Page 40 of Ghostly Touches

But just as I see the understanding flash in her eyes, I also see the horror. She gasps again before yanking her hands away from my face. Immediately, the feeling of wholeness vanishes. The abrupt departure of it sends a cold shock to my system. Instinctively, I reach for her wanting, noneeding, to feel it again. She steps back, until her back hits the mantle.

“What is it?” I ask, feeling confused and strangely hurt that she would look at me withfear. Hadn’t she enjoyed the same feelings I had felt?

Willow shakes her head back and forth. Her bottom lip trembles.

Viktor leaps up from the couch. I can hear his feet stomping towards us, but I can’t take my eyes off Willow’s face. Everything has changed. I can feel the certainty of that as strongly as I feel this connection to the woman in front of me. For whatever reason, I couldn’t feel a pull towards her before, but now as I stand here facing her, I can. As if our souls needed to touch to find the connection. Now that they have, I have a feeling that I’ll always be able to trace it back to Willow, no matter where we are.

“What the hell is going on?” Viktor demands, moving closer to Willow. “I’ll kill you if you’ve done something to Theodon.”

I don’t remember moving, but suddenly I’m facing Viktor, standing between him and Willow, bearing down on my brother.

“Back off, Viktor. Willow has done nothing to me.” My words come through my clenched teeth. The thought of Willow being hurt, or killed, violently repulses me. My body flinches at the thought. I can’t lose the person who can elicit such a feeling inside of me.

Funny, since I was so sure I could kill her only moments ago.

“Then what the hell happened?” Viktor asks.

I stare at him a moment longer, daring him to take another step. When he doesn’t, I slowly turn to Willow, who looks dazed.

“Willow, what did you find?” I’m surprised at how soft my voice becomes when I talk to her.

“I… let me check the others before I tell you,” she hedges nervously.

“I’ll go next,” Viktor says.

His suspicion hasn’t abated. I can hear it in his voice.

“I can take whatever you dish out, little necromancer.” He moves to sidestep around me, but I block him.

“Remember who you are, Viktor. Self-control is necessary while Willow does her examination.”

The surprise that crosses his face should concern me. Am I acting out of character, or am I simply fed up with dealing with his behavior? Right now, I don’t care if I have said something untoward to Viktor. Willow can’t be harmed. I may not have cared about what happened to the little necromancer before, but now, things have changed.

She can give melife… possibly even renew my purpose in this world.

“I’ll behave,” Viktor concedes with a grumble.

When he nods, I step out of his way but stay close to Willow’s side in case Viktor snaps again. The two of them glare at one another as he stops in front of her. When she doesn’t reach out to him right away, he huffs,

“We don’t have all day.”

“Sorry, I have to brace myself before touching a piece of shit.” Her words are followed by a short-lived sneer.

Viktor’s lip curls upwards as he glares at her. “I cannot wait to be done with you.”

“Same.”

Without any further preamble, Willow reaches up to grab his face. The move puts her on the balls of her feet, and this annoys me. Viktor could at least try to bend down so she doesn’t have to strain. Her eyes flash, and there is a moment of silence.

Viktor falls to his knees before her with a strangled cry of surprise.

Willow’s eyes grow large again, the animosity vanishing as wonder and fear replace it. Under her thin shirt, I note the way her nipples harden and her breathing quickens. My dick, in the process of softening, grows hard once more. The two of them stay like that for a moment longer before Willow pulls her hands away from his face. Viktor’s hands lift up slowly, as if to take hers to place them back on his face, but he freezes, looking confused. Willow steps around him, her face twisting in revulsion.

“What wasthat?” Viktor chokes out a moment later, twisting on his knees to follow her movement.

“What is it? What did you feel?” I ask curiously.

Jonah shuffles on his knees to see what’s going on.

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