FavoriteObsession (26 page)

Josh followed Jazz and Rafe’s retreating car with his eyes.
Molly poked her furry head over the backseat. He waved and waited until the
vehicle disappeared before giving in to his rage. He grabbed the nearest thing,
an Adirondack chair, and flung it off the porch. It hit a nearby tree with a
satisfying crunch. The second and third brand-new wooden chairs met the same
fate.

He reached for the fourth but paused with his fingers
wrapped around the arms. The few times Mira had been over she’d sat in this
seat. He dropped down in it and held his head. The pressure in it made the
world around him take on that weird haze where colors dimmed and grays
sharpened.

Deep, controlled breaths eased the pain. He conjured Mira’s
imagine. Instead of soothing him, it made the whirling emotions worse. He
needed her but she’d refused to answer his calls. Instead, she’d texted him and
told him she wanted a few hours to think things through and she’d talk to him
after her fake date with Micah.

He only let her go because he knew Lena was with her, not
one of her other suitors. He also knew Mira had to go through with the charade.
If there was a chance Micah had any involvement in Sam’s murder, they needed to
know. Hopefully, the little prick would make a slip they could call him on.

The door banged shut. A moment later, something cold pressed
against his arm. He grabbed the water bottle without opening his eyes,
untwisted the cap and chugged.

The porch swing groaned and the rhythmic creak as it swung
on its rusty hooks filled the silence. With Megan staying at Rafe’s house and
Molly gone, he’d better get used to it. No chance of that happening. The quiet
irritated the fuck out of him.

Josh waited for Devin to say something. He’d come over with
Rafe and Jazz, pleading their case. No need. As soon as Josh learned of Micah’s
threat, he’d agreed wholeheartedly with their suggestion to get the little girl
somewhere safer. He sure as hell didn’t like it but his wants came last.

“It’s only temporary.”

Devin’s gravelly voice made the thump in Josh’s head worse.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded, best he could do.

The swing squeaked and the pressure between his ears
increased with each shrill whine. Josh ground his teeth.

“Megan misses you. She doesn’t understand why she can’t stay
here.”

Josh forced his heavy eyelids apart. “I’ll stop by before I
go to the bar tonight and see if I can get through to her. It’s just too damn
dangerous for her to be around me.” The bright afternoon sun blinded him. He
closed his eyes and blessed darkness cocooned him. He wanted it to wrap it
around him like an inky blanket that would take all his pain away. “Sam’s
murder worries me. Abby’s new boyfriend obviously didn’t like what he had to
say.”

“Or that he didn’t have any evidence.” Devin cursed. “No
word on where Abby is?”

Josh shook his head and regretted the motion a second later.
His stomach rolled. He swallowed the bile down. “No, both Abby and Zeb are
missing and nobody knows anything about the mysterious boyfriend. Ella’s on top
of it. She’ll find them.”

“The wolves are prowling the woods behind the cabin hoping
to pick up some tracks but without a scent we don’t have much to go on besides
the tire tracks in the road.”

Josh worked his jaw back and forth. He wanted to be out
there with them, but he hurt too damn much to tramp around the forest. He
peered at Devin through cracked eyelids.

“Do you think it’s the Council?”

A shrug accompanied Devin’s grunt. “Maybe but it doesn’t
make sense that they’d send a human to watch you and Mira have sex, not unless
they wanted the humans to learn about us.” He shook his head. “No, that’d be
suicide.”

Or a brilliant plan. Gather evidence to use as blackmail so
they could force Mira’s compliance and secure Molly. He sighed. No use thinking
about the whys. Josh turned his focus back to Devin’s words. No animosity had
accompanied his acknowledgement of what he’d shared with Mira. “What? Aren’t
you going to tell me I made a mistake?”

Another shrug. “Does it matter? The deed is done and both of
you will have to deal with the consequences.”

Yeah, they would. Josh closed his eyes instead of
commenting.

A long moment passed before the creaking resumed. He waited
for Devin to say something else. He didn’t and Josh’s patience snapped. “Just
say it and get out of here.”

“I’m worried about you.”

Yeah, Devin wasn’t the only one. Josh shrugged. “Don’t be.
I’m fine.”

“My cats don’t think so.”

Josh snorted. “Really? So what do they think is wrong with
me?”

“Do you remember anything about the night you got into the
fight with Zeb?”

The question shocked him enough to force his eyes open. He
squinted against the glare and brought Devin’s concerned face into focus. “What
does that have to do with anything? I healed up just fine.”

The lie soured his stomach. The alternative, however, made
the churning worse. The night he’d passed out started all the bizarre things
going on with him.

“My cats never really paid much attention to you before that
night.” A sheepish look passed over his face. “I mean, they acknowledged their
responsibility to you because of what Mira did but that’s it. Now…now you’ve
captured their attention.”

Hoping to lighten the mood, Josh closed his eyes and
grinned. “I thought Lena was the only one who could do that.”

He heard the whoosh of air and snatched the water bottle
Devin hurled at his head before it made contact. The realization of what he’d
just done struck him. He pried one eyelid open.

“You see? You’re not quite…normal anymore. Human normal,
that is.” Devin leaned forward. “You lied about only getting a little cut,
didn’t you?”

Josh nodded. No use denying it, not anymore. The mess he’d
hoped to avoid by keeping it quiet found them anyway.

“What really happened that night?”

“Zeb didn’t just cut me. He gutted me and left me there
bleeding and…” Josh pulled the memory out, let the details wrap around him. He
recalled the talk with Zeb and the pathetic fight that ended up with Josh
bleeding on his bar’s parking lot and…pain, not just from the knife that had
cut him.

“Burning. I remember burning from the inside out. I thought
I was going to explode.” A shiver ran down his spine. He grabbed at his neck
and coughed, the sensation of something slithering down his throat as real as
it had been that night. “I couldn’t breathe. I was choking.”

“On what?”

He shrugged. Oil? Slime? “Blood, I guess.”

Devin sighed. “What else? Come on, Josh. Think.”

“Apple pie,” he admitted. “I thought I was dying. I smelled
apple pie and thought my gran was there to lead me to heaven. She wasn’t
though.”

“Someone came to you.”

Josh flashed back to the night. The darkness of the unlit
lot pressed in on him but Devin’s words brought another memory forth—music,
singing and someone walking toward him. The dream he kept getting glimpses of
every time he closed his eyes was real.
Shit, shit, shit.
Josh swallowed
hard and nodded.

“Tell me about the golden light.”

He hadn’t said anything about it but the eagerness in
Devin’s voice stopped Josh from questioning him as to how he knew that.

“It came just like all the near-death victims claim to
experience. The world brightened then centered into a single…point.” Golden
arms, golden hair, golden… “Eyes. Golden eyes looked down at me. A woman with
golden eyes. She was glad I was dying.”

The swing groaned. A moment later, Devin squeezed his
shoulder. “I think you’ve been blessed, my friend.”

“Blessed? Yeah, right.” He forced a chuckle to stop the hope
from rising. “I let my guard down and allowed myself to get hurt then stupidly
thought I could handle Zeb on my own.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. There’s a reason the golden
goddess is described that way. She’s golden from head to toe with molten yellow
eyes…golden eyes.”

“Your goddess won’t come to me. She only appears to pride
leaders. That’s what I’ve been told. I’m not a shifter nor am I a pride leader.
Those pop your theory, my friend.” Even though he wished they weren’t true.

Devin released his shoulder. The floorboards squeaked as he
walked across the porch. “No, you’re not a shifter, but that’s why my cats are
fascinated with you. You smell like a human. You just don’t feel like
one…here.” Devin thumped his chest. “Hard to explain, Josh. They just know.”

Josh made a noncommittal sound instead of continuing to
argue. He just didn’t have the energy to keep it up.

“Josh.”

He glanced at Mira’s twin.

“They said you need to stop fighting, let it happen or else
you’re going to die.”

“I thought your animal spirits couldn’t talk to you.”

Devin inclined his head slightly. “Not in words but mine
have needed more attention over the years. I understand how they think and know
their wants and needs better than my own sometimes. They want you to sleep and
embrace the pain before it becomes too great and stops your heart.”

Josh appreciated Devin’s effort to help him. It didn’t
change anything. As far as he was concerned, he needed a doctor because the
rapid beat and sharp stabbing centered in his chest worried him. A nap wouldn’t
help…although he was damn tired.

“Sure. I’ll grab a few Zs before I get ready for work. I
want to be there when Mira meets with Micah.” So he could kill the fucker if he
put his hands on her.

“I’ll wait for you.”

Josh bit back his curse. “I don’t need a babysitter.” He
patted his side where his pistol rested against his rib cage. “I’m good, even
have a permit to carry.”

“I don’t like the idea of leaving you unprotected.”

“And I don’t like the fact that everyone treats me as if I’m
incapable of taking care of myself or protecting Mira and the girls just
because I’m human.” He met Devin’s gaze. “Go home to your mate and leave me the
fuck alone.”

Devin cursed some more but did as he was told. He turned his
back and walked away. Josh waited until he drove past the tree line before
slumping in his seat. The sick feeling in his stomach threatened to heave his
guts, something he hadn’t done in years.

“If this is a blessing, I don’t want it.” He fucking hurt.

Minutes passed as he sat there and pondered Devin’s words
and everything that had happened to him over the past few days. One thought
took root—the golden woman had been glad he was dying. Another surfaced—royal
males tied their mates to them by causing a near-death wound and sharing their
cats with them.

He grabbed his throat and swallowed hard against the
sensation of something oily slithering into his gut. It hadn’t been blood she’d
given him to save his life. She’d kissed him and… Sweet Jesus. Had she gifted
him with his own set of cats?

Impossible, yet…the intense instincts, the ache in his gums,
the itch and burn of his fingertips. And the dreams, the unexplainable dreams
where he felt as if he were an active participant. Hope flared.

Stop being so stubborn, child.
The memory of a
woman’s words and a single crooked, talon-tipped finger calling him to the
place where he’d get his answers filled his head.

He ran his tongue along his teeth. No fangs. He rubbed his
thumb and forefinger together. No talons. He let his mind go blank. No images
came to him or thoughts from any other soul.

Not willing to let the hope fizzle, he willed himself to
turn into the lion he’d been in his dream. Nothing happened. He pictured every
detail, imagined what it’d feel like to walk around on all fours and embraced
the primitive instincts simmering inside him.

Fucking nothing happened. He peered at his tanned skin and
cursed.

“I’m a goddamn fool.” He had to let go of the desperate
ideas. Disaster lay ahead if he gave them life.

He unbent his stiff and achy legs and shuffled inside. A
couple of feet from the stairs, his knees gave out. He dropped to the hardwood
floor and clutched his chest. Bolts of electricity ripped from his heart to his
fingers and toes. Pain as he’d never known seized him. He couldn’t breathe,
couldn’t move, couldn’t see. A black blanket dropped over him, suffocating him
and taking the world away. He toppled and whacked his head off the bottom
stair.

He waited for the blessed darkness to take the agony away.
The relief never came. The pressure centered in his torso increased. The more
he fought it, the greater it became. He would’ve arched away from it, thrashed,
screamed, anything. He couldn’t. The balloon puffing his chest kept expanding
and locked his muscles into place.

A bright spot formed behind his closed eyes, not a golden
one. No, this was different, yet familiar. Colors flowed over the undulating
surface. Hues of reds to blues. Variations of black and white. They twirled and
mixed in an unending flux of…life. Yeah, the description fit. It pulsed with
life, his life. The beats reverberated down the white cord connected to him. It
mirrored his pulse and fed him strength, but with each passing moment, the
beats stuttered. Every thump resonated with less power than the last.

Another tether, this one a collage of shimmering fall
colors, extended from the opposite side of the sphere. Beautiful. He wanted to
get lost in the swirling kaleidoscope, but the rope was unraveling before his
eyes. He didn’t want to lose it. He’d never find his way home if it severed,
but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t grasp it.

The vortex spun faster and faster. Agony built with each
colorful thread that snapped. Too much. It was unbearable. God, he was dying.
Any minute the glowing ball would burst.

They want you to sleep and embrace the pain before it
becomes too great and stops your heart.
Devin’s voice whispered through
him.