“I second this,” Mike added.
“Agreed,” Marie said.
Rachel rolled her shoulders and glared at me.Sorry, but we both know this is the only way.“I accept.”
“Let us know if you need anything,” I said.
“Wait, the meeting isn’t over.” She looked scared, but leaning on me wouldn’t help her.
“For me it is. I have no place at the table.” I pressed the end-call button. Hudson’s arm came around my shoulders, and he tilted my chin up and skimmed his lips with mine.
“You did good, mate.”
“I did what was necessary. No more, no less.”
Hudson kissed my forehead, warm and solid. “You could have taken it,” he said.
“I know.”
That was the part that mattered. I hadn’t refused because I was afraid—I’d refused because some power should never feel comfortable in your hands.
As we sat there, the world quietly rearranging itself without me at the center, I wondered how long it would be before something came along that refused to take no for an answer.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Gods seek worship. Monsters seek survival. Only mortals are asked to choose.
Shadows danced across the ceiling as the moon arced into the sky. Sleep eluded me as an awareness of something unknown buzzed in my veins. I hadn’t voiced it because I didn’t understand it. Not yet. I picked up Hudson’s arm and shiftedit so I could slide out of bed. He grumbled something about ribbons. My lips twitched. The wedding was getting under his skin. Good. I refused to suffer alone.
I left the bedroom door ajar and padded to the kitchen to raid the cupboards. My hand clasped the cookie jar, and I shook it. Bingo. Lemon, yum.
Taking my cookie with me, I slid open the French doors to step onto the balcony. I found myself here night after night, staring at the point my grandmother had last stood. The darkness was quiet, and I breathed in a peaceful breath of the fresh air, allowing the calm to settle over me. No violence hid in the shadows. No one was waiting for me to deliver judgment and justice. I was once more Cora Roberts, supernatural bed-and-breakfast owner, doctor to the factions, and mate to the Principal. This is what I had wished for—the peace and quiet of a Louisiana night. The world wasn’t ending, and I wasn’t being called into secret meetings or being recruited for clandestine organizations.
Those still existed; I was just taking a well-earned break to catch my breath. I’d made the choice, the one that fate had delivered to my door. I had fulfilled my role, and now my life should be free.
Should be.
My spine arched, and my wings unfurled. They no longer split my flesh, because I had accepted all that I was. They didn’t fight me.
“Didn’t lose me, though,”Indigo purred.
No, I hadn’t. I didn’t know whether I should be concerned or happy that my alter ego still plagued my mind.
“Plagued? Don’t be rude.”
I snorted as I polished off the cookie. Indigo was my confidante, my balance checker.
My silk camisole and sleep shorts offered little protection against the cool breeze, but I welcomed the kiss of that which connected me to the elements.
The scorched lawn where my grandmother last stood twitched. I frowned and leaned over the metal railing. What was that?
I launched myself off the balcony, coming to settle with grace on the lawn. My bare feet whispered on the dewy lawn as I approached it.
White lilies curled from the blackened area, spiraling into the air. The deep magic, which had rewritten the fabric of my being, answered the call.
“I have no energy for god games tonight,” I said.
Donn emerged, shadows first, death second. The night wrapped around him like a cloak. No matter how much time I spent staring at the god of death, the sight of him still whispered awe in my soul. You couldn’t be so close to the divine and not be moved by it.
