to her in time.
She huffed.
Time. It all boiled down to time and whether they could change whatever had already happened.
And what of Col? The moment they changed Charity’s intended course of action, would he simply disappear from this time? Just vanish. Beside her one moment and gone the next as though he’d never existed? Would she even remember that he’d been here?
Or since it would never have happened…?
Her pulse sped up.
She didn’t want that.
She didn’t want to not know him, to never know that someone like him existed somewhere. It wasn’t fair.
A shiver shook through her body and her belly cinched up tight. More than anything she didn’t want to lose Col.
More than her sister?
She didn’t know. She just didn’t know.
She took her phone out and punched in Charity’s button. Col watched her curiously.
“She’s still not picking up,” she explained, holding the cell tighter while she listened to Charity’s recording of leave a message after the beep . “Char, as soon as you get this, call me back. It’s important. Really important. I’m heading to your place. If you’re there, don’t go anywhere.” She paused, chuffed a breath. “I mean anywhere .”
Chapter Fifteen
“What are we going to do now?” Lenore’s hands squeaked on the leather steering wheel. She’d just turned into Charity’s apartment complex and stopped the car.
The bloated troglodytes were everywhere, mostly in shadows and between parked cars or behind the dumpsters, a few pressed flat on the roof lines. The darkening sky gave their dark flesh good camouflage. Several more were by Charity’s door. They weren’t doing anything, just waiting.
For them?
For Charity?
They could already have Charity for all she knew. Charity wasn’t answering her phone. Dread tied knots in her stomach.
“How close can this car get me to that door?”
Lenore jerked a look at Col. His face was grim, jaw set and terrifying. He was going to go in after Charity, regardless of how many monsters were between him and her sister.
“You’ll never make it.”
He was already tugging the shirt over his head, grinning when his dark hair emerged. “Not in this form.”
The temperature suddenly plummeted or maybe it was the blood draining to Lenore’s toes. This was crazy, but she gripped the wheel tighter. She’d get him right to the front stoop if she had anything to do about it. “As close as you need.”
A smile tugged at his features. “I suppose ye will. Ye’re a spirited lass, Lenore Greves of Seattle.” A shadow passed into his light eyes. “I—“ He took her hand, curling her palm beneath his larger one. “I’ll miss ye. I’ll keenly miss ye.”
The muscles around her heart constricted. Or perhaps that was her heart itself ripping in two. “But you won’t.” Her voice was small, the most fragile of sounds. “If this works, you’ll be back in your time, never have come here, and you won’t know me. I won’t have even been born yet.”
They both stared out the windshield at hulky shadows of monsters between them and the means to unmake the past couple of hours, which Lenore was beginning to realize she didn’t want unmade at all.
Col nodded, coming to some indefinable decision. “If this moment is to be undone, then let us speak plainly.” He did look at her then, forcing her to also turn to him by the sheer magnitude of his will. “There is something between us. I know ye feel it too. I do not understand it, but…”
Plainly then. He wanted the truth and since this would all be erased, what did it really matter? The past day would be a cosmic do-over. “It frightens me.”
Col’s lips firmed into a hard line and he nodded. “Aye.”
That he could admit his own fears about it, somehow made it better, eased a bit of her own uncertainty. “I’m scared that it’s a false feeling born only of magic, yet now, I’m afraid I’ll never feel it again. I’m also afraid it is real between us. Very
She huffed.
Time. It all boiled down to time and whether they could change whatever had already happened.
And what of Col? The moment they changed Charity’s intended course of action, would he simply disappear from this time? Just vanish. Beside her one moment and gone the next as though he’d never existed? Would she even remember that he’d been here?
Or since it would never have happened…?
Her pulse sped up.
She didn’t want that.
She didn’t want to not know him, to never know that someone like him existed somewhere. It wasn’t fair.
A shiver shook through her body and her belly cinched up tight. More than anything she didn’t want to lose Col.
More than her sister?
She didn’t know. She just didn’t know.
She took her phone out and punched in Charity’s button. Col watched her curiously.
“She’s still not picking up,” she explained, holding the cell tighter while she listened to Charity’s recording of leave a message after the beep . “Char, as soon as you get this, call me back. It’s important. Really important. I’m heading to your place. If you’re there, don’t go anywhere.” She paused, chuffed a breath. “I mean anywhere .”
Chapter Fifteen
“What are we going to do now?” Lenore’s hands squeaked on the leather steering wheel. She’d just turned into Charity’s apartment complex and stopped the car.
The bloated troglodytes were everywhere, mostly in shadows and between parked cars or behind the dumpsters, a few pressed flat on the roof lines. The darkening sky gave their dark flesh good camouflage. Several more were by Charity’s door. They weren’t doing anything, just waiting.
For them?
For Charity?
They could already have Charity for all she knew. Charity wasn’t answering her phone. Dread tied knots in her stomach.
“How close can this car get me to that door?”
Lenore jerked a look at Col. His face was grim, jaw set and terrifying. He was going to go in after Charity, regardless of how many monsters were between him and her sister.
“You’ll never make it.”
He was already tugging the shirt over his head, grinning when his dark hair emerged. “Not in this form.”
The temperature suddenly plummeted or maybe it was the blood draining to Lenore’s toes. This was crazy, but she gripped the wheel tighter. She’d get him right to the front stoop if she had anything to do about it. “As close as you need.”
A smile tugged at his features. “I suppose ye will. Ye’re a spirited lass, Lenore Greves of Seattle.” A shadow passed into his light eyes. “I—“ He took her hand, curling her palm beneath his larger one. “I’ll miss ye. I’ll keenly miss ye.”
The muscles around her heart constricted. Or perhaps that was her heart itself ripping in two. “But you won’t.” Her voice was small, the most fragile of sounds. “If this works, you’ll be back in your time, never have come here, and you won’t know me. I won’t have even been born yet.”
They both stared out the windshield at hulky shadows of monsters between them and the means to unmake the past couple of hours, which Lenore was beginning to realize she didn’t want unmade at all.
Col nodded, coming to some indefinable decision. “If this moment is to be undone, then let us speak plainly.” He did look at her then, forcing her to also turn to him by the sheer magnitude of his will. “There is something between us. I know ye feel it too. I do not understand it, but…”
Plainly then. He wanted the truth and since this would all be erased, what did it really matter? The past day would be a cosmic do-over. “It frightens me.”
Col’s lips firmed into a hard line and he nodded. “Aye.”
That he could admit his own fears about it, somehow made it better, eased a bit of her own uncertainty. “I’m scared that it’s a false feeling born only of magic, yet now, I’m afraid I’ll never feel it again. I’m also afraid it is real between us. Very
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