Page 38 of Gilded Kisses

It lures part of me back to the Society. I know she won’t be there, but I can feel her energy and if that is all I can have, I want it. Mirsha and Luther think I’ve gone off the deep end, but that’s it. That is why we have to buy The Gilded Key Society.

But the other half of me says I am fated to be in this fucking for something more. Something beyond just a connection with my soulmate. Frustration has me stabbing my fingers through my hair. Long sheets of black fall from the knot I keep it in and for a second the pain of fisting my hair helps me ground myself.

“Easy, brother.” Luther’s hand on my chest helps me draw a deep lungful of air in. I hold the warm Louisiana summer air, count to five, and release it all.

“Yeah, I’m good now.”

Moving shadows inside the cabin have my hands dropping my weapons.

“Mirsha. Time to talk, brother.”

We all three take a step toward the stairs.

And then the shadow becomes a single silhouette with dark hair and vivid eyes. My heart stops mid-beat. Briefly, ever so briefly, I think I’ve died. Or my mind has finally clicked off and I’ve lost my ability to reason.

Those pretty, unmistakable blue eyes linger over Mirsha first, then Luther. But when they hit me, my feet move and I don’t stop until I have my hands on her. I want to pull her head back and devour her lips until we both scream for air.

“Oh, hell no!” I hear her say, but the way those hands crush my shirt and pull me in has my heart lurching back to life.

“Aster.” I can’t believe all my dreams of holding her again finally came true.

Because nothing is ever free in our world, no matter how right it feels, I turn a hard look at Mirsha. “Why is she here? What are you not telling us?”

Ten

Aster

“Oh, hell no!”

I can’t let them touch me. It’s bad enough seeing them. Just the sight of Mirsha’s shocked face and Luther’s kind smile is too much for my brain and heart to process. My gaze lands on the man in the middle. Viper. My godfather usually looks like he always has something wicked going on in his head and that hasn’t changed, I notice.

Viper’s long legs eat up the tarmac and he hauls ass up a short flight of airstairs.

My brain pinwheels.

No. No. NO!

But my hands find white cotton and won’t let go. Viper’s scent floods my nostrils, lungs and then fills my life well.

NO!

I use his distraction with Mirsha and release him, stumbling back.

Oh, this is not good. I can’t be here. I’m still paying off my therapy sessions and I didsooomuch meditative work I could be a guru by now. All that work is for nothing if Viper puts a single finger on me.

I backpedal from the first step and turn on a heel, aiming for the duo team of pilots in the cockpit.

“I told you I wanted to go to New York City!” I unleash an ungodly amount of anger at two smirking assholes doing whatever it is they do to shut down a plane.

“I told you the second we were in the air to disregard my cousin’s orders for New Orleans and head to New York City. Did your compass break?”

The older of the two turns to me with a smile on his face that has my back straightening and my chin rising. Arrogant prick.

“It doesn’t work like that, young lady, and you don’t put money in our bank accounts. Your cousin does. We follow his orders, not yours.”

“Oh, is that so?” My vision flashes red. Want me to pull rank? Got it. I reach for my phone and realize it’s back at my parents’ place on the floor.

Shit.

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