“Of course. I’ll—”
“I need to talk to you.”
The shrill sound came from behind Eclipse, the voice drawing every conversation in the room to a halt. When Eclipse turned, Reidar noticed Winnie standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, eyes narrowed on him.
Perfect. Just what he didn’t need right now.
“I need a minute,” he told her.
“No. Now.”
Luckily Eclipse appeared understanding, because he offered Reidar’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze before he vanished.
As he stared at his female, Reidar wished he could do the same. The past few days had been … well, they’d been hell, if he was being honest. Had it not been his night off, Reidar would’ve been out with the others, tracking down these damn shadow beasts. As much as he didn’t look forward to tangling with them again, it sure as shit beat the alternative, which these days was arguing with Winnie.
“Søren, can you cover for me? I’ll be back in a few.”
Stygian’slieterranodded, the sympathy in his eyes something Reidar was getting used to seeing. Seemed everyone in the mansion had caught on to the nonstop bickering that was going on. No matter how much Reidar tried to placate Winnie, she found something else to bitch about.
“Let’s go upstairs,” he urged Winnie, directing her back into the hallway.
They strolled up the stairs, through the kitchen, an icy chill coming off Winnie as they passed Penelope, Acadia, and Orianna. The three females were sitting at the island, Penelope and Acadia ensuring Orianna downed every last bite of the turkey sandwich in front of her.
Although Penelope offered her best friend a quick wave, Winnie ignored it, marching forward as though no one else was in the mansion.
Reidar gave Penelope an apologetic nod, following Winnie. God forbid he stop to chat with someone. He’d done that yesterday, and Winnie had launched into a tirade about how everyone else was more important than she was.
Truth was, Reidar had no idea what was going on with her or why she was so hell-bent on going back to California, but it was a rant that was becoming all too familiar.
When they finally reached his room on the second floor, Winnie slammed through the door, her anger palpable.
Reidar closed the door, the softclicksounding overly loud in the room.
As though that was the trigger, Winnie spun around, hands going to her hips. “When are we leaving?”
“I’m sorry. What?”
“Back to California, Reidar. Don’t play dumb with me.”
“Who’s playing, Winnie?” he snapped. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She huffed, hands flying. “I told you, I want to go home. You said you’d go with me.”
“No,” he drawled slowly, then shook his head. “That’s not what I said.”
Reidar didn’t want to accept the fact that Winnie wasn’t hisamsouelot, but it wasn’t the first time he’d thought as much. Long before today. He hated to think he’d jumped the gun, ultimately altering Winnie’s life indefinitely, but he was slowly coming to terms with it. Key word beingslowly. And for whatever reason, Winnie thought he was simply blowing her off.
That so wasn’t the case.
“It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Reidar said on a long exhale. “Winnie, we can’t simply go to California.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You keep saying that! But you won’t tell me what that means.”
It meant they’d be starting over. As in their lives. For one, Reidar would be renderedfallen, sent into the human world to live out his mortal life. If he hadn’t had doubts about them, he would’ve been content to commit to Winnie for another fifty or sixty years. A few weeks ago … sure, he would’ve simply walked away from this world and followed her anywhere.
But as difficult as it was to admit, Reidar didn’t think he was the male Winnie was meant to spend her eternity with.
“Can you tell me why you want to go so badly?” he asked, giving the female his full attention.
