Page 66 of Villainous Greed

Standing, I grabbed a glass out of the cabinets and poured her some water from the fridge. Upon my arrival, she swiftly grabbed the glass and gulped down half of its contents. She placed her hand in my lap, with her palm up afterwards. I took it, slipping my fingers through hers.

My body felt like a worn bow seconds from snapping in half, and I honestly didn’t know to how to behave around her.She had all the control. She had all the control.I kept telling myself.But what if I lost my composure and sought to touch her? What if I scared her when I showed her how much I wanted to consume her? I was no longer confident I knew how to conduct yourself. When I saw her for the first time again, my body burstto life. I could have taken her right then and there. When I thought of Derrick trying to kidnap her, I wanted to claim her so that the filthy warlock would smell me on her.

Nova had been through enough with people trying to claim her or her power. I wished my cock would fucking remember that.

I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Are you okay with touching me?”

The one thing I couldn’t keep protecting her from was me.

She said nothing as she slid her thumb over mine. The room was full of my family’s chatter, but all I saw was Nova. The air felt warmer, and my body felt electric from her touches. No matter how innocent the contact was, the fire in the pit of my stomach grew.

I inhaled her scent, purposely blowing toward her ear before whispering, “Does that mean I can touch you?”

As her arousal grew, her fragrance intensified and enveloped us.

“You don’t fear me because you know I’m at your mercy,” I added, brushing my lips across her ear. She shuddered before pulling away and touching the spot.

I leaned back, giving her space and letting her cool down.

“Gwendolyn!” Barron’s panicked screech had me bolting off the stool.

“Why is Gwen a ghost?” Kitty asked.

What…happening?A translucent Gwendolyn stood in the middle of the kitchen. Gwendolyn had been wearing a black cloak over jeans and a T-shirt, but the clothes transformed right before my eyes. She brought her hands up to her face andflexed them. She wore a hospital gown, and a giant hole opened in her chest.Blood soaked through the fabric. Seconds later, Gwendolyn appeared dead.Wait.Gwendolyn had died before Barron had gotten to her back then. The fool tried sending her to Heaven, but the gate threw her out. Without our powers, was she reverting to a ghost? Butwhy?

My stomach quivered.

“I don’t understand,” she murmured, biting her lower lip as she peered at Barron.

Prudence tried reaching out for Gwendolyn and her fingers slipped through. “How is she a ghost?”

“Whyis the better question?” Maureen crossed her arms.

Barron turned paler and paler by the second.

“This is what I died in…” Gwendolyn pressed her hand over the wound in her chest. “This is how I looked before Barron shoved me into the portal to Heaven and it spat me back out.”

“Yeah, but why are you this way again when you’re a Reaper?” I asked.

My scalp and back prickled with unease. Something changed about our predicament again.

Joy stepped into the circle around Gwendolyn. “This is the longest we’ve been without our powers. What if Heaven is behaving as if she’s no longer Barron’s mate?”

“What?” A growl ripped from Barron’s chest.

“Without your power and mark, she’s a ghost, Barron,” Joy tried to tell him. “And… You sent her to them once. Maybe…”

Barron reached for Gwendolyn, and his fingers slipped through her. The muscles in his neck ticked. “She’s my mate,regardless. When our powers come back, she will be a Reaper again.”

“What if this is it?” Kitty blinked at the uneaten Slim Jim in her hand. “What if we’ve lost our powers for good?”

“We didn’t!” Barron yelled. “Fuck! I thought I was the pessimistic one! Our powers will come back, and Gwendolyn will be fine. I fucked up when I tried to send my mate away, but it was the angels’ choice to give her back to me. Heaven doesn’t get to choose to take her back when things have gotten hard. We’ll pull through and this will be a story we’ll tell our grandkid one day.” Barron’s throat bobbed as he looked at his mate. “Right, Gwen?”

“Yes.” Tears raced down her cheeks.

The portal to Heaven opened two feet behind Gwendolyn.

“How did a gateway open?” Barron tried grabbing Gwendolyn again and slipped through her body. “Get away from it.”

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