Be My Hero (Forbidden Men #3)(5)

Shit. It didn't seem possible. I had never done anything good enough to deserve a life like the one I'd just had a glimpse of. Elation roared through my veins until the f*cking witch shook her head.

"No. It's only your future if you live to your heart's content," Madam LeFrey repeated solemnly.

"So…" I gulped, wanting to deny it. "It's not true then? It won't really happen?" More tears filled my eyes. Would I never meet that girl? Would I never have a beautiful backyard with plush green grass? Never have three perfect children who meant the world to me? Never belong to a family?

"The future is not ours to know. I only showed you what could happen if you lived happily ever after. It's up to you to make that happen."

"But . . . " I reached for her, desperate for answers. "How do I do that? I don't even know that girl. I've never seen her before in my life. How do I find her?"

The witch had been busy picking her shotgun off the ground. But she paused at my frantic questions. "Girl?"

"Yes! The girl. The girl you kept showing me. Who is she? Is she even a real person?"

With a confused shake of her head, the old bat stared at me as if I was crazy. "I showed you only you. Five glimpses of you. That's all. If you saw another in one of your visions, that means you love that person."

"But I . . . she was in all of them, not just one."

Stepping closer, Madam LeFrey eyed me as if I was a new species she'd never heard of. "Can it be?" she whispered in awe.

"What?" I demanded, almost panicking. I wanted to know more about that girl and how I could live that life with her where I'd been so f*cking happy. I'd never been that content before.

Madam LeFrey shook her head as if unable to believe what she was about to tell me. "A soul mate," she rasped. "How very rare."

"What? She's my soul mate?"

I was a little giddy over the idea. A soul mate sounded good. Soul mate, someone to love me, a happy future, a place to belong. Family. Now, all I had to do was find her.

Except the f*cking old bat looked concerned. She grabbed my arm. "Find her," she told me, urgency lacing her voice. "You're not complete until the two halves come together. You're only half a soul."

I tugged my arm out of her grip. "Well, where is she?"

Instead of answering, she jerked backward as if I was tainted. Stomping on something by my ankle, she released the trap I'd been stuck in. I cried out from the rush of blood that shot to the injury and created a shit ton of pressure. As I gritted my teeth and clutched my leg, Madam LeFrey turned her back on me.

"Go away now," she said, as if she were afraid of me. "Don't come back."

"But . . . wait! How do I find her? What's her name?" When she didn't even slow down, I growled out my anger and pain. "Damn it. Can't you do some spell to draw her here? I just want what you showed me." Why would she show me that if she wouldn't help me get it?

When she reached the porch, she glanced back. "No spell can touch this. It's bigger than any spell. It's fate."

Before I could say anything else, she scurried into her house and slammed the door, leaving me to find my own way home on a bum ankle.

Though I was no longer held prisoner, I just stayed there. Breathing hard and rattled in more ways than one, I held onto my injury and filled my head with all the damn glimpses the witch had given me. A cool mist on my face told me it had started to rain.

I knew I'd never be the same again. Up until tonight, I had convinced myself that my life would always be shitty and hopeless. But Madam LeFrey's glimpses made everything even worse. Because now I wanted something. I wanted it so damn bad I could taste it. I wanted that future and happily ever after. And if I never found that girl, if I never found even a portion of those glimpses, the disappointment would probably kill me.





Eva's Prologue


MEET EVA MERCER


Five Years After Pick's Prologue

I snuck in the back door half an hour after curfew. Someone had turned off the lights in the kitchen, so I hoped everyone had already gone to bed.

To be on the safe side, I slipped off my sandals with the extra-hard heels that were über noisy and padded barefoot across the cool tile. But when I reached the entrance to the back hall, I noticed the light in Daddy's office was on.

He'd left the door cracked open too, which he never did, so I guessed he was waiting up for me, trying to catch me coming in late. Again. A shiver of dread curled up my spine as my limbs went cold.

Even though fear made my breathing quicken, I wasn't about to give up on my attempt to sneak in. Tiptoeing with each step, I held my breath and tried to become one with the floor. I'd just reached the large Oriental rug when the first creak under my toes gave me away. I halted in my tracks, closing my eyes and cursing in my head.

Please don't let him have heard that. Please, please, plea—

"Eva." The baritone I hated most in the world boomed from Daddy's office, making me jump. "Get in here. Now."

For the briefest moment, I considered running. Maybe I could outrun him this time. Maybe—

I bit my lip and shook my head. Running was bad. He'd only come after me; the f*cker loved a chase. And he'd catch me, he always caught me, and it always ended worse when that happened.