Page 69 of Grave Curse

“Listen to me very carefully, Misty,” I said, keeping my voice low so no one who might be interested in what we were saying could hear us. “You. Don’t. Know. Anything. Understood?”

She searched my expression for a long moment, found something there that made her mouth tighten, before she nodded once. “In other words, I need to suffer a case of amnesia?”

“Amnesia sounds good. Thank you very much for your understanding.”

“Fine, fine. But before I forget everything, I need you to listen to what I have to say.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

Oy. “Let’s hear it.”

She took a deep breath and dived in. “Tyr is president of the Gravediggers, but even without that fancy official title, he’s just such a natural-born leader I don’t think he knows how to be any other way. When he split from the Chicago Gravediggers, he put all of us on his shoulders and moved forward, dedicating himself to keeping us alive and thriving. That was a crushing burden he took on, and he’s always done it without complaint. All these years he’s struggled on his own to build this club into an unstoppable force, and until a few days ago I never realized that doing thison his ownmeant that he wasalone. But now that you’re together—”

“Allegedly.”

She rolled her eyes but otherwise ignored me. “Tyr has laughed more and smiled more in the past few days than he has in all the years that I’ve known himcombined. It’s like he finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to his uncle, and he’s allowing himself to reap the rewards of that freedom. That’s why I’m speaking up now, Ginger. In just a handful of days he’s gone from zombie to Zen because of you, so please just promise me that you won’t hurt Tyr by being careless with his heart, okay? Because of all the people in the world who might be gunning for Tyr Colgrave, I thinkyouare the only one who has the ability to actually hurt him.”

*

I wasn’t sure which Mr. Happy was going to kill me first, my battery-powered one, or Tyr’s.

At least I’d die with a smile on my face.

The evening had kicked off with an almost surreal quality. I had our dinner pretty much prepared, and had the addition of a pumpkin pie and whipped cream from the store chilling in the fridge. In the living room, a classic cartoon where a certain round-headed kid kept getting rocks while trick-or-treatingmurmured in the background. It kept me company as I lit the trio of candles on the table, then hustled around the rest of the loft’s lower living area to turn on the dozen or so flameless candles placed here and there to accentuate the mood lighting.

If my man wanted candlelight, he was going to get some damn candlelight.

The house smelled like heaven, a mixture of frying parmesan, garlic, bacon and bread, and the warmth radiating from the kitchen made my fuzzy robe covering the black bustier and thong no longer necessary. My black platform heels clicked smartly on the wooden floors as I moved back to the stove to check on the last of the chicken, and that was when the sound of the front door sliding open reached my ears. I looked up from turning off the heat to find Tyr pocketing keys he’d clearly used to get in, sniffing the air appreciatively before he glanced my way and held up a massive bouquet of roses in his other hand.

“Honey, I’m home.”

The laughter that burst from me broke the weird sense of unreality trying to engulf my brain. With a flourish I threw off my robe and struck a pose, hoping against hope I didn’t have some random robe fuzz sticking to me somewhere.

“Welcome home, darling. How may I service you?”

“Get that fine ass over here, woman, and kiss your man hello.”

I laughed again, ran to him as fast as my heels would allow, and gave him a kiss that made my toes curl. I could only hope he felt the same way.

Eventually I got him a vase to put the flowers in while I busied myself with plating up our dinner. He wouldn’t allow me to handle the hot tray of garlic bread straight from the oven, which I thought was cute, and I watched him as he placed the toasted bread in a napkin-shrouded basket. Then we sat at the table, our first homecooked meal together, bathed in candlelightand the scent of roses perfuming the air, and everything was perfect.

Until I told him Roxie swore she’d never eat at this table again because we had our very first sexy times on it, and he nearly choked to death on his laughter and a bite of chicken.

Tyr has laughed more and smiled more in the past few days…

God, I loved this man.

And maybe, just maybe, he had some real feelings for me, too.

Tyr had always had a healthy appetite, so it was a pleasure to watch him plow through first and second helpings as we talked over our day. LEO had come around Ride Or Die Choppers for a little chat about the Chicago Gravedigger massacre—no surprise there—and I told him about how smart his receptionist was when it came to sussing out who he was currently fucking. He pondered that for a while before deciding no real harm had been done. But he still wanted to keep us a carefully guarded secret until he dealt with Hades once and for all.

That was when I couldn’t stand it any longer and asked if Hades had done us all a favor and dropped dead during the massacre. When Tyr shook his head I tried to look like I didn’t care, but I knew I’d failed when he reached over to take my hand.

“I swear to you now,” he rumbled, and his eyes were so fiercely locked on mine he was suddenly all I could see, “before this year is done that bastard uncle of mine is going to be six feet under, baby girl, because that’s where I’m going to put him. We can’t raise a family with that rabid shitbird running loose, so he’s got to go.”

The mention of babies—again—and the fact that I was pretty much now in the window of opportunity to make a tiny human being made my blood simmer. It took all I had to stay focused on clearing away the dinner dishes and serving up dessert. But assoon as the last bite was taken and I brought the dishes into the kitchen to stack them in the dishwasher, Tyr wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed my neck.

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