Page 43 of All Hallows Game

“Nope. It’s good to have you back here, Cat. Feel free to watch me fight any time you want.”

I groaned. “You’re incorrigible.”

And not mad at me. Not even a little bit. The tightly-wound stress dropped from my shoulders and I relaxed into his hold, memorising the feeling of his warmth seeping into my body, the way he held me close, his strong chest flush to my back. I didn’t know when I’d get to feel this again. Never, if Nightmare got her way.

His thumb stroked circles on my stomach. “How did you end up here anyway?”

I jolted as it all rushed back—seeing the shadow race across the road, following the creature down to Ford’s End, watching it attack the florist. Murder her. Devour her.

“Oh, god,” I breathed, my stomach turning. “There was—the monster, I saw it. It’s like a bear with horns and huge claws, and it nearly had me.”

Tor’s arm tightened around me, his chest vibrating with a growl so low I only felt it, never heard it. “Tell me where, and I’ll kill the fucking thing.”

“I’m—I’m okay,” I promised, albeit shakily. I scanned the hills we raced past, the little road winding around them as we left the town in a different direction to how I reached it. “I thought of this place and I managed to escape, but I ended up in the wrong castle. That’s why I was in the square. I was trying to find your castle. Trying to find you.”

My heart squeezed when a kiss landed on my shoulder, reminding me of the kiss to my head I’d been so sure came from Death. Unease wrapped around me, but the relief of being in Tor’s arms was stronger.

“You found me. You’re safe now,” he promised, a gravelly rumble in his voice that sent a sudden pulse through my clit. I stiffened, trying not to show how badly his voice and touch turned me on even in spite of my fear. “And I’m going to hunt that creature and make sure it can never scare you again.”

“You can’t hunt it alone, Tor, it’s huge—”

“I can and I will. I’ll rip the damn thing in two for threatening my girl.”

Those words rang in my ears, tempting the tiny spark of hope in my heart to grow, to burn, to raze through my whole chest. “I thought we were over.”

“As long as you run to me when you need to feel safe, we’ll never be over, beautiful. We didn’t get a real chance before, with the curse between us. Now it’s gone, and this is real, and I want you. Will you give me a chance to woo you?”

A smile curved my mouth. “Woo me?”

“Flowers and dick and chocolate, all that shit,” he elaborated. “I want to win you back, Cat, to show you how good things can be between us. I don’t give a shit if you’re my bride or not—you’re mine. Once and forever.”

Once and forever his. My heart nearly burst, and I had to choke back emotion. “I guess I could give you a chance. Since you’ve been so helpful taking me home.”

His laugh ruffled the hairs at the back of my neck.

“But I—I don’t think we can be together without Death and Misery, and Miz and I…”

“Give him time,” Tor replied, kissing my shoulder again, his arm tightening around me. “Miz is—going through a lot right now.”

“Because of Nightmare.”

That growl returned to Tor’s voice when he agreed. “Earlier, he—fuck, I shouldn’t burden you with this. I’m supposed to be wooing you, not worrying you.”

That just worried me even more. I twisted on Lanai’s back to look into Tor’s shadowed brown eyes. “What happened? Is he okay?”

The need to jump off the horse and run to Misery made a tremor run through my bones, frissons of urgent need pushing me to find him, to hold him, to make sure he was okay. I remembered him holding me through my guilt and grief after I killed Darya. And now he was going through hell, and I wasn’t at his side. It was a piss poor way of repaying his support.

“You really wanna know, beautiful?” Tor asked, something heavy and sad in his eyes. The anger that had driven him in fighting the pirate ghost was gone.

“Tell me,” I agreed fiercely, my heart beating harder. I held Tor’s gaze with a steely stare.

“He’s scared she’ll take over him again and make him hurt one of us. Death, me, and you. So he—” Tor’s golden throat bobbed, tattoos shifting. I covered his hand with mine, dread gathering in my chest until my breaths came fainter, sharper. “He bound his magic so he can’t use it against us. It’s a fucking stupid thing to do, and an insanely dangerous process, and there’s no guarantee Nightmare even controlled his magic. We found him on the floor, bleeding, in serious pain—”

I’d felt it. On the moors, chasing the monster. I didn’t know how, and it made no sense, but I felt Misery’s pain, felt it cleave my soul apart.

“Take me to him,” I ordered, with all the imperiousness of the Bride of Death I no longer was. “I mean it, Tor. Take me to him.”

Tor ran his hand along Lanai’s neck and whispered in a language I didn’t understand.

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