{"id":3475,"date":"2018-01-17T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T05:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3475"},"modified":"2018-01-16T15:24:08","modified_gmt":"2018-01-16T20:24:08","slug":"thirty-07-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3475","title":{"rendered":"Thirty – 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Footsteps echoed quietly down the path. Hecate must have heard them before he did, because she stiffened half a second before the sound reached his ears. Then she exhaled and leaned against him, her eyes sliding shut.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s J.T.,\u201d she murmured before he could turn to look. \u201cI can tell by the sound of his footsteps. I think Leinth\u2019s with him. Sounds like her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hairs on the back of Matt\u2019s neck stirred and he exhaled. \u201cHow do you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPractice,\u201d she murmured, tugging his arms tighter around her before she wrapped both of hers around his waist. \u201cInstinct. A touch of magic. Habit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shivered. It was a habit that had kept her alive\u2014that much he knew for certain\u2014and the knowledge made him ache inside. Too many years wondering when the next blow would fall, too many years wrestling with her demons and dodging people out for vengeance or to use her.<\/em> Matt hugged her a little tighter, if only for a moment, then pressed a kiss to her temple. Hecate sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re worrying,\u201d she murmured into his neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that such a terrible thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes and no.\u201d A sigh escaped her and she relaxed slightly. \u201cI don\u2019t want you to feel like you have<\/em> to worry. But I know why you do and I love you for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt smiled crookedly and she looked up to meet his gaze, smiling back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have forever this time,\u201d she whispered. \u201cThe rest of our lives and then whatever comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t want to talk about the whatever comes next<\/em> part. Matt was concerned with the here and now and the immediate future, with the years\u2014decades, he hoped\u2014that they\u2019d have in this<\/em> life. That was what mattered today.<\/p>\n

They could worry about everything else later, think about the rest of it later.<\/p>\n

He was about to tell her that when J.T.\u2019s voice interrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey. I think we might need to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Footsteps echoed quietly down the path. Hecate must have heard them before he did, because she stiffened half a second before the sound reached his ears. Then she exhaled and leaned against … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,280,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,160,166,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-30-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-leinth","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-U3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3476,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475\/revisions\/3476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}