Page 51 of The Cursed Sebastian Storm

“Hope his house is still there.” Hazel stood and grabbed a mug from under the sink next to the coffee station.

James was already talking into his cell. He hung up after a few quick words. “Parker’s house is fine. He’s at work, and Eli is heading over here now.” James’s stomach growled audibly. “Sorry, skipped breakfast.”

Hazel raised an eyebrow. “Too freaked out to eat?”

“Uh…” James hesitated, a faint blush staining his cheeks.

“Why don’t I go make you something?” Sebastian hopped off the desk. “Want some eggs? I’ll just run home.”

James’s stoic expression melted. “That’d be wonderful, sweetheart.”

Sebastian’s heart thudded. He blushed in what had to be a much more obvious display than James’s subtle coloring. His cheeks were on fire. Hearing James call him sweetheart in front of someone else was another claiming. He had to tear his eyes away from James’s soft expression before he combusted. “You want anything, Hazel?”

“No, thanks.” She raised her coffee mug. “This is all I need after the morning I’ve had.”

Sebastian hurried across the street. He wished he could ignore the unnaturally dark sky. He wanted to bask in James’s affection without distractions. It was a good thing that dealing with insurmountable magical problems was what he and James spent a lot of their time doing together. At least they were used to it.

He made scrambled eggs and pan-fried some of his fresh bread. He didn’t have a toaster and might not bother buying one. He preferred the crispiness that a dash of olive oil in the pan provided.

With silverware tucked in the pocket of James’s leather jacket, Sebastian headed back across the street carrying two plates. James beamed at the sight of Sebastian and the food. He swapped Sebastian a plate for a mug of coffee, and they ate at James’s desk, Sebastian perched on the edge next to James’s chair, his plate in his lap.

“Mm. This is amazing.” James hummed as he chewed a large bite of eggs and bread.

“Glad you like it.” Sebastian preened. He loved feeding James. It brought together all his favorite things.

“Ugh. You guys are so fucking cute.” Hazel rolled her eyes, half her face hidden by her mug, but Sebastian could have sworn a smile lurked there.

James blushed but did nothing other than continue to eat like it was the best meal ever. Well, maybe not the best meal. Sebastian’s ass had already claimed that title.

Sebastian squirmed. James content and eating his food after Sebastian had satisfied him with his body made Sebastian feel like he was bubbling over. Without his doubts weighing him down, he was just so happy. It should have scared him. Good things always did. But not this time. James would never take this away from him.

Eli arrived as James rinsed the plates in the sink. Eli hadn’t heard more than they had about the strange darkness. Parker was working the breakfast shift that day and promised to call if anyone came into the diner with news.

The flyers about the light-resistant shades and the possessed bear had made the rounds over the weekend. Eli said the few people he’d run into were taking the darkness as another escalation of the shade problem.

“Makes sense,” Hazel agreed. “If it’s dark and we can’t use light to fend them off, the shades will have free rein. And after what we saw last night, with the shades and the shadow working together, it’s hard to think it’s a coincidence.”

“True, but the darkness outside looks nothing like the shadow that attacked Parker’s house,” Eli argued. “It’s normal, except for the fact that it should be light this late in the day.”

“Well, whatever it is, Eleanor reported it. So someone equipped to deal with it should be on the way.” Hazel sounded reassuring, but her pinched expression gave her away. It was hard to imagine what anyone could do about this.

Eli turned to face Sebastian. “Let’s head out to Storm House. I need to collect my data.”

“Yeah, I’ve got to feed the chickens.” Sebastian glanced at James. “It’d be good if you came too. It’s dark enough that shades will be out and about.” Sebastian was weary of dealing with them on his own, especially after the size of the horde that had attacked when they’d been transferring the curse to the fuel cell. “My magic seems back to normal, but I haven’t tried to use it at the house yet. I don’t want to assume it will be fine and then it not be.”

“Of course I’ll come.” James stood from his desk. “You good here, Hazel?”

“Yeah. I’m not doing anything. I doubt we’ll have customers today, with everyone panicking. I’d come with you, but I want to stay by my phone in case Eleanor has news.”

“No, that’s a good idea.” James led Sebastian and Eli toward the door. “We’ll meet you back here after we’re done.”

As they exited the shop, Eli turned to Sebastian. “What do you mean your magic is back to normal?”

“When the curse tied me to the veins and they started feeding off me, my magical ability diminished. I’m not that strong to start with, so I couldn’t actually do much magic while I was trapped at Storm House. It tired me out too much.” Sebastian pushed memories of dark, candle-lit nights away. His loneliness in the dark had been unbearable a lot of the time.

Eli’s brow furrowed like he was trying to puzzle something out. “But I thought James linked to you to borrow power for the unbinding spell.”

“He did.” Sebastian glanced at James, who didn’t seem to know what Eli was getting at either.

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