“Forgiveness.”
“Screw him,” I said before I could stop myself. Torin chuckled. It wasn’t funny. “I know he’s your father and all, but after what he did and the number of people who died because of him…”
“Andris reacted the same way,” Torin said, speaking slowly, eyebrows flattening. “I’d never seen him move so fast. My father didn’t fight back. I think Andris broke several ribs before snapping his neck. I did nothing,” he added softly. “We were late coming home tonight because we had to wait for him to heal and regain consciousness.”
Way to go, Andris. He could be a total douche, but he was loyal. “Maybe you did nothing because Andris was doing exactly what you wanted to do, but chose not to.”
He interlaced our fingers and pressed our joined hands to his chest. “Very likely. I stopped Andris before he yanked his heart out.” He glared at the ceiling. “I don’t know why I did that. I should have just let him finish the Earl.”
We were back to the Earl, thank goodness.
“He’s not talking to me now.”
“What are you going to do?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s trying to make amends.”
In other words, he was willing to listen to his father. That man had some nerve. Selfish bastard. We had just barely finished fighting him and his renegade Immortal followers, and he was already back. He didn’t even have the decency to give Torin time to heal. Give us all time to recover. We were all affected by what he’d started. I still had nightmares of what he’d done to the Seeresses. He and the Norns. All I had to do was close my eyes to see the smirks on the Norns’ faces.
“Can I meet him?” I asked.
“No. I don’t want him anywhere near you. I don’t trust him.”
Thank goodness he wasn’t totally on a forgive-Daddy bend. I might not find the idea of snapping necks appealing, but I had a mean knee. A quick thrust and the Earl’s nuts would get lodged in his esophagus for eternity. Or maybe I didn’t need to meet the bastard to make him disappear. I could just change his destiny and find him a quicker exit to Hel where he belonged. I hated that the Norns were in charge of destinies. If I changed his, I’d be acting just like them.
“Can I come with you tomorrow?” I asked.
“No.”
“Hey, you were okay with it earlier. I’ve never seen you coach.”
He glanced at me and groaned. “You only want to come to confront the Earl, and I’m not letting him anywhere near you.”
We’ll see about that. My mind raced as I imagined what I’d say to his father if we ever met again. Torin stroked my temple. I could feel him relaxing. He’d definitely been worked up about this. Probably worried about how I’d react. He could be so sweet sometimes.
Sleep was beckoning me when he spoke next. “How was your day?”
I lifted my head. “I will summarize it into three sentences, so we can go to sleep.”
He chuckled. “Okay.”
“I snuck into the boy’s locker room to steal a sweatshirt to confirm a vision.”
Torin stiffened, but I ignored it.
“I went to his house and stopped him from killing his stepfather and ruining his life.”
Torin’s face had gone pale. He was taking this well, but the fact that he didn’t say anything proved how much control he was exerting. Usually, he would be yelling.
“And I learned from the goddess that I shouldn’t rune people to make them forget me, when I can do this instead.” I focused on the source within, but the spark was barely there. I closed my eyes and let the need to connect with my powers fill me.
“Do what?” Torin asked. I opened my eyes and he blinked. “Your eyes are glowing.”
He sounded wary. Grinning, I felt the connection grow and channeled the energy into changing his perception, my skin tingling with the surge of magic. Torin’s eyes went from wary to shock. He moved so fast that one minute our limbs were intertwined and the next he was tripping on the chair in an attempt to put some distance between us.
“Hel’s Mist. That’s messed up.”
I cocked my eyebrow and smirked, hoping I had nailed that habit of his I found so adorable.
“I don’t do that,” he protested. “And definitely not that,” he added when I tossed my hair. He started to laugh. I sat up and watched him. I’d been sure he would be repulsed. “I told you before, Freckles. There can’t be two of me.”
I let go of the image. “You’re not angry?”
“Because you can mess with people’s heads and make them see you as someone else? No, I expected that to come with the witch territory. Do I want you to do it to me? No. When I’m with you, I want to see you, not someone else. When we are… Wait! You went to the boy’s locker room? What were you thinking?” His voice rose.
“Shh,” I hissed.
He came back to bed and scooped me up.
“Hey! Where are we going?”
“Somewhere where I can tell you exactly how I feel without waking up your mother,” he said through gritted teeth, but I heard him. He went through the mirror portal to his bedroom, dropped me on his bed unceremoniously, and ran his fingers through his hair. His hair fell back into place, the locks in front almost reaching his eyebrows. He needed a trim.
“Did anyone see you?” he asked.
“Nope. I did the seeing. I saw and heard things I hope never to see again.” For one brief moment, I was sure he’d laugh. Instead he scowled.
“Who did you see?” he made it sound like I’d committed some heinous crime. “The images you projected in my head earlier?”
I grinned. “Were real, but they weren’t impressive. Pasty and not exactly drool-worthy. But you could take everything off and erase them from my mind. I’d rather have you up here,” I tapped my head, “than them.”
He stared at me intently as though actually deciding whether to do it or not. Then he gave me a slow, wicked smile and reached for his pants.
Alarm shot through me. “I’m kidding, Torin.”
“I’m not. Don’t you dare close your eyes.” He continued down. That intriguing line of hair broadened. I closed my eyes. Then I wished I hadn’t. Now I was too chicken to look.
“Open your eyes, Freckles.”
I resisted, my heart pounding.
“Chicken,” he added.
I opened one eye slowly so I could only see through my eyelashes. He stood in the middle of his bedroom, hands on his hips, expression saying he was no longer in a playful mood, but he wasn’t naked.
Relief and disappointment vied for dominance.
“Now start from the beginning and don’t leave anything out. How did you know where he lived? How did you stop him? You’re not invincible. A bullet can get lodged in your heart you know. You and I are going to have a little understanding about your after-school activities.” He stopped his rant and glowered. “Start talking.”
I would if he would shut up. “It started in the cafeteria.”
He interrupted every few seconds, cursing and running his fingers along his nape. When I finished, he gave me a long lecture until I lifted my hands in surrender.
“I get it,” I said. “You are worried about me because you think I take chances with my life when I don’t. I thought this through. You know, while following his truck home. I’m not going to stop helping people out of fear of what might happen to me, Torin.”
He sighed. “Sadly, I know that.”
“But I promise to be careful.”
He shot me a skeptical look. “Right. Describe the Grimnirs.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t worry, I dealt with them.”
“Describe them, Raine,” he said in a hard voice.
I hated it when he went all intense and bossy on me. Just to shut him up, I did, not skipping on the guy’s unusual eyes and his amazing tattoos. Torin’s intelligent eyes slit as though he was compartmentalizing each image for retrieval later.
“FYI, no one should tell you what to do.”
�
��Except you,” I said.
“Damn right.” He smirked. “I earned that right the moment I chose to love you.”
My jaw dropped. “You chose to love me?”
“Oh yes. Falling in love with you was out of my control. But loving you is a choice and a responsibility I take seriously. It means worrying about you and saving you from shitheads like Grimnirs on power trips.” He crawled into bed and pulled me into his arms. “I’m only gone one day. One freaking day and you go all guardian angel on me. I’m coming to school with you tomorrow. If Hardshaw looks at you wrong…” Then he went quiet and scowled. “What exactly were you wearing when you paid him a visit tonight? What was he doing?”
The answers were likely to cause another yelling session I didn’t need, so I ignored the questions. “You can’t come to school tomorrow. You’re subbing at that school in California.”
“Caesar Chavez High School, or CC High as the locals call it. They start later, so we’re attending first period here for appearances, and to make sure you’re not going out of your way to touch people just to see their futures and fix their miserable lives. Adversity creates character you know.”
I didn’t argue with him. What was the point? I made a face.
“I felt that,” he said, then pressed a kiss on my forehead. “Go to sleep while I think up a way to save you from yourself.”
I wanted to tell him he wasn’t my keeper, but I knew where that would get me. Nowhere. Probably another lecture about worrying about me came with loving me. “How exactly did you go from having a full class load to just one class?” I asked instead.
“Andris altered the records and changed the rest of our classes to either completed or online classes.”
Andris was the computer geek in the group. “Can he do the same for me? I mean, finishing high school won’t change what I’ll be doing in the future.”
“So you can go around finding trouble? No-ooo. You’re safer in school.” I felt his lips move as he smiled. “No, you’re safer with me. You should definitely come with me to California, where I can keep an eye on you. You could join the janitorial staff at my school.”
Menial work? “Forget it. I’m staying right here.” I was falling asleep when I realized he’d manipulated me into agreeing with him.
***
Torin must have used the portal and carried me back to my bed after I fell asleep because I woke up in my room. I slammed my hand on the alarm to turn it off. A quick look out my window showed him in his kitchen making breakfast. I loved that we were next-door neighbors. As though he knew I was watching, he looked up and smiled.
Do you do this every morning?
I turned my head to see Freya’s present with her head resting on her paws, her ears twitching, and her head tilted sideways so she could look at me. Not wanting to bait her, I refused to ask what she meant.
What? Ignoring me now? Are we sulking? She stretched and rolled onto her back.
I turned away.
Cat got your tongue?
Snarky and funny. Still, I wasn’t enabling her.
I guess you don’t want to know why I’m here, what the goddess really wants.
I stopped. “What?”
She chuckled, the sound so human-like that a shiver shot up my spine. I need a soft bed to sleep in, something with extra cushioning. I will not wear a tag like Mortal felines. I will not use a litter box unless it’s self-cleaning, and I don’t eat hard food. I like fish and liver. Once I’m comfortable, we’ll talk.
I slowly counted backwards from ten, and squatted so we were on the same eye-level. She hissed, but I didn’t back down.
“Listen to me, you narcissistic alley cat.” Her eyes narrowed at the insult and the hairs on her back rose. “Scratch me and you’ll hit the pavement so hard you’ll have eight lives left. I’ve had it up to here,” I touched my forehead, “with you supernatural beings. Norns. Goddesses. Now you. You want a bed and nice things, you earn it.”
The cat glared back.
“What does the goddess want?”
Her ears twitched.
“You think I’m kidding? I’ll change your litter once a week and use the non-clumping, non-odor absorbent kind.” I’d seen enough commercials for cat litter to know what cats preferred. “I’ll buy you hard food and if you do anything to piss me off, you’ll spend the night outside.”
Her fur went down and her eyes closed. She meowed and rolled onto her back. Want to scratch my tummy?
I blinked. I was so pissed I wanted to pick her up by her tail. Yeah, I know. Totally cruel. But I didn’t give a crap about animal rights at the moment. Fur-ball.
Beiskaldi, she retorted.
Another insult? I gave her the finger.
She stood and stretched again. So what’s for breakfast?
I moved away from her and slammed my bathroom door. The shower didn’t help my mood. I could feel the cat’s eyes on me as I changed. I didn’t look her way, just engaged my runes and headed for Torin’s.
He met me with a latte and a plate of hash-browns, eggs, and bacon. He was still in his sweats, his hair wet from the shower.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Cat problems.”
“Who’s winning?”
I glared at him. “I will once I know how to shut her up.”
“You two are communicating already?”
He didn’t seem bothered by it, so I nodded. “Lucky me.”
He chuckled. “You’re probably hungry, aren’t you?” He bent down and when he stood, he had the cat in his arms. Seriously? The fur-ball followed me here?
“Want something to eat?” Torin asked, his face close to the cat’s.
Meow! She licked his nose.
The nerve. Torin gave her a whole slice of bacon and scratched her neck as she ate. “See? Give her something to eat and she’ll be nice.” He planted a kiss on my lips and swatted my butt on his way out of the kitchen.
I sat and started on my meal. Fur-ball finished her bacon and stared at me. I tried to ignore her. She inched closer. I took some of my eggs and offered them to her.
She shot me a condescending look. Sighing, I gave her my last piece of bacon. She ate it, then demolished the eggs, and went back to staring at my plate.
“You can’t possibly still be hungry,” I griped.
I’m miserable. Bacon is my comfort food.
Now I felt bad. I slid the entire plate across the counter to her just as a gentle breeze swept through the kitchen from the hallway. Someone had just used the hallway portal.
I put down my drink as Andris entered the room and walked straight to the coffeemaker. He was a grouch until he had coffee. Unfortunately, he lived with Lavania in the mansion, and she was a tea person. And so was Ingrid. Blaine wandered in here too for coffee.
Once Andris poured himself some coffee, black with no additives, he took a big gulp, gave a part sigh and part moan of appreciation, turned and smiled at me. “Morning, sunshine. Sleeping over here now?”
“Can I give you a hug without you acting weird?”
He took another gulp, put his drink down, and opened his arms. I hugged him tight, leaned toward his ear and said, “I love you. You know that, right?”
A weird expression crossed his face, and he gave an exaggerated sigh. “I always knew you had a thing for me from the first moment we met. Sorry, babe, but it wouldn’t work between us.” Then he smirked. “Unless you want a quickie when your man is teaching. Some of the closets at CC High are pretty roomy.”
“You deserve better than quickies in the closet.” I kissed his cheek and stepped back.
He reached for his mug and yelped.
“What’s that?” He was staring at my cat, who hissed at him, her back arched as though marking her territory.
Why are you kissing him when you have the hot Valkyrie, she screamed in my head.
I rolled my eyes. Back off, Fur-ball. He’s like Torin’s brother, and he was only joking.
No, he wasn’t. He has n
efarious thoughts about you. He’s a scoundrel. A knave. A Jotunn backside.
I laughed. She just called Andris a giant ass.
“Raine!”
I glanced at Andris.
“Why are you acting weird? Why am I asking an obvious question? You are weird and maddening. Where did that come from?”
“She’s a gift from your goddess.” Andris reaped souls for Goddess Freya’s training field. I loved that she was so powerful that warriors were split equally between her and Odin. In fact, she got the first pick of souls. During Ragnarok, the final battle between the gods and the evil giants, she would lead her men into battle. “Let’s talk about a certain earl. You should have yanked out the murdering bastard’s heart instead of snapping his neck.”
Andris’ attention reluctantly moved from the cat, his brown eyes darkening. “I wanted to. He’s going to screw with Torin’s head. This forgiveness crap is just the bastard’s new way of getting to him.”
“We’re not going to let him,” I said.
“Damn right.” He glanced toward the stairs. “Let’s connect later and strategize.”
“I’m coming to California after school to watch you guys coach.”
“Good. We can talk while he coaches. I’m assisting him, but he’s such a stick-in-the-mud I just let him run the whole damn thing. The Mortal assistant coaches are so in awe of him, they just pant after him when he enters the field. They think he’s the next best thing since Beckham.” He chuckled in derision. “I’ve watched Torin play and he can whoop Beckham’s ass. And don’t let me get started on the mothers. They’re willing to carry and fetch things to catch the new coach’s attention. Women. That’s why I’d never settle for one.” He pushed against the counter and stood straighter. “Later, sweetheart. Happy we’re on the same page.” His eyes went to the cat. “Witches and their cats.” He shuddered.
You’re not all that either, pretty boy, the cat shot back and hopped off the counter.
I fought a smile and followed Andris, waited until he was inside the mansion, then redirected the portal to my bedroom. Fur-ball walked ahead of me and went back to the window.
Witches (Runes series Book 6) Page 5
