Forty, Fabulous and Fae

by Melinda Chase

  Her red hair was frizzy, and there were bags under her eyes as she stared down at the spot where she’d fought the fae the night before.

  The ground was singed, a reminder of the great power she held within her. The blackened grass still sparked every once in a while with strange white embers, as if even the ground itself could feel her magic.

  I glanced back up at Shannon to find her wiping tears from her eyes. In that moment, all I wanted to do was hug her, to wrap her up in my arms and tell her that everything was going to be alright. She could get through this. She was stronger than any woman I’d ever met, and this situation was no different.

  I couldn’t do any of that, though. If I even so much as stepped near her, I’d be overtaken by the intense need to kill. I’d fought it off last time, had been unable to actually ram my dagger through her heart.

  But this time, I wasn’t so sure I’d make it. Especially now that it was a choice between her life or mine.

  As much as I hated to admit it, at the end of the day, I was a survivalist. When it came down to it, I knew I’d pick me. I had to.

  I always had to.

  Which was why I needed to put as much distance between Shannon and me as was possible.

  I glanced up at her again, but this time, I found that her emerald green eyes had landed squarely on me. She watched me from her bedroom window, her expression stern.

  There was fear in her eyes. Fear of me.

  Good.

  I needed it that way. The more I terrified her, the more likely she was to stay away from me.

  Shannon cocked her head, conveying with her eyes what she couldn’t say out loud. I knew exactly what she was trying to tell me.

  She wanted to talk. She wanted me to come up to her bedroom so we could have some sort of heartfelt moment, where we realized we had feelings for each other and promised to explore them, despite all the craziness in the world around us.

  But that was a movie moment. That didn’t happen in real life.

  Shannon stepped forward, pleading with her eyes, begging me to talk to her.

  “We need to work this out,” her eyes said. “I want to work this out.”

  But I shook my head.

  “We can’t.”

  I wanted to tell her that the council had put a hit out on her, that her life was in danger.

  But then I reminded myself that I could draw this out. For now, her life was only in danger if I was anywhere near her.

  Emotion swelled in my chest as I watched this beautiful woman standing at her window.

  But then I saw the decision cross her face, the moment where she decided it didn’t matter that I was standing here shaking my head. Shannon wanted what Shannon wanted, and she was going to get it.

  So, as she turned away from the window, fully intent on coming down to meet me, I slowly backed into the woods behind her house.

  I saw when she came out the back door to search from me, heard the emotional sigh she let out when I wasn’t there.

  “Hunter?” She called out, peering into the woods, where I was safely hidden in the shadows.

  But even as she came forward to investigate, I backed further away, until finally, I was up in a tree and watching while she searched the forest floor.

  And when she gave up and went back inside, I fled like a bat out of hell. For now, I had only one goal.

  Put as much distance between Shannon and I as was possible before I was compelled to kill her.

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  About the Author

  Melinda Chase is an emerging author of Paranormal Women’s Fiction.

  Over forty years young, Melinda loves writing tales that prove life—romance—and ‘happily-ever-afters’—do exist beyond your twenties!

  Her debut Series, Midlife Mayhem is a snarky, hilarious, romantic adventure, sure to please fans of traditional paranormal romance and cozy paranormal mysteries!

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