by LJ Swallow
"I'm sure you'll fix yourself, and everything will be under control again, right, Xander?"
"Of course." He releases me and sits, revealing the defined muscle I haven’t had the opportunity to admire before I was held against his heated skin. "I always have everything under control."
Like two teens scared they'll be caught out, we dress and straighten the room as best we can. I push the broken glass from the lightbulb to one side, relieved the picture frame glass didn't shatter.
Xander stands on a chair, rehanging the watercolour painting of local scenery, and I'm picking the hotel phone from the floor when the door swings open. Joss stands, key card between his teeth, paper bag with a fast-food logo printed in one hand, and a six-pack of beers under his arm.
He pulls his head back, and his brow tugs down as he scans the room; I watch for his reaction. He places the bag on the hotel dresser and drops the key card beside it.
"What the fuck happened here?" Joss frowns down at the broken ornament close to the window. "Bloody hell, Vee, have you been throwing things at him?"
"Only herself," Xander says under his breath.
"What?" asks Joss. "I didn't hear you."
"Nah. I got annoyed. Lost control a bit." He steps down from the bed and looks at me. "Didn't I, Vee?"
Joss leans down to drop the beers from under his arm onto the surface next to the food. His mouth tugs up at one corner, and he gives a slight shake of the head.
"You two forget I'm an empath, and your energy’s screaming at me exactly what happened here." He points at Xander. "Besides, dude, you haven't buttoned your jeans."
Oh, shit.
VEE
The situation isn’t commented on again. I’d braced myself for Joss teasing, but he pushes away his amusement as we eat and also avoid discussing the day. If we get into conversations around events with Seth and Casey, things could spiral back into conflict, and I’m too tired for that.
I strip down to my shirt before climbing between the starched hotel sheets to sleep alone. Joss doesn't mention joining me, presumably due to the Xander situation, and Xander lies on the sofa covered by a hotel blanket watching TV and drinking beer. Hurt twinged that he’s decided not to sleep with me, but his intense privacy wouldn't allow him to with Joss around, I'm sure.
I stir when I hear Xander leave the room, and when he returns. Knowing him, I’d bet he drove the half hour to sit outside Seth and Casey's base in case they left.
A belt jangles and clothes rustle, waking me further thanks to my overactive imagination.
“Vee?” I turn over on the bed and look up. Xander in just a T-shirt and briefs. Oh god.
Without replying, I pull the covers to one side and he climbs in next to me. “Where did you go?” I whisper.
“Nowhere interesting.”
I shift against him, and he encircles me in his arms as we lie sideways, my back against his front. I curl fingers around his arm and he holds me tighter. In moments, his breathing shallows.
As ever, there’s a hell of a lot happened today I’d never predict, and the day’s ended with the strangest. Xander cuddling me while he sleeps.
22
VEE
Following a greasy breakfast at the motorway cafe, enjoyed by the boys and not so much by me, we head back to the old hall where Seth and Casey agreed to wait for us. Seth assured me he’d wait, aware now the Horsemen know who he is that disappearing isn’t a permanent option. Where do things go from here? I’m caught in the middle and pray the two sides can form an alliance. I explained to Xander they’ve concrete information on the creatures who attacked us, and he agrees to listen.
"Should I call them first?" I ask Xander as we follow the motorway back to the town.
"No. I’m not warning them we're coming."
"Xander, if they were going to bugger off, they would've done that last night," Joss reminds him.
“I’m sure they’re sensible enough to hang around,” he replies gruffly.
Nerves grow as the grey day speeds past the car window, and my cheeks heat at memories from sex with Xander. This morning, I have a vague memory of a kiss from Xander before he climbed from the bed, and when I woke properly he was dressed and holding a conversation with his brother on the phone. Did Joss see us share a bed? Xander’s switch back to focusing on the matter in hand isn’t a surprise.
Heath and Ewan are still at the guys—our—place and have nothing to report; at least something’s calm. I’m eager to return and regroup because I face new challenges when the day’s hardly started.
We drive through the quiet town to the outskirts where the hall’s located. On this sleepy Sunday morning sensible people stay in bed, especially in this weather. I step out of the car, grumbling as rain splotches onto my head, and take quick steps towards the door. I knock and the guys hang back. No response. Xander approaches to knock louder.
"Wait before you make one of your stunning entrances this time," I suggest.
Xander pulls a face, but he's calmer today. How much tension did he unleash last night? The others said, in the past, he’s the one who hooks up with girls the most regularly. Now I know why.
He knocks too. No answer.
Xander's tension ticks up as he straightens, jaw stiffening. "I fucking knew it!"
I wrap my fingers around his. "Calm down."
Joss steps forwards and interrupts. “Can you smell that?” He moves his face closer to the door and inhales. “Something’s burning. I thought it was winter bonfires but—”
"Fuck this." Xander yanks on the handle as he shoves open the door, the locks no match for his strength.
I follow Xander through and straight into chaos.
This looks nothing like the place I walked into yesterday.
The computers are missing and the filing cabinet is pushed onto the floor, drawers open, broken and empty. Black scorch marks cover the walls, and the burnt-paper smell pervades the room. In a nearby wastepaper bin, blackened manila folders and papers are piled and charred, the flames dying down as the fire runs short on fuel.
“Holy shit!” calls Joss. “The whole place could’ve burnt down.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” replies Xander.
There's no gasoline smell, just the stench from the paper. If somebody had wanted to destroy the hall and everything in it, they could’ve fuelled this fire better.
But they didn’t.
If we’d arrived later, the whole hall could’ve been ablaze, but this destruction is recent.
An all too familiar sight glares at me from the opposite wall. Red letters. I approach and heave relief when I see they’re spray-painted and not blood:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre.
The photographs taped to the wall underneath switch off that relief.
Witnessing a body butchered outside the house sickened me, but the corpse’s inhuman look placed a distance between the horror and reality. Xander pulls a Polaroid image from the wall. A girl’s face, eyes open in terror, blood pooled around her head. Casey. This photo unleashes something nothing else has managed since this whole nightmare started.
I push past Joss and stumble into the rain, unable to run far on my shaking legs before the greasy breakfast pushes upwards. I grab onto the tree trunk beside Joss’s car and, as the rain flows onto me, I vomit.
Sinking onto the ground, I hug my knees to my chest and bury my face into the material as rain flattens my hair and mingles with tears.
I can't do this anymore.
TO BE CONTINUED
The following books complete the Four Horsemen series and are available now.
Guardians
Chaos
Descent
Reckoning
They are also available as a box set here:
The Four Horsemen Box Set books 4-7
If you want to keep up to date with all things The Four Horsemen, including early sneak peeks and cover reveals, giveaways and more please join my Facebook group here.
I love to chat to readers so if you have any questions or comments you can contact me at [email protected]
OTHER BOOKS BY LJ SWALLOW
The Four Horsemen Series
Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy
(COMPLETE series available now)
Legacy
Bound
Hunted
Guardians
Chaos
Descent
Reckoning
Companion books
Sinister and Tricked (Halloween Special)
Bright (The Christmas after Reckoning)
Nightworld Academy
YA Reverse Harem Paranormal series
Term One
Term Two
Term Three
Terms 4 and 5 releasing soon
The Demon’s Covenant Series
Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy
Held by Magic
Elements of Magic
Coming Soon
Shades of Magic
Daughter of Shadow series
Reverse Harem Fantasy romance
Dragon Soul
Silvercrest Guardians
The Fringe Realms: Mage
A reverse harem LitRPG
Mage
Academy of Gods
Reverse Harem Fantasy
Written with Angel Lawson
Huntress
www.ljswallow.com
LJ Swallow is the pen name for USA Today bestselling author Lisa Swallow… if you like contemporary romance then read on!
Contemporary Romance Books by Lisa Swallow
Like contemporary romance? I write those too!
What would you prefer to read?
British rock star romance?
Try broody Dylan…
Summer Sky
Or bad boy Jax…
Cadence
College romance at an English university?
Because of Lucy
Hollywood romance?
Unscripted
A gamer romance?
End Game
And More….
amazon.com/author/lisaswallow
About the Author
LJ Swallow is a USA Today bestselling paranormal romance and urban fantasy author who is the alter-ego of bestselling contemporary romance author Lisa Swallow.
Giving in to her dark side, LJ spends time creating worlds filled with supernatural creatures who don’t fit the norm, and heroines who are more likely to kick ass than sit on theirs.
For more information:
ljswallow.com
[email protected]