Danielle’s POV
*****
It was only after Anzari helped me to my feet and got me to sit on one of the couches that I found the strength to breathe.
Actually breathe.
My body still shook from the pressure of being held in one place by that cloaked witch bitch.
Whose charred remains now stain my marble floor and even the expensive carpet my grandmother left me.
As for Anzari, he was busy staring out of my windows, his back facing me.
I couldn’t help but observe him.
From his six arms.
To the way his long black hair dropped down his firm back.
Remembering the way he saved me made my cheeks burn.
But that slowly disappeared when I realised this was probably all his fault to begin with.
“Clear,” he suddenly uttered, shutting the curtains before turning to face me.
“There’s no one else. Other than… her.”
Those silver eyes wandered to the cloaked woman’s remains.
Something flickered past his eyes.
Something too similar to guilt.
“W–Who was she?” I found myself asking.
His gaze trailed to me.
Silent at first.
Then, “Goddess of the hunt. Kelchak.” He took slow steps toward the body.
“But also the biggest signal that my brother is indeed taking hunting me down more seriously than I thought.”
My brows furrowed.
“Kelchak? Wait—your brother? What are you—”
He stretched out a hand just then.
Pointing it right at the body.
Fire ignited between his fingers, lighting up the room so brightly that I had to squint.
He… he’s about to burn up the body?
Just erase the evidence of what happened while leaving me sitting here with crumbs for answers?
The moment it felt like he was about to unleash the flames, I yelled out.
“Anzari!”
His head snapped to me.
“What is it?” he arched his brow.
“Leaving a deity’s body lying around is a beacon for disaster. It still contains part of her essence. Which others can use to track us.” New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
“I don’t care about any damn essence,” I shook my head.
“Anzari, you left me. You stopped talking to me for a week.”
“Danielle—”
“Now you come back telling me your deity friends or whatever are after… after me?”
“They’re after me. But you—”
“Yes, but you live in my house. So what does this mean? Do I have to move out? Call a priest?”
His lips pursed in a thin line.
When he took too long to speak I got up.
“Let’s just go back to why you stopped talking to me, real quick,” I laughed, a brittle sound.
“Basically ignoring me. Unless of course, you aren’t actually my spider Bobby.”
Anzari exhaled through his mouth.
“I am and I wasn’t ignoring you, Danielle.”
“Oh, bullshit. You most certainly were and you were making me feel like shit while at it. Listen if you don’t want to be near me you could’ve said so.” I scoffed.
“You’d think so-called gods would be above ghosting.”
Silence stretched between us.
His expression was difficult to read—especially since it was plain as hell.
But I could tell I’d struck a nerve.
“What did you want from me, Danielle?”
The question caught me off guard.
I blinked for a few seconds before frowning.
“W–What did I want from you?”
He stepped over Kelchak’s body, his six arms swaying in an almost entrancing way with each step.
Those silver eyes refused to leave me, making me feel smaller the closer he got.
“My presence,” his voice became lower, “out of my spider form. It’s easier for them to track. To inevitably find you here. And I…”
That pause sounded like he had something stuck in his throat.
He closed and opened his eyes, as though whatever he was about to say next was the most difficult thing ever.
“… I didn’t want to attract any harm to you.”
My chest warmed up with those words.
He… he was trying to protect me.
In his own annoying way.
Pretty sure there are dozens of other divorcees out there in LA that he could go squat with.
Still, though—it didn’t erase the fact that he didn’t warn me about what was happening beforehand.
“You said something about your brother,” I said.
“What’s up with him?”
Anzari’s eyes darted.
He backed away by just one step but it was enough for me to notice.
“For some years now,” he began, “my brother has been hunting me down. For a crime I didn’t commit. I only came to Earth recently because I had nowhere else to go or hide.”
“And he has the support of every deity out there?” That confused me.
“What… crime did they accuse you of committing?”
His grimace was more than enough to make me know it was something grave.
“My father’s murder.” He deadpanned, his eyes moving to mine again.
Like he was searching for a reaction.
I think I stopped breathing for a few seconds.
Suddenly I felt bad.
I shouldn’t have pressured him to come see me.
Dealing with the death of your father while being accused of doing it AND being hunted like a damn fugitive?
Shit, if I were him I wouldn’t even have the patience to explain all this.
“Anzari,” I lifted a hand, attempting to comfort him.
“I’m… sorry that happened—”
He didn’t let me finish.
A simple wave of one of his hands was all it took to set Kelchak’s body ablaze.
I backed away instinctively, placing an arm over my eyes.
I watched as the flames consumed every last bit of what was left of her, reducing the corpse completely until there was nothing but a blackened spot on my floor.
“You don’t owe me an apology.” He murmured, his body swerving away from me.
“I’ve disturbed you enough for one night. Try getting some sleep. I’ll clean up this mess.”
Before he could fully turn, I reached out and caught one of his hands.
‘I missed you.’ Those words rose sharp in my throat, but I couldn’t push them out.
Instead, I tugged him closer and rose on my toes, pulling his mouth down to mine.
Anzari stiffened instantly, like he might shove me back.
His body went rigid, silver eyes wide with something like shock or warning.
But he didn’t shove me.
His free hands slid around me, drawing me in until there was no space left.