I laugh, and for the first time in a while, I let myself relax, thinking about my own woman and the fact that she always forgives me despite my asshole ways. “That they do.”
We head back to the study where the group is sitting around a large coffee table, spread out on the gigantic sectional that takes up most of the room. A desk is along the far wall, and there’s an unlit fireplace at the opposite end, banked by a few comfortable-looking arm chairs.
“We have questions,” Thad says, holding up a stack of paperbacks and pointing to the back cover of one of the books. “What is RH?”
“Reverse harem,” Nate responds, setting the tray onto the table. “Some call it Why choose. RHomance. One woman. Multiple men. You all might find them enlightening.”
Levi holds up his own stack. “Hidden Hope by Elizabeth Knight. Luna by Letty Frame. Hidden in Darkness by Ali D. Jensen. The Heir by Ivy Clyde. Shadows and Shade by Amanda Cashure.”
“Rival by A.J. Macey. Oh...this one sounds interesting. Haunts and Hotels by Jarica James. Atlantis in Time by J. Grace. The Magic of Discovery by Britt Andrews.” Thad shuffles through even more books as he asks, “You mean to tell me you’ve read all of these?”
“Yup. Read them all and discussed them at length. I’m part of the neighborhood book club. This one is a new one that we just started reading,” he says, reaching over and grabbing a book off the table next to him.
“This one isn’t RH, but it’s still damn good. Empyrean Born by M.K. Hall.”
“Who are you?” Levi asks, setting the stack of books down.
“I’m assuming that’s a rhetorical question. Books never hurt anyone, and reading romance doesn’t make me any less of a man. In fact, it offers me insight into the female psyche.”
“Bro, maybe he’s been body snatched. That’s the only explanation.” Thad snickers.
“Who all is in this book club?” Fate asks with a smirk. “Do you take turns hosting? Maybe you bring a charcuterie plate to pass around?”
Nate raises his eyebrow. “You’re enjoying this far too much.”
“Mmmm...maybe. Just hard to picture Death sitting in a living room with a bunch of gossipy women, casually discussing orgies, sex toys, and fellatio over tea and snacks.”
“And how do you know what’s inside those books?”
“Puh-lease. First thing I did when Mack got me my cell phone was download the book app so I could buy my own. A ghost girl can never have too much inspiration, you see.”
Nate laughs as he reaches for the carafe of coffee, pouring Fate a cup and adding cream and sugar. Exactly how she likes it.
“Thank you,” Fate says as he hands it to her.
“Anything for you, babe,” he says, grabbing a donut for himself and sitting at the end of the sofa next to her. The guys all tense up, shoulders straightening and eyes narrowing at his familiarity with our girl. “Damn, it’s good to see you! You have to tell me what little you know about what happened all those years ago, but first, Reggie must have sent you here for a reason, and I’m fairly sure catching up wasn’t it.”
Fate sighs, and the sound adds another crack in what little bit of a heart I have left. I want to take on some of the burden of that guilt she’s carrying and let her know that despite my actions, she’s the most capable woman I know. If I could just get my alpha senses to stop tingling every damn time there’s a perceived risk, maybe I could keep my mouth shut.
“We have a teensy weensy problem we need your help with.”
“By teensy weensy, she means catastrophically huge,” Thad mutters, earning a glare from Fate. “What? Be honest with the man. Or spirit. Or...being. Whatever the fuck he is.”
“Hmph!” Turning back to Nate, she straightens her shoulders and looks him in the eye. “Something is happening with the guys’ powers. They’re...malfunctioning.”
“Malfunctioning, how?”
“Knox is unintentionally projecting emotions. Cole is reading thoughts that simply aren’t there. I’m having trouble telling truths from lies,” Mack replies.
“Levi has turned into a disco ball, and Thad’s shadow schlong is misbehaving,” Knox adds.
An image of the shadow schlong doing nasty things to Death suddenly assaults my brain. I’m never going to be able to unsee that, Knox. Fucking hell. That’s not possible unless he has zero gag reflex.
At that last one, Nate’s eyebrows raise. I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen the damn thing for myself. Fucking jackasses.
“When did this all start?”
“Do you remember Nick?” Fate asks softly.
“Slimy rich boy with an attitude problem?”
“Yup, that’s him,” Thad mutters, a glass of lemonade in one hand and a donut in the other.
She relays what happened at the club, and Nate’s eyes go black, a heaviness descending on the room.
“Let me see your marks,” he demands as he shifts, sliding his leg up onto the sofa so he’s facing Fate.
Shit, I burned the popcorn!
This time I do snort, and all eyes focus on me. I clear my throat. “Sorry. Ignore me.”
With one last glance, like she’s checking to make sure I’m not losing my fucking mind, she removes the leather jacket she’s wearing and turns so he has a better view of her bicep. He growls as his fingers skim over the marks that still look like they’re dripping down her arm, even more so now than they did earlier. All of us shift closer to Fate, not sure what’s going on.
“He used the Vinculum potion. Something that I haven’t seen in centuries. It was originally used to help souls that were trapped in a location for various reasons. It gradually weakens the bond tying a spirit to one specific place until the spirit is eventually freed. That was long before you came along. How he would’ve gotten his hand on it is highly concerning.”
“Wait. You said it gradually weakens the bond. Does that mean that it’s going to continue to slowly disintegrate each of our bonds with Fate? Meaning our powers will get worse? What will happen if it destroys them completely?”
Nate regards Macklin then scans the rest of us. Taking a deep breath, he says, “If the bond is weakened fully, your souls will move on to the afterlife.”
The room is silent as we all process his words. Everyone is holding their breath as they realize the seriousness of the situation. If they feel anything like I do right now, fear is ratcheting up, threatening to spill over.
With the high level of emotion in the room, random thoughts begin trickling in, most ridiculous, some utterly inconceivable.
The cat is out of the bag.
Not the gumdrop buttons!
We need pizza!
Oh damn! I think I sharted!
Popsicle sticks!
Give me peanut butter!
Dishonor on your cow!
I bring my hands up to bracket my head, my palms resting on my temples to try to stave off the headache that is inevitable at this point. Is this what Knox feels like all the time?
“How long do we have?” Knox asks gravely while subconsciously rubbing the mark on his wrist.
“It’s hard to say. Your bonds are strong, so it could be days, maybe a week before the problem becomes irreversible.”