Page 10 of Definitely Dead

With a nod, Rune crossed the narrow street to stand beside the female. “Come on, kid.” He jerked his head to the side, toward the river. “I have a feeling things are about to get messy.”

To her credit, she didn’t immediately agree. Stepping past him, she stopped right in front of Sunne, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

“I’m really sorry this happened to you. I would take it back if I could.”

Sunne smiled and shook his head. “Actually, I think I’m right where I’m supposed to be.” He didn’t turn, but he sent a brief glance at Tyr from the corner of his eye. “Go find your dad.”

The girl bit her lip, clearly uncertain.

“Really,” Sunne assured her. “Everything is fine. I’ll probably even see you in a few days.”

Tyr couldn’t tell if he really thought that or if he had said it for her benefit. He really hoped it was the latter.

Hades had agreed to let him and the other Guardians remain in the Underworld with Orrin…under one condition. They could never cross the river. The god hadn’t said why, nor had he elaborated on what would happen if they broke the rule.

None of them wanted to find out, though.

“I’m going to hug her,” Sunne told him, his eyebrows winging toward his hairline. “Don’t growl.”

Tyr could only nod. He had nothing personal against the teenager. Hell, he didn’t even know her name. He just didn’t particularly like her touching his mate. Despite knowing how irrational that sounded, after being sucker punched by fate, it didn’t really change anything.

But he could keep it together while they said goodbye. As long as Sunne didn’t make it a habit of hugging strangers, it would be fine. Probably.

As he waited—every cell in his body on lockdown—it occurred to him that it should have felt weird being mated to a dead guy. Mostly, however, he just hated that he hadn’t been able to prevent Sunne’s fate. And sure, if the guy had been a ghost without a corporeal body, maybe things would be different.

Thankfully, in the Underworld, souls pretty much existed the same way they had in life. The Tower even had indoor plumbing. No one knew exactly how it worked. Like everything else, it just did.

“You’re an Otherling,” Sunne said once the girl had disappeared down the hill with Rune.

It wasn’t a question, but Tyr nodded anyway.

“Shifter?”

Technically correct. He nodded again.

“Not a regular shifter, though.” Sunne smiled and took a step toward him. “I’ve never seen a shifter’s eyes glow like that.”

Tyr grunted his approval. His mate was perceptive, and he seemed to have a better understanding of Otherlings than a lot of humans.

“No, not a regular shifter,” he confirmed. “I guess you would call me a berserker. A bear shifter—”

“With magic,” Sunne finished for him, his eyes rounding. “That’s pretty badass.”

Yes, but not in the way the guy probably meant it. The intrinsic magic that flowed through him let him heal in real time, making him nearly indestructible. He was faster, stronger, and more powerful than even his fellow Otherlings, but he couldn’t cast spells or move objects with a flick of his wrist.

Sunne shoved one hand into the pocket of his jeans and rubbed his other up and down his arm. “I just work at a library. Well, I used to.” Sadness flickered across his face, and he shook his head. “Poor Miss Opal.”

Tyr frowned. “The girl?”

“No.” In response, he laughed in a quiet, musical way. “The girl is Lizzie. Miss Opal is the head librarian. Between you and me, she kind of looks like she died years ago, and someone reanimated her corpse. She is still very much alive, though.”

Tyr’s lips twitched. Not quite a smile, but he found his mate’s conspiratorial tone amusing. The male had a gift for words, and it seemed fitting that he had worked with books before his death. He had never met this Miss Opal, but he could picture her clearly from Sunne’s description.

“And you’re worried about her?” he asked, trying to understand what had elicited the moment of sadness.

“Not her exactly.” Sunne rounded his shoulders and rubbed more vigorously at his arm. “I’m more worried about what this might do to the library.” A sigh bubbled from his lips, and he shook his head. “It’s complicated.”

He assumed “this” was in reference to Sunne’s death, which he now guessed had happened at his place of work. And it somehow involved a teenage girl? Not the strangest way someone had ever died, but he did have questions.

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