A Fate Unknown: A PNR, Why Choose Novel (The Ghost Girl Series Book 1)

by Sinclair Kelly

  Shit. How did I not see this sooner?

  “Why can’t she tell us that herself?” Levi asks, obviously confused.

  “Because she’s not here anymore,” Mack falters, his voice quivering slightly at the end. The look on his face is one of disbelief and denial.

  Fuck! This is worse than I thought.

  Levi drops his hold on Thad, and as if that’s all he’s been waiting for, Thad lunges, taking advantage of my distraction.

  “You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you!”

  He’s on me before I can outmaneuver him, knocking me to the ground and landing a solid punch to my jaw. I block the next one and manage to buck the big fucker off me. Rolling quickly to the side, I jump to my feet. He’s slower to stand, so I’m ready for him, but I don’t want to fight. I need to explain what happened.

  “Just hold on a damn minute!” I shout, holding out both hands with the hope that my giant of a brother recognizes the universal symbol for stop. “I didn’t do anything to her! Her power went crazy when she touched the willow tree’s trunk, and she couldn’t move away. There was light everywhere and this humming power that made my ears ring. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to hold on to it much longer, and she told me to run. She fucking saved my life.”

  It hits me again, the sacrifice she made for me. All of the sorrow and guilt and regret that has been building up inside me for years suddenly assaults me. Overwhelms my senses and shatters my control.

  “She saved my life, but I couldn’t save her,” I rasp as I let my head drop to my chest and close my eyes so I don’t have to look at the slivers of wood and clumps of dirt. My voice wavers as I whisper, “I had just found her, and now I’ve lost her all over again.”

  No one speaks. The soft chirping of crickets and a toad’s croak out in the distance are the only sounds breaking the silence.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” Mack asks gently.

  “I remember seeing lightning start to streak out of the connection between her and the tree. That’s when she begged me to go. There was nothing I could do, so I ran as fast as I could back toward the house to get you guys. I heard the blast and got hit from behind with a punch of power, and then it was lights out.”

  “Do you think there’s a chance she survived it? I mean, she’s a ghost. Maybe she just got blasted back to the house. Like a reset or something?” he asks hopefully.

  “She knew, Mack. She knew whatever the hell was happening was the end. I could see it in her eyes.”

  “But we have to check. Thad, Levi. Run back to the house and…”

  “She’s not there,” Knox cuts in, his voice flat, without a hint of the emotions he has to be overwhelmed with.

  “What do you mean? Is she out here somewhere? Can you sense her?” Mack questions.

  “I feel her. It’s like she’s...everywhere. The ground, the sky, the air surrounding us all.”

  Mack and I share a quick look of concern. Knox was closest to Fate, and this has surely hit him the hardest.

  “Knox, that doesn’t make any sense. She can’t be…”

  “I think her essence engulfed everything when the blast went off. Her power soaked into the surroundings when she wasn’t there to contain it any longer,” he says quietly.

  The entire group goes silent again at his words, reality sinking in. Our potential missing piece, the one we had only just found, is gone. I have another nightmare to add to my collection, except this time I won’t be suffering it alone.

  I’m not sure how long we sit there, silently processing all that’s happened while the moonlight plays with the remains of what was once a large beautiful tree. When I finally snap out of the internal battle raging inside my mind, I take a deep breath before slowly lifting my head. I look around at my brothers, all grieving in their own way.

  Levi has a hand on the back of his twin’s neck, while Thad stands with his fists and jaw clenching, staring angrily at where the willow once stood tall.

  Knox has both hands on his head, his fingers tightly gripping his hair. His face is etched with agony. Not only is he dealing with his own emotions, but all of ours as well.

  When I look at poor Macklin, my heart breaks all over again. For the first time in our fifty years together, his attention had been captured by something other than his research. Wait. Not something. Someone. Knox may be the empath of the group, but Mack is the heart, and now, that heart has been broken. A single tear leaks from his eye, which he quickly wipes away with the back of his hand.

  Setting my own feelings aside to be dealt with later, I figuratively put my leader hat back on, though it’s sitting slightly askew now. Not exactly comfortable, but that suits me just fine at the moment.

  “Come on. Let’s get back to the house. I need a shower, and you all could use some rest.”

  Levi wraps his arm around his twin’s shoulder and leads Thad away, murmuring softly.

  I walk over to Macklin, asking a silent question when our eyes meet.

  “I’ll be fine,” he manages before turning and heading toward the house.

  I watch the three of them go, wishing there was more I could do to help them. Glancing at my remaining brother, the despair that’s rolling off him is so thick I can practically grab it with both hands.

  “Knox, you too.”

  “I’ll be just a minute. I need...space.”

  I know he means from the emotions we’re all projecting, so I give him a nod.

  “Don’t be long or I’ll be back to drag you in.”

  I slowly make my way toward the house, the night’s events playing in a continuous loop in my mind like a movie on repeat. My head is still pounding, but that pain has nothing on the regret pooling in what remains of my heart, eating away at it like a flesh-eating disease.

  Levi is holding the door, waiting for Mack and me. When my boot hits the stone patio, I hear Knox’s shout.

  “Wait! Something’s happening!”

  Mack looks back at me, and we both turn and race back to the tree where Knox still stands. Levi yells for Thad, his voice desperate, and I know they won’t be far behind.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  Knox is still staring at the debris like it holds all the answers, and I have to tamp down my impatience. Just as I’m about ready to lose it, Thad and Levi come running up.

  “I don’t know. All of a sudden, that feeling of her being everywhere slowly started to recede, almost like it was being sucked down a drain. Power is growing again, somewhere in this rubble, but I just can’t pinpoint where with everything else going on.”

  “What does that mean?” Thad rasps.

  “Everyone quiet,” I command. “Let’s give Knox a minute so he can figure out what’s what.”

  The seconds tick by while we all wait. My hope is soaring even though I try to tamp it back down. Hope is a dangerous thing.

  A soft moan echoes through the night.

  “Did you hear that!” Mack says excitedly. “Which direction did it come from?”

  “Everyone split up,” I command, ready to put my restlessness into something productive. “Search everywhere. It’s not like we can find her by touch, so we’ll have to use our other senses in the dark.”

  Everyone but Knox takes off. I know he’s seconds away from emotional overload. It’s only happened one other time, and he was unconscious for three days. We can’t afford to have him out of commission right now, and I don’t have time to talk him through the worst of it. Walking over to him, I put my hand on his shoulder.

  “Brother, can you hang in there just a little bit longer? If it’s really her, you might be the only one able to find her. We have to know for sure. We need you. Fate needs you.”

  His head slowly turns my way, and I see how desperate and on edge he is.

  “Please?” I murmur.

  He takes a deep breath, knowing I don’t use that term often, and releases it as he straightens his shoulders. A small nod is all he manages before he walks away to join the ot
hers.

  “Grid formation, everyone. We don’t want to leave a single inch unchecked.”

  As we all get into position and start the search, I make a promise to myself that if we find her, I’ll do everything I can to make up for my behavior. She may never be a fan of mine, and that’ll have to be okay. As long as she sticks with us and makes my brothers happy, I’ll learn to be content with that.

  As the minutes pass, the little sliver of hope that had worked its way past my defenses is starting to waver. Doubts fill my thoughts, souring my already dark mood. Maybe it wasn’t a moan. Maybe it was an animal or the creak of the wood after the blast. Maybe it was simply the wind.

  Then I hear Knox shout, “Guys! Over here!”

  We all turn and run toward him, all the way to the far back corner of the blast site. Not even the moonlight is enough to break through the darkness here.

  “Is it her?” Macklin asks as we run up.

  Knox is facing away from us, his shoulders hunched and his head down. He has something in his arms, but it’s so dark it’s hard to make it out.

  “Knox, man, come on,” Thad grates out.

  Knox turns around, and I hear a swift intake of breath. It may have been one of my brother’s, but it very well could’ve been my own.

  We all watch in stunned disbelief, our eyes glued to the sight in front of us.

  A few feet from where we stand, Knox is staring down at the face of the flesh and blood woman passed out in his arms. When his eyes come up and meet mine, I see the shock and relief and confusion there.

  “It’s her,” he whispers. “She’s alive.”

  Warmth surrounds me. Like I’m nestled into the world's most amazing bed, and I never want to leave. Whispered conversations full of urgency and confusion seem to bounce around the room, or wherever the hell I am, but I can’t quite make out the words. I’d love to see what all the fuss is about, but opening my eyes seems like an awful lot of work at the moment. Honestly, my whole body feels sluggish and heavy, as if the entire force of Earth’s gravity is pushing down on me. But that’s not possible. Gravity doesn’t even know I exist.

  I’m not going to complain though. This is quite possibly the best first dream ever, because...I feel...so many things. Solid. Whole. Alive. I’m hoping it lasts just a little bit longer. I want to soak up as much feeling as I can.

  As I slowly pull myself out of the mental fog I found myself in, the muddled voices gain clarity.

  “How did this happen?”

  The voice is low, rich, and masculine. Cole. He’s close enough that his words shoot a spark of heat through my already sensitive body. Apparently even in dreamland my body is a traitorous bitch where he’s concerned.

  A ghost of a touch slowly brushes hair off my face. The slight roughness of skin trailing across my forehead and the silky softness of hair sliding across my cheek sending tingles throughout my body. No way in hell the blue-eyed asshole would touch me that reverently. My money’s on Macklin.

  The wonderfully comfy bed shifts beneath me, and I suddenly realize that it’s not a bed at all. I’m on someone’s lap.

  Fuck. This dream just gets better and better. Pretty sure I’d moan from the pure pleasure of a hard male body beneath me if it didn’t require energy I just don’t seem to have.

  “I honestly have no idea. This shouldn’t be possible.”

  The soft rumble of uncertainty somewhere in front of me is most definitely Macklin. I want to give him a giant hug to make that hint of vulnerability go away, but my body is still not cooperating, which is beyond inconvenient. I’m apparently a real girl in this dream, and I want to take full advantage of my change in circumstances while I can. There are so many things I want to do in my dream body. These guys are at the top of that list.

  A male chuckle rumbles beneath me.

  “What is it?” Cole questions.

  “If I wasn’t sure this was truly her before, I am now. She’s gone through a plethora of emotions in the last few minutes. Desire being the primary one.”

  I’d recognize that deep, husky voice anywhere. Knox.

  It’s his lap I’m snuggled up on. It’s then I feel his arms wrapped around me, cocooning me in the safety of his embrace.

  Hell yes! Now we’re talkin’.

  “She must be regaining consciousness slowly. We should dim the lights and keep our voices low. Everything will probably seem amplified when she finally wakes up.”

  Aww! My sexy nerd is so thoughtful. He just earned himself some extra lovin’ if I can manage to kick this body into gear.

  I attempt to open my eyes, move my fingers, wiggle my toes, but nothing is happening. It’s damn frustrating. I can feel my power moving through my body. Starting at my head, lingering in random areas, then moving on to the next. What it’s doing, I have no idea, but the tingling sensation would probably make me giggle if my body wasn’t on lockdown.

  It reaches my pinky toes, and I’d sigh in relief if I could. I’m ready to give this being alive and alert thing another go. I try to open my eyes once more, but my power chooses that moment to kick it up a notch, rolling back up my body like a wave. Just when I think it’s finally over, an intense burning flares to life in my mid-section.

  What the fuck now? I whine silently.

  It slowly expands out to my extremities until there isn’t a single centimeter of me that isn’t engulfed in fiery pain. The room beyond my eyelids is flickering wildly from bright to dark. Over and over again.

  “The fuck? This is her, right?”

  Even though my ears are ringing and every sound has a tin can quality to it, I recognize that sexy, naughty voice. Thad.

  “It’s her. I can feel her power growing. We thought she was strong before, but that was nothing compared to what I feel within her now,” Knox answers, sounding worried.

  The marks on my bicep pulse twice before I’m suddenly jolted with what feels like a bazillion gigawatts of electricity, causing my back to arch and my jaw, fingers, and toes to clench tight. I would make a puckered asshole joke right now if everything didn’t hurt so damn bad. The guys start cursing and shouting, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I can’t breathe, can’t see, can’t do anything but ride it out. I can’t even focus on the panic and fear bubbling up inside because everything just hurts too damn bad. When it finally begins to recede, my body slumps back down into Knox’s lap.

  Shit! This dream could sure as hell be a lot less painful, thank you very much.

  “What in the hell just happened? Is she okay?”

  The concerned and reasonable yin to the naughty yang. Levi.

  “Don’t look at me. This is beyond even my level of knowledge and understanding.” Sounds like Macklin isn’t all that happy about his power failing him at the moment.

  It’s then I feel Knox’s hand rubbing soothing circles on my upper back with a firm yet gentle touch. His other hand is lightly stroking up and down my outer thigh, sending a different kind of tingle straight to my very real, very excited vagina. And damn, does it feel good.

  A moan shatters the quiet in the room, and then I realize it came from me.

  “Come on, little ghost. Open those eyes for us.”

  The rumble from Knox’s voice close to my ear adds tingles on top of my tingles.

  I can do this. I will do this.

  Body, do you hear me? Cooperate and I’ll make sure these guys take full advantage of you as soon as possible. Deal?

  Slowly, I open my eyes. It takes me a second to focus, but when I do, the first thing I see is Macklin’s worried face over the shoulder of the gigantic man directly in front of me. I try to lift my hand to soothe him, but my limbs feel like they weigh a ton.

  “You’re okay. Don’t try to move yet,” he says quietly.

  “What…” I try to speak, but my throat is as dry as the Sahara, and my voice is nothing but a wisp of sound.

  “Let me get you some water.”

  Macklin turns and heads over to the side table to grab one
of the bottles there.

  When my head drops down a bit - who knew heads were so damn heavy - my gaze is caught by eyes the color of the most beautiful seafoam green sea glass I’ve ever seen, with only hints of gold and brown around the edges. They’re staring into mine, and the concern and worry within them takes my breath away. I’m not ashamed to admit I have no idea which blond giant is currently making my heart skip a beat - wait, it’s beating! Oh my ghost, that’s heady stuff - or making my head spin from the emotions I can sense coming from him. But I know the serious look he’s giving me is loaded full of things I can’t even begin to comprehend right now.

  “Here.” Mack hands the water bottle to his brother but directs his instruction to me. “Let him hold this up to your mouth for you. Try to take a couple of small sips. Not too much or too fast.”

  We’re still in a staring contest, the twin and me, as he raises the bottle to my lips and slowly tips it up. It’s then I notice the tattoos covering his right hand and arm. Thad. I wouldn’t have guessed he could be this gentle or this serious. The playfulness I’ve grown so used to is nowhere to be found. The intensity in its place is potent enough to cause my newly solid lady bits to sit up and take notice.

  The moment the cool water hits my tongue, I close my eyes and release another moan as I swallow because it tastes and feels amazing. Which is the absolute craziest thing. It’s water, but it could be the finest wine for all I care at this moment. I can taste, and I can feel.

  “You keep making sounds like that, woman, I’m not sure I’ll be able to restrain myself.”

  My eyes pop open. I’m relieved, and maybe just a little disappointed, to see the familiar naughty gleam has returned, along with his trademark smirk. With our gazes locked, he slowly reaches up to brush more hair out of my face. So it was him before, that first gentle touch.

  Huh. Will wonders never cease.

  “Let her have one more sip, and that’s enough for right now,” Macklin asserts, bringing my attention back to him and off the giant wall of sexy man meat in front of me. “We’ll let you have more once you’ve acclimated a little.” His calming voice soothes the restlessness inside me.