Page 31 of Twilight Echoes
“That’s not a bad idea, dear,” her mother said. “Especially if you find an anecdote at the source.”
“It’s too dangerous,” her father said, pursing his lips.
“Mom’s right. If there is a cure, we should be there.” Avery didn’t often question her father, but she’d dig her heels in when it came to her future.
“You always take your mother’s side.” Her father rubbed his temples.
“It’s not about sides, Dad.” Her father had always been a stubborn man, but he never had a problem doing the right thing, even if it bruised his ego.
“Sir, I mean no disrespect. However, I’m going, which means Avery has to come too. I don’t like it any more than you do, but I don’t think we have a choice.”
“Sorry, Albert. They’ve changed my mind. Having them near the source is a good idea,” Trask said.
“I’ll agree, but only if you do exactly what Trask and I tell you to do, young man.” Her father waved his finger in Darrell’s direction.
“I want to move my pack closer to the source, and if necessary, we need to be able to defend ourselves,” Darrell said. While his muscles relaxed a tad, his body remained rigid. The alpha wolf in him threatened to break free, but she could tell the man did his best to remain in control.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” her father said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Get some sleep. We leave at seven in the morning.”
Avery closed her eyes as her father kissed her forehead, her cheek still flattened against Darrell.
Her mother’s warm fingers gently rubbed her back as she leaned in and whispered, “I left the box of the things you collected on your bed.”
Avery stayed in Darrell’s arms until she could no longer hear her parents’ footsteps. She tilted her head, catching his gaze. “I think you’re kind of stuck with me now until death do us part.”
His lips twitched. “That’s so not funny.”
7
Darrell closed the door, making as little noise as possible. He turned and leaned against the wood frame and watched as Avery set the tray of cheese, crackers, grapes, and wine on the small dinette table off to the right of the sliders in Avery’s bedroom suite. For the last forty minutes, Avery had given him the grand tour of what could only be described as a palace.
Fitting, since they were the royal witch family.
He’d walked hallways lined with family pictures dating back generations, and Avery chatted about her childhood and her sisters and answered every question he had with a smile.
But it wasn’t enough. If this was their fate, then he needed more.
He needed a lifetime crammed into a couple of days.
“Where are you right now?” Avery asked, offering him a glass.
He took a large gulp, staring at her, wondering what her aura looked like when she didn’t have to use it to keep someone else alive. He suspected it danced across the room, touching everyone in her presence with a little drop of happiness.
“I’m wondering what might have happened had I chased you down when I saw you at my last performance with the ballet.”
“What do you mean?”
He took her by the hand, leading her to the sofa. “My heart ached when I got on the plane for California. You were too young and I told myself I could handle it. That I’d be back in a few years, but I always wondered if you had been one year older or maybe if I just stuck around and tried to be your friend… maybe things would be different now.”
“It wouldn’t have changed the spell.” She leaned back, lifting her feet and resting them on his lap. “We’d still be facing the same problem.”
“But we might have had a few years of getting to know each other before that curse kicked in.”
“That could have been worse.” She took a lock of her hair and twirled it through her fingers. “Don’t be all doom and gloom. Positive energy ignites auras, giving them energy, where negative?—”
He held up his hand. “Say no more.” Two large boxes next to the door to the actual bedroom caught his attention. “What’s in there?”
She glanced in the other direction and her lips parted. “Oh God. I can’t believe my mother actually thought we wanted to see that.”
