Gift: A paranormal Christmas Romance. by Jodi Kendrick

Author:Jodi Kendrick [Kendrick, Jodi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SoulGate Publishing
Published: 2024-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Nick cast a final glance over his shoulder at his brother, lingering at the door, and distantly noted Olivia’s tight expression as she stepped out of the cottage to follow him.

Guilt tightened his gut further.

Something isn’t right.

But he couldn’t allow himself to close the distance he was trying to put between Olivia and himself.

He couldn’t—wouldn’t keep her.

Everyone’s treating her like a Christmas puppy under the tree.

She had to go back.

Olivia didn’t belong in this place. She belonged in the living world, not this in-between place.

His heart swelled at the notion that his crew conspired to find him someone special, having reached out to one of the Fates for help.

I can’t.

I don’t deserve it.

She doesn’t deserve this existence.

But fate had indeed put someone in front of him, sent her stumbling into him that very night.

And she is perfect.

All the more reason to figure out how to get her safely home.

Safe.

What were those sulfuric things? Who would send them? Surely they’re connected to the events that O’Clery’s sister had warned them against.

A bid to infect the grove?

It had gone after Olivia.

Infect her, infiltrate the grove and ruin them?

Or hurt her to impede Nick’s ability to do the work?

“Odin’s teeth!” He growled, increasing his pace.

“Nick?” Olivia’s voice drew him back.

He spun around to see her rushing to keep up with his much longer strides.

She stopped short when her gaze landed on his face. She swallowed.

“I’m sorry.”

“What the hell for?”

Her shoulders rose, palms up. “For… this. All of this. Me being here. My presence is disrupting things when you all have so much to do. I would go back, Nick. Just help me do that.”

“I can’t.” His shoulders dropped as he realized his tension was putting her on edge. “And don’t be sorry, none of this is any fault of yours.”

“Sure.” Heavy with disbelief, her voice fell flat, as she shrugged, turning her gaze to the trees. “Where do we start?”

“Through here.” He led her to a cart waiting in the middle of a small clearing.

He ignored the tug on his chest as he caught the wonder returning to her lovely features when she turned her blue gaze up to the lights dancing over their heads. The wavering blues and greens made her eyes sparkle with such delight that it only enhanced her beauty.

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered.

Nick had been long immune to the sight of the Aurora Borealis pollinating the grove. He’d forgotten his own reactions to it from those distant early days. The sky could be blue, grey, brown—it no longer mattered.

Until now. Somehow, Olivia made it matter. She renewed the sense of wonder, like she peeled away the layers of film that had grown over his awareness. The deeply mundane repetition of their days, that weren’t even really days.

They cycled through sectors of time in this place that operated differently from earthly time. They still behaved as though their bodies required the sleep and sustenance of humanoid life, existing as ‘other’.

“There is a basket in the corner of the cart for seed collection.

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