Wow.

Lilith felt like she should say something, but her mouth refused to work properly. She couldn’t quite form words. Nobody had ever said such a thing to her, and it took her completely and totally by surprise. How should she feel about it? Should she be offended? That didn’t sound right. Should she be pleased and flattered? Maybe…it had a ring of truth to it.

Before she could form a coherent thought, Storm stepped back towards the exit of his childhood playroom. “Don’t give me an answer. Just think about it.”

Lilith tried again to say something clever. Nothing came to mind. She was never at a loss for words. Her wit was as fast as lightning. Nothing took her by surprise. And it wasn’t just because Storm was ridiculously hot. She’d had plenty of good-looking boyfriends and friends. An attractive member of the opposite sex wasn’t a deal-breaker for her. She was still clever.

Yet Storm had the innate ability to make her tongue-tied. She hated not having a response. Even if she didn’t say it, she liked to know she had a response prepared.

While Lilith tried to figure out her new feelings, Storm crouched down and attempted to wiggle his way out of the small door. His shoulders caught.

“Uh-oh.”

Lilith managed to shake herself out of her daze. “What?”

Storm pushed harder. “I’m stuck.”

“Are you serious? Back out.”

“Gosh, I’m sure glad I didn’t think of that one,” he said sarcastically. “I’m wedged. Push me through.”

She hesitated. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay…”

She planted her foot on his rear and pushed. Nothing. He really was stuck.

“You’re going to need to try harder,” Storm grunted. “I’m not quite the size I used to be.”

Lilith sat down on the ground and placed both of her feet on his rear, while using her hands for support. She pushed using the force of every muscle in her legs before finally pushing him through.

He grinned from the other side of the door, laughing at himself easily. She joined him in his amusement.

Who would’ve known? She figured she’d hate him. He was the Keeper of the Wind, world-renowned powerhouse and legendarily impossible to kill. She’d expected a challenge when she went after him. She had not expected to be considering an eternity with him.

The thought made her pause. How would she become eternal?

No! No, she was not that easy. She didn’t meet strange men that she had intended to kill and agree to spend eternity with them. They hadn’t even had sex yet! That wasn’t her.

Still…

So much had happened. The only life she had known was a lie. She was simply relying on Storm for emotional support. That’s why she felt so strongly connected to him, right?

Using reasoning, he had probably discovered Night Star and Red Shadow’s plan to execute him by word of mouth. Or, Night Star had been discovered while being at the hotel. It was only logical. Maybe, just maybe, she needed to let logic play a role in the decision.

She didn’t know if what he said was true. Did dragons have prophetic dreams? Did dragons have soulmates? As a Slayer—now a former Slayer—she had only learned about their strengths, weaknesses, and habits. She knew practically everything about Storm in this way. If she had been able to get close to him at the hotel and they’d gone hand-to-hand, she was prepared to put him down. From the Slayer community, she knew Storm favored his left hand while fighting. Rare. Most people fought with their right hands primarily. He tended to expose his ankles when he fought. A Slayer had once put a bullet in his left chest, which was an easy thing to exploit. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t beat him—especially not in hand-to-hand combat. She wasn’t even entirely sure her enchanted bullets and rifles would do the trick.

Not wanting to purse the soulmate conversation further, Lilith remained quiet. As she thought about her life, Storm’s revelation about Slayers being the bad guys made more sense. How could she not see through the lies?

As the minutes—and eventually hours—ticked by, Lilith watched Storm, the Keeper of the Wind. She observed him, making a mental note of everything that he did to decide what she thought about him. They talked, but the conversation was light and easy. He was clever and witty. And, she admitted to herself, rather charming. He certainly had a silver tongue. He had a sense of humor and laughed easily, which she found to be a good thing. Slayers weren’t typically a jovial bunch.

Frustratingly, she couldn’t decide what do. She liked him. There was no doubt about that. Were they soulmates? Maybe, but Lilith wasn’t interested in diving into a relationship with the pressure of staying together for eternity.

She had other things to worry about, anyway. The most obvious problem she had in that moment was that she was out of job. Obviously, she couldn’t kill dragons. And that meant that she would no longer hunt werewolves or vampires either. Were all beings—including animals—sentient? Would she even be able to eat meat again? Probably not.

I guess I’ll become a vegan chef, she joked to herself. Wait, I don’t like to cook

She couldn’t even do well with an imaginary job. She’d only been a Slayer. She was doubtful those skills would translate to another career choice. Luckily, she had saved most of her money over the years, but that wouldn’t last forever. It likely wouldn’t even last five years.

As if the money wasn’t enough, she knew the Slayer community would come after her when they learned she betrayed them. Who knows? Maybe she would even get a bounty on her head. If she split from Storm, she’d have to keep moving until she could find a safe place to stay, where other Slayers couldn’t find her.

A place like that didn’t exist. There was always a loophole, a way to find a target. Lilith knew that from experience. Even when her target was seemingly impossible to find, she’d find a way.

Lilith and Storm finally made their way back to the place in the cave where they had fallen in.

Lilith sat down, still with Storm’s jacket wrapped around her shoulders. “So,” she said. “I’m bored.”

“Only boring people get bored.”

“My dad always said that…”

“He probably got it from me,” Storm said. “It’s funny. When you’re my age, you see things that you helped create.”

“Like the United States, in your case,” she said with a knowing smile.

“What do you mean?” asked Storm.

“During the Revolutionary War, Washington was able to get his men to safety because of thick fog during the Battle of Brooklyn. That wasn’t luck, was it? It was you!”

“How did you know that was me? I’ve never told anybody about that,” said Storm with a wide grin.

“A giant fog storm shows up in the middle of nowhere, and nobody thinks that the Keeper of the Wind is related somehow? Yeah, sure…”

“So, what are you thinking?” he asked.

“About what?”

“Everything,” he replied. “Your profession. Your life. What’s the plan for Red Shadow?”

“Red Shadow doesn’t know,” she admitted. “I know I’ll give up being a Slayer, but I just don’t think I can stay here.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not going to follow you and commit my life to you after a couple hours of knowing you.”

He pursed his lips. “I understand, but I want to you know that you don’t have to commit to me forever by agreeing to stay. Get to know me and see where it goes from there. You will always be free to leave whenever you wish.”

“Tell me more about your dream,” Lilith said. “I want to know how you knew how to find me.”

“The first night, the dream was unclear. I could see your hair, but to me it looked like a lion’s mane. I didn’t realize it was a woman until the next night, when I saw your face. Slowly, over a period of weeks, everything came into focus. I knew you were going to be at the hotel to kill me. We caught Night Star because I wanted to talk to you alone. I sent my men to find you, wherever you were. Problem is, you evaded them.”

“Your men were going to kill me! Of course I evaded them.”

“They had explicit instructions to keep you safe.” His eyes darkened. “Did they harm you?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Storm took a seat next to Lilith and pressed his brawny shoulder up against hers. She didn’t fight it. In fact, she welcomed it.

She sighed.

“What?” Storm asked her. “Are you okay?”

“Just confused,” she replied. “I can’t decide if you’re nuts, or if I am.”

“Well, I can verify I’m rational. As for you… I’m starting to have my doubts.”

“Hey!” Lilith protested halfheartedly, looking up at him.

A cold burst of air blew through the hole up above. She wished he would hurry up and heal so he could fly again and they could escape.

Shivering from the cold, Lilith thought, Well, if I’m stuck here for a while, I should make the best out of this situation.

Slowly, almost like she was asking permission, she leaned her head up against his chest. She could feel his heart thumping beneath her ear. He was strong, and his chest was solid muscle, which she felt through the material of his sweater.

Storm brought her in closer and wrapped his powerful arms around her, which warmed her up immediately. She felt comfortable and safe. She felt protected.