Page 20 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

A shade popped up out of nowhere, directly on the other side of the glass, and banged its fists against it, making them both jump.

“Shit.” James took a deep breath as his heart pounded. It was almost like the shade had heard him and chosen that moment to pounce.

“It’s the one wearing my robe.” Sebastian pointed, mouth open in outrage. Sure enough, dirty purple sleeves hung around the shade’s elbows, the robe half falling off its shoulders.

The shade swooped away.

Sebastian turned to face James. “What the fuck?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“It’s taunting me.” Sebastian turned back to the window, but the shade was no longer in sight.

James bent to pick up Sebastian’s underwear and handed it to him. “It would be funny that it still has your robe if we weren’t having such serious shade problems.”

“Yeah, hilarious. It’s annoying, is what it is.” Sebastian pulled his boxer briefs on. “We should probably keep an eye on them even if they aren’t trying to break in.”

“Good idea.” James pulled on the rest of his clothes. “Why don’t I go downstairs and get some food, and we can watch them out the window?”

Sebastian agreed and perched on the bed to watch the shades swooping around outside.

James brought dinner up. They turned out the lights in the bedroom and watched the shades as they ate. The beasts didn’t seem to be doing anything like the dancing around the stone Sebastian had seen before the darkness from Beyond had set in, and most of the streetlights still hadn’t been repaired, so even their presence in town wasn’t too far out of the ordinary, given how dark it was.

The only thing James could glean from the spectacle was that shades were back in Moonlight Falls, and it hadn’t taken long. Sebastian had banished almost all of them when he’d saved James and defeated the darkness. How many shades might be out on Sebastian’s property streaming through the gateway right this moment? James was glad he wasn’t there to find out.

The next morning, James slipped out of bed without waking Sebastian and got ready for work. He and Hazel had a lot to do. It had been hard to prioritize the electrical business over the last week with the vein problem looming over them and not knowing if Sebastian would recover. Now that they knew Sebastian was all right, they had to get going on replacing the busted lights in town.

James was downstairs making coffee when Sebastian joined him. He’d wrapped up in a hoodie and gray sweatpants, his hair tousled. He looked absolutely adorable.

Sebastian gave James a sleepy smile. “Thought I smelled coffee.”

James handed him a mug. “Sorry if I woke you.” They’d been up late watching the shades. It had been after midnight when the beasts had flown away. James hoped they hadn’t been off to do anything destructive.

“It’s fine.” Sebastian spooned powdered creamer into his mug. “I’ll go back to bed if I need to. I’m not too tired, or I wouldn’t have gotten up.”

James pulled him in for a kiss. “Okay. Good.” He buried his nose in the hair behind Sebastian’s ear and let himself relax, feeling nothing but love.

Someone knocked on the door.

Sebastian pulled away and went to open it. James followed, finding Eli on the doorstep holding a familiar box.

“Hey, Eli.” Sebastian stepped out of the way. “Have you finished with the papers already?”

“Yeah.” Eli walked past Sebastian and set the box on the table. “I texted you saying I was coming by.” He looked at James.

“Must have missed it.” James returned to the kitchen and grabbed a third mug from the cupboard.

Sebastian drifted toward the coffee, and Eli joined them.

“Anything catch your eye when reading?” Eli asked Sebastian.

“No, it was about as I remembered.” Sebastian poured coffee from the French press into his mug. “I’ve wondered if whatever happened had to do with Nelson and his quest to unlock the secrets of harnessing natural power, but there was nothing in the papers to confirm it.”

James explained to Eli who Nelson Storm was in relation to Nelson Power.

Eli’s brows raised. “You think a failed experiment caused the imbalance?”

“Yeah.” Sebastian shrugged. “But I have no idea what they would have done or how it broke things, if that’s what happened. Selma felt Nelson owed the family when his company took off, but that could just be her expecting compensation for their suffering and not because the vein disaster had anything to do with his later inventions.”

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