Page 47 of Beyond the Storm
“Konnar is my best friend, just as Michael is yours.”
“I know.” I winked, copying what he’d done to me the previous morning. “Yet, it amuses me to see your reaction.”
He turned back toward the counter, but I saw the smile he tried to hide. Foolish, beautiful Nephilim. He should know by now that when it came to him, nothing escaped my eyes. I’d watched over him for far too long, loving him from afar.
“I feel you staring at me,” he said. The tips of his ears were slightly pink.
“Am I not allowed to?”
He glanced at me over his shoulder, his smile growing. “I like you staring. I never want you to look away.”
I couldn’t even if I tried.
***
The crackling fire filled the library with a warm, comforting glow as Alastair reclined on the couch with a paperback. The spine had no creases, a sign that this was his first time reading it. He was absorbed in the pages. I watched him from the doorway, enjoying the sight of him being swept away by a novel.
After he’d returned from dinner with Konnar, we had sat on the deck, staring up at the stars. They were much brighter in the celestial realm. I had then taken a shower while he’d come to the library.
“What are you reading?” I asked.
“Temporary Partnerby Nicky James.” Alastair patted the cushion beside him, and I approached before gently shifting his weight so I could sit behind him. He settled between my legs and rested his back to my chest. He marked his place before turning the book for me to see the cover of a blond male. “It’s the first book in the series.”
“A mystery?” Those were his favorite.
“Yes. There’s romance too. I’m enjoying it a lot.”
I smiled into his hair. “Will you read it to me?”
“I’m a quarter of the way through. You won’t understand what’s happening.”
“I don’t care.” I closed my eyes. “I only wish to hear your voice.”
As he read aloud, I held him against me and listened to the soothing inflections of his voice.
A memory stirred in my mind of a night in Echo Bay when Alastair had disobeyed my orders and met with Lucifer by himself. I had gone to help, resulting in him and his brothers using a teleportation stone to leave while I stayed behind to hold Lucifer back.
Weakened and bleeding from the sting of Light Bringer’s blade, I had been convinced I was about to die. Purah had been circling me with a crazed gleam in his eyes, twirling a dagger I knew would end my life. That’s when I’d imagined a moment much like this one: me holding Alastair while he read one of his beloved novels by firelight. Back then, it had been an impossible dream that I’d clung to in my final moments.
“Laz?” Alastair set the book aside and shifted in my arms to face me. His concerned expression confused me.
I felt it then. Wetness on my cheeks.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he said, smoothing away my tears.
“Nothing.” My voice sounded gravelly. “I was only remembering.”
“Remembering what?”
“How it felt when you were so far away from me.” I lifted a hand to his face. The warmth of his cheek beneath my palm brought more tears to my eyes. “You said our life together is better than you ever dreamed. But for me, it’s everything I never allowed myself to dream. It was too painful. Having you in my arms right now is like an answer to an unspoken prayer I dared not even hope for.”
Alastair held my gaze, his expression guarded. And then, he kissed me.
I grunted in surprise as his mouth slammed to mine.
“I hate you for making me emotional,”he telepathically told me as our lips met again. His fingers slid through the back of my hair and gripped it tight.
Ah. So that was it. Over a year together, and we both still struggled to show our true feelings. Hiding them for thousands of years was a hard habit to break.
