Come Out Swinging (Reach for the Moon Book 2), Sam Hall [leveled readers .TXT] 📗

Stevie said. “I saw first-hand how he helped the humans of the lands he touched to rise up, gain strength in their numbers, as the many other gods they took into their hearts did. They needed that. They are weaker, easy prey, their minds too easily dazzled by us. They needed someone in their corner.”

“But not us,” I grated out, knowing the answer.

“We have our own gods and our own ways, and they are not the ways of humans. They never will be. Some want to go back to the bad old days of holding them under our sway, but me?” Her accent was slipping, something much more strident coming forward. “I want a balance. The humans always needed something to fear in the dark of night. It gave them perspective. But no matter what, I can’t watch any more women like your mother die like that.”

“You knew Mum?” I barely breathed the words out.

“I knew your mother, your aunt, your grandmother, your great-grandmother, right back to the first maiden. I was there, watching when they took her. I cried when she cried, screamed when she screamed, curses on my lips, all my hard worn objectivity tossed aside when they tore her apart.” One breath, two breaths. “But she came back beautiful, whole, and stronger than ever, stepping out onto the moonlit grass as the Mother stared down, a fucking goddess. I was just supposed to watch, record, and observe, but…”

Her voice cracked, shredding with emotion I didn’t understand, but I couldn’t ask why. Struck dumb by her break in composure, I saw panoramic images in my head in response to her words, and I was willing to bet everyone in the room did too.

“That was the start of it all, and now I’m here to see the end.”

“With vague prophecies and prognostications,” I growled out.

“What does any hero ever get?” she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “I can’t tell you what happens in the end. It’ll spoil it, change it. Just know I’ll be watching, waiting, hoping…”

“For what?” I asked, knowing it was useless to ask but unable to stop myself.

“For you to come into your powers and then pass the burden on.”

“Right.” My voice was sharp, crisp, already pulling the phone away from my ear. “I’ll be in touch if we decide to head back to town.” I didn’t wait for her reply, ending the call abruptly. For a moment, all I could do was stare at the shadows on the wall, observe the way they slowly faded back to nothing. Then I straightened up and looked around the room.

“You saw all of that?” I asked, a redundant question, but I got the slow nods anyway. “Nothing unexpected, I guess. It confirms what we’ve already learned.”

“Except what it says about our future.” Greta settled back against the couch. “I’ve seen revolutions come and go. I was a child when the Nazis rose in my country. I don’t remember much from the war, didn’t see the disgusting, horrific things done to those they put in the concentration camps, but I saw the aftermath. So much pain, so much destruction.”

If you’d asked me before, I would never have thought she was old enough to have those memories, but as she spoke, something seemed to come over her, repress her natural vitality.

“There are no bloodless revolutions, I will tell you that. No change without pain.” Her eyes burned into mine for a few beats before she shook her head, sitting up and becoming all business again. “But if this is what must be, then we will train you as best we can. Margaret, make the calls, gather the other matriarchs. Tell them it’s time.”

“Of course, Mother,” she said and got to her feet.

Chapter 37

When they left, Zack drew me up by the hand he held and looked over his shoulder to the others. “C’mon,” was all he said before walking down the hall to the main bedroom.

If this was our jail cell, we were being spoiled. Like the place Zack had built, a massive bed spanned the back wall of the room, leaving more than enough space for all of us, and all of us were going to be on it.

Zack drew me close now, an echo of what had happened in the haunted house, but so much better now. He pressed his mouth against mine, just feeling me for a second, before parting my lips and forcing his tongue in. He kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in weeks, like he had nearly lost me and couldn’t believe he had me in his arms right now, and that felt right. I found myself clawing at his shirt, disgruntled at even a thin barrier being between us, something he righted quickly, pulling back for only a second to whip it up over his head.

Fuck yes… I thought as my hands touched his hot skin, felt all those well-developed muscles tense and flex as he moulded my body to his. He suckled my bottom lip for one last time before pulling away and placing a gentle kiss on my forehead and letting me go.

“Always thinking of everyone else,” I said, my fingers still lingering on his skin as he pulled back to let the others come through. “Making sure everyone gets their needs met.”

“We’re all wound up tight as a vise after what fucking happened, about what will happen.” His eyes took in the others briefly. “We’re a team, and we need to work as one, but…” Those eyes blazed bright as they met mine again. “If you think I’m not gonna lick, suck, and stroke every damn inch of you before I force my knot into you, you’re insane. I need you just as much as they do. Need to feel your skin on mine, need to feel you gasping beneath or above me. Need to lock myself deep inside you. So see to your mates, placate them, then tease them out of this