Page 77 of My Karmic Destiny

“Don’t,” Dante snaps. “I can’t fucking think about the alternative. Tessa needs to be fighting.”

I sigh and rub my face. “Sorry. You’re right. It was probably Tessa that drew her away,” I admit. “But we have no idea where they are, or what’s happening.”

We all shove our untouched plates of food away from us. We hadn’t really been in the mood to eat anyway as we had to talk to Instant about our future withTessa.

I don’t know why Instant is going through the ruse of being someone else. She likely just wants to drain us of our souls and powers.

Perhaps she isn’t powerful enough to take us on. That thought gives me a flutter of hope. If the asshole goddess is weaker than we believe, then Tessa has a chance to win back her body and rid the world of our enemy.

“What should we do?” Kurtis looks at me for answers, but I have none.

“Stick together,” Dante says with a resolve I no longer seem to have.

It was stripped away when Tessa was.

“Let’s hole up in the game room for now,” he suggests. “We shouldn’t split up, so Instant can’t pick us off one by one.”

“Agreed.” I stand and toss my napkin on the plate of food. I have an intense urge to grab a bottle of whiskey and drown my anxiety, but we need our wits about us.

“As much as I want Tessa to win, we can’t expect this to be easy or simple,” I mutter as I lead us down the hall to the den.

When I enter like a raging storm, fond memories with Tessa and Kurtis hit me like a lightning bolt. I remember Tessa curled up between us during the early days on the couch. And when I told her how I wanted her. And when I watched her play stupid video games with Kurtis and Dante. She was so focused and competitive, even if she didn’t really care about a silly thing like shootout games. I could watch her unimpeded in those moments.

She had no idea that I was falling for her all that time. Every single smile shot my way cracked the ice around my heart. Everyword was branded into my memory. Every slight, innocent touch awakened my desires to have more.

“You okay?” Kurtis asks, and I realized I’ve stalled out in the open archway of the game room.

Dante brushes past me and flops onto a leather recliner.

Kurtis stands in front of me and cups my jaw with one hand. He’s hesitant. We’re still learning our boundaries. Typically, I don’t like unsolicited affection, but I find I don’t mind the comfort he’s offering now.

“We have to have faith she’ll make it,” he whispers.

I grab him around the waist and pull him flush with my body. Then I close my eyes and get lost in the connection between us—emotionally and physically. His hard chest against mine gives me some strength to remain positive. He’s usually the pessimist or at least the most vocal.

But he isn’t wrong about faith. Gods, goddesses, and other spiritual entities use belief as a power source all the time.

I’m just about to recommend we send our belief in Tessa to her when she appears in the archway.

“What’s going on here?” she says with a bit of amusement. She looks tired. Worn out. With my Karma gifts, I can sense the power coming off Tessa is waning.

She cocks her hip and crosses her arms. “Any room in there for me?”

Could it really be her?

Please let it be her.

We are frozen with doubt.

It’s Kurtis who breaks the silence. I don’t know if he believes it’s her or is only trying to appease Instant. “Of course!” He breaks from my hold, pulls her into a hug, and then slings an arm over her shoulders, guiding her to the large couch.

Kurtis sits down with her. “Can I get you anything? Beer?”

She makes a face at the offer. “It’s me, Kurtis. You know I don’t like beer.”

“Oops. Sorry.”

How do we ask if it’s really Tessa without revealing our hand that we know Instant was possessing her?

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