Page 41 of God Touched

Fuck it. It wasn't like he had hung around after their night together. Imogen had curled up in his bed after her bath and had fallen asleep waiting for him. Whatever was going on, he hadn't returned to tell her about it and had slept somewhere else.

This was precisely why she didn't fuck people she had any feelings for. She might not be able to quantifywhatshe was feeling for Arawan, but it was definitely something.

Imogen opened up her bike's throttle and let the engine's roaring drown out all her thoughts.

It was a little over an hour ride from the castle to Wrexham. After spending days living with Arawan, it was almost jarring to be back in the modern world with all of the cars, people and noise. She suddenly wanted to find a pub and get roaring drunk.

Imogen spotted Freya sitting in the window seat of a warm, cozy-looking cafe and had never been so pleased to see a familiar face.

Freya's smile lit up when she stepped through the door and hurried over to give her a hug. Imogen wasn't super touchy-feely, but she hugged Freya back hard.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? What's happened?" Freya said when Imogen still hadn't let her go.

"I'm fine. It's just really good to see you. It makes me feel grounded," Imogen admitted, and they sat down at their wooden table.

It was a cute and kitschy cafe with warm wood furniture, a roaring fire, and pretty landscape paintings on the wall. It was the kind of spot that tourists would squeal at and put photos on their Instagram.

"I hope the food here is good. I could eat a fucking horse," Imogen said, grabbing one of the menus. "Where's Bayn?"

"Who knows? I told him you sounded like you needed some girl time."

"Good call. I've had my fill of moody immortals. What are you guys doing here anyway?"

Freya rested her chin on her hand and stared across the table at her. "He's worried about you. We all are. He wanted to be close in case something went sideways."

"He's such an old woman, but shit did go down last night," Imogen said and stopped talking as a waitress came to take their orders. She had only drunk coffee all morning, and her stomach growled angrily at her. Maybe she just needed some food to settle her down.

"Don't leave a girl hanging. What happened at the ball? Did you find out who is working for Hafgan?" Freya pressed as soon as they were alone again. Imogen caught her up on her hunting efforts and outing Owain to Arawan. Their food arrived, and Imogen all but fell on her eggs and bacon.

"He's probably still in Arawan's dungeons spilling his guts literally and figuratively," Imogen said, cradling her coffee mug in her hand.

"It's a horrible business, but it needs to be done if he's got his own people working against him," Freya replied. She gave Imogen a long look. "What happened with you and Arawan? I know some courtier getting tortured isn't enough to get you, so…"

"So what, Freya?" Imogen asked, her temper rising.

"Emotional." Freya let out a sigh. "Gen, seriously. Tell me what happened that has upset you?"

"I fucked him, okay? Is that what you want to know? I fucked him, and he left after and didn't come back, and I'm furious with myself because I actually like the fucking fucker!" Imogen snapped, making people at the next table stop talking.

"Oh," Freya said, stirring her cappuccino. "You're freaking out because you have feelings. You should have just said so earlier so I didn't poke you."

"I don't know what to do. I don't like feeling this way."

"What way?"

Imogen reached for more bacon. "Out of control."

Freya laughed softly. "Yeah, I definitely know what you mean. These immortals know how to fuck with a girl's thinking, that's for sure. You were dumb enough to fall for a god, so you can't expect him to act like any other man you've ever met."

"I don't usually stick around long enough to get feelings. I can't escape my agreement with him, so I can't ghost him. Now that we have fucked, he might lose this weird curiosity he has with me and let me go," Imogen replied. She didn't like that idea much either. What was wrong with her? She wanted him to let her out of their bargain, didn't she? She was so confused.

"You need to go back and actually talk to him, you know that, right?" Freya said gently. "You literally can't run from him. You don't know why he didn't return to you last night. He said he was going to interrogate Owain? Maybe he was still in the dungeons. You just don't know, Gen."

"Yeah, I know. I just needed to get out, remind myself that his world isn't…my world. Eventually, he'll go back to Annwn, so it really doesn't matter what feelings I have."

Freya reached across the table and patted her hand. "Arawan has never lived in the human world before, but he's doing it now, and I think we both know Hafgan isn't the only reason. You two have a connection, and such a thing is so rare, Imogen."

"I know," she groaned. "But I'm an Ironwood, Freya. We don't do feelings. We go and get a tattoo and move the fuck on."

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