Chapter 8 Blaze
Blaze
Pack is still eyeing me warily as we walk to Juniper’s place. She isn’t growling, but she definitely isn’t letting me out of her sight. I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t let something like me near my human either.
Admiring Christmas displays with her wasn’t on my list of things to do today, but now that we are, I’m fucking thrilled. I haven’t done this in years, haven’t breathed without feeling like ice is blocking my chest in decades.
Having sex with her in the bathroom wasn’t in the plan. I wanted to tease her the rest of her shift, but seeing how goddamn devastatingly beautiful she was behind the bar, her entirety disheveled and strained with want, I had acted on instinct.
And how sweet it had been to feel her around me… fuck. I’m still groaning inwardly, still replaying her noises and dreaming of her slick pussy on my lips…
After tonight, I know I’m done for.
I should walk away right now, but I know I can’t.
It’s already too late.
Juniper holds onto my arm tightly as she walks me down her street, telling me stories about all of her neighbors—secrets, gossip, and simple musings.
I’m savoring the touch and safety of having her in my arms. It’s our little pocket of joy, and the longer we’re together in small moments like this, the more I realize how much it’s this that I’ve been craving.
It’s as if seeing her awoke something inside me, like I truly was dissociating hard enough that I didn’t bother truly looking around these last few decades.
She’s pried my eyes open, and I’m never going back to sleep.
“This guy cheated on his wife last year,” she’s telling me. “He was meeting the other woman at Hudson’s actually. He always checked to see when I was working and not Marge because he thought I’d keep it a secret.”
“And you told his wife?”
“She worked at the same accounting firm as him. I thought they were just co-workers. The day I figured out he was actually going home with her, though, was the day Marge came in to get her paycheck, and when she saw them, shit got crazy. Marge threw a drink in his face.”
“Wow,” I manage.
“Yeah. It was wild. His wife had her car packed up by the time I walked home that night. They were still outside arguing. Pack and I had to walk fast so we didn’t get anything thrown at us.
He used to do their entire house in lights for Christmas.
This year, he hasn’t done anything. I barely see him in town anymore. ”
“The other woman broke up with him, too?” I ask.
“Yeah, she moved in with his wife one county over.”
I stop in my tracks and stare at her. “What?”
Juniper laughs. “Yeah. You heard what I said. They started dating a couple of months after she left.”
“That is… Wow, that’s diabolical. Good for her.”
“Sweet revenge,” Juniper says with a grin.
I scoff as she presses both of her hands to mine and entwines our fingers together. The fevered look she peers up at me with makes my stomach sink, heart skip. I release an uneven breath when her lips press to mine.
“We won’t make it to your house if you continue this,” I tell her.
“Luckily for you, we’re already here,” she replies.
Pack begins barking a worse bark than she did when she first met me. It breaks both Juniper and I’s attention. The dog pulls and yanks at her leash as if she’s going to slip out of it trying to get to whatever it is up ahead.
“Pack! Stop—calm down. What is it?”
While Juniper tries to calm her, I squint down the street.
It’s well-lit from the Christmas lights.
For a moment, I wonder if North is hiding amongst the shadows.
The only reason I push the thought from mind is the fact that my brother would never hide, especially from me.
He’d appear in the open as if he’d been there the entire time.
Which leaves one of two things: either there’s a serial killer stalking us or, worse…
A spy.
I cringe inwardly. If it is one of my mother’s spies, it would explain me not being able to see them. She uses sprites. Tiny little flying demons in their own right. They always blend in with the fireflies or street lamps—and they love to hide amongst Christmas lights.
My mother’s worst fear is North or I getting mixed up with a mortal, especially after…
I curse under my breath.
This isn’t like the last time.
Juniper is different.
She can’t have Juniper.
“Pack!” Juniper finally gets the dog to sit between her legs. “My house is just there. I don’t know what she sees. Come on—”
Juniper manages to get Pack to walk with her to her lawn. I’m following behind, but squinting down the street for any sign of them, any movement against the lights…
Son of a bitch.
What looks like a firefly is swirling around a tree branch up ahead, right where Pack is looking.
“I’m going to go check it out,” I tell Juniper.
“What? No. Nick! Don’t you know you’re not supposed to walk toward the thing your dog is barking at? That’s like Horror Movie 101,” she argues.
“Juniper, get in the house. It’s okay. I’ll be right there,” I tell her.
I don’t wait for her to give me permission, and instead keep walking on, one ear fixated on her getting into the house as I approach the flickering light.
I hear the screen door snap closed, hear Pack’s bark get muffled, and the moment I’m sure Juniper is behind it, too, I walk into a shadow. Darkness shrouds me. I stride the rest of the way to the sprite without her seeing me, and once I’m close, I reach out of the shadow to snatch her by the wings.
However, I’m not fast enough.
She disappears into thin air.
“Dammit,” I curse under my breath.
The shadow around me evaporates. I look up and down the street again for any others. There’s always more than one, but if she noticed that I saw her, it means the others did, too.
I’m pissed.
Even more pissed that I won’t be able to leave this alone. I have to find them. I need to know if they’re just on the island for shits and giggles, or if they’re working for her.
My mind is reeling as I walk back to Juniper’s house. If there are sprites, who the hell knows what else could be here. And if they go back to tell my mother… Memory floods my head, and I nearly trip into a pothole in the road.
Juniper is standing in the screen porch door, concern in her eyes as if she just thought I walked into war without a last kiss, and the mere sight of her might heal my broken soul.
“Please don’t do that,” she says as I ascend the steps.
“Do what?”
“Go toward danger like a crazy person.”
I pause in front of her. “Baby, something scared you. It scared your dog. That something doesn’t get a free pass if I find it.”
“It was probably a squirrel. Or a possum,” she says, though I don’t think she believes that.
In the back of my mind, I’m already thinking about what tomorrow is going to bring—whether it’ll be a warning in the form of a letter or much worse.
It could be so much worse.
I have to take care of this.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Juniper asks, her hand on my cheek.
I lean into her calming touch and close my eyes. For a brief moment, everything is as okay as it was earlier today. There were no sprites on Drifter’s Island. I was falling for someone new, remembering what life is supposed to feel like, and now…
Focus on her. Everything is about her.
“You are officially scaring me,” she says quietly. “Is there something—”
“No,” I say fast, opening my eyes. “No. It’s nothing you need to worry about.” I kiss the palm of her hand before leaning forward to kiss her forehead. “But I can’t stay.”
I have to follow them.
“Why does it feel like you know it wasn’t just a random animal?”
A sigh leaves me as I press my hand to her cheek. My throat bobs, staring at the anxiety in her wide eyes. I want to assure her she’s safe and that whatever it was won’t have the chance to look at her again.
“Because it wasn’t,” I say softly.
She stiffens and blinks, and I wish I could tell her the entire truth. It’s already sitting on the tip of my tongue.
“Then why are you going to find it?” she asks.
I lean forward, lips landing on her forehead. “I need you to trust me. I’ll tell you, just not tonight,” I say, my thumb swiping along her cheek.
She blows out a visible breath as if she’s debating her choice. “Okay,” she finally concedes.
Head inclining to hers, I kiss her one more time. I hope she feels everything in this kiss that I can’t say. Everything I’ve felt with her today, yesterday, and every promise I still mean to keep.
And when we part, she holds my wrist a little tighter.
“Phone me when you get home. I won’t be able to sleep,” she says.
Dammit, that’s cute.
A small smile spreads along my lips. “I love that,” I whisper before kissing her again.
She chuckles against my mouth. “You enjoy me being in distress?” she asks.
“Anguish makes your smell sweeter, angel,” I say, pressing my lips to her throat. “And I can’t wait to thoroughly devour you this time. That taste earlier was exquisite.”
She rakes her nails through my hair. “Then come inside. Get your fill. Don’t go chasing things in the dark.”
“I thought it was waterfalls you weren’t supposed to chase,” I joke, and she laughs, shoving my chest.
“Seriously,” she says through the laughter.
“I’ll be fine,” I promise. I kiss her forehead one more time and take a step back.
I should let her go, walk down these steps and completely leave the island for her safety.
But I don’t think I’m ever giving this up.
“What?” she asks when I pause.
“Nothing, I just… I needed to look at what I’m walking away from,” I tell her.
She sinks into one knee, tilts her head, and draws her bottom lip behind her teeth. It’s quite possibly the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Still time to come inside.”
I push my hands into my pockets to keep myself from throwing her across the back of the couch I can see behind her. “I’ll come inside tomorrow.”
Her chest rises with a sharp breath. “You’d better.”
Stop staring at her.
Except I can’t.
“Lock your door for me,” I say lowly.
She closes the screen door as I back down the steps, then goes inside.
I hear the door lock behind her, see her walk into her kitchen and turn on a lamp.
And when I’m sure she can’t see me, I quickly press my hand to the house’s siding.
The wood paneling burns beneath my fingers as my mark etches into the wood, protecting it from anyone I don’t want crossing the barrier.
It might not be enough.
My magic isn’t what it once was.
Walking away from her tonight has my feet feeling like lead.
I have to know how bad things are, have to find these sprites following me and take care of them before they can make their way off the island to my mother.
I don’t know what this is between Juniper and I, but I won’t let them spoil it. I won’t lose her the same way I lost…
I quickly shake the thought from my head.
I’m three houses down, pretty positive snow is trailing behind me, when I take my phone from my pocket and dial the one number I didn’t plan on dialing until tomorrow.
I don’t want to do this either, but his reputation with mortals isn’t as stained as mine.
North answers my call on the second ring.
“Hello, brother. I wasn’t expecting this.”
His low, sarcastic tone makes it sound as if he’s smiling deviously all the time.
“I’ve been compromised. With Juniper,” I say, cringing that I’m having to deal with this.
“Oh? Was it those fucking sprites?” North asks.
“Yeah. They don’t know you’re here. I need to deal with this, but I don’t want—”
“You want me to watch her?” North asks, and there’s even more delight in his tone.
I curse under my breath. “Just don’t fuck this up. Don’t scare her. This one is… it’s different.”
“I’ve heard that once before.”
I want to punch him for bringing up the past.
“Do this for me. I need to take care of the sprites,” I say.
“What are you going to do?”
I stare ahead of me and ignore how happy he sounds about this. “Whatever I have to, but I can’t leave her alone. I think you’ll understand it, too.”
I need him.
It can’t be like the last time.
There’s a pause on the other end of the line, and I curl my hand into a fist. “North—”
“I have you, brother.”