Oracle Haunting (The Phoenix Files Book 4)

by Morgan Kelley

  He knew how he was going to die.

  It would be from a broken heart. What made it even worse was that it was by his hand. He’d had love, and he’d been an asshole and threw it away.

  He deserved this.

  As he sat beneath that one tree, watching the grass sway, he began feeling the soft kiss of snowflakes falling onto his skin.

  He looked around, and they coated the ground, blanketing the dream world with white.

  His heart thumped.

  Nathaniel Carter knew what they meant, and he couldn’t believe it.

  “Avalon?” he asked, knowing this was how she manifested in his dreams.

  There was her laughter.

  Then the flowers around him began blooming through the snow, filling his senses with the sweet scent of her perfume.

  His heart began pounding in anticipation of what was to come.

  “Avi?”

  “Hello, Nathaniel.”

  He turned, and there she was. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman before. It actually hurt his heart to stare at her. From the long sweep of blonde hair, to her pretty blue eyes. She was dressed in her long, white flowing dress—the one she wandered around in when she was listening to the static.

  It was how she looked the first time he’d ever seen her.

  Jesus.

  His heart ached.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “I came for you.”

  “Why? I hurt you? Why do you want to be anywhere near me? You don’t want to marry me. We’re done.”

  She wanted to heal him.

  Lucian had been right.

  In her desire to save the world, she let the one person who needed her most down. Avalon forgot to save him.

  She’d dropped the ball.

  After all, she had created this jealousy. Avalon listened to Maura fostering her love with Luke, always making sure he knew how she was feeling, and Avalon didn’t do that.

  Even Jagger had fed the relationship with kindness and love to make Roxy bloom.

  She never did that for him.

  Ever.

  Relationships were like a garden. You had to pull the weeds, water the flowers, and feed the beauty.

  She’d left the hard work for someone else, leaving it all to Nate. He had to be exhausted from all the work.

  It hadn’t been fair.

  Now she needed to make it right, and that meant giving him his dream.

  “I came to share something with you,” she said, waving her arm.

  All the flowers erupted, and the snow turned to diamond-like teardrops.

  “What?”

  She pointed. Not twenty feet away stood a man.

  “Who’s he?”

  “The minister. We’re getting married.”

  He stared at her. “That’s not funny. In fact, it’s really cruel, Avalon. It’s my one desire in life, and I can’t have it. I can never have that one thing. I’m destined to fight forever for you, but never to really have you.”

  Tears filled his eyes.

  Her heart ached at his words. She saw it now. The man had truly wanted nothing but to belong to her, and she’d stopped his dream with her own.

  “Nathaniel.”

  “It’s true. I can’t have a wife. You’re just out of my reach. My penance is to suffer.”

  And here was where she felt horrible. They’d lost their child, and she pushed off the wedding.

  They had to leave the US, and she pushed off the wedding.

  No wonder Nate hurt.

  She’d hurt him with her choices.

  “Go away, Avalon. I can’t handle the hurt anymore. I’ve carried my share. Just leave me be. Here, I can have some peace. I hope I never wake up. I have nowhere else to go. I’ve lost my love and family. I’m orphaned.”

  She wanted to cry for him.

  “Oh, Nathaniel.”

  He laid back in the flowers and closed his eyes. He couldn’t look at her. It was all fake. This was his brain screwing with him. Nate wanted the pain to stop.

  Avalon moved closer.

  “I’m not kidding. You wanted a wedding, and I’m giving you what you wanted. I want to be married to you, but we can’t do it in a church. We no longer exist. Here, in our world, we are king and queen. You can have your wife, and I can have my husband.”

  He opened his eyes.

  “Why?”

  “I hurt you, Nathaniel. I didn’t realize that you were acting the way you were because of me.”

  He said nothing.

  “When you called out to me with your needs, I didn’t respond. I was so busy saving the world, that I didn’t save MY world. I let you fall, and I’m sorry.”

  He was surprised.

  “When you want to go out, I say I’m busy. When you try to have a romantic night, I often get distracted with the voices. I’ve done this to you, and I am so sorry. Please forgive me. Let me give you what you want. Let me give you a wedding.”

  “Really? Here?”

  “Why not here? Is this world less important than the one we are in while awake? I can see here. On the day I marry you, I want to be able to see my husband.”

  His heart skipped.

  “Besides, a marriage is only paper, right? When you marry someone, it’s a vow you make in your heart, one you promise to keep. I’m willing to take that vow here, and now. I trust you enough to never stray, never to leave, and to always love me. That’s the marriage license I want.”

  “But I hurt you, and I hurt Lucian.”

  “He’s the one who set me straight. He explained. I shouldn’t have been so selfish. I was thinking about me and helping everyone else but the person I was meant to help. You.”

  He sat there.

  “Do you really want to do this?”

  “With all my heart. Marry me, Nathaniel. Marry me here in our world. We’ll carry it over into reality. We’ll be husband and wife.”

  That was the sweetest thing he’d ever heard.

  She got down on her knees in front of him, and stared into his eyes. “Be my husband.”

  How could he say no?

  “Yes, Avalon, I’ll marry you.”

  “Then let’s have our dream wedding. Here.”

  The storm clouds began pushing back, and Nate could feel again.

  “Yes, Avi. Let’s begin our life.”

  It was about time.

  Chapter Nine

  T he whole thing was bizarre. As they slept in their beds, they all began having the same dream. They were in a field of flowers, and they were watching Nathaniel Carter stand beside a strange man.

  He was wearing a tux.

  As the music began playing on a harp and in a field full of flowers, they saw her.

  It was Avalon, and she was wearing a wedding dress. It was long, gossamer white, and it had a slew of butterflies riding on the long train.

  It was fairytale princess meets magical kingdom.

  As they all sat there in a sea of flowers, they watched what was happening.

  Avalon moved past them all, and occasionally, one of her butterflies would leave, landing on someone she loved. Maura’s was in her hair, Lucian’s was on his shoulder, and Jagger’s was in the palm of his hand.

  As the six people in her family watched, Avalon made her way to Nathaniel’s side. He held out his hand as she moved beneath the tree with him. As soon as they touched, the flowers around them opened, and there was the fragrant scent of summer.

  It was lovely.

  “We are gathered here to unite this man and this woman in matrimony. Here, they come to be one.”

  Avalon stared up at Nate, her hands in his.

  “Do you, Avalon Miller take Nathaniel Carter as your husband—the man you’ll love for all time, the other half of your soul, and your most sacred treasure?”

  “I do,” she offered.

  He faced Nate. “Do you, Nathaniel Carter, take Avalon Miller to be your wife—the woman destined to be yours through good, bad, and troubled t
imes?”

  “I do,” he admitted.

  “Speak your vows in front of your family,” the man stated.

  “I, Avalon, have been blessed. In all my life, I never thought I’d find someone who’d want me. I was broken, battered, and destroyed. I was nothing to anyone, but then you found me. Nathaniel, you picked me up, you offered up your life for mine, and you gave me freedom. I will never love anyone but you. How could I? You’re my hero, my knight in shining armor, and my one true love. You gave up your past, your future, and your present to be mine. I’ll do the same. I’ll die loving you because we were meant to be.”

  He wiped his eyes with a handkerchief she handed him. Nate’s heart was filled with love.

  How could it not be?

  Here was his one wish.

  He’d finally gotten his wife.

  “Your turn, Nathaniel,” the man stated.

  “Avalon, the day before I met you, I prayed for death. I wanted to end my life in the worst way. Nothing filled it, the days were long, cold, and painful. I had no value to me, or anyone else. I was empty. Then I met you. The storm clouds were pushed back, you found me here in our little dream world, and I had a chance at happiness.”

  She held his hands.

  “You gave me hope, love, and dreams again. Without you, I can’t exist because you’re at the core of my heart and soul. You are my everything. I offered to die for you because I believe in us, your mission, and the woman you were born to be. You’re my miracle, Avalon. You always have been, and you always will be. I’ve never seen you as broken. You’re the piece of me that was missing. I’ll love you until I’m gone from this world.”

  She touched his face with her hands. It was amazing to be able to see him here in their world.

  It was a gift.

  Her Nathaniel was so damn handsome.

  The man pulled two shiny silver rings from his pocket. They glistened in the sun. They were the rings Nate had bought for them to use one day. He carried them with him everywhere.

  “They have writing inscribed on them,” he offered. “I mean those words to the deepest part of my heart.”

  The man held one up. “Forever my queen,” he read, as he handed it to Nate to slide onto her finger.

  Avalon watched as the sparkly band slid home. She’d never take it off. Never in a million years. It was sitting beside the engagement ring he’d given her.

  It looked perfect.

  The man held up the much bigger ring. “Forever my king,” he read, and then handed it to Avalon.

  She slid it onto Nate’s shaking hand.

  He couldn’t believe this day was happening.

  All the pressure was off. Nate knew that if he could get her to marry him, she’d never stray. He would at least have this when the world demanded Oracle.

  This.

  This was his.

  When they were done, the man spoke, “You’ve completed the circle, joining it forever. You’ve been bound by the ring that will forever hold your lives. You are now one.”

  Nate knew what that meant.

  Pulling Avalon into his arms, he stared down into her face. “Finally,” he whispered, before his mouth found hers. The kiss set off a reaction around them. The thousands of butterflies took flight, leaving the train of her dress.

  Their family clapped and wiped their eyes. Even the toughest in the group was brought to their knees. Jagger sniffled like a baby.

  He had totally lost his street cred, and Maura too.

  This was love, and it was beautiful to watch.

  When he set her mouth free, Nate needed to say one thing to his new wife.

  “I will die for you, and I will love you until my last day on Earth.”

  She touched his cheek. “Where you go, Nathaniel, I will be too. Forever, my love.”

  And that, alone, gave him peace.

  As they stood there, the man officiating the ceremony morphed into some majestic bird and took flight.

  The flowers bowed their heads, and Nate walked down the carpet of floral beauty with his WIFE.

  This changed everything.

  She was his.

  It also changed nothing.

  He would still die for his love.

  When he woke, she was in the spare bedroom with him. She was resting beside him, her hand holding his. The dream had been beautiful, and he couldn’t believe it.

  Still, something was missing.

  The rings.

  Picking up her engagement ring, he slid it onto her finger. Then, he knew what he needed. Nate wanted them wearing their wedding bands.

  Scooping Avalon up, he carried her back to their room. Gently, he placed her in the middle of their bed, and he dug for the small, black, velvet box he’d squirreled away. When he opened it, he read the inscriptions, and they indeed said ‘Forever my king’ and ‘Forever my queen’.

  That proved one thing.

  She was in his mind. He was in hers. Avalon wasn’t only alive in Lucian, her psychic partner, but she lived in him.

  That healed the hole.

  Sliding the ring onto her finger, he then did the same with his. He was married.

  Was it on paper?

  No, but this was better. Their family saw it, they got to do it where they’d had that first encounter.

  That was perfect.

  Curling against his wife, Nate knew what he wanted. “Avalon, bring me with you,” he whispered into her ear.

  It didn’t take long.

  Nate slept, and their party continued.

  All.

  Night.

  Long.

  * * * O R A C L E * * *

  Tuesday

  Morning

  Park

  He was nervous.

  How could he not be?

  Laird was going to have breakfast in the park with a gorgeous woman—a woman he was tied to for the rest of his life.

  That astounded him.

  Before yesterday, he’d been a loner, and now…

  Jaysus!

  It was like being married, but on a psychic level. When he woke, he reached for her, and he could hear her singing in the shower.

  She had the voice of an angel.

  It offered him so much comfort to eavesdrop on her. She was a sweet woman with nothing malicious, evil, or angry about her. It was hard not to be drawn to her.

  When she dressed, he could see her in his mind.

  It stole his breath.

  She was curves in all the right places, and his heart began thumping in his chest.

  No one had ever made him feel this way in his life.

  No one.

  She affected him so much that he had to jump back into the shower to cool down.

  It didn’t work.

  Laird was still riled up.

  So, as he headed to the park, two coffees in tow, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Would he make an ass out of himself?

  Would he freak out?

  Would she?

  All of this was rattling his cage to the point he’d forgotten the most important part of a picnic.

  The food.

  Holy shit!

  He had the coffee, but…

  Crap!

  Brianna wasn’t a meat person, and he didn’t know her well enough to pick something out, so he’d have to wait and ask. There were some bakeries around the park, and he’d run off and get them something.

  Scones.

  Biscuits.

  Anything.

  As he got nearer, Laird was thinking about the whole day in general. From breakfast to having to work all day, he knew one thing.

  Being apart from her would suck, but he’d have to manage. Maybe he could have dinner with her.

  Then he hesitated.

  First, coffee in the park, and then dinner the same night? Maybe that was too much.

  He was worried.

  In his head, he could feel her stirring. Oh, bloody hell! She’d heard it all!

  Jaysus!

  ‘Ask,’ whispered t
hrough his mind.

  ‘If I do, will you?’ he replied, not the least bit upset that she’d heard him. It was comforting.

  ‘Always.’

  He was about to do just that when he saw her. She was sitting on a blanket, legs tucked beneath her, wearing an emerald green dress. Her red hair hung loose, and he thought he was going to stop breathing.

  His chest actually hurt.

  She’d packed a picnic to save him the effort.

  No one had ever done that for him.

  “Detective,” she said, taking the coffee he held out for her. “I hope you don’t mind. I know you have to meet with Nate and Luke this morning.”

  He realized something.

  For her, he’d miss it.

  That was nothing like him. He’d been the job for so long, and finally, he wanted something more.

  He wanted her.

  “I will never mind. You can throw food at me, lass, any day. I’m a man. We tend to like to eat.”

  “I don’t eat meat, so I hope you don’t mind,” she said, pulling a container of warm biscuits out of the satchel. “There’s homemade strawberry jam. Mr. Murray insisted that you really like it.”

  He laughed. “I caught someone vandalizing his home once. He plied me with it for a week. I could swim in the stuff, and never get sick of it.”

  “Butter?” she asked, pulling some out.

  “Now you’re talking,” he offered, taking a seat beside her. Laird offered her the coffee. The second he sat, he could smell her perfume.

  She smelled fresh like berries.

  Laird wanted to nibble on her.

  She smiled at him.

  “You’re in my head, aren’t you?” he asked.

  She pointed at their touching legs.

  “Well, shit.”

  It made her laugh. “I do believe you’re blushing, Mr. Maguire. That’s incredibly sexy.”

  He lifted a brow.

  Was she flirting with him?

  God!

  Please let that be an American being forward. He began crossing everything he owned with the hopes that she was feeling an iota of what he was feeling.

  As Brianna slathered butter and strawberry jam on the giant biscuit, she began keeping them busy with idle chitchat.