Saving Eira (Fated Seasons Book 1)

by Laura Greenwood

  “E, please,” he begged, but she refused to turn around. He’d lied to her. Through omission sure, but it was a lie all the same. “Eira...”

  “What Josh?” she bit out, trying to keep her voice steady so that it didn’t betray the tears that were pooling in her eyes. This whole thing was beginning to be too much for her to cope with. And as if it wasn’t enough, she had whatever was wrong with the frosts to contend with as well. She just hoped that whatever Leth had to tell her later wasn’t too bad.

  “Why are you mad?” he asked softly. She could feel his body heat as he stepped up behind her. Instead of moving away, like she intended to, she leaned back into him. He reached round and took the coffee mug from her hands, placing it on the side table that she kept by her sofa. Josh rested his hands on her arms and stroked a thumb over her skin, calming her a lot more than it had any right to.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered. She’d thought she’d come to terms with Josh not telling her about his powers, but it turned out she was wrong.

  “It’s not exactly an easy thing to bring up,” he spoke into her ear, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine. This wasn’t doing anything to help curb the attraction she felt for Josh, or keep her inner-succubus satisfied. In fact, that part of her was beating to get out just as much as it had when Leth had been in her flat the night before.

  “You knew about me.”

  “I’m sorry, E. I didn’t think it was that important.” She took a deep breath, not wanting to say something that she was going to regret. Once she felt like she was back under control, she turned in his arms so that they were facing one another. His sparkling green eyes met her grey ones, and there was so much emotion in them that it took her so much by surprise. “I thought that if I didn’t tell you, then it would help me deny the way I feel.”

  “The way you feel?” Her heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t have heard right, surely?

  “Yes. Since the moment I met you, you’ve been the most beautiful woman in the world to me. I’ve wanted you every second of every day. But something has held me back. Something that doesn’t seem to be there anymore. Now I feel like if I kiss you, everything will be alright. Whereas before...” he shrugged.

  “Before?”

  “It’s hard to explain. Precog powers run in my family, but I never got any, but even so, ignoring a gut feeling didn’t seem like a good idea.”

  “Like Izzy?”

  “Yes, like Izzy.”

  “But you want to kiss me now?”

  He laughed softly.

  “I’ve wanted to kiss you for years, E. The difference is that now, I’m going to.” Her pulse raced as Josh closed the gap between them. The moment his lips touched hers, it felt like sparks traveled through her. It was everything that she’d ever imagined and more. It wasn’t as passionate as the kiss she’d shared with Leth. Instead, it was gentle and full of unexpressed emotions that had built up over the years on both sides. This was her and Josh, and there was something completely magical about that.

  They broke apart and stared into one another’s eyes, which was when Eira noticed that the sparks hadn’t just been in her imagination. Green sparks like the one’s Josh had used to clean up the coffee earlier, were dancing up and down their skin, causing a soft green glow to light up the room.

  “Josh,” she said, feeling breathless.

  “Yes, E?” His voice cracked with unvoiced emotions. She didn’t actually know what she wanted to say. Or what she wanted him to say. The moment was too perfect for interrupting with anything.

  “You’re sparking everywhere,” she said eventually, a slight giggle escaping as she watched the sparks dance over his shoulder. Without meaning to, she thought of how the sparks would feel against her naked skin, and how they’d look against his. She couldn’t wait to find out what that was like. And she no longer had any doubt that she would find out. Not like before when she was convinced Josh would never feel the same about her.

  “It seems I am. I thought that would happen.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “It’s supposed to happen when I...”

  “When you?” she prompted. Josh sighed and pushed a hand over his face before settling it back on her waist. He didn’t look like he wanted to say whatever it was that he was thinking, but he was going to. She’d make him if she had to.

  “When I kiss my life partner for the first time,” he said, his eyes holding hers steady. She mulled the words over, trying to make out what he was truly saying.

  “Your life partner?” she asked, feeling kind of dumb.

  “Life partner, mate, other half, call it what you will.” He shrugged but didn’t move away, for which she was glad.

  “And you think that’s me?”

  “You don’t?” he countered instantly.

  “You haven’t touched me for years, Josh.”

  “I didn’t feel I could.”

  “But why? If I’m your mate, then surely you shouldn’t have been able to keep your hands to yourself?” She almost wished that she wasn’t in his arms at this point so that she could put her hands on her hips and level him with a stare that told him that whatever he said next had better be good.

  “I don’t know, E. It’s weird. Most other witches I know have done the whole instant sex thing. But it just felt wrong before, and now it doesn’t. I can’t explain it, E. But I just know you’re it for me.” He lifted a hand and pushed a lock of pale blonde hair behind her ear. She had to admit that the gesture, and his words, were melting her annoyance at an alarming rate. “You look better already.” He frowned at her.

  “I feel better actually.” She’d almost forgotten just how bad she’d felt when she’d first woken up, and a kiss shouldn’t have been enough to sort her out. Yet a lot of the sick lagging feeling had already disappeared.

  “If that’s what a kiss does, just imagine how you’ll feel when we finally have sex,” he whispered, having leaned in close so that his breath tickled her ear. Eira shivered in anticipation.

  “We’re not going to now?” she half-whimpered, almost hating herself for it, but if what he was saying was true, and she had little doubt that it was, then whimpering was going to have to be allowed.

  “I have to go to work, E. But later.” She nodded once, before stopping as she remembered about her dinner plans. She bit her lip, not knowing how much she should tell him. But if they really were mates, then they had to be honest, right?

  “I can’t, I have a date.” A curious look crossed Josh’s face. Like he didn’t know what to make of that.

  “With who? Rueben?” he asked, not sounding jealous in the slightest. Which was odd. Surely he should be? But then, he hadn’t acted jealous when she’d almost kissed Rueben the night before. She filed away the thought to consider later. There was clearly something else going on.

  “No, a guy called Leth. He broke in last night and...”

  “What?” Josh broke in, and she gave him a look. “Sorry,” he mumbled. She nodded, then filled him in on what had happened the night before. She stumbled when she got to the kiss, but wanted to see how he’d react to that one too.

  “So he wants to go on a date, tonight. And then he’ll tell me what he knows about the frosts being missing. I didn’t even realise they were until he told me.”

  “It’ll be fine, E. He’ll tell you and we’ll do everything we can to sort out the problem. No matter what it is.” His voice was steady, and like before, he didn’t sound jealous. It was odd, especially as she’d just admitted to trying to seduce the man that she was going on a date with later, but she’d roll with it for now.

  “We?”

  “Yes, we. You don’t think I’d leave you to go through everything alone now did you? We’re in this together.” With that, he lowered his mouth back to hers and kissed her deeply, she pushed her body against his, already regretting that he needed to leave and that they couldn’t carry this on until later.

  Five

  Mate. The w
ord seemed foreign to her, but the more she thought it, the more right it felt. It made a lot of things make sense. What didn’t, was how much better she felt after just a kiss. Though she supposed that it wasn’t just a kiss really. She lifted her fingers and touched her lips gently, almost swearing they still tingled. How she was going to get through the day without getting completely side tracked, she didn’t know. She didn’t have to be at the café at all, and she had no freelance work to be getting on with either. Sometimes she wished that she’d taken the time at school to find herself a proper career. She didn’t need the money, and a proper career would probably get in the way of her dealing with the frosts year in year out. Or in the way of looking after Izzy. Or all the ten thousand other things she needed to do. But still, being able to say she did something with her time other than write the occasional blog post and work in a café would be great.

  Eira pulled her cardigan around herself, snuggling into it to avoid the cold. She frowned. That wasn’t right. She never felt the cold, there was no reason to when she was the cold. She’d just have to chalk it up to her body reacting weirdly to the bond between her and Josh. She’d heard that mates often took on characteristics of each other; maybe she’d be making green sparks soon too. Curious, she lifted her hand so that it was in front of her and summoned her magic. Much to her disappointment, pure white snowflakes danced across her palm, without a touch of green in sight. Just like they had when she’d summoned them for Leth the previous evening.

  An upbeat pop song came to life and she jumped. It was quiet in her flat, and the last thing she’d been expecting was the cheery melody. Even so, she found herself singing along before realising that it was her ringtone. She looked around the flat hastily, searching for where she’d stashed her phone. Her eyes rested on the clutch bag she’d taken with her the night before and she scooped it up. One glance at the caller id told her that she didn’t know the number. But something was telling her that she needed to answer it, and who was she to ignore a gut feeling?

  “Hello?” she asked after pressing the button.

  “What’s this I hear about a date?” The slightly familiar male voice sent a thrill went through Eira

  “How do you know about that?”

  “It’s my business to know.” She should probably feel at least a little bit creeped out by that, but somehow, when it came in Rueben’s smooth baritone, it didn’t come across that way at all.

  “Dammit, Josh,” she muttered quietly, and was rewarded with a low chuckle. She’d momentarily forgotten he was a vampire, and that there was no chance he hadn’t heard her.

  “Do we need to be jealous, Eira?” He dragged out her name in a way that made her think of sweaty naked bodies and entangled limbs. Lots of limbs, far more than there should be for just the two of them. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the distracting images.

  “You tell me,” she said, sitting down on her sofa and leaning back, feeling surprisingly smug for the conversation they were having.

  “I don’t think we do.”

  She cocked her head. He might not be able to see her, but his words definitely had her curious enough to want to question it further.

  “You don’t even know who it’s with,” she said after a moment’s pause.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Unless you’re stalking me, then yes I’m sure. And you better not be stalking me, Rueben. If you are then you can kiss goodbye to any chance you have with me,” she told him. Leth breaking in the night before had been enough, she didn’t need a vampire stalker on top of that. On the other end of the phone, Rueben was laughing almost uncontrollably, pissing Eira off that bit more.

  “Which means I have a chance with you?” he asked once his laughter had subsided.

  “You know you do,” she snapped, softening almost instantly as she thought back to their almost kiss from the night before. Damn Josh for interrupting when he did. Wait, what about Josh? They’d kissed earlier and there’d been actual sparks, yet here she was talking to another man about how he had a chance with her too. Something didn’t quite stack up, and the lack of guilt she felt over the entire thing only added to her confusion.

  “What are you thinking about so hard?” Rueben asked, his voice softer and calmer than it had been previously.

  “Erm...” She had no idea what to say. How on earth was she supposed to explain to one man how she’d kissed another one just a few hours ago. Or a third man the night before, and yet didn’t feel guilty about any of it. She wondered what that said about her, but pushed the thought away, now wasn’t the best time to consider it.

  “Maybe about Josh’s kiss? Or Leth’s.”

  “What?” she spluttered, sitting bolt upright in shock. Just how much had Josh told him? And why had he told Rueben any of it in the first place.

  “Josh told me, but you shouldn’t be worried Eira, it’s going to be me waiting for you when you get home tonight.”

  “It is?” she squeaked, equally excited and nervous.

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t you need to be invited in?” she asked, causing another low chuckle from Rueben.

  “What is this? A bad fifties movie?”

  “Well I’ve never actually met a vampire before, how should I know what you can and can’t do?”

  “Of course you’ve met vampires before. We’re everywhere.”

  “I don’t go out much at night.” She could hear Rueben gasping soundlessly on the other end of the line, and guessed that he was laughing again, which only incised her more.

  “We can go out during the day, Eira. And we don’t have a problem with garlic either. Italian is by far my favourite food.”

  “Are you being serious?”

  “Deadly.” The one word was said with such certainty that it took her a moment to realise that he was joking.

  “Now you play the vampire joke card?” His soft chuckle told her all she needed to know.

  “I’ll see you tonight, Eira. I look forward to it.” All of the laughter was gone from his tone, and instead it sounded like he was making a promise. A promise that she would more than likely enjoy. All she had to do was get through a date with an intrusive man she knew nothing about. He hung up the phone before she could answer, and she sat there dumbfounded. How had this happened to her? Just twenty-four hours ago she was overdue for any kind of male attention, now she seemed to have three after her. Now that was an image she could enjoy.

  Six

  Eira smoothed down her skirt, kind of nervous about the upcoming meal. She’d never really been on a date before, and hadn’t intended to be asked out on the first one in quite the way she had. But there was nothing that could be done about that. She’d briefly considered standing him up, but in the end it had just felt wrong. Which was ridiculous, she hardly knew the man, she shouldn’t feel bad about considering not wanting to see him.

  “Evening Frostie.” Leth’s lyrical voice came from behind her and she spun on her heels, surprised to discover that he was wearing a dark blue suit complete with a dark red tie and braces. All of a sudden, she felt both very under and over dressed in her baby blue dress. Its floaty skirts said just enough innocence to offset the daringly low cut sequined top half and make it seem classy rather than desperate, but now she found herself wishing for the floor length dark red velvet number she had at home.

  “Evening,” she said, almost choking over the word. Leth smiled, the action lighting up his face in a way that made him appear more boyish than he had before. She had to admit that it was a little endearing. He nodded at someone and they were whisked off to a cozy table for two in the corner of the room. Eira was secretly relieved it was so small, otherwise she could have seen Rueben and Josh turning up too, and while that could be fun, she doubted she could deal with all three of them at once quite yet.

  To her surprise, Leth pulled out her chair and waited for her to sit down before pushing it back under. She pulled the napkin off her plate and began to run her fingers over the seams
in an attempt to calm herself. She couldn’t quite explain the sudden onset of nervousness. Normally she was completely at ease around men, much like she had around Leth the night before. Probably because her magic took hold and she didn’t need to actually do much to hold their attention.

  But this felt different. This felt like it actually meant something. Unlike most of the men in her past. Actually, like none of them. The only one who’d ever mattered before this week was Josh. Now she had two more names to add to that list. She really should sort out why she was so okay with that. But like spending time with Leth, thinking all three of their names in the same breath felt right.

  “So, Special K, how was your day?” he asked, leaning forward in his chair in a surprisingly intimate gesture, only made more intense by the dim lighting and flickering candles surrounding them.

  “Fine, yours?” she answered, surprised by the normalcy of what he was asking. She’d kind of expected him to get straight to the point, and the fact he wasn’t just seemed odd.

  “Better now I can see you, Weetabix.” He smirked at her, and she scowled in return. This was not going to be acceptable in the slightest.

  “What’s with the cereal names?” She laced her tone with as much threat as she could, and failed miserably, but he at least had the decency to look abashed.

  “Frost magic, Frostie, Frosties?” he offered, still smiling, but a little more sheepishly now.

  “Well stop it. I don’t like it.” She leaned back, crossing her arms and tried to keep a straight face. Damn him. Why was he making this so difficult?

  “Frostie is okay though?” He seemed hopeful, and his summer coloured eyes widened pleadingly. Something in Eira broke, and she could tell he knew she was about to cave.

  “Fine, Frostie is okay,” she answered. His face lit up again, and she was glad that she had, something about his smile just made her happy.

  A waitress came over to take their order, and she rattled off her favourite pasta dish, her thoughts straying to Rueben’s earlier insistence that he could not only eat garlic, but he loved it too. Odd for a vampire maybe, but she’d go with it, especially if that meant he could bring her here. Maybe all four of them could come here.