“Cold?”
“No electricity. It was like waking in the middle of the South Pole this morning.”
“Well, that settles it then.” He tightened his arm around my shoulder slightly.
“You’re like a furnace. It’s nice.”
“Yeah, I’ve always run hot.” He held up the remote, then lowered it without turning anything on. He was quiet a few moments so I looked up at him. “It isn’t only my body that runs hot.”
“You’re talking about your temper?”
He was silent again then sighed. “Did I scare you?”
I leaned to the side so I could fully see his face. “Why would you have scared me?”
“I’ve scared girls before when I didn’t mean to. And today, I picked that bigger guy off the ground and I would have pounded him back into it if you hadn’t distracted me with your hands.”
Grinning, I put my hand on his side again. “Who knew these hands had the power to soothe Thor.”
“Shut up,” he muttered, his cheeks turning red. “But feel free to stroke anywhere you want.”
And there it went again—that crazy, instant, blinding heat. My heart picked up tempo. It beat so hard, I could feel it against my ribs. My norn started to move and I silently begged her to go away and not ruin this moment. The way he stared at me, his gaze going from my eyes to my mouth, filled me with anticipation and I had to resist the urge to squirm. Instead I held very still and tried to remember how to breathe when he leaned closer, not once taking his gaze off me. He was waiting for something. Acceptance? Permission? I had no idea what. I licked my lips and his gaze shot to my mouth, and it was like someone else took me over. Someone braver. Someone who knew what she was doing.
I let go of the blanket and slid my fingers into the hair on either side of his head. He sucked in his breath, his dark eyes glittering at me in a way that pulled fire through my gut.
I pulled him down and pressed my lips to his.
And it was nothing like the one kiss I’d had from another boy. Nothing. Taran’s lips pressed firmly—and it wasn’t sloppy and wet and weird. Gods, it was so, so much better.
Yet, something was off. I could feel him holding himself back. I pulled back, stared at his eyes so close and yet so filled with an emotion I didn’t understand. His gaze dropped back to my mouth and suddenly, I knew.
He was afraid.
Of himself.
Afraid of his own strength. I flashed to what Billy had said, flashed to the times Taran had touched me and quickly let go...the way he always flexed his hands. He was strong, stronger than normal, and it wasn’t a reluctance to touch me holding him back, it was a fear of hurting me. I could feel the shaking excitement in his touch and yet, underneath, there was a dark thread of worry that let me know this boy wanted to let himself loose on me and was doing everything he could not to.
Oh no, I wasn’t settling for part of him—not when I knew there was something incredible going on here. Not when it came to this.
“I know what you’re thinking,” I whispered. “And I’m tougher than I look.” I pulled him close, using my own strength, and felt his quick grin against my lips before I tilted my head and kissed him. Really kissed him. I pressed nearer and slid my arms around his neck, and his hands came up to cup my cheeks. He sucked on my lower lip lightly before pressing harder and opening my mouth to his. The first tentative touch of his tongue made me gasp and wrap my arms tighter around his neck. His hands slid down my shoulders to my arms, then he pulled me closer and groaned.
And let himself loose.
One kiss after another. Drugging, hot kisses that had me seeing stars. When I finally pulled back enough to breathe, I stared at him, stunned that I’d gone from chilled to scorched so fast. Stunned that small, kind-of-weird me could inspire that sort of passion in anyone.
And he was feeling it. His hands were gripping my hips. Not hard enough to hurt, but firm and full of intent. Like he was about to pull me into his lap.
I think I would have crawled there myself if my phone hadn’t vibrated across the table then. The tone was Raven’s and before I could ignore it, pain shot through my head and all the heat from our kiss left my body as if it had been sucked out.
Crying out, I pulled back from Taran, my teeth chattering, my eyes going wide with worry. It took me a moment to fumble for my phone and I answered on the third ring. “You’re hurt.”
She didn’t answer right away and it sounded like she was in a wind tunnel, so I knew she was outside. “Gods, Coral, it’s crazy here! I’m in a forest, wet and cold, and get this, I’m walking with wolves.”
“Come again?” I asked as I cupped my hand around the phone. Taran still had a sort of intense, slightly stunned look on his face as he stared at me. The pain in my head eased, but didn’t fully go away. Raven was hurting.
“Yeah, wolves. I crashed into a stupid river and now I’m following Vanir—”
“You found him already?” She’d had to drive to Oklahoma to find her possible future warrior so I’d thought it would take longer. Of course, I had just locked lips with mine. “Is he it? Can you tell? Does he look like a warrior?” Which was a dumb question, but yeah, I suffered from kiss-rattled brain. Think Taran knew it too because he chuckled softly. Then what she’d said hit me. “Wait, you crashed?”
“Coral, I’m freaking freezing here. I’ll have to call back, but I think Mom is here.”
I thought she would say more but she made a harrumph noise and there was a harsh clatter.
“Raven?”
When she didn’t answer, acid rushed up my throat. “Raven!” I yelled.
There was more clattering and a couple of loud noises that made me wince and pull the phone away from my ear. “I’m here,” she finally said, sounding out of breath. “Dropped my cell.”
“Why do you think Mom’s there?”
“Because I smell lavender out in the woods in Oklahoma during Snowmageddon.” She paused. “I’m also lost. I gotta go.”
“But if you smell lavender that means she’s—” I broke off, unable to put into words the fear taking me over.
“Yeah,” Raven continued. She sounded exhausted and I pictured her with her new short haircut somewhere out in the woods, shaking with cold in the snow. “She’s doing some kind of spell. And it’s a doozy if I can smell it when I can’t even hear her. I really do have to go. So cold.”
“Call me back soon, okay?” I sighed. “Just let me know you’re okay. I’ll call Kat.”
“‘Kay.” She hung up.
I stared at the phone, wishing we’d decided to travel together now that I knew Mom had gone to Oklahoma first. But then, I wouldn’t have met Taran. I started to call Kat but stopped when Taran took the phone out of my hands.
“What’s this about your mom and lavender?”
It took me a moment to focus. “Mom thinks the scent covers up the other bad smells that sometimes come with doing dark magic. So whenever she’s doing something she’s not supposed to be doing, my sisters and I can always tell. It’s really stupid, but for some reason she hasn’t clued in that we know.”
He sat back, stared at the wall over my shoulder. I turned to follow his gaze and saw that he was staring at the glass cabinet where his hammer was probably kept.
“What?” I whispered, because I could tell something was really bothering him.
“Last night, when I went to throw the paper towels away—you know, the ones that had been on the hammer—I thought I smelled flowers.”
Chapter Six
“Wait.” Josh pressed one hand to his stomach and held the other up to stop my explanation. “You’re saying Taranis here has the soul of Thor living inside him? Like some kind of mythological tapeworm?”
“Sick, man.” Grim tossed his candy into a small trash can by the
back door.
Taran’s father had come home late the night before and been fine with me crashing on the couch. And yeah, I took the couch after a fierce and kind of fun argument with Taran.
I felt bad for his dad, though—he’d only been asleep a few hours before he was called back out. And even after he was gone, I kept seeing the expression on his face as he’d left. I couldn’t imagine what he was dealing with out there.
I’d been awake even before he’d tried to tiptoe out the front door. I’d called Kat, but she’d been tired and trying to find a hotel, so I’d kept the conversation short. I told her about Raven and Vanir, about how crazy it was around here, but she cut me off before I could tell her about Taran.
Then, Taran and I had watched the news and the stories coming in had gotten bigger and scarier. It was snowing everywhere; people were looting, fighting; and car accident-related deaths had reached scary numbers. Thirty-five alone in our part of the city. And now storms were getting ready to hit the east coast of Florida, Alabama...and farther north. There was one just south of us. We were supposed to be okay here in the northwest section of Florida, but we would get the backlash and that could be bad. All I could think about were the portents of Ragnarok.
Three years of winter, roaring seas that lash the land, and an all-consuming fire.
The destruction of the world.
Everything was happening too fast. How was anyone supposed to sleep through all that? Plus, it just felt strange to be sleeping in Taran’s house when I’d only known him a couple of days. And then that kiss earlier, the way his hands felt on my body? Cold wasn’t the only reason I kept shivering throughout the night.
Had Taran really smelled lavender? I seriously needed to hit the spell books at home to see if I could figure out how his hammer was coming and going like that. What thorns could possibly have to do with anything. If this was my mom doing it because he was right, the coincidence was too much. But...my mother had never moved during my rune tempus. And Raven had said she was in Oklahoma.
I really needed the spell books.
Taran being grounded sucked.
Yawning, I pushed my plate of doughnuts away. Josh and Grim had shown up too early—especially considering that I’d maybe slept a total of three hours—with the sugary breakfast treats. I think in apology for arguing with Taran the day before. Grimacing over Josh’s comparison, I sighed. “A tapeworm? Really? Ew. And no. It’s just a soul—the essence of the god. It isn’t feeding off him or hurting him in any way.”
“He doesn’t look anything like the Thor in the movies.” Josh narrowed his eyes at Taran.
None of us dignified that with an answer.
“No, really. I’ve read about Thor, and he’s supposed to be huge and really strong and fierce. And kind of dumb.”
Taran, who’d just taken a bite of his fourth doughnut, frowned at Josh and flipped up his middle finger.
“Where are your big muscles, man?”
“Don’t think the size of his muscles have anything to do with his strength.” Grim snorted. “I once saw Taran jog with two full paint buckets—without even breathing hard.” He frowned. “Come on, think about all the stuff he’s done over the years. Like picking that dude up right off the ground yesterday. Maybe she’s right.”
My phone vibrated on the counter where Taran had let me charge it. I grabbed it, didn’t recognize the number, so I walked into the living room to answer. “This is Coral.”
“Hey.”
It was Raven. She didn’t say anything more right away and the hair on my arms prickled. “Something wrong?”
Her sigh was loud and she sniffed. Alarm suddenly pricked my skin. Raven hardly ever cried.
“What is it?” I asked softly. “Are you okay? Did you find Mom last night?”
“No, but she was here, Coral. At least I think she was here. And I think maybe...” She let out a long, shaky breath. “I think maybe she killed someone.”
The room spun around me and for a second, I thought maybe my rune tempus was happening. I staggered to the couch, then changed my mind and walked down the hall to the bathroom. I carefully shut the door behind me and sat on the closed toilet lid. My bag was still on the blue counter in here where I’d left it earlier.
“Coral? Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, but I don’t believe it.” My heart pounded and I thought of the poison in the vial. I hadn’t really thought she’d planned to use it. I scrubbed my hand over my face.
“I don’t know whether to believe it was her either, but there’s a dead boy and it looks like he was killed with magic.”
“And you smelled lavender in the woods last night.”
“Yeah.”
My hand started shaking, so I clenched it into a fist and rested it on my lap. I stared at the brown, fuzzy bath mat and before I could stop them, tears welled in my eyes and spilled over. I grabbed a handful of toilet paper just as there were two loud thumps on her end, before someone yelled “Breakfast.” Sounded like it was through a door.
“I have to go,” she said.
“Okay.”
“You crying, Coral?”
“No,” I lied. Sniffled.
She knew I had. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Is it really, Raven? Because I don’t think it will be. Not if she did what you think.”
“I don’t know for sure yet. I do have to go. I’ll call you later.”
But I could tell she believed it. At least right then, she did. And if Mom was there, then I didn’t have to stick so close to Taran. I set my phone on the counter and stood to look in the mirror. I wasn’t a pretty crier. Red rimmed my eyes and blotches covered my cheeks. I’d brushed my hair and washed my face in here earlier. I’d even brushed my teeth—my big bag held a lot. Growing up off grid in campsites taught my sisters and me to carry the basic necessities at all times.
Now I blew my nose, smoothed back some stray hairs that had escaped my ponytail and stared hard at myself. Was I the daughter of a murderer?
When I came out of the bathroom, I stopped before I got to the living room because Josh had a hold of Taran’s arm as they stood in front of the huge, metal goddess spiral.
“Dude,” Josh nearly whispered. “She stayed over. What is up with you and this chick?”
Taran shrugged. “I don’t know. I like her. Feel kind of...connected to her.”
Josh lowered his voice. “Maybe you shouldn’t connect yourself to someone who is obviously not playing with a full deck.”
“What, because of the end of the world stuff?”
“No, even I’m kind of leaning toward that now, but she thinks you’re a god.”
“I kind of like that part,” Taran murmured.
“Come on, get real. This is too strange. Even for you.”
Taran pointed at the massive triple circle art next to them. “Even for me? Both our moms were into this stuff. And my dad? The supposed straightforward, logical Irish cop?” He smirked. “Dad’s the one who left all this stuff up.”
“Okay, yeah, you’re right. But what about the girl’s mother? What if Coral’s telling the truth and this crazy woman is after you? What if she’s the one stealing your hammer and hitting people with it?”
“Why would she do that? If she’s magic, why doesn’t she just come in here and take me out? Why set it up so I look like a murderer?”
“The key word there was crazy. Taran,” Josh said, lowering his voice. “Maybe the whole family is insane.”
“I don’t think Coral is crazy.”
“No, you think she’s cute.”
“She’s more than cute.” Taran shrugged again. “It’s hard to explain but I feel like I know her.”
“Like your inner god recognizes her inner goddess?” Josh snorted.
I froze becau
se I hadn’t yet told the brothers about my norn.
Taran sighed. “Look, I don’t know about all that. What I do understand is that even if we didn’t have all this going on, I’d want to know her. And not only because she’s so beautiful. I really like her. She’s cool.”
I took a step into the room, smiling, completely unable to pretend I hadn’t heard that.
But Grim ran into the living room before I could say something. “Mom is freaking out with the text messages. Says we need to come home now, that the storm is going to hit.”
Josh released a long, dramatic groan. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to stay inside here and out of the storm?”
Grim’s phone chimed, then rang. “Yeah,” he said into it before listening a moment. “Mom says never mind, that we shouldn’t go home—that we need to get in a car and drive north as fast as possible. You too, Taran. Check your phone because your dad tried to call.” There was yelling on the other end loud enough for me to hear across the room. “No, now she’s saying we need to go to a taller building and get off ground level. Now.” He paused. “Okay Mom, we’re going. Yeah, I’ll keep my phone dry. Love you, too.”
He hung up, looked at us, his face pale.
“What?” Taran asked.
“The storms caused huge waves to hit Florida and Alabama and more. She doesn’t know how bad it is yet, but the news is saying we’re going to get hit with the backlash. A storm surge—worse than the one we got when we were kids.”
Taran sucked in a breath. “Seriously?” He looked at me as I grabbed my purple coat. “I have a winter coat you can use that’s better than that one. It’s waterproof. My mo—” He broke off, his lips tightening as he jogged to the front closet and pulled out coats. “We used to go ice fishing. You’re pretty little, but it should work because I was twelve the last time I wore it.”
I didn’t even take the time to frown over the little remark, instead just scrambling into the red coat he handed me and shoving my feet into my orange snow boots as Taran tried to call his dad back.
Forecast Page 10
