Page 178 of Should the Sky Fall

It’s not really your body, is it?

“Please, not Dawson. Please don’t—”

“Cal,” she says patiently. Her smile is gentle, comforting. Not something one would expect from a harvester. Not something Cal would expect from her. “I’m not taking anybody.”

“How are you here, then?” Cal shoots back, distrustful. “Harvesters can’t go wherever they please.”

She just keeps smiling. “They can’t, no.”

That doesn’t make sense. There’s no way she can be here, if not to harvest a soul.

Unless…

“Who are you?” A realization is sinking into the edge of his consciousness. It’s the only explanation, but it can’t be.

“I’d let you guess three times, but I’m pretty sure you’ve already figured it out, being the smart cookie you are,” she says, managing to sound smug and approving at the same time.

Oh god. All those times their paths have crossed, and he had no idea who he was really talking to.

“I don’t understand.”

“I know,” she says, sounding almost apologetic about it. “Excuse the cryptic mood. I have a penchant for suspense and drama. Comes with the job.” She winks. Then her expression changes, becoming softer. Kind. “I’m here to see how you’re doing. Check if you’re okay.”

If she knows what’s been happening to him—as he suspects she does—then she must know how ridiculous she sounds.

“I’m far from okay. Dawson, he…”

Fuck. He can’t even think about it without being sick.

“I would’ve expected you to feel relieved,” Sienna says. “Until now, you thought you were the one who caused him all the pain. Now you know it was never you.”

How does she know? Has she been following him? Keeping an eye on him? Is she here to take him back where he belongs? That’s not fair. He isn't a harvester anymore. He has a life with Dawson, a home, adog.He can’t leave—

“Cal, calm down. You already had a cardiac episode.” She snickers. “Whatever is going through that head of yours, it’s wrong.”

Why doesn’t it make him feel better?

“It doesn’t matter that I know,” he says, going back to their original conversation. “Dawson, he thinks…he thinks he fell in love with his abusive husband.”

Sienna turns to look at Dawson, cocking her head as though she’s studying an interesting animal. “He seems fine with that to me.”

“Nothing about this is fine.”

She shrugs, and it makes Cal want to scream—at her, preferably. He manages to quell that urge, getting a hunch it wouldn’t end well.

“Maybe you should take him as an example and leave the past in the past, especially when it doesn’t concern you.”

“Dawson concerns me, so I’m not just going to sit here and pretend everything is fine. Why are you smiling?” He’s basically growling at her and she looks so nonchalant. That fits. What does Death have to get worked up about?

“No reason. Are you going to tell him?”

“I have to.” He wouldn’t be able to live with himself otherwise. He looks at Dawson’s beautiful face, his chest aching with longing. Dawson is right here, but he suddenly feels so far away from him. “He won’t believe me, but I can’t have him think that I…” He takes a deep breath. “He deserves to know.”

What happens when he tells Dawson? Will he even believe him? And if he does, will he want to stay, knowing who Cal really is?

“I can hear you thinking.”

“I’m scared,” he admits. “I know I have to tell him, but I’m scared. I can’t lose him.”