Lifethread: McKenna's Story (An Excerpt)

Ch 2 (Lifethread is also available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble) :)

Two

Atropos dumped me back on the bench in front of Merritt and Shea, and the reality of Earth suddenly became too intense—the wooden bench marred by months of rainwater pooling on the slats, the sunlight catching and highlighting pollen floating in the air, the smell of burned coffee from the open door of the bookstore.

I pressed the heels of my hands hard against my eyes. Just three teenage girls with nothing better to do but chat away their lunch break. Hah.

“Nathan.” His name came out all squeaky, like I’d swallowed one of our sleek black cat’s kitty toys. I know, putting a black cat and priestesses together is like a cliché in the extreme. But Oliver Biscuit is our pet, only a pet, and nothing like a familiar is to a witch.

“Say what?” Merritt glared at me, arms crossed, foot tapping. Her skirt had lengthened by several inches. Guess she didn’t want Lachesis to catch her acting like booty bait.

Get it together, McKenna. This is not the time to flip out. I sucked in a breath. “Human. Assignment. Nathan.” The reality of my new status slammed into me and I almost puked up my latte.

“Whoa. The hottie?” Merritt’s expertly plucked eyebrows hiked up under her bangs.

“No.” Shea had faded to nothing but dark purple eyes again. “Not Nathan Quinn. It’s some other Nathan, right?”

“Sorry, Shea. You got it in one. I have to cut Nathan’s lifethread.” Fear skittered along my nerves, and sweat broke out where I shouldn’t have any sweat glands.

“So glad you’re the one with the blade.” Merritt jacked her hip to the side.

I looked from one to the other a couple of times. “You might want to try giving me some support here. I have to end his life. His human life.”

“Hey, I’m limited to working with destiny and time.” Merritt flipped her hair. “Twisting, stopping, starting, and adding a few variations in a person’s destiny. I want nothing whatsoever to do with your killing gig.”

I skewered her with a look. “Big help you are. The thing is, the only way I can do this is to…oh, oh my gooood-ness. I’m going to have to become a second skin to that beautiful hunk of hottie. Watch his every step. Keep him within touching distance. Protect him with my life. Atropos would have a Fated fit if I let anything happen to him before the moment of severing his lifethread.”

Merritt snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Hey. Earth to McKenna. You’re over the top, sis. You haven’t earned your humanity yet, and cutting his lifethread does not, in any way, include bouncing bodies together, or other humanly acts of male-female behavior. This is strictly priestess work.”

“It does mean I have to stick to him, like…duct tape. Doesn’t that stuff attach for life? There’s no other way. Really. Tape, glue, skin-to-skin, whatever works, I’m on it.” And there was absolutely no way I was going to let Merritt spoil my plans to get up close and personal with Nathan Quinn. So maybe he’d be in a fog all the time, brain working at half-frequency. It would give Shea a chance to do her creativity thing and fix whatever had gone wrong with him.

She’d been fading in and out, and finally settled into corporeal form firmly enough to grab my arm in an Iron Man clench. “I need to fix it. Fix him before you cut his lifethread. You can’t let him go, McKenna, you just can’t. Not yet.”

Merritt fisted her hands on her hips. “Say what? Vets fix dogs and cats. Nathan would so not go for that.”

“This is not funny, Merritt.” Shea—glaring daggers at Merritt. A first.