This is something I can work with.
Using my magic, I blow wind out of my lips along with a few flecks of snow that catch on the strangely shaped apparatus. It moves toward theYESat the top, and I inch it farther withanother gust. Her fingers shake atop the plastic and her body shudders. “Why are you here?”
I sweep my breeze to shift the triangle across the board, spelling out—
YOU
Her hands lift, body stilling.Crap.My brows furrow as I continue to move the plastic device around the board, sensing her fear.
YOU ARE SAFE
She exhales loudly, a puff of white floating from between her mauve lips. I can’t help but imagine them against mine. “Wh-who are you?”
A howl comes from outside, and both our heads snap to the window. Jolie pops out of her chair and rushes over to it. I scoot out of the way, watching her intently. Does she think it’s me?
I can’t tell if she’s more scared or curious. Curiosity I can work with. Fear won’t do. I’ve observed enough seasons to know that far too many people rely on fear to get what they want. I never will. Not when it comes to my mate. But you better believe if herprincecomes back here, I won’t hesitate to scare him off. Even the thought of it has me giddy. There’s only so much torture a harbinger can take.
“Maybe it’s the wind,” Jolie mutters, as if reassuring herself. Her gaze cuts back to the board where the circle encases the letterJ. “This is crazy.”
I quickly swipe the triangle across the board toNO. Once she sits down again and I know I have her attention, I carry it overeach letter to answer her question. She says each one aloud, her brows scrunched together.
“J – A – X.”
I halt my movements and wait.
Just say it. Please. I’m fucking begging.
“Jax?”
Frost blasts from my lips, and the Ouija board flies across the room, cracking in half against the wall.
“Oh my god!” she said, cowering.
I swirl some snowflakes in the air, hoping it’ll ease her mind. Her gaze darts around, following them, and she bites her bottom lip.
Shit.I couldn’t help myself, though. While my full name is Jaxon, the idea of her calling me Jax, like I’m something close to her,someoneclose to her, does something to me. Her pulse flutters within my rib cage, and it gets me all the more excited at the prospect that she could believe in me.
See me.
Wantme.
I sigh in relief when her shoulders relax. Her pulse slows. Taking a pen in her hand, she writes my name in big letters across the next page of her journal.
My heart twists in my chest. The sensation is painful and equally glorious. It’s everything. Every-fucking-thing. If only she could see me.
I imagine floating with her on the breeze, dancing with her. Claiming her. Then the only invisible forces between us would be the bond and our love. Not this veil hiding me in plain sight. I’d take her into my arms and love her beyond this world, beyond time, beyond a fickle fate that keeps her away from me.
There has to be a way. There just has to. Maybe they’ll make an exception for us since my mate is mortal? I haven’t goneback since winter started. We aren’t really supposed to…but I’m desperate. Anything has to be better than this agony.
My fingers brush the skin on the back of her hand, and she drops the pen, eyes following the white flecks drifting toward her windowpane. With another breath, I cover the glass, scrawling my name with snow.
She stands from the chair and slowly approaches my message. Her delicate fingers trail the frost, and every stroke of them against my magic is as if she were touching me directly. My body hums under the attention, and I will my excitement to get ahold of itself. She knows my name. That I’m here for her and she’s safe. I’m so close to reaching her.
Her eyes dare a glance at the cracked board and her face falls.
No.
Retreating quickly from the window, she fumbles behind herself, grabbing her phone and bringing it to her ear. I move in front of her, waiting for her to see me. To acknowledge me. To find me.
