“Only a few more days until the curse is over, and its power over us is fading. I came to warn you. Some of the others are plotting to hurt you and your friends. They think Jude is going to go back on his word with us because he has you now.” He reached out to gently caress my cheek, and I smacked his hand away. He smiled from the sensation of my touch. An eerie awareness slid down my spine, but I bit back the disgust riled in my belly.
“Thanks for the update. Any way I could get you to tell me who exactly is after me and my friends?” Despite the gossip and how the crew fought with each other, they were very tight-knit group, more like a family.
“I can’t but I just want you to watch out. Jude really cares for you, and I’d hate to see anything come between that.” His voice switched into a different accent with ease.
“Thanks.” This whole discussion made me wary.
“For what it’s worth, I hope he gets what he wants with you. Maybe you guys will get married soon. At least one of us will get the girl.” He winked, while his hand lifted and a single finger pointed toward my nose and tapped it lightly. He disappeared like . . . well . . . a ghost.
By the time Jude arrived, I hadn’t moved. “Hey, Selene, you left your door open—” If he was going to say anything else, the words were lost as soon as he saw me trembling.
“I sense death here. What happened?” Jude’s armed surrounded me, and I crumpled against him.
Chapter Twenty- Eight
Jude
I understood Rudy’s wild actions, but he shouldn’t have done them. He should have fucking talked to me. As soon as Selene collapsed in my arms, I carried her to the couch where she sobbed and told me what happened between them.
Some of the performers were plotting against her and the Hero Society? I’d have some big words to say about that when I got back to the mansion. I’d bind their asses to the floor with my power until the curse took us all. I didn’t give a fuck. One threat against my woman’s life was one too many.
He scared her when he grabbed her, and even though she deals with dead people daily with her gift, they’ve never come into her house or touched her.
My fists throbbed with the need to smash something, to bang on my chest, and protect my Selene from any threat.
Every thought in my head told me to race back to the mansion and do something, but I couldn’t leave Selene like this. We needed to live in this moment, to feel the love we shared with every breath we shared.
I knew she loved me. I may be shit with the emotions of the living but I could decipher love when I saw it. My mother loved my father so much it destroyed her, but in death they still had each other. They had looked at one another like they were the only light in their dark lives. Madam Tully looks at me with a different kind of love, the type a mother would give to her son. Since my parents were so absorbed in themselves most of the time, Madam Tully was more of a parent than they ever were to me.
My heart thumped harder. Selene had no idea how open she was to those around her. It was like gazing into her bright soul with every glance I could steal. “Let’s go lay down.” I stood with her cradled in my arms and walked us to her cozy bed. It wasn’t as big as mine or as elegantly decorated, but I loved it anyway. I loved her home, and how warm it felt. My mansion was cold and dead like the inhabitants floating around in it.
“Will you stay with me?” She’d stopped crying a few minutes ago, upset at herself for displaying her emotions.
“Of course.” I kicked off my shoes and laid down in the bed with her still in my embrace. She didn’t need to apologize for her emotions. They weren’t going to chase me away. It was a healthy response to what had happened. Her head rested against my chest as we snuggled on top of the blue comforter, my fingers moving up the side of her body to gently massage her scalp.
“I’m afraid,” she whispered, so quietly her voice almost blended with the chilling wind outside the window.
“You don’t need to be afraid of Rudy or any of the performers. I’ll take care of—“
“I’m not afraid of your crew or Rudy. I mean it wasn’t fun what Rudy did but if the curse is fading, then I could probably deport all their asses to hell if I wanted to. My body screams for me to do my job around them. So it wouldn’t bother me. I’m afraid to lose you.”
A lump settled in my throat, blocking the words to ease her worrying mind. I couldn’t truly promise anything. Time wasn’t on our side, and this pain of her kiss trembling against my cheek made everything worse. I had feared this moment all of my life.
“It’s not over yet,” I murmured, as I shifted my body to kiss her. We didn’t have much time, and even though I hated that I’d be leaving Selene behind with a broken heart, I wouldn’t give up these last few days living with her as mine, loving her.
“I love you, Jude.” She breathed those precious words against my lips and my heart swelled so much it hurt in my chest.
“It’s OK if you don’t love me, and I know it seems crazy because it’s so soon, but I’ve always known that tomorrow isn’t promised for anyone. I refuse to live in regret because I didn’t tell you how I felt.”
My brave Selene. She didn’t know the effects she had on me. I’d been ready to die months ago, wishing I could speed up the curse’s deadline and get it over with. Now, she made me want to live, not just exist. She gave me courage, and with her I had something I never thought I needed.
“I love you, Selene. You are my heaven in a life of hell.”
“We’ll figure it out. Then on November first, we’ll do something crazy to celebrate.” She smiled and sealed her lips against mine again and again.
Slowly, almost painfully slow, our clothes began to disappear. Teeth and tongues clashed, then explored the bare flesh of one another. I’d never made love before. My thoughts of making love always drifted toward how stupid it seemed. Sex was sex. Only when you did it with someone you truly cared for, it was something entirely different. I worshipped Selene with my body, giving her all my strength, my power, and my heart. Moans of never letting go became our soundtrack, and I’d forever keep the blissful sound on repeat.
The scent of our sweat and sex coated the air, mingling with our panting breaths after release barreled into both of us. Moments later, Selene wiggled against my side, then fell asleep with a smile on her face. I watched her chest heave with life of every breath in her lungs. The pink tinge of her heated skin would forever be burned into my memory, for however long I had it.
