Page 8 of Satisfied By the Specter (Halloween Temptation #8)

Kris

I watched the sky lighten with the kind of dread I hadn't felt since waiting for my parents to find my hidden magazines in high school.

I was still solid. Still warm. Still deliciously sore in places I'd never been sore before. Hunter's spunk was still inside me, Eli's too. I could feel it, that perfect ache of being thoroughly fucked.

“Stop thinking so loud,” Hunter mumbled against my shoulder.

“How do you know I'm thinking?”

“You're vibrating,” Eli said from my other side. “Like a tuning fork of anxiety.”

He wasn't wrong. My supernatural energy was going haywire, making the air around me hum.

“What if—”

“No,” Hunter said firmly. “No what-ifs. Whatever happens, we'll deal with it.”

“Together,” Eli added, pressing a kiss to my neck that made me shiver.

6:00 AM. The sky was pink now, gold at the edges.

“I should tell you both something,” I said. “In case I don't get another chance.”

“Kris—”

“Please. Let me say it.” I took a breath I didn't need but wanted.

“Thank you. Both of you. I know this has all been crazy.

I've been dead for twenty years, we've known each other for one night, but I've watched you, Hunter.

Seen your kindness, your humor, how you smile at dogs on the street.

And Eli, you see the unseen. You helped me when you could have banished me. You're both so—”

Hunter kissed me quiet, deep and thorough. “Kris,” he said when he pulled back. “You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met. No matter what happens, I’ll never forget you.”

“And tonight,” Eli added, “you trusted us with everything. Your first time, your fears, your terrible boy band references.”

“They're not terrible! *NSYNC was iconic!”

“See?” Eli grinned. “How could we not love someone who defends *NSYNC in 2025?”

6:15. Eight minutes until sunrise.

The light was changing now, that deep gold that meant the sun was close to the horizon. I could see it through Hunter's bedroom window, the sky transforming from night to day, indifferent to whether I'd survive the transition.

“Hold me. Both of you. Just in case.”

They pressed close, Hunter in front, Eli behind, their arms overlapping around me. I memorized the feeling of Hunter's chest hair against my chest, Eli's breath on my neck, the weight of their arms, the warmth of living bodies.

Living bodies. That's what they were. And I was... what? Borrowed flesh? A temporary miracle?

I tried to memorize everything. The way Hunter smelled like coffee and sex. The way Eli's callused fingers felt against my skin, a working man's hands despite his mystical profession. The sound of their breathing, slightly out of sync, creating a rhythm that felt like home.

“I want you to know,” Hunter whispered against my collarbone, “that moment in the shower? When you figured out the translucent thing? That was the hottest thing I've ever experienced. I'm going to remember that forever.”

“The way you glowed when you came,” Eli added softly. “Like you were made of starlight. I've seen a lot of supernatural phenomena, Kris, but nothing as beautiful as you.”

Their words felt like gifts. Like they were giving me things to hold onto if I faded, memories to carry into whatever came next.

6:18. Five minutes.

I could feel something changing. Not fading—not yet—but a pulling sensation, like something was trying to drag me back to wherever ghosts belonged.

“Do you feel that?” I asked, my voice smaller than I wanted it to be.

“Feel what?” Hunter's arms tightened.

“Like I'm being pulled somewhere. Like there's a hook in my chest and something's tugging on the line.”

Eli's hand pressed over my heart. “Your energy is fluctuating,” he said, his medium senses reading things I couldn't. “But it's not weakening. If anything, it's... consolidating. Concentrating.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“I don't know.”

6:20. Three minutes.

The pulling sensation was stronger now. I thought about my first death—the car accident, the way it had been instant. One moment I was singing along to the radio, planning my future, thinking about coming out to my parents after graduation. The next moment, nothing.

Would this be like that? Instant dissolution? Or would I feel myself scatter, my consciousness spreading thin until there was nothing left to think with?

“I'm scared,” I admitted.

“I know,” Hunter said. “I'm scared too.”

“If I do fade—”

“Stop,” Eli said roughly. “Stop talking like you're leaving.”

“I'm just being realistic.”

“No. You're staying. We're manifesting it or whatever. You're staying.”

His fierce certainty made me want to believe. Made me want to fight the pulling sensation, to anchor myself to them through sheer force of will.

6:22. One minute.

“Whatever happens,” I said, my voice shaking now, “thank you. Thank you for seeing me. For wanting me. For making me feel real.”

The light was different now, that quality of pre-dawn where the world held its breath. Through the window, I could see the exact spot on the horizon where the sun would break through. Thirty seconds, maybe.

The pulling sensation was almost painful now.

Like hands grabbing my essence, trying to drag me back to wherever ghosts belonged.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch myself disappear.

Felt Hunter's lips on mine, Eli's on my shoulder.

Held between them, cherished by them, real in ways that had nothing to do with being solid.

This was it. This was how ghosts ended; not with violence but with sunrise, gentle as an exhale. At least I got to know what love felt like first. At least I got to…

6:23.

The sun broke the horizon.

Wait.

I was still thinking.

The pulling sensation didn't tear me apart.

It inverted.

Instead of pulling me away, it suddenly pushed inward, like the universe was cramming all of my scattered energy back into one space. My chest felt tight, then tighter, pressure building until—

Thump.

What was that?

Thump.

Oh.

Oh god.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

“I'm still here,” I gasped, eyes flying open. “I'm still… I can feel—there's something in my chest, something pounding…”

Hunter's hand pressed over my heart, and his eyes went wide, replaced by shock so profound he couldn't speak. He just stared at his hand on my chest, feeling something I couldn't see but could definitely feel.

“Eli,” Hunter's voice cracked. “Eli, feel this.”

Eli's hand joined Hunter's, both palms pressed over my heart. His professional mask cracked completely.

“Kris,” he said, wonder and disbelief mixing in his voice. “Kris, do you know what this is?”

“What? What is it?”

“Listen,” Hunter said, and pressed his ear to my chest.

I heard it then, really heard it. Not just felt the sensation, but heard the sound. A rhythm. A beating. Coming from inside me.

“Is that—” I couldn't even say it.

“Your heart.” Eli pressed his own ear pressed to my chest now, both of them listening to me like I was the most important sound in the world. “You have a heartbeat, Kris. You're not just solid. You're alive.”

Alive.

The word didn't make sense. I'd been dead for twenty years. Dead didn't come back. Dead didn't get heartbeats and second chances and—

The rhythm continued, steady and strong.

“Count with me,” Eli said, face breaking into a grin. “One, two, three, four…”

“I'm alive?” I asked, my voice breaking on the word. “I'm actually alive?”

“You're alive,” they said together.

And then I was sobbing, huge, wracking sobs that shook my whole body. My heart pounded harder with the emotion, faster, and I could feel it. I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling the rhythm beneath my palm.

“I can feel it,” I gasped between sobs. “I can feel my heartbeat. I forgot… I forgot what that felt like—”

Hunter was tearing up too, laughing and crying at the same time. “You're alive. You're really alive.”

Eli pulled us both close. “Twenty years,” he said into my hair. “Twenty years and you came back. You actually came back.”

I counted my heartbeats, each one a small miracle. Seventy-two times a minute, my heart was choosing life.

My heart. Mine. Beating.

“Can you feel anything else?” Hunter asked, wiping his eyes. “Do you need to breathe? Are you—”

And that's when I realized I was already breathing. Not because I remembered to, but because my body was doing it automatically. In and out, in and out, my lungs filling and emptying without conscious thought.

“I'm breathing,” I said in wonder. “And my heart is beating. And I need to—”

The sudden, urgent pressure in my bladder hit me all at once.

“I really need to pee.” I looked around in shock. “Like, really need to pee. Is that normal?”

Hunter laughed, the sound bright and beautiful and alive. “Yeah, that's normal. That's perfectly, wonderfully, humanly normal.”

I scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom, nearly crying with joy over something as mundane as urinating. When I came back, Hunter and Eli were talking quietly, seriously.

“What?” I asked, worried.

“We're discussing logistics. You need an identity. A job. A life.” Eli grinned. “I can help with the identity part. My cousin works for the state. Owes me a favor.”

“And I can get you work at the coffee shop,” Hunter added.

“You'd do all that?”

“Kris,” Eli said, reaching out to touch my cheek. “We just spent six hours fucking you into existence. Yes, we're going to help you get a library card.”

“And a bank account,” Hunter added. “And health insurance, though explaining your medical history will be interesting.”

“Twenty-year gap in records,” I said, lips curling up into a smile. “Could say I was in a cult. Or witness protection.”

“Or we could tell people the truth,” Eli suggested. “That you're our boyfriend who used to be a ghost.”

“Right, because that's believable.”

“In Austin?” Hunter laughed. “Austin prides itself on its weirdness, remember? A reincarnated ghost is practically normal around here.”

I sat on the bed between them, still naked, still processing. Still feeling my heart beat. “So what now?”

“Now,” Hunter said, pulling me back down, “we shower again. Together. Then breakfast. Then we figure out your new life.”

“Our life,” Eli corrected. “The three of us.”

“You both want that? This wasn't just Halloween madness?”

“Kris,” Hunter said, taking my hand. “I've been looking for you for three years. I just didn't know you were already there.”

“And I've been waiting my whole life for something this weird and wonderful,” Eli added.

“I don't know how to be alive,” I admitted. “I don't know modern anything. I died when the Backstreet Boys were still together.”

“We'll teach you,” Hunter promised.

“Everything?” I asked, though I mostly meant the sex.

Six hours and I was already addicted.

As the shower heated up and Hunter pressed against my back while Eli dropped to his knees in front of me, I thought about second chances. About waiting twenty years for this moment. About two men who saw me at my most desperate and chose me anyway.

The water was perfect. Eli's mouth was even better. Hunter's fingers were working me open again, preparing me for round... seven? Eight? I'd lost count.

“Your turn to be in the middle,” Hunter murmured against my ear. “Let us take care of you as someone living. Want to see if it feels different now.”

“Different how?” I gasped as Eli took me deep while Hunter's fingers slid in and out, like he owned my ass..

“You've been taking care of Hunter for three years,” Eli said, pulling off just long enough to speak. “And last night you experienced everything for the first time. Now it's our turn to worship you properly.”

“Still here,” I whispered, amazed. One hand pressed to my chest, feeling my heart beat steadily under my palm, faster now, responding to their touches with living arousal.

“Still here,” they repeated, and I knew they meant more than just the physical.

I was alive. Really alive. With a heartbeat and everything.

Best death ever.