Page 31 of Runt's Haunted Ride
He took the bag. "You got it. I can get more. How long until you're back to yourself?"
"Those sticks are fine. I'll grow gradually—chick to juvenile phoenix, then back to my adult human form around hour twenty-four. Maybe quicker with the cinnamon, but it's been a while since I've been around it, so we'll have to see. The first twelve hours I'll be bird-shaped but growing. I'm going to look dreadful, but it's the process. My mom used to tell my sister and me that no one was beautiful all the time. Everyone has a rough-looking time. Once I'm an adult phoenix, I can shift back to myself."
"I'll keep you safe." His voice was steel. "I swear it."
I believed him. Against all logic, against three years of hopelessness, I believed him.
"But Jack, what if another silverback gets to me first? One squeeze and I'm dead."
"Already thought of that," he said, his expression fierce. "I told the President I need to be positioned close to the stage because I know phoenix physiology. That you're fragile right after burning, need specific handling, or you could die. He bought it. He doesn't want to lose his prize. Don't worry. I'll be near you when all the chaos breaks out."
"I'm kind of sad I'm going to miss all the action." I thought of something I'd forgotten to mention. "Jack, there's one more thing," I said, feeling heat creep up my cheeks again.
"What?"
"Because of the intensity of the regeneration fire, when I'm in my bird form, I'll have feathers, but when I regenerate back to my adult form... I'll be naked. My clothes will have been incinerated."
Jack's eyes darkened, and a slow smile spread across his face. "That's a benefit."
"Funny. It's embarrassing if I'm around people or somewhere I shouldn't be. Please, have clothes for me," I continued, trying to keep my voice steady despite the way he was looking at me. "Unless you want all of your club members seeing me—"
"Fuck no, I don't want any of those assholes anywhere around you," he interrupted, his voice a low rumble that sent shivers down my spine. "I'll have clothes ready."
"Jack," I whispered, suddenly very aware of how close we were standing. How his thumb was stroking the back of my hand. His eyes kept dropping to my lips. "You need to go, in case the red clown comes for me."
"Talk about assholes," Jack looked over his shoulder. "What's with those clowns?"
"What do you mean?"
"They're creepy as shit. Where did Mortis find them?"
I walked over to the side of the bed and sat down. "It's sad, really. Mortis preys on the desperate—those who have a heavy need, be it financial, loneliness, mentally, human, and magical. He makes massive promises, fills those needs, wins the people over. They come to trust him. Then he asks the question: 'Now that I've helped you, do you promise to serve me?'"
Jack sat down next to me. "Once they agree, he curses them, but they don't care because the original reason Mortis sought them out is gone. I've seen people actually thank him for cursing them." I shook my head. "The clowns were men once—bad men, men who shouldn't be in public. They freely bound themselves to Mortis. I heard their curses were brutal transformations into what they are now. Henchmen fits them perfectly. They're completely loyal to Mortis. His eyes and ears. Believe me, nothing happens in the carnival that Mortis doesn't hear about.He lets them do what they want except killing. He says there are things humans will overlook and things they won't."
Jack took my hands in his. "That's horrid. I hate that you've been here for so long."
"Me too."
"The plan will work, Kai, but I should go," he said, not moving. "Soon, they'll be looking for me."
"You should," I agreed, letting go of his hands.
But Jack held on to mine. He looked at me with a look I'd never seen before. He ran his other hand up my arm, bringing his forehead to mine.
"Kai," Jack's voice had gone rough. "If I don't leave right now—"
The words left my mouth before I could stop them. "Don't leave. Not yet."
His eyes searched mine. "Are you saying what I hope you're saying? Because you have to know that once I start, I don't think I can stop. The mate bond, it's—"
"I know. I feel it too." I put a hand on his thick thigh, which he tightened as soon as I did. "I don't know if it's because of the stakes or that I'm about to burn, or maybe that we won't make it out..."
He kissed me, cutting off my spiral of fear with his lips on mine. And unlike our first kiss, which was sweet and tentative, this one was desperate. Claiming. His hand came up to cup the back of my head, angling me so he could deepen the kiss, and I opened for him with a moan.
The mate bond exploded between us, flooding my system with heat and need. This. This was what I'd been missing, what my soul had been crying out for.
When we finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Jack rested his forehead against mine.
