Page 86 of Power Shift
“No. I need to get home, so if you need something, let’s skip the small talk.”
“You hold something of great importance to me.”
I stared. “Last time we spoke, you said I was of no importance to you and suddenly I have something you want?”
Her eyes glittered. “Things change.”
“Not usually,” I said. “Paranormals like things to stay the same. Change is a nuisance for most.”
“Chimeras are not most.”
“What do I have that you need so much?” I sent a soft pulse of magic through my body to keep my heart rate from spiking. There was only one thing I’d recently gained that might ping on her radar. But the question was, how did she know I supposedly had it?
The most probable answer sent fear rolling down my spine. She’d admitted knowing my mother. Was it possible they were working together? If that were the case, I was well and truly fucked.
Rhona’s gaze flicked to the new pendant. “Pretty,” she remarked. “Is it new?”
I fingered the gold cage of the obsidian. “A gift from a few years ago. No idea where they got it. But it is pretty, isn’t it?”
“Mmm.”
“I need to go. Since I’m not sure what you’re looking for, I can’t help you.”
“You know what it is, and I know you have it,” Rhona said softly. “It’s in your best interest to hand it over now. Otherwise things might get ugly.”
I adjusted my bag to free my hands. “I’m sorry you feel that way. I hope you find whatever it is you seek.”
“Don’t worry, Evie.” Her smile was cold. “I always do.”
Rhona turned and walked away, her hair blowing like a sheet of blood behind her back.
I waited until I was in the car and a mile down the road before I let myself shiver.
I dreamedof Griffin for the first time in months.
The front door was unlocked, unusual, but Griffin was absentminded sometimes. His work as an academic went in ebbs and flows.
Must be a flow, I thought as I came inside, quietly clicking the door shut. I’d gotten off early today and stopped by the bakery to get his favorite cookies—brown sugar oatmeal.
Once the box was set on the counter, and I’d kicked my shoes off, I grabbed a plate and a couple of cookies, then padded upstairs to his office. That’s where he was ninety percent of the time, working on research or grading papers or…all of the other things he did I had yet to understand.
I smiled and reached to push open his door when a soft sound from our bedroom had me turning toward the master. Griffin never napped, but maybe he didn’t feel well.
Not thinking anything of it, I turned and went to the bedroom, pausing at the entrance as soft laughter came through the cracked door.
My blood froze. That was not Griffin’s laughter, nor was it the sound of his phone or the television. I squared my shoulders and told myself this was not what it sounded like, and Griffin would have a good reason for having a woman in our bedroom.
He’d always been a little awkward socially, but he made up for it with the care he took with my heart. I pasted a smile on my face and pushed open the door.
Love is a funny emotion. It’s found in the smallest of gestures, a smile, a touch, a cup of coffee by the bedside you didn’t make. But what no one tells you is sometimes that feeling can die with no notice and no preparation.
Some betrayals are too great for love to survive.
And while many love stories died by a thousand cuts, mine died with a soft, feminine laugh and the play of muscles as my husband rose above a woman who wasn’t me.
I woke with a pained sob, feeling that same crack in my heart that I felt when I realized what Griffin had done, was doing. My palm pressed over that spot, healed but still a little tender.
I survived his betrayal and the fallout, and I knew I would make it through the worst of things. What came after almost broke me.
