Page 73 of Cursed by Death

I felt bad as soon as I said it. Rally already had so much to deal with all the time. I didn’t want to be another burden that he had to deal with. I was supposed to make things better for him, not add to his already overflowing plate.

He was gone and out of the room before I had a chance to try and stop him.

I sighed as I got out of bed and walked naked to my bathroom.

I could hear people talking downstairs but I chose to ignore it. Rally and Fox were down there and I trusted them to be able to handle anything that was going on. And if I was needed I was sure someone would come and get me.

I turned the water in the shower on and stuck my hand in under the spray. When it was hot enough that my skin started to turn pink after a while I got in the shower and closed the glass door.

Normally, I would stay in there for a while, taking my time, and enjoying the intense heat on my skin. Not today. I didn’tever want to be rude when there were people in my house. If it were just Fox I didn’t think I would care because he wasn’t exactly a guest or here for me to entertain. As much as I liked him, he was here to do a job. That didn’t mean I would treat him like he was some kind of employee or something like that because I hoped we could be friends and have a better relationship than that.

I was quick in the shower. I washed my body and my hair and then shut the water off. I wrapped a towel around myself and got out.

I brushed my hair and braided it while straining to hear anything in the house. All was quiet and I found that to be a bit worrisome. I didn’t live somewhere where people could just stop on by on a whim because I lived quite a bit out of the way, and I didn’t get visitors often.

Until recently, that is.

Rally was sitting on the foot of my bed when I walked out of the bathroom. His elbows were on his knees and his chin was resting in the palm of his hand.

He remained silent as he watched me get a pair of panties out of a dresser drawer and carry them into the closet with me. I got dressed in a pair of skin tight black jeans, a black tank top, and I threw a white hoodie over it. I put socks on my feet but no shoes. I didn’t like walking around completely barefoot, even in my own home.

I walked out of the closet fully dressed and Rally was still sitting there on the foot of my bed. Watching me but saying nothing. I put my wrist sheaths on and slid my knives into them.

I didn't usually walk around my house with my weapons strapped to me but I was feeling a little out of sorts today. And it really wasn’t helping that Rally was just sitting there, silently watching me like some kind of creeper. It was actually slightlyunnerving and I was having a hard time pretending like it didn’t bother me.

And why wasn’t he talking?

Did he regret having slept with me last night? No, I didn’t think that was possible for him because of the whole mate thing. I hadn’t really thought about the morning after the fact, I had been too busy living in the moment to be worried about anything else.

I had no idea what to do with this because it was a first for me. I had never spent the night sleeping next to a man and waking up next to him in the morning.

Was I supposed to offer to make him breakfast? I usually had coffee for breakfast and I had no desire to cook Rally anything. I could order food for him like a champ though, but only if he asked for it.

“I can practically hear you thinking from all the way over here,” he said as I picked up my cell phone. “What’s on your mind, little menace?”

I snorted at the name calling. He wasn’t exactly wrong with that one.

I didn’t want to tell him he’d been a first for me. That would probably make this even more awkward for me and he’d like hearing it too much. If he was going to act like this was a normal morning for him then I could do that too.

I could totally do that. Probably.

Okay, so I wouldn’t bet money on it.

“What was Fox’s problem?” I asked in a bored voice that did not match what I was feeling on the inside as I scrolled through the notifications on my phone.

There was a text from the Detective asking me to meet him for lunch today at a little cafe in town.

I sent a quick text back, telling him that I would meet him there. I wasn’t excited about it though. What more did he have totalk to me about? I had a feeling that lunch was going to be his goodbye to me. I wasn’t prepared to say goodbye to him just yet. I didn’t think I would ever be ready to say goodbye.

I had a problem with letting go. Especially when it comes to the people I care about.

“There are demons here to see you and Fox didn’t want to let them inside. And they refused to leave. I’ve got them settled in your living room downstairs waiting for you. Fox refused to offer them refreshments and I’m not going to lower myself to do that. I might not act my station often but I am shifter royalty and I’m not about to wait on demons in my own mate’s home. Lucky for you Ginger is nosy so she showed up with the baby. She’s making them coffee right now.”

My mouth dropped open and I just stared at him in shock. There was no way he’d just said all that and meant it. “You’re joking.”

He shook his head. “Sadly, I’m not. One of them is holding the baby while she makes their coffee.”

I started laughing. I could absolutely see her doing that. She was just good through and through. She probably thought everyone else was too. That had the laughter dying a quick death and my smile morphed into a frown.

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