Essence (Nectar 3)

She still didn’t remember Kyle, only her parents.

Why was that?

Tristan seemed less than interested in the tour, knowing Sasha had been trying to sell them on settling there on the island, after Tristan joined this coalition, but had been patient through this part of the conversation.

Kyla knew it was because he was anxious to sit down and meet Sergey.

“Sasha, where is Sergey?” he asked, almost as if cued by her brain.

“He’s on a hike with my brother and giving Sam a tour of the cave and tunnel system. They’ll be back soon. An hour, I think. You two are here a few hours ahead of schedule otherwise I know they’d be here. How about if you two settle in and then come by in about an hour, hour and a half, and we’ll do dinner?”

“Fine,” Tristan said.

Kyla suspected he’d purposely wanted to catch them off guard with his arrival time. He was obviously still being cautious, and this was good.

“I’ve stocked you up with some refreshments,” Sasha added, “breakfast stuff, beverages, grape juice, avocados and tomatoes, etcetera. We can do big meals at my place if you like or if you don’t want to, I can send more food over.”

“We’ve brought some, too. But thank you,” Kyla said. She’d stocked a cooler that they’d brought.

Sasha nodded and was about to leave them alone in the bedroom.

“How’s Kyle?” Kyla asked.

“Nearly the same,” Sasha said, stopping at the door and leaning her shoulder against the frame, “Except that I’ve had to have him on some pain meds. Since having you here he’s been showing signs of pain. It’s manageable with the meds but it’s odd that it started then and hasn’t subsided. He’s been running a low-grade fever and he’s had some hives on his arms and legs.”

Kyla didn’t like the sound of that. Sasha looked concerned, too. She said goodbye to Sasha and then they were alone so Kyla put her toiletry bag into the nice big master bathroom. It was huge with a big soaker tub, a skylight, his and her sinks, the whole bathroom done in brown and taupe with copper accents, pale and dark brown marbled tile, and pearl white bathroom fixtures. It seemed like someone had started to fancy up this place but hadn’t finished. She loved the idea of being able to do that for them.

“Hey?” she asked as she wandered back out to the bedroom. He was staring out the window toward the shoreline, deep in thought. She could feel his confliction, how far away he was.

“Hey,” he snapped back and looked at her.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothin’. I’m not looking forward to having this dinner. I’d leave you hidden but I can’t stomach the idea of leaving you here by yourself so I have to have you around a vamp who’s older than me, knows more about our bond than I do, and who might be a threat.”

“You’ll keep me safe,” she told him with a smile.

“If I even smell a threat in that room I’ll rip him to shreds. I give no fucks, Kyla. I’m not playing these political games anymore. I know you’ve been having nightmares about some of the violence I’ve shown you but you need to know that’s nothing compared to what I’ll do if anyone looks at you the wrong way again. I have you back and nothing but nothing is gonna fuck with that.”

Kyla swallowed back the twinge of apprehension at that comment and moved to him. She fingered his chin cleft and then sifted her fingers through his soft hair, cupped the back of his head and pulled him toward her mouth. He melted into her and then the kiss went desperate and he backed her against the bathroom door, twisting his tongue up with hers, taking her breath away, and then his mouth moved to her throat and he sank in there, drinking, one hand on her hip, the other on her jaw. She kissed his wrist. He released her throat, used his bared fangs to pierce his palm, and then his palm was over her mouth.

Kyla’s eyes rolled back as her tongue flicked over the wound on his hand. They wound up in a tangle on the floor. Arms, legs, mouths, and other very tingly parts.~~~They walked hand in hand to Sasha’s next door, which wasn’t visible from the house they were in but by following the shoreline past a small wooded area, they were there in ten minutes.

Sam was outside, bent at the knees, rifling through a large tackle box. When they were close he closed the lid and waited, eyes on Tristan.

Tristan’s grip tightened on Kyla’s hand and she felt like he was on high alert.

“Bro,” Sam held out his hand, loose-gripped and Tristan reached out and they did a biker-like handshake, catching one another’s thumbs as they cupped around the side of the other’s palm.