Falling for the Fugitive by Lila Gwynn

Author:Lila Gwynn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: vampire, urban fantasy, paranormal, lesbian, fairy, ff, fae, sapphic
Publisher: Lila Gwynn

❧

The walk to my apartment was awkward; that was the only word for it. I considered asking how she was doing, what was wrong. I tried to put myself in her shoes. The society she tried so hard to break free of had rejected her. She worked hard to get where she was, though. Maybe it was bittersweet. Or maybe she hated that I basically dragged her back home.

I couldn’t stop imagining that sketch of Diosa on her file. Leandra knew she was bad news—and apparently someone else had thought so, too, to label her as dangerous. What exactly had she done to earn that damning stamp?

We stopped outside the door that led to the stairs to my second-floor apartment. I ached with familiarity; I hadn’t spent much time at all here lately, and certainly not the last few days as I worked with Allie and Phoebus. The Jade Spirit’s sign flickered over us, casting Leandra’s skin in a shaky red glow.

“I don’t like the way you keep looking at me,” she said.

“What?” I didn’t notice I was looking at her any kind of way.

“I’m not pitiful.” Nonchalant, she flipped her hair over the side of her face. “I sense that I can’t get over this threshold.”

I had the place saged. Beatrice Newell did her “uninvitation” ritual on the whole apartment so that Patricia and her cronies couldn’t come in while I was sleeping and cut my throat. This time, I watched Beatrice do it—last time there had been an incident involving an amnesiac goose. “You’re always welcome here,” I said.

She stepped over the doorway and into the dimly lit staircase with its uneven carpet. I remembered an earlier time in our relationship when she stood here in the rain and begged to come in to convince me to capture a mark for her that didn’t technically exist. She’d been so dramatic then. That happened not so long ago, but it felt like forever. Had she changed since then?

Had I?

“Thanks for letting me come here,” Leandra said. She passed by my wall mirror without casting a reflection. “I didn’t want to be alone. Yuki!” Leandra looked more like herself when she scooped my zombie cat into her arms, snuggling into her face. Yuki never let me pick her up, but now she purred, her single eye shut in bliss, as Leandra showered her in affection.

I was jealous of my own cat.

“Was it lonely?” I asked. “Being on the…being in Europe?”

Leandra set Yuki back on the floor and stroked her affectionately behind the ears. “Yes,” she said, only paying attention to the cat.

“Can I get you anything?” I removed my jacket, running fingers over the lacerations on my torso from the broken glass. That really had been an awful idea.

“Olympia.”

I turned to her.

“I forgive you for getting me…locked up. I see your intentions weren’t bad. Just idiotic.”

My smile was watery. To think I’d really done that to her after she’d come all the way back here for me. Another thing to add to the guilt pile.

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