally ignored any grumbling she did.
He kept calling her bestie, even when she frowned, and I could tell she was actually enjoying it despite her eye rolling.
After everyone finished eating, Aiden, Q, Toby, Sebbie, and Thea headed out to go into town for something. (Sebbie insisted that Thea had to go, and she had grudgingly agreed.)
Josh was, of course, invited along with the rest of the humans, but he opted out. Something about having to work on some financial stuff today. Fluffy and Dexter walked out with them, although I figured Fluffy would probably be back since most stores didn’t welcome very large dogs.
Once the humans were gone, Jude folded his arms and stared at me. Wilder and Liam turned to stare as well. It didn’t take Josh long to look over at me, too, probably because everyone else was.
Crow fluffed her feathers and cawed at them. I just ignored them; I didn’t feel like explaining myself at the moment.
“What’s going on?” Josh asked, looking between us.
“Corbin’s got a bandage on his arm,” Liam supplied.
“Because he came home bloodied,” Jude added.
Wilder hadn’t said anything, but he was looking at me curiously. I knew he’d leave it alone if I wasn’t inclined to talk.
“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Josh asked. “What happened?”
I turned to face him. He looked genuinely concerned and upset, which I didn’t like. I could annoy my brothers until the end of days, but I felt far more protective of the humans in our pack.
I sighed. “The land wasn’t as tightly bonded to us as I’d hoped. Thea said things felt weird away from town, and I wanted to solidify the pack’s connection to Paradise Falls.”
Liam pulled out his computer, probably to run some program to assess all nearby cities for crime or something like that. I didn’t ask. Wilder nodded his head and drank some more coffee, but Josh looked confused.
“Witch stuff,” I said, smiling a little at Josh. “Sometimes a blood offering is called for.”
“Umm. Okay. Why the bandage, though? Shouldn’t it be healed by now?” he asked.
“Oh, it’s healed by now,” Jude answered smugly. “So why don’t you take off the bandage, Corbin? Hmm?”
I glared at him. He laughed, though.
“Guess who put the bandage on? I bet Corbin’s feeling attached to it after their special bonding moment,” Jude teased. Then he sing-songed, “Corbin and Sebbie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…”
I huffed. “Why would we be sitting in a tree? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Huh. You know, I never thought about that, but it is an odd line,” Josh agreed. “Anyway, everything is okay now? You’re okay? You’re healed? Do we need to worry about anything?”
“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “Everything is okay. Don’t worry.”
Josh really was perfect for Wilder, and I appreciated his concern.
I was saved from further questions that I didn’t have answers to when Fluffy strolled into the room.
Crow gave him a soft coo as a greeting. She loved all of my pack, just as I did, but she had a special fondness for Atlas when he was in his Fluffy form.
I thought that she might have been able to communicate a bit with him that way, which was something she couldn’t do with the rest of the pack.
I reached up and rubbed her neck, sending a feeling of love to her.
She responded by fluffing her feathers and nibbling at the top of my ear in affection.
Fluffy sat in the middle of the kitchen, and I swear he was grinning at us. Josh seemed to pick up on it as well.
“Why do you look like you’re going to start trouble?” Josh asked, quickly followed by, “Clothes!” as if he knew Fluffy was going to transform right then.
To be fair, he probably was, and he did hate clothes. Fluffy grumbled a bit but stalked off, and he returned a second later, wearing sweatpants in his human form. Then he leaned against the counter and continued to grin at us.
“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Jude said, looking gleeful. “You haven’t had that look since we decided to take out the gang headquarters that one time.”
Atlas smiled more broadly, and he was staring at me.
Shit.
I sighed. “What is it?”
“Sebbie likes you,” he stated.
“Good. I like him, too,” I answered. “I’m not sure why you’re giving me that look, though.”
“Probably because you’re fucking slow as molasses,” Jude cut in. “You like him, he likes you, and all you two did was throw longing glances at each other through brunch. It’s like we’re in middle school and we’re going to have to start passing notes for you guys.”
“Like you can talk. It’s not like you’ve done anything about your sheriff,” I retorted.
“At least I get together with him,” Jude defended.
“Getting arrested does not count as ‘getting together with him,’” I stated.
“Hey! I haven’t been arrested… Yet,” Jude added, smiling wickedly.
We all groaned.
“You are not getting arrested,” Josh said, pointing a finger at Jude. Then he turned to me. “And it’s great that you and Sebbie like each other. He needs someone good in his life.”
“Should I put more detailed surveillance around his house?” Liam asked, not looking up from his computer.
Josh’s head swiveled around slowly to stare at him, and the look on his face was a little frightening.
“Liam, please tell me you haven’t installed cameras in Sebbie’s house,” Josh said slowly.
Even Liam picked up on his tone, because he looked up. “Of course not. I know about consent. The only surveillance I have is of the surrounding areas outside. You want him protected, don’t you?”
Josh didn’t seem to have anything to say to that, although he sighed. Then he looked at Atlas. “Why do you look like trouble?”
“The humans are plotting to get Sebbie and Corbin together,” he said gleefully.
We all groaned at that, even Josh. Toby, Q, and Aiden all plotting…
Well, to be fair, Aiden was probably the voice of reason.
Who knew what Toby and Q would come up with, though.
Q would have Sebbie fire-bombing my house as a gesture of love, and Toby would tell him to get kidnapped—again—in order to have me rescue him in a heroic gesture of love.
Liam’s hellcat and the paranormal suspense writer were not a good combo to be planning things.
And it wasn’t like Dexter was going to be any help in reining them in.
He’d probably suggest sending a severed finger as a token of love.
“This is gonna be fun,” Atlas said, and then was shucking his sweatpants, and Josh barely had time to yell, “We wear clothes!” before Atlas was back in his Fluffy form and heading out the door.
“Do you want me to… I don’t know, talk to them?” Josh asked, but even he looked dubious.
“Nah, I can handle the humans. You go do your work stuff. Thank you,” I told him. He smiled at me, and he and Wilder headed out the door next. Wilder put a hand on my shoulder before he went, and I knew it meant they’d be there if I needed them.
That left Jude and Liam, and I wasn’t in the mood for either of them at the moment. I didn’t need suggestions on how to woo my mate. He wasn’t like their humans. He was special, and I would figure out the best way to go about it.
I got up without a word and headed out the back door. Jude waved a hand, and Liam didn’t even look up. Sometimes they were annoying, but they knew me well, and they knew when I needed some quiet. The land was now firmly bonded to us, and I’d find a nice spot to meditate.
I walked out into the sunlight peeking between the branches in the forest, and Crow flew off to explore on her own.
I eventually found a quiet, shadowed area by a huge old tree, moss coating the ground around it.
It gave me a good feeling, so I settled down, leaned against the tree, and closed my eyes, waiting for the land to speak to me.
She almost always had something to say, and I was ready to listen.
I must have fallen asleep, because I was on a dock by a river.
The sky was overcast, and the water was choppy.
I heard Crow from somewhere—I knew it was her—and I looked around to find her.
She flew in, appearing as if from nowhere, and landed on my shoulder.
She preened my hair for a moment, and then she cawed in my ear, making me turn around.
There was a man in a black suit standing there. He was beautiful in an unearthly way, and he was staring out over the water. I felt no malevolence from him, but I did feel power. Endless power. I had the urge to kneel in his presence, but I didn’t. Hellhounds kneeled to no one, not anymore.
To my surprise, Crow flew over and landed on his shoulder.
“Ah, my old friend. It has been a very long time. I’m glad to see you’ve found such a good companion to serve,” the man said, gently caressing her feathers.
“She doesn’t serve me,” I cut in, angry at the implications of that. Crow was her own being and free to do as she pleased.
He smiled at me. “And that is why she has chosen you and stayed with you for so long.”
There was a shift in the air then, and the sky lightened up, sunshine pouring down.
I could suddenly make out a boat not far offshore, and people were drinking and laughing on it.
There was a figure in the boat in a pink cloak with a shining staff, and somehow I knew it was Sebbie.
The man in black was smiling fondly at the boat.
“He isn't really here,” I stated. “He’s shopping with the humans.”
The man in black waved his hand carelessly. “Time is a construct. Yesterday, today… It's all relative. He’s shopping with his friends, and he’s also guiding the boat to the shores of the underworld. He is many things.”
“Yesterday, today, and tomorrow?” I asked, because if time was relative, he had forgotten the future.
He looked at me, smiling. “Your mother would be proud.”
I felt goosebumps rise on my skin, but I didn’t look away from him.
He turned back toward the boat, gazing out at the river. “Tomorrow is not a part of that. Free will makes tomorrow forever in motion. It is only the past and the present that can coexist. The future is an unknown, and even as we speak, it is changing. It has already changed.”
I looked out at the river. I had a good idea who the man in black was, but I didn’t care for riddles when it came to Sebbie. As if he sensed my thought, and perhaps he did, he looked over at me.
“He is an old friend of mine, even if he has taken on a new form. He has free will now, and that was something that was never supposed to happen.”
“So why did it?” I asked.
“Because the universe is changing, and sometimes it needs to be helped along. Creation is not my specialty, but sometimes I can manage to do a little… finagling.”
So the grim reaper and the ferryman were not supposed to be in Sebbie?
“There is no Sebbie without those pieces. It is who he is. It is how he was born,” the man answered, although I hadn’t asked my question out loud.
I pondered that. I didn’t want to change Sebbie, so I was unsure why the man in black had brought me here.
I looked back out to the boat, smiling as I could see people laughing and chatting, Sebbie walking around with a container filled with drink.
How very like Sebbie to make the afterlife a party, even if he didn’t know he was doing it.
“Oh, he knows some of it. He’s far more in touch with being a ferryman than a reaper, although it is all dreams and imagination to him. But his actions have changed things, and you cannot put back what you have unboxed,” the man said.
“Killing the Nephilim,” I stated. That made sense. Sebbie had killed an immortal being. He must have been in touch with his reaper side in order to do that. “Are you saying he can’t hide from his reaper side anymore?” I asked.
The man looked at me, his face serious. “I’m saying he cannot control what he doesn’t know exists, and he has unboxed things he wouldn’t have wanted to open up. But you cannot hide parts of yourself forever.”
“I’ll help him however I can.”
The man smiled. “Your familiar has already been at work connecting the two of you, but you’ll need to act more quickly than you’d like. Things are already in motion, I’m afraid.”
With those ominous words, I opened my eyes to the forest. Crow flew down, cawing at me, and I stared at her.
“Watch over him, Crow. Help me protect him,” I told her. She cawed again, and then she flew off. With her departure, the air settled into a heavy weight pressing down around me. Something was going to happen.
I wasn’t sure what, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it.