Page 72 of Hooked on a Witch
Her heartbreak changed to anger. “I’m good. Probably best if we try to figure out things on our own from here.” She froze for a few seconds, her gaze locked on his, unsure what more she could say.
Merck remained silent, his eyes shuttered and hard. This must be his Enforcer side. Heartless.
With emptiness swelling in her chest, she walked out the front door.
***
Shannon’s name lodged in his throat. He wished he could ask her to stay, but what Danny had revealed meant anywhere away from him made her safe. The moment the front door latched behind her, his chest clenched so tight breathing became tough.
Let her go.He had few options otherwise to keep her safe.
Shaky from fighting his urge to chase after her and soothe her hurt, he clenched his hands and returned to the kitchen. His eyes caught on a fork with a few pie crumbs that hadn’t made it to the sink. She’d made him pie—damned good pie. The best pie he’d ever tasted. No one had ever made him pie or cinnamon rolls before.
As he slumped into a chair, for the first time in his life he considered giving in to self-pity over the shit that drove his existence. He’d never asked for the responsibility of keeping people safe. He wanted Shannon and everything that came with being with her—laughing and eating her home-cooked food. But being with her didn’t jive with being the Enforcer.
He cast his gaze out the window to the water, which beat at the docks as if reflecting his inner turmoil. The house was so empty without her.
He didn’t want to shake her free of where she’d lodged herself deep in his soul.
This might be love. Hell if he knew. This waxing- poetic shit wasn’t the sex talking.
He couldn’t—wouldn’t—live with himself if she died and he hadn’t done everything possible to protect her on his last day of life.
Oh, hell. He only had one more day.
Despair slammed into him. He pictured himself sliding into a puddle of hopelessness. Alone with his misery. Sounded like a sappy country song.
Enough.He put a mental lockdown on defeatism and shoved personal desires into the back of his mind. He had a job to do. On his last day he’d get it done. Doing so might save her life.
He would find the Trident for her. If he couldn’t, he’d bargain with his father as his death-day request, even though he had no negotiating power.
Danny glanced up from his phone where he’d been emailing or texting. “You look like pecked-over roadkill.”
Yeah, he felt like it. “Owen and his entourage will be coming soon. Daytime most likely.”
Danny nodded. “I thought he’d come to South Carolina for her, but the bug Chad planted in his rental picked up a conversation that revealed it’s you he’s interested in. He wants to find her, but he doesn’t know where she’s gone. He’s got no clue she’s here. Why would he want to find you?”
“Owen figured out my parentage back when his father dated my mother. Where best to search for Poseidon’s Trident than to start with his son?” The one time he’d visited his “mother” out in Los Angeles when he’d been twenty, he’d gotten into a drag-out brawl with Owen over something stupid on the beach before his “mother”, who’d been dating Owen’s father, had broken them up. The water had crept up the beach like fingers until it reached him and fixed every bit of injury from their fight within seconds. That was the danger of doing anything close to the ocean. It sought to protect him.
He’d never forget Owen’s expression. He’d ghosted white. A conniving expression passed over his face, there for no more than a few seconds, as if filing away the information for future use. If Merck had been after Poseidon’s Trident, the first place he’d start was someone he suspected to be a water god’s offspring or who had water abilities. Why he’d waited so long after Shannon got stabbed to come across the country and “talk” with him made no sense.
After years of monitoring Owen’s activities, him seeking the Trident surprised Merck. Owen might be fascinated by magic, given he was descended long, long ago from Orion, and he might’ve even dabbled in some magic, but Owen never came across as inherently evil. Merck suspected this had more to do with the necromancer and whatever sway she held over Owen.
“What are we going to do?” Danny asked.
“Let them come.”
“They’ll kill you.”
“Thanks for the faith.”
Danny twirled his keys around his index finger, a telling gesture he did when nervous. “I’m worried. I doubt he knows everything about you. I don’t even know everything about you. God knows what they’re planning.”
“I don’t want you around when they find me. I suspect he’ll be toting a necromancer with him. Anaïs.”
“I feel like a dick for hurting Shannon.” Danny scrunched up his face and gazed toward the front door. “I’m not sure you can repair this one easily.”
“I needed her to leave and stay away from me, at least for now. She should be safer with her people if she stays with them and stays low. Thanks for playing along.”
