Page 137 of For the Love of the Gods

I wished I could hug him. As if he could hear my thoughts, Pine wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. I couldn’t press hard, I would fall right through him, but I could feel a little resistance.

“I missed you, too,” Pine said, stroking a hand down my hair.

“How?” I croaked. This didn’t feel real, it was the subject of some of my most closely held dreams.

Pine grinned, and nostalgia punched me in the gut. “Your dear husband had a theory that you might be able to see me now that you’re married to him.”

“I was right,” Dominic said from behind me. Tears fell as the full weight of the gesture barreled into me.

“Don’t think you're off the hook, man,” Pine said, then covered my ears with his hands. I could still hear perfectly fine. “I’m still pissed. You slept with my sister.”

“Pine!” I gasped, then my face went beet red.

“The branch to the face wasn’t enough?” Dominic asked. I’d noticed a new scratch on his forehead but didn’t want to press it in case it had something to do with what he wanted to show me.

Guess it did.

“Not nearly enough,” Pine said, then shivered.

“Please don’t think too hard about it,” I begged.

“I try not to,” Pine said. “But when you two go after it like rabbits, it interrupts me trying to check on my sister.”

He checked on me? Yep, the well of tears was building again.

“I married her, at least,” Dominic defended.

“At least?” I shot back, looking over my shoulder at him.

“I love you, too. But that should have been implied.”

“Jackass,” I muttered under my breath and Dominic’s cheek twitched. I turned to find Pine smiling, like that exchange soothed him.

“I’ve only just decided not to kill you,” Pine said to Dominic. “It pains me to admit it, but I see how you are good for each other.”

“Damn right,” Dominic said. I could have sworn he puffed his chest out a little.

I didn’t know how much time we had and so I just leaned into Pine as hard as I could.

Pine moved me softly so that I could look at him, his airy limbs brushing my skin. “Dominic is right, Rose. Father did this. To both of us.”

I could only nod and take in the words. “I miss you,” I said. Barely believing this was real.

“We can see each other now,” Pine said. Not every day, not even often. But the chance was there. I relished the time we had together, asking Pine about how he’d found peace, him alternating between questions and minor threats for all the stupid shit I’d done in my grief.

When his body started to fade and flicker, Pine hugged me as tight as his soul could manage, then nodded to Dominic.

“Take care of each other,” he said, before fading away.

Dominic was behind me a second later, wrapping his strong arms around me and resting his chin on the top of my head. I reached up and grabbed both his biceps.

“Thank you,” I said, squeezing his arms lightly.

“Sorry I couldn’t tell you,” he said. “I wasn’t sure it’d work.”

“I’d have called you crazy.”

“Well, maybe I should have told you then. I don’t think you’ve called me that yet.”

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