Page 89 of Samhain

“Which one?” I teased.

“I don’t care,” he said, nudging me along. “Pick one.”

Figuring Poppy might feel the most comfortable with Ivy if she woke up before I did, I put her down in the middle of the mattress and scooted in on the other side, tucking the covers around the three of us. Maybe Poppy’s presence reached some instinctual maternal part of Ivy because she rolled toward us, wrapped an arm over the girl’s tiny torso, and tucked her in close. Poppy let out a contented sigh and relaxed into the touch.

The sight of Ivy cuddling a child to her, the thought of sleeping next to the two of them all night, protecting them with my body and my presence and my warmth, it woke every alpha male caveman instinct I’d ever had. I tried not to melt. I tried not to be a stupid fucking sap. But I was still a sentimental shit, even after everything I’d been through.

They said I’d been protective over Lizzie?

Shit, that hadn’t come close to this.

I thought about the picture Lex painted earlier—the cottage in the woods with our children, growing old together.

Come home to us, he’d made me promise. In the end, it’s us.

I wanted that more than I’d ever wanted anything in the world, including acting, including Hollywood. When I wrapped an arm over both of them and pulled them into me, I swore I’d give it all up to keep this.

Lex’s vision had become my vision.

Now, Poppy was a part of that, too.

26

Miri

The memory started the same. I was in the back seat, ducking down on the ground to keep the photographers from taking pictures of me. I didn’t like seeing myself in the magazines. I didn’t like it when they said things about me.

“Drive faster,” my father shouted. His big brown eyes were wild, looking around as he struggled to keep me hidden.

“Gerald,” Mum’s panicked voice muttered. “We’re already going too fast.”

“We can lose them, Emma,” Da replied. I sank farther and put my hands over my ears, trying to breathe through the hot slice of terror in my chest. I hated the people who chased us. Why couldn’t they leave us alone? Why did they have to do this to me? We were normal people like everyone else.

The noise was the part that haunted my nightmares, the sickening crunch of metal on metal as the car hit something hard and impenetrable. The world went topsy-turvy. In my memories, I blacked out and woke up outside the car.

The police had never been able to figure out how I’d done it, and I’d never remembered.

But this time…

This time, I kept my eyes open in the middle of the chaos. Everything circled around me in slow motion. The items from my mother’s purse hung in the air like outer space. Her arms and legs were suspended like a roller coaster. I couldn’t move, only hang there and marvel at the spectacle of it all.

Then I met a pitch-black gaze set in a face with a dark beard and matching hair. At the time, I didn’t know this person, but he reached inside the car while it tumbled to pull me from it. The moment he touched me, time sped up again. He yanked me out and wrapped me in his arms while the death trap whirled away from us, the sounds of my parents’ breaking bodies punctuated by metal on asphalt.

He carried me to the side of the road and delicately laid me in the grass. The earth was warm despite the chill in the air, and the sun beamed brighter and hotter on this side of my near-death experience. The sky seemed more blue than ever, the trees more potent, everything just…more.

“What’s happening?” I murmured, my voice weak with confusion.

“Shhh,” the man said. “It’ll be okay. It’s all going to be okay now.”

“Who are you?” I grabbed at the leather lapels on his black jacket, tugging him closer, keeping him there. “Please. I’m scared. Stay with me.”

“Listen to me, Miriam.”

How did he know my name?

“You won’t remember this for a long time. But one day, you will.” He brushed my curls out of my face as he frowned, his soft gaze radiating genuine sincerity. “And when you do, you’ll know the time has come to return the favor.”

“What favor?” I asked.

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