Page 73 of Grave Curse

“I love you,” I whispered, and for no reason at all I burst into tears.

Great.

Way to show him I was an unhinged, emotional trainwreck.

Thankfully Tyr just laughed at my overwhelmed response and squeezed me until my bones groaned in protest. Then hekissed me, and it was a kiss filled with sunshine and rainbows and laughter, a kiss so full of what I now recognized was love that it moved into my soul and became the very best part of it.

Tyrlovedme. Nothing else mattered.

“Mine now.” His tone thrummed with such possessiveness I couldn’t help but shiver. The quirk of his lips told me he felt it before he loosened his hold and guided me back onto the stool. “Stay right there and don’t move. I’ve got something for you in my saddlebag. Call it an early birthday present.”

“Ooh, presents. I like.” He disappeared out the front door while I tried to wrap my mind around the enormity of what just happened. My life was now forever changed, because he was right. I no longer saw myself as the top priority when it came to my life. Tyr had taken that spot. He was my heart, my soul, my reason for breathing. If anything ever happened to him, a large part of me would cease to be.

And he was currently at war with Hades.

What a crappy time to fall in love.

Oddly enough, I couldn’t find it in me to regret a thing when Tyr came back through the door, a black bag in hand. Just looking at him made every cell in my body sigh, and that was all I needed to be complete.

“Originally I wanted to give this to you while standing over Hades’s grave, but now that I think about it, this way is better. I’m still going to give you the gift of that bastard’s death, but I don’t want him to be a part of this. This is ours, and ours alone.”

My brows inched up. “Wow, that was deep. And here I am without a gift for you.”

“You’re the birthday girl—or you will be tomorrow—so you get to have all the gifts.” He stopped in front of where I sat and handed me the bag. “Sorry it’s not wrapped.”

“I love it just the way it is.” I arched up for a kiss, then smiled against his lips. “Thank you, Tyr.”

“Thank me after you’ve opened it.”

My heart began to pound as I unzipped the bag and the rich scent of leather wafted out. With a sense of premonition filling me, I reached inside and pulled out a black leather cut, just my size. Displayed proudly on the back was the green, white and black Gravedigger patch with a skull and a Grim Reaper’s scythe threaded through the mouth and one of the skull’s eye sockets. The curved patch—or rocker—on the top of the Gravedigger patch read, “PROPERTY OF” and the lower rocker read “TYR.”

Property of Tyr.

I knew what this was. In the biker world, a woman receiving a jacket or cut like this from her man was like receiving a wedding ring. This was as serious as it got, a proposal and a promise of belonging to each other forever, no matter how bad the road got. We would ride that road side by side, and make that life whatever we wanted it to be.

Together.

The tears were back, but this time they leaked out silently as I turned it around to briefly inspect the front. I adored how he’d had my name on the front stitched out in a scarlet red that was strikingly close to the color of my hair. Then, without a word because I was so choked up, I slipped it on over the loose T-shirt I wore. It fit like a glove, and I slid off the stool to model it for him.

“Well?” I finally managed, looking at him over my shoulder only to find him watching me with eyes that glittered almost feverishly. “What do you think?”

“I think all my dreams live in you.” He reached for me, and I knew the entire world had no hope of touching me when I was in his arms. “All I have to do now is plant Hades six feet under to make everything absolutely perfect.”

“I’m sure it’ll happen sooner or later, yeah?”

His smile was a masterpiece of dark glee and blood-chilling menace. “Believe me, Snap, it’ll be sooner rather than later. Much, much sooner.”

Chapter Twenty

Surprise

“Shit. Where’s my list?” Distracted, I tried shoving a hand through my hair, only to find it was twisted up into a tight topknot. Oh, yeah. I’d put my hair up so it wouldn’t get in any of the acres and acres of food my girl posse and I were preparing for the party later tonight. Thank goodness for my girls. If it weren’t for Roxie, Misty, Shiloh and Mabel helping me get things done, this first day of my twenty-ninth year would have been a disaster instead of some chaotic but fun girlie time. “Has anyone seen my list? It’s got all the food that has to get done first, like the six dozen cupcakes and the four pans of lasagna.”

“No idea where your list is, but if you want to find your pen, it’s behind your right ear.” Shiloh spooned a pound of delicious-smelling browned-off hamburger into the six-quart slow cooker she’d brought from home, combining it with processed cheese she’d cut into cubes, and cans of stewed tomatoes with chiles. There were other things in there that made it the bestqueso con carnein the world, and I’d almost wept in gratitude when she’d happily agreed to make it for the party.

“Not to distract from the Great Lost List Hunt,” Roxie said from her place at the island, where she was setting up stacked wire racks for the soon-to-be-decorated cupcakes. “But this seems like a lot of food. How many people did you invite?”

“Actual numbers are always dicey when it comes to parties like mine,” I admitted, randomly opening some cabinets. Nope, no list. “I sent out twenty-five invitations. If all twenty-five show up with their plus-ones, that’s fifty, right?”

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