Page 21 of Falling for Famine
It’d been the best kiss of my damn life, and it’d come from a guy I couldn’t even be sure was into me, and more importantly, one who had a foot out the door. Oh, and he was a supernatural harbinger of the apocalypse. What craziness two weeks could change, right?
Unable to stand the silence anymore, I asked, “Did you find Ares yet?”
His face didn’t show his surprise, but I picked up on it. “I have not.”
“But you’re looking?” I pried shamelessly.
He nodded and strolled beside me, invisible to the world. Another pang of disappointment hit my gut, so I forced my eyes ahead.
“I hope you find her soon,” I said in all honesty—not because I wanted to die and leave Felix, but because I knew what it was like not to be around someone you cared about. He was probably worried out of his mind, and it hurt to think I’d been selfishly keeping him here.
I turned, stopping. When he noticed I had, he paused too. “Give me a day. I don’t have as many letters as I’d like, but I have enough. You’ve been…” My throat locked up. “You’ve been so kind to stay, but you need to be out there looking for your family, Ghost.”
I closed my eyes, fending off tears. “You told me no one can use my soul for the apocalypse but you, so the world is safe even if you leave me. Ares needs you, and there’s nothing else you can do for me here. So, give me one more day and then you can go find her.”
Those beautiful red eyes stared at me as if he couldn’t believe what I was saying. But as someone who’d found a person I cared so deeply about that I couldn’t imagine leaving him, I understood better than most what he was sacrificing to be here with me.
He might be quiet and a little weird—okay, a lot weird—but Ghost didn’t seem like a bad guy. If anything, I’d say he was nice. I wasn’t sure what brought him to me when he never intended to take my soul, but it didn’t seem like he planned to stay. I didn’t want him to be staying for me.
I started to walk again, but a hand stopped me. I startled when I felt him tug and drag me back.
“You want me to leave you to die, Nomi?” His gravelly voice washed over me like a caress.
“That’s…I…” I struggled to respond. And to think, I used to scoff at the women who got all tongue-tied with the hero.
He pulled me until I was pressed against him, and words were a little difficult to remember.
“Of course I don’t want to die,” I finally managed to mumble.
“Then why suggest I go?” he asked, head slanted, peering down into my eyes as if he’d find his answer in them. “Why give up now? Why not ask me to stay?”
It was the most he’d spoken in days, and I was having trouble formulating a response. Because the feeling of him, the closeness of his mouth, it woke up a hunger I’d buried nearly two weeks ago. Attraction I’d barely smothered. Fantasies I pretended I didn’t have.
“Thisisme fighting,” I growled, angry at his implication. “I didn’t give up, Ghost. I accepted my situation and made the most of it. I don’t have cool Horseman powers to fight off angels and demons. Best I’ve got is a joke that might distract them from killing me for a second, but yeah, no epic martial arts skills or hand-to-hand combat training against supernatural foes.”
It was a damn shame I preferred eating over exercise, but those moments shared with Felix in the kitchen were worth any fight I might’ve been able to put up when the time came.
I stared at his face in determination, noticing the subtle lines that appeared. “I know what my situation is, and I’m going to do what I can to fight back, but I don’t want to be the reason you sacrifice the people you care about to stay.”
“Nomi,” his voice was a whisper, and a shiver raced down my spine.
I was uncomfortable with how soft and beautiful he made my name sound when he said it. It always made me breathless and shaky. But right now, I needed to stay strong. I needed him to see I meant it.
“Ghost,” I answered, voice steady.
“Limos,” he corrected, the briefest of smiles lifting his mouth.
My jaw hung open in surprise. “Did you—”
His head snapped up and the violence in his stare cut me off. His eyes were beaming a terrifying red. His gaze whisked from left to right, and the cuties multiplied around us.
Suddenly, the area was covered in ice, everything except the place under my feet. Shadows I could’ve sworn were more human-shaped than shadow circled around us. Their red-orange eyes were the only thing that set them apart from the darkness around them.
My head turned just as something hit the ground. White-feathered wings spread and the woman they were attached towas suddenly joined by two others, each one with a long sword in their hand.
“He’s here,” one said, but none of them seemed to look directly at him. They searched the area around me as if he wasn’t visible to them.
“Get the girl before he has a chance to fight back,” the woman said to the others. “But don’t underestimate Limos.”
