“Not likely.”
“Exactly. Except mine doesn’t hurt anyone. The other one fucks over me and your family.”
He was right. His ridiculous prophecy helped to cut through some of the panic, allowing him to take his first easy breath since he realized the ghosts were missing. He needed to stay calm and act rationally.
Unfortunately, despite Fox’s sensible argument, they couldn’t toss aside the prophecy as utter nonsense. They couldn’t risk it. Not when he was sure Damon believed it completely. Even if it didn’t endanger the Varik family, it definitely put Fox’s life at risk.
“Winter, before we went to bed, you said you trusted me,” Fox said softly, his green eyes wide and earnest. “I swear I am not going to consciously do anything to lose your trust. Regardless of your reasons, you saved me from Damon’s instead of killing me. Please, I need you to trust me now. If I’m causing this, I’m not doing it on purpose.”
Maybe he was telling the truth. He had to get to the bottom of this. He had to know if this was tied to the prophecy or just a strange side effect of being around the witch.
“Even if you haven’t cast a spell, it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t see or hear the ghosts,” Winter said with a shake of his head. “I haven’t since I met you, and you’re the only thing that has changed in my life recently.”
Fox paled. He might not have done anything directly, but Winter was positive that the change in his ability was linked to the witch.
Reaching for his power, Winter easily pulled aside the veil. There was some small relief when the gift worked as it always had without a single hitch. He kept his eyes locked on the witch as he stepped into the opening and closed it again behind him.
Fox’s mouth fell open and he just gaped at where Winter had been just a second ago. “That is so cool.”
Winter dragged his eyes away from the witch and looked around the room. There was a ghost at the far side, standing by a shuttered window as if she was staring out of it. He hadn’t seen her when he was standing in the living world. He quickly walked over to the young woman wearing what looked to be a floral sundress.
“What are you looking at?” he asked just to see if he could still interact with them.
“Watching for the postman,” she murmured, not even looking over at him.
Everything seemed to be normal so far. Winter turned back toward Fox to find the witch looking around the room, as if searching for a sign of him. He was still invisible to the witch. Crossing the room again, he moved around Fox, coming within an inch of brushing against him. The witch shivered and slowly reached out to where he had been a second ago.
“Was that you? It felt…cold for a second.”
Winter continued to stand behind Fox, staring at him. The same fear of betrayal ached in Winter’s chest. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to trust Fox, wanted to believe in him, until he thought Fox had betrayed him. The witch was far more dangerous than Winter had first believed, and not because of any spells or magic he wielded. It was in his damn smile and light-hearted laugh. It was in Winter’s own fucking urge to protect him.
Goose bumps broke out across the man’s flesh as his eyes frantically searched the room for him. His heartbeat had grown fast enough that Winter could hear its muffled beat in his chest.
“Come on, Winter. This isn’t funny.” Fox closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He held it for a couple of seconds and slowly released it again. “He’s not going to hurt me. Winter won’t hurt me,” he repeated to himself very softly.
Those words were a knife into Winter’s heart. He was at war with himself. If he ended Fox’s life now, this prophecy nonsense would be at an end, right? But he couldn’t. Fox trusted him. Believed in him. He told Fox that he didn’t kill innocent people, and after spending the past thirty-six hours with Fox, every instinct was screaming that the witch truly was innocent. Even with this new ghost development.
Winter allowed himself a shout of pure frustration since no one but the ghost by the window could hear him. Why couldn’t he have one clear and easy answer?
Well, there was one he could still get.
Moving so that he was in front of Fox but standing several feet away, he parted the veil again, returning to the world of the living. Fox jumped and swore loudly.
“Come with me,” Winter said before turning on heel and marching toward his office at the rear of the loft. He shoved open the door, revealing a large desk covered in computer monitors. Hurrying over to the far wall, he unlocked one of the heavy-duty metal cabinets. It was filled with a wide variety of guns, knives, and ammunition. It was just one of his weapon cases. This one happened to have what he was looking for close at hand.