Page 38 of Beyond the Storm
“Gratitude,” Kallias said to him before taking a bite. Quickly followed by a soft moan. “This is the food of the gods.”
Not the first time someone had used the phrase to describe my food. It never failed to make me happy though. My smile widened. “Glad you like it.”
After breakfast, Titan kissed me goodbye. Elasus did the same to Kallias. The two of them then left for the training field.
With the war over, the warriors didn’t train every day. We had little need for a full-time, active army. Some of the warriors, however, had taken it upon themselves to continue the fight—to protect humankind like what my brothers and I used to do for so many centuries. They often left the island in the evenings and patrolled Athens for any demons or things that went bump in the night. Titan was still their commander, and Elasus had started helping out with the training too—when he wasn’t with the bladesmith learning how to forge weapons.
“I feel I should be on the training field as well,” Kallias said, staring at his mug as he trailed his thumb around the rim.
“Nah. You need to be here with me.” I placed another cake donut in front of him. “Helping me eat these.”
He faintly smiled. “Do you not feel guilty?”
“About what?” I asked around a mouthful of a chocolate donut. I was already eyeing a second.
Though small, a wave of sadness rippled off him. “Living peaceful lives while others fight in our place.”
I slowed in my chewing. That guilt? Yeah. I definitely felt it sometimes. Just because Lucifer and his dark army had been defeated didn’t mean demons had stopped being dicks. It didn’t mean the monsters, like ghouls and all the other evil jerks, had stopped killing people.
“I feel ya, brother,” I said. “There will always be bad guys out there. But whenever I feel guilty about it, Ti reminds me that I spent my entire life fighting. We all have. We deserve peace.”
Alastair said the same when I’d mentioned it.“We’ve given enough to the world. You owe nothing more.”
Kallias visibly mulled over my words before taking a drink of his latte. “Peace is still a strange concept for me.”
“So are microwaves.”
He choked on a laugh. “You’re right. Maybe one day, both will feel more natural.”
“We could always visit the training field,” I suggested before grabbing another donut. “Watch our mates sweat under the sun and swing their mighty swords.”
“And work off these donuts while we’re there.” Kallias grabbed another as well.
We exchanged a smile.
Yeah, it’d take more time, but eventually, this peaceful life on the island would feel as natural as flying.
Titan
Waves kissed the shoreline before slowly retreating with the tide. The gentle crashing echoed along the beach, rolling over one another. I closed my eyes and breathed in the salty air. Felt the fading warmth of the sun on my skin. It inched toward the horizon. An end to another day.
Sunsets no longer bothered me. They hadn’t for quite some time. As Raiden once said, it wasn’t goodbye. It was only “see you later.”
“Well, this is familiar.”
I turned to see Baxter. He wore board shorts and a white shirt that was unbuttoned, showing off his chest and abs. His pink-and-black hair hung freely instead of his usual spikes. It made him look younger. More like the Baxter I’d first met that night so long ago who had been drunk and heartbroken.
“Good evening,” I greeted him.
He came to stand beside me. The tide rolled in and brushed our feet. “I remember finding you like this once. You were fretting over a certain gentle giant of a Nephilim with pretty blue eyes.”
“I wasn’t fretting over him,” I said, although I had, indeed, been thinking of Raiden back then. Confused by him and the feelings he’d awoken inside my chest. “His eyesarepretty though.” I liked how the edges crinkled when he smiled.
Baxter smirked.
“Perhaps you’re the one who’s come here to fret this time.”
“Me? Fretting?” He scoffed. “I’d have to care enough to do so.”
