Page 103 of Light As A Feather
But that’s not the only thing that’s different. In its place, I feel a warmth flood inside me, an undeniable throughline of love and adoration, a protective energy that beckons me to come closer, the sure bassline of a heartbeat, but it’s not mine…
Taking Hawthorne’s hand, the sensations heighten, washing over me tenfold. The power of it could knock the breath out of me.
“Do you feel that?” Hawthorne asks, watching me intensely. He brings my hand to his chest. “I feel youhere.”
I can barely see as my tears overwhelm me, flooding down my cheeks. The pure rightness of it overwhelming me. I didn’t know a spirit attachment could be a good thing of love and light, the perfect merging of our souls, but the attachment between Thorne and me couldn’t be more ideal for us. We were always two halves of a whole.
I’ve so rapidly ascended to euphoria that the crash comes quickly and unexpectedly as the realization hits me that I’ve taken a choice from Thorne; somehow, I’ve forced myself upon him just like Ivan did me.
“Hawthorne,” I look up at him in horror, and his brow instantly creases with worry, that broad smile dimming. “I didn’t mean to. I?—”
“Hey, hey now. What’s going on inside that head of yours?”
“I didn’t mean to condemn you to this. I can’t believe?—”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare compare this to what happened to you. You’re nothing like him.”
“But—” I attempt to argue, but he silences me with his mouth in a soul-sucking kiss that feels like it could rip me from this plane completely.
“I consented to this. Iwantthis. Don’t you see? Having you as a spirit attachment…this is the best possible outcome. It changes everything for us.Thisis our future.” He kisses me again, his arms tightening around me as he pulls me into his lap. “I told you, we’re inevitable, My Omen.”
TWO WEEKS LATER
The exciting details of the case Mendez was briefing me on become irrelevant as that familiar presence draws my attention away. A gorgeous apparition, the love of my life and death, watches me from across the room, her gaze heating as our eyes meet. Clinking my beer against his, I put a pin in our conversation and gravitate toward her like a bee to pollen.
Unlike other spirit attachments, she doesn’t need to imprint her will onto me; I’m simply driven through this world with an endless desire to be by her side and do everything I can to see that radiant smile that she’s showing more of lately.
Our arrangement works because we have an equal hold over each other; ours is a symbiotic relationship that has drastically made my life better.
“Hello, Nightingale.” I place a kiss on her neck, then trail my lips across her shoulder and down her arm until I reach our intertwined fingertips. In the mirror, I watch as several sets of eyes trace our every move.
At first, my friends worried over our newfound relationship status, understandably. But after watching us together, they came to the same conclusion we did—this is the perfect existence for us, this next level of closeness.
While I dote on her, she uses her other hand to put the needle on the record. The synth-heavy music is just loud enough to drown out the conversations happening around us.
“Dance with me, Thorne?” Sol asks, as she turns in my arms, resting her hand on my shoulder.
Without hesitation, I wrap one arm around her waist and tug her against me until her shoes rest on top of mine. She laughs, but doesn’t object, allowing me to sweep us across the floor in fluid movements that have the rest of the room falling away.
“I can’t wait until it’s just us again,” I sigh against her hair. I appreciate the dedication Hale, Zoey, and Ozzie have shown in helping the remaining spirits on the property move on—Sol and I have earned some peace and quiet, they said—but we’ve hardly had any time to simply enjoy each other’s company. I yearn for lazy days with her in my arms.
“It will be soon. But we have the rest of time to be together.” Her uncharacteristic urge for patience takes me by surprise, but death has had a profound effect on her. With a dip, I bring my lips down to her shoulder for a quick kiss before breaking into motion again. “A few decades will go by quickly enough, then our corpses will keep each other company in our coffins, decomposing side by side, and our spirits will haunt the halls of this house in peace.” She sighs with contentment as she meets my gaze, affection and the light of hope I’d missed seeing in her eyes reflecting back at me. “For now, we’re going to live a little.”
“Which reminds me, I need to pack.” With so much going on, I keep forgetting we leave for Germany in three days.
“I’m so glad I won’t ever have to pack another bag.” After so many years on the road, I can’t blame her. “What’s the situation with our flight?”
“I bought a second seat next to me.”
“That’s ridiculous; I could have just sat on your lap or stood in the galley.”
“Are you out of your mind? Absolutely not.”
“Didn’t they think it was weird that a single man was buying two first-class seats?”
“It’s first-class, babe; they aren’t questioning people spending more money. Plus, who cares what anyone else thinks? Maybe I’m just someone who highly values my personal space. It’s really none of their business.” I can’t help but get a little defensive about her objection. There’s no world in which I allow her to be miserable for hours while I lounge around comfortably. “I’ve told you before. You’re not a passenger or observer in my life. Youaremy life. We’re doing all of this together.”
“Thank you.” Pressing up on her toes, she kisses me, and my dick twitches with the reminder of my fresh tattoo. My fingers tighten around her waist as I hold her against me. She smirks knowingly.
