Jon chuckled—dimples flashing, the strong planes of his face softened. “Do you need me to remind you?” He lifted a hand in gentle invitation. I took my time in perching lightly on his first two fingers, my wings allowed a brief respite from the long flight as I sat with my knees bent. “How I’ve never met anyone like you. How you’ve disarmed me in every way possible—and continue to do so every damn day.”
I couldn’t possibly blame the cold on the heat flushing my cheeks. No, that was all from how Jon looked at me like I waseverything, even with all the differences between us.
“Mi vida,” I said, my voice soft.
I knew what it meant now and took great joy in watching the effect it had on him. There was nothing more terrifying than offering your raw heart to another, unguarded—yet nothing more exhilarating than when they protected your offering with equal tenderness.
“Mi vida,” Jon echoed back to me.
My life.
His phone chimed, a cold noise that made me flinch a little. I drew back into a hover so Jon could dig his cell from his pocket. He glanced at the screen, and I swore excitement flickered over his face, but he buried it masterfully.
“Come on,” he said. “Cliff’s asking where we are.”
Buoyed by Jon’s promise, I flew off.
His steps quickened to match my pace “I could get used to a view like this.” There was something achingly sincere in his tone—a gentle vow underscored his every promise of waiting for me. “Maybe we can find a spot in the area to start making a place for ourselves.” His voice dropped as though the trees might overhear. “Like the one we’ve been imagining.”
I chewed my lip, thinking of our last venture to the spectral realm—the new things he had created and what he haddoneto me. Jon had grown particularly skilled at wielding a unique power over our private world. He no longer shied away from tracing glowing runes over my body or stirring the sky around us at his bidding, as though he had to prove to every single star that watched above that I wasclaimed.
More often lately, he would conjure a beautiful image for us both. A home he promised he would build for us in the real world someday. A place for us to finally have peace—together.
Our stolen time there was always so real in the moment yet dreamlike in the waking world. I tried to picture such a future—reallypicture it—and I couldn’t help but smirk at him. “You’ll be stir-crazy without a fight.”
“Maybe we could find a new rhythm with hunting,” Jon insisted, shrugging. “We don’t have to constantly be on the road to find monsters stirring up trouble. Look at the harpy, for instance. Maybe it’s possible to make a life and save others at the same time.”
The crunch of snow beneath his boots came to a halt. He regarded me with odd reverence, like he still couldn’t quite believe that I wasreal.
“You alright?” I asked, worried his nose might bleed again.
“It’s…you,” he said wryly. “Whatever our future looks like, I want it to be with you. You’re giving me this seed of hope.”
“Should I apologize for that?”
He snorted. “Hope’s a very dangerous commodity in this line of work.”
“Well, I think it’s beautiful.” I shivered as another breeze bit down on me. “The cabin’s just over this ridge, isn’t it? Once we’re warm inside, how about I set up the rune, and we refine the details of this home you’re going to make us?”
He shot me a suggestive glance—one that made my pulse race with the unspoken assurances that he wanted to do far more thanthat. But with some measure of discipline, Jon tethered back his desire with a small shake of his head.
“Not just yet.”
As he strode past me, I frowned after him.
“Why so ominous?” I called.
He gave no reply, leaving me no choice but to fly faster to catch up with him.
Before long, the narrow road that wound up the mountainside came into view, and I found that Jon had missed the turn in the path that should have led us to the cabin we were "borrowing".
This area of Colorado was so remote that passing cars were few and far between, but the Challenger’s sleek form was idling on the roadside. Exhaust curled like a plume of fog in the cold. The driver’s side of our new car was occupied. Even from a distance, I knew Cliff’s silhouette, but he made no move to exit the car. He gave a slight tilt of his head when he caught sight of Jon—obviously having been waiting for us.
“What are you up to?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at Jon.
His inscrutable expression wouldn’t budge, but the warmth in his voice betrayed him. “We want to show you something.” He held out his hands, finally breaking into a smile. “Close your eyes.”
I worked my jaw as my ears popped in protest against the climbing elevation. Hearing snow lightly batter the windows, I was all the more confused about where the boys were taking me.
