Page 38 of Above Cursed Winds

His attention returned to her face, and judging by the quizzical expression, she’d asked him a question. “Sorry, what?”

“Nero warned us to stay inside tonight,” she repeated, grabbing a tomato from the fruit bowl, and beginning to slice into it like a pro. “Are you staying here, or should I teleport you elsewhere?”

Jeremiah tugged on his collar. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“If I had wanted to kick you out, I would’ve done it by now.”

He didn’t truly want to leave; he wasn’t finished here. Even the wind was whispering for him to remain, though he didn’t want to read too much into that either. The winds were ever-changing.

Instead, he simply nodded. “What are we making?”

Thirty minutes later, all three of them sat around the dining room table enjoying the best homemade tacos he’d ever tasted, the condiments and ingredients sorted perfectly on the table.

“I talked to father today, momma,” Myko said proudly, his childlike enthusiasm beaming across the table.

Zia choked on a taco, coughing down a piece before asking, “You did, Boo? You telepathed him?”

“Yeah! All the way to Mexico!”

Jeremiah couldn’t help but notice the look of trepidation and the sudden anxiety in her eyes. “Wow, baby, that’s wonderful. What did you say?”

“Oh, that Jeremiah was sleeping here, and he was my new best friend.” Myko’s toothy smile was sent his way. “And that I totally beat him in Mario Kart.”

“Well, that’s true, little man. You are the Kart King!”

Grinning, Jeremiah loaded up another taco, and he didn’t miss the brief look of appreciation that crossed Zia’s features. She’d obviously guessed he had been letting Myko win.

“And then father said he’s going to visit soon.”

The smile left Jeremiah’s face. “Oh, yeah?”

An enthusiastic nod, and the boy’s attention was lost again to his tacos. Zia gave him a tight smile and changed the topic. “We’re supposed to stay inside tonight, Boo. How about we play Monopoly?”

Myko scrunched up his nose. “No, you always lose at that game ‘cuz you never make me pay rent, then you get all ‘you’re so good at this game, Boo’ which is just silly, mom. Can we play Exploding Kittens instead?”

Jeremiah burst into laughter. “Exploding Kittens? Is that really a board game?”

“Card game,” Zia failed to keep her grin hidden, “but trust me, it’s good. Fair warning though: you will hate exploding kittens by the end of the game.”

“I’m pretty sure I already had an aversion to any detonating felines, but I’ll humor you.”

Jeremiah winked, and that pretty blush returned to Zia’s delicate features. This was going to be fun.

Chapter Nineteen

Wind whistled past the shuttered windows, rattling them in their frames. Zia’s worried glances betrayed her growing anxiety for the situation. Far too many clan members were still vulnerable and in unfinished housing, unprepared for the weather they expected in the next week.

Weather officials had announced the hurricane headed their way was indeed on track to make landfall. It was rare: Oahu almost never experienced hurricanes, and the last one had been decades ago.

Back then, Nero had up and moved the entire clan, but their numbers had grown significantly, and a lot of the families had fragile newborns and recovering mothers to care for.

Deep into the night, Zia had fielded several calls of distress from nearby homes, teleporting into their midst and remedying what they needed. One couple had a tree fall on their home, and Nero had immediately taken them in.

Another had had several windows blown out when a piece of scrap metal had slammed into their western wall, and they’d been placed with another lieutenant. If this persisted, they’d be running out of residential shelters and have to move people into the offices. With a possible traitor still at large, that would be a security nightmare.

Dragging herself out of bed, she took a speedy shower, working her hair into a lather and letting the heat caress the tension from her muscles. She had to rush and check in on her son, who had slept on the sectional in the basement, at Zia’s request.

She would have normally fretted even more, but when the storm had woken Jeremiah up, he had insisted on doing what he could to assist them. Once he’d ventured out into the night, the winds had died down significantly and allowed them time to check in on their clan members.

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