I sighed. “Oberi’s acting like a child.”
“We’ll keep an eye on him,” Marcus promised.
Oberi wasn’t going to listen to us. The best thing we could do right now was give him some space. Ancestors, it reallywaslike having a child.
Kallie and Marcus followed Oberi. Ava took my hand and led me down a separate hallway. She walked at a brisk pace, though I didn’t know where we were going. Her hand shook in mine, and she gripped my fingers tighter than normal.
“It’s going to be okay, pidge,” I told her, squeezing her hand. “We got lucky.”
“Yeah,this time.” Ava stopped abruptly before she dragged me into a nearby classroom. We couldn’t talk about this stuff in the open.
The door clicked shut behind us. She sighed heavily once we were in private. “Shit. What if Oberi’s lives are numbered? Legend says cats get nine lives, but I’ve never heard of one that cameback. Maybe it’s a story about mutabeecha. But we know nothing about them! If he’s not going to take this seriously, he might push it too far. I mean, what’s he going to do now that heknowshe can come back? Ancestors, if it was me, I’d be delusional. I’d think it made me indestructible. Oberi’s my Familiar. He has some of that in him. To think of what he’ll do—”
I grabbed Ava’s shoulders. “He’ll come around. He’s probably just embarrassed about the whole thing. That’s why he’s being such a jerk.”
I didn’t know where the suggestion came from. I might’ve picked up on Oberi’s feelings, or I could’ve been making it up to soothe Ava.
Either way, it worked. Ava’s shoulders fell, and she sighed. “You’re right. Were we too hard on him?”
“No,” I said immediately. “He fuckingdied. We have the right to be upset about that.”
She stiffened. “I just… I can’t stand the thought of losing either of you. And we almost—”
Ava choked up, and I wrapped her in my arms. “We didn’t, though. Everyone’s here. We’re all okay.”
Ava scoffed. “Yeah. For now.”
I didn’t like the way she said that.
“Charlie… what are we going to do if one of us dies?” Ava asked.
My guts sank. She was so blunt about it, and it sent daggers straight into my heart. “No one’s going to die, pidge.”
“Oberi did, though!” she cried. “We never know when our time might be. We need to be prepared if one of us is left alone with Oberi. We’ll have to keep going, for his sake. Our lives are dangerous. I can accept my death, but I have to know that you two would be okay without me.”
“Stop it, pidge,” I growled. Just the thought of living without her, burying her before it was my time…
Ancestors. I couldn’t even go there. I absolutely refused to. There was no greater fear I had.
“You’re right. Our livesaredangerous. But that doesn’t mean we have to be separated. If one of us dies, so do the rest of us. We’ll all go together.”
“But we didn’t die when Oberi did,” she argued. “That could mean—”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” I repeated sternly.
Ava had to believe me, because I wasn’t willing to entertain any alternative. Ava would live just as long as I would, and we’d die together. That was it. Denial was the only safe option. To think anything else… it took me to a place I didn’t want to go, turned me into someone I didn’t dare to become.
I placed a kiss on the top of her head to distract her, and she melted into me. “We’re safe right now. Oberi is safe. I may not know what’s going to happen in the future, but I know that in this present moment, we’re okay. Don’t ask me to prepare to lose you, because I could never be prepared for something like that. If something like thatwereto happen, we’d deal with it. Right now, let’s just celebrate the fact that Oberi survived.”
Ava sagged against me. She must’ve noticed how this conversation weighed on me, because she spoke softly. “I’m glad Oberi lived. And you’re right. That’s something to celebrate.”
I lifted her chin and pressed my lips to hers. Ancestors, she felt so good against me. It was torturous to think of living life without her, and all I wanted to do was savor this moment with her.
My dick hardened as she deepened the kiss. Ava and I had been fooling around as often as we could since we got married, and I still couldn’t seem to get enough of her. My hands tangled in her hair, and my head spun as desire overtook my body. Warmth swelled through the bond as Ava’s Fire rose to the surface. Without thinking about it, I cupped her ass and pressed my hips into her.
“Ooh,” she sang as she drew away from me. “Is my husband trying to seduce me?”
“What would you say if I was?” I teased.
