by R. A. Boyd
Charlie sucked her bottom lip in and half nodded, half shook her head. “Wow. After everything I’ve heard, I will completely believe it. Are you okay, Cass? That’s probably a stupid question.”
The sincerity in her voice pierced Simon’s heart a little more. She didn’t even know his crazy sisters, but the echo from her sorrow for Cass was like a warm caress to his heart.
Shrugging and looking away from Charlie, Cass smiled and fluffed her ponytail. “I will be. I’m better now. And it’s not a stupid question. There really is no right question to ask when it comes to that.” She cleared her throat and motioned for Paige to put down the tray of coffees she was holding. “We’re going to get out of your hair. Riley just wanted to drop off the papers, and I wanted to meet Charlie. I appreciate your presence in his life more than you can imagine. You’ve already healed him in more ways than I can express. Thank you.”
Charlie leaned into Simon’s side and curled her arms around his waist. “He’s healed me too.”
“What do you mean I can’t have it back yet?” Simon bellowed. If he still had his beast, he would shift and fucking rip this house to shreds. “Damn-it, Miri. We had an agreement.”
Rage boiled in Simon’s chest as he looked at the dead woman, except right now she wasn’t as dead as she usually was. Not by a long shot. She was fucking corporeal; just as solid and able to control her surroundings as he was.
It was his soul. It had to be. For some reason, it had given Miri the power she needed to take physical form and do whatever she planned on doing.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Charlie’s gaze moving between him and Miri as they argued. The confused and playful smirk on her face would be funny right now if he hadn’t been trying to figure out how to take hold of Miri and shake the shit out of her until she let go of his soul.
“Simon,” Miri said, running her thin fingers through her chestnut hair. Just like she used to do when she was alive, she tucked the unruly mass behind her ears as if that would hold it at bay. “I’m so happy you’ve found your mate. I just need your soul for a day, two days at most.” Her green eyes sparkled with mischief and honesty. “It’s lovely to meet you, Charlie.”
“You too,” Charlie said, standing to shake her hand. “You have beautiful eyes.”
A new wave of betrayal simmered in his blood when Charlie and Miri’s hands connected. “How?” he asked, pointing at their still joined hands. “How are you doing it?”
Miri licked her lips and pulled her ruby colored shawl higher on her shoulders. “It’s Charlie. It has to be. The changes in power started about three weeks ago. Is that when you two met?” Her long white skirt swayed around her as she moved to sit on the couch.
Simon closed his eyes and counted to five. Then he counted to ten. Then he counted backward from ten to negative six. If he didn’t clamp down on his anger, he would lash out and snatch Miri’s soul stealing ass right off of his furniture. What the hell was he thinking? He would never touch a woman in anger, but damn-it if she was a dude…
“I just saw her for the first time last week,” Simon explained.
Charlie raised her hand and moved to sit down next to Miri. “I moved to New Rose about three weeks ago. It was a Tuesday. It was raining.”
Miri’s head bobbed up and down. The earrings in her ears, which were usually silent, began to jangle with her movements. The sound seemed to catch her off guard. She reached up and touched the gold and silver circles that hung from her earlobes.
“Amazing.” Laugh lines appeared around her eyes and full lips. “Your proximity to Simon must have done something to his soul. It’s been so powerful since that night. That has to be it.”
Simon didn’t care. He wanted his soul back right the fuck now. “Miri—” he warned.
“Please,” Miri said. “Just one thing I need to do.”
“Do you know what will happen if someone who knows how to use my soul gets to you?” he asked.
They’d talked about it before he even made the choice to give it up. Miri knew how powerful the soul of an angel was, and his was like a ticking time bomb just waiting for someone to enter the wrong code to stop its detonation. Other than tucked away in his attic, the best place for his soul was in his body.
“I know what would happen, but it won’t. I just need to do something. I can’t tell you what it is yet, but I promise I will guard it with every ounce of magic I have in my body.” She stood and walked over to him, and he could smell her. Sage, peppermint, lavender, and thyme. All the spices she would use in spells. “Besides, my angry friend. I’m not giving you a choice. I have to do this, and you can’t know about it. Just yet.”
But I found her, he wanted to say to Miri. He’d finally found his mate and all he wanted to do was get his soul back so he could experience her with every ounce of every emotion he could create in his body. Charlie deserved everything he could give.
And here Miri was, throwing a monkey wrench into his plans. Charlie was his. He’d been waiting. He didn’t want to wait anymore.
“Simon.” Miri’s soft voice broke through the grief and fury moving through him. “Can’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“Your soul. I’ve kept it safe for so long, and it has never affected you. But I’ve watched you experience so many normal emotions over the past few weeks. You just didn’t know what they were. I didn’t know until I knocked over your vase. Sorry, by the way.” She smiled, and it reminded him of when she used to run around the Karela camp when she was a teenager, chasing the younger children she helped take care of. “Charlie’s presence has brought your soul back to life. Why, I was afraid you wouldn’t have any goodness left inside of it after all this time. I told Cass.”
“Told her what?” Simon rubbed his hand over his beard and listened as his nails scratched against the overgrown stubble.
Miri moved closer to him and put her hand on his arm. “That I thought your soul was dying, and that this last jolt of energy was its last hurrah. I told her to keep an eye on you and stop letting you provoke pain onto yourself.”
Simon’s eyes shot to Charlie, but he couldn’t meet her gaze. He didn’t want her to know he sought out the pain to make him feel alive again.
“Miri.” What more could he say?
She smiled and pulled him into an embrace. “But I was wrong, and I am happy I was. It was Charlie. It was your mate calling life back into your dying soul. Even without either of you realizing it, she has brought you back.” Miri cupped both of his cheeks and looked into his eyes. “I’ve wanted nothing more than to give you your soul back. But something has happened. I need to make sure you get to keep what you’ve found in Charlie.”
What was that supposed to mean? He would keep Charlie until the day he died.
“Miri,” Charlie said, sitting forward on the couch. “Why wouldn’t we get to keep what we have?”
“Because,” Miri whispered, still looking into Simon’s eyes. “The death of that angel your friend killed last week caused a current on my side that speaks of trouble. Spirits are clamoring about what he did, but it doesn’t make sense to me. Samayah is here on this side, but not. And whatever he’s doing is… it’s wrong. So wrong that all the spirits I communicate with are screaming to keep you safe. They just keep saying it over and over. The Ghosts are in trouble.” Her eyes went hazy as if she were losing her physical form, but Simon could feel her hands solid and warm on his face. “I can’t leave if you’re not okay.”
Simon scoffed. He and his brethren had been in trouble for way too long to imagine. They could deal. It was time for Miri to move on, not try to protect him and his family. Now that they knew what was happening with the Rogue clan and their weapons, they could protect each other.
His voice softened. “You don’t need to protect me anymore, Miri.” Giving her a ghost of a smile, he covered her hands with his. “You kept my soul safe. You’ve done more than enough. I asked you to give up moving on to keep it.”
&n
bsp; She pulled away from him and turned to face Charlie. Sliding off her shawl, she sat on the carved, oak coffee table in front of Charlie and wrapped the intricately patterned fabric around her shoulders.
“Thank you, Miri. It’s lovely.” Charlie smiled at Miri and pulled the shawl higher up on her shoulders so it wouldn’t fall off.
Simon was amazed that even her clothes had form.
Raising her hands in the air, Miri made a triangle shape with her fingers and then lowered her arms to encircle the top of Charlie’s head. “Matei celor căzuți. Să fie acoperit cu ochiul iubirii și al protecției.”
The shawl sat on Charlie’s shoulders for a moment, and when she reached up to pull it higher, it dissipated into a golden flash of smoke and hung in the air around her. Charlie’s eyes widened as her head snapped forward. She exhaled as if all the air was being wrung from her body, and when she took in a deep breath, all the smoke drew into her mouth and nose.
Simon’s chest tightened as the look of wonder took over his mate’s features. She wasn’t afraid, but she wasn’t overjoyed at the spell being placed on her. He took a step forward, but Miri held up her hand to him and repeated the spell. It was for protection.
Miri’s hands made three quick movements that fanned over the space of Charlie’s body, and when she finished, she placed one hand over Charlie’s head and the other over her heart.
“What was that?” Charlie asked, holding her hand to her chest. She could probably still feel Miri’s spell finding a home inside of her.
Simon knew what gypsy magic felt like. Even the protection spells seemed to root around your insides until it found a suitable place to keep itself.
“She won’t be changing, Simon. But she will still restore everything you’ve lost.” Miri looked at Charlie. “You don’t have to have a beast inside you to be strong. Your heart has already made you brave, and this protection spell will help keep your body safe.” She leaned down and kissed Charlie on the cheek. “I will leave now. I need to speak to a group of people that descended from the Karela clan. Those are my people,” she said, more for Charlie’s benefit.
Charlie cleared her throat. Scrubbing her hand over her face and then up through her hair, she said, “Where do you have to go?”
His mate’s voice was raw, and the urge to get her something to drink to ease her parched throat brought Simon to a standing position. He needed to take care of her, make sure she was comfortable. He started to walk to the kitchen, but Miri’s admission brought him to a halt.
“Amsterdam. Moldova. Seattle, Washington. My people have grown in numbers.” A proud look blanketed her face. “I need them to help me do an incantation that requires three gypsies from three generations.”
Two days tops, his ass. How the fuck did she plan on country hopping and be back in two days?
“Don’t worry,” she said as if reading his mind. “I may be corporeal, but I can become incorporeal to travel. I’ve been doing it since last week.” She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I didn’t tell you. You would have overreacted.”
Hell yes he would have overreacted. Miri was playing a dangerous game with his soul. Simon would be grateful for her trying to keep them safe, but they’d all be screwed anyway if she was captured.
“Miri.” He took a steadying breath and shook his head. “Please. Be careful. If something seems wrong, just zip back here and give me my soul.” He held up his hands to calm his raising voice. “I can’t tell you how indebted I am to you for all you’ve done, including helping us before you move on. Just… please. Stay safe. Not just for the sake of my soul, but yours too.” She deserved all the peace and goodness the afterlife had waiting for her.
Simon looked at Charlie and fought everything in his head not to react. He was ready to give himself to her completely. He’d already waited millions of years. Two days seemed just as long.
“I give you my word.” A shimmer surrounded Miri’s body. She winked at him as she faded away. “Two days.”
Those two words stung Simon like a cold hand to wet skin. Two days. He didn’t think he could go two more days like this. He needed something that was a complete contrast to the goodness that radiated from his mate. Something was shifting in his core. Something was missing.
He turned to Charlie and gestured his head toward the door. “I’ll be back,” he said, and he could hear the icy intentions woven through his words. He unbuttoned his shirt and put it on a hanger near the door, leaving him with just a white tee-shirt that strained against his thick biceps and beautifully cut chest. “I’d prefer if you stayed in the house for a little while.”
Simon didn’t have any other choice. It was either do this or suck Charlie into his suffering until his soul was returned.
He had an Alpha to provoke.
Chapter 6
Simon’s voice didn’t resonate right to Charlie. It sounded dead. Void of everything except the monotonous tones from his voice box. What the hell was he planning to do? He didn’t want her to go outside.
“Simon,” she muttered, getting up to walk toward him. The after effects of Miri’s spell made her sway on her feet. She had to grab hold of the side of the couch to stay upright. Just fucking great. She was already unsteady, and now she would probably fall and break something. “What just happened? You were here with me, and now you’re not.” She walked up to him until she was face to chest with the behemoth of a man.
His eyes flashed a dismissive gaze her way. “I’m right here. And now I’m going to walk out that door.”
Fuck that. Simon was not going to run from her. Yes, he’d been through a lot. More than she could possibly imagine, but she would be damned before she allowed him to push her out when things got too hard for him. Apparently, he’d been doing it for years. It was time for that shit to stop.
“No,” she said, moving between his body and the door. “I don’t want you to go.”
He rocked back on his heels, and when he looked down at her again, the beautiful grey of his eyes was gone. Dark, emotionless orbs stared back at her. If she were a smart woman, she would have cowered in fear and let him pass her by as she squeezed herself into some small space he couldn’t reach. An intense sense of fury fanned out from his body. She wanted to put a few feet of distance between them, but she swallowed that shit down and gazed into his eyes.
A rumble started in his chest and worked its way up his throat, making his voice sound animalistic. “Move.”
“No.”
“Charlie.”
“Simon.” She crossed her arms over her breasts and took another step toward him. “Stay. I don’t know why, but it feels like you want to do something idiotic.”
The corded muscles in his neck and shoulders worked as his empty eyes held her captive. “What I do is my business.”
She gasped and reared back, his words cutting something deep inside her. Not too long ago, he wanted to give her everything, and she believed him. Something changed in him. Maybe he was having a mantrum since he couldn’t get what he wanted when he wanted it. Or perhaps it was because his soul wasn’t close to him anymore. It had been in his house the whole time. Now, it wasn’t. That last thought was the only thing that kept her from slapping him upside his head. “I’m not letting you leave, asshole.”
“I’ll leave through another door. I’m faster than you.”
“I know Jiu-Jitsu.” It was a lie. She really didn’t, but she wasn’t about to let him leave out and get himself hurt. Or allow him to hurt someone else.
The evil smirk that settled over Simon’s lips made Charlie prepare herself for any hurtful words he might throw at her. Her mother, father, and grandfather did it all the time while she was growing up. She was a professional at not letting stuff bother her. Most stuff.
“But you’re clumsy as shit, Charlie. Even if you knew a martial art, your off-kilter ass still wouldn’t be able to keep me here.”
“Jackass.”
“Human.”
“You say that like it’s an in
sult.
Simon shrugged and held his hands up, that wicked leer still on his face.
She pushed herself against him to show she wasn’t backing down. Gritting her teeth, she clamped down on the resolve building inside her. “You don’t even see it, do you? You use that word as if it should hurt. It’s not the first time I’ve heard you say the word human as if you were above it. Does some part of you think you’re better than a human? Hmm? Okay, you’re an angel, but you literally changed yourself into something else to not be who you were. You get that, don’t you?”
Ohh, that struck a nerve. Simon’s empty eyes bled back to the beautiful grey she was starting to love. He ground his teeth so hard she could hear them working against each other. The sound grated on something in her head and threatened to give her a headache.
He lowered his torso until he was almost face to face with her. “It wasn’t like that.”
“What were you designed to do? Tell me.”
His eyes slid shut as if her words had finally broken through his haze of fury. “To love. To watch. To guide. To be in the light of the Creator forever.” He swallowed thickly, and his voice broke. Rubbing his hand over the nape of his neck, he said, “To follow orders to the letter.”
“And you fought like hell not to do it. To go against who you were made to be. You made a choice, and I’m so happy you did. ‘Cause I get to be yours and have you as mine.”
Something broke inside her, and Charlie eased away from the door and put her head on his chest. He was hurting. He may be big and strong and a freaking fallen angel with a saber-tooth cat waiting to be freed, but he was in pain. He’d been cast away from the love of his father, and Charlie knew all too well what that felt like.
For years she had doubted bits of herself, wondering why she wasn’t good enough to make her mother stay sober; to make her father want to do the right thing so he could stay home with their family. She had tried dangerous diets to lose weight so her grandfather would stop looking at her like she was disgusting. Charlie didn’t even want to imagine how worse it would have been had it not been for her grandmother. That woman, and a lovely therapist, were the only reasons she didn’t hate herself today. And her brother. Benjamin always looked at her like she was the bee’s knees. Aside from her grandmother’s reassurance, Benjamin was the only one who told her she was pretty. The only one who told her she was going to be good at whatever she tried.