Jackson shakes his head and laughs. “Shifting obviously made you hungry.”
“Hey,” Kayla growls, crossing her arms.
“It’s not a bad thing. You burned tons of calories today. You could probably eat until you puked and still not be full.”
Kayla gets a big smile on her face and laughs. “Will I get rocking bodies like you guys?”
“Probably.”
“Don’t listen to him. You already have a rocking body,” Damien says.
“Thank you,” Kayla replies, shooting him a seductive smile.
Jackson groans in protest. “I’m leaving before I lose my appetite.”
“I want to go sit in the Jacuzzi. I’m starting to feel sore.”
“We can do that until he gets back,” Damien replies. “Come on, let’s go.”
Waving his keys, Jackson says, “I’m leaving. No sex in the pool.”
“Jackson,” Kayla yells. “I would never.”
“Maybe with the right guy you would,” Jackson snips as he walks out of the kitchen. Kayla watches him leave, not knowing what to say.
Damien crosses his arms. “I swear I will knock him into next week.”
“Don’t be silly, we have the whole house to ourselves now. What do you want to do?” She knows she needs to get her mind off of Jackson, and Kayla has to admit, she does like Damien.
“I’ll go get shorts on and meet you in there,” he states as he runs off.
Kayla giggles. She sprints towards the pool. When she gets there, she doesn’t turn the lights on. The only light she puts on is the one in the Jacuzzi. She strips her top and skirt off; her bathing suit is still underneath. The water is really warm when she climbs in. It feels good and she sighs.
A minute later, Damien comes into the pool room. Kayla smiles at him. “You’re hot, you know that, right?”
“What did you say to Jude? Oh yeah, you get to come home to real men.” Damien smiles, walking over to her. He climbs into the Jacuzzi and sits opposite from Kayla. “I’m glad that you find me tantalizing.”
“What? I was telling the truth. You’re droolably gorgeous.”
Damien swims over to her and goes down onto his knees. He grabs Kayla and pulls her against him. “Next time we shift, it’s just going to be the two of us, and I will put that extra energy to some good use.”
All Kayla can do is gulp. “Okay.”
He rubs his thumb across her lips. Kayla’s heart nearly beats out of her chest. Damien looks up at her. “I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer me honestly. Okay?” Kayla nods. Damien stares at her and then says, “Do you really like me? It’s not just the shifting, is it? It’s not because I’m here for you right now. It’s because you like me, right?”
She nods. “Yeah, I really do like you a lot. You are what I have always wanted. I didn’t think I would find anyone like you. I mean, I didn’t think my first boyfriend would be an alien, but…what the hell.”
“Boyfriend?” Damien quips with a smile.
“Damn,” Kayla squeaks, covering her face. “That came out wrong. You’re not my boyfriend. I didn’t mean it that way.”
He grabs Kayla’s hands and pulls them away from her face. “Don’t be embarrassed. We’re still getting to know each other. We don’t have to label it or make an official commitment yet, but it’s okay if we start thinking about the future.”
“We’ve only known each other for a few days. I don’t know why I lose all control around you.”
“It’s who we are. It’s the same reason you have that reaction around Jackson. We’re meant to be together, as a species. It’s like you're in a place surrounded by nothing but other girls. Let’s say a guy suddenly comes along and you’re attracted to him, it's an impulsive drive, instinctive, and it makes sense. I make sense to you. Your body is reacting to that.”
Kayla tilts her head. “I never thought about it that way.”
“We are a very hormonal species. We send our own version of pheromones off like crazy, especially at our age. When you really connect with someone, those pheromones come off even stronger.”
“So it’s not uncommon?”
Damien shakes his head. “Nope.”
“We just have to fight it.”
He smirks and says, “Yes, we must fight it.”
“Can I ask you a question, kind of personal?”
“You can ask me anything.”
She sweeps his hair out of his eyes. “What was it like, being with one of our kind? I mean, what’s it like, compared to being with a human?”
“Okay, slightly awkward question.” Damien sighs. “Being with human girls was entirely physical. It’s all the sensations of touch. When you’re with one of our kind, it shakes you to your core. That energy you feel when you go to Shima, you combine that with the other person's. You know how when we kiss strongly it sends all your nerves tingling? Imagine that times a hundred. It’s like physical pleasure and mental pleasure all at the same time.”
“Do you plan on doing it again before you’re married?”
Damien looks down. “I don’t know. My family pressures me so much. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s not easy. They want me to marry you so badly, and it’s not that I wouldn’t, I would, but I want to do it because we want to be together, not because they’re pushing for it.”
“I’ll only marry someone that I truly love, and I won’t have multiple husbands or lovers. I will only have children with my husband. They can throw me in alien jail if they want, but that won’t change.”
Smiling, Damien says, “That’s good. Stick to your morals. They are beautiful morals. I don’t want to have multiple lovers. I don’t want multiple mothers to my children. I want one mother—lots of children—but only one mother.”
“How many kids are you thinking?” Kayla asks, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Six or seven. I want boys to roughhouse with and girls to play dolls with. I’ll need to acquire a gun though, for when the girls start dating.”
Kayla pulls herself closer to him. “Seven kids, huh? That’s a lot of…yeah, well, you know.”
“Mmhmm,” Damien hums in reply, bringing his lips down to hers. They kiss each other softly. “You taste sweet,” he whispers against her lips.
“Uh-huh,” Kayla breathes out, before she kisses him again. They sit there for a while wrapped up in each other. Then, like a whip, Kayla feels Damien let his energy loose. She buckles and pulls him as close as possible. Their kisses grow passionate and then Damien moves from her lips to her jawline and then her neck. Kayla gasps. She feels his hands grip her legs. “Damien,” she breathes out. “We need to slow down.”
He pulls away from her and whispers, “Are you sure about that?”
“No, not at all,” Kayla replies, pulling him in for another kiss.
Everything is going good until they hear, “Well, that is as close to sex as you are ever going to get in this household.”
Damien and Kayla break apart to find Jackson’s mom standing over them with her arms crossed. Kayla quickly covers her mouth and backs up. “Oops.”
“Can we help you?” Damien retorts sharply.
“Excuse me?” Mrs. Blakely snaps. “Don’t pull attitude with me, young man.”
Furrowing his eyebrows, Damien snarls, “Do you forget whom you’re talking to?”
“Damien, stop it,” Kayla hisses. “I am really sorry, Mrs. Blakely. It was totally inappropriate. We didn’t realize you were home.”
“Obviously.” She sighs. “Where’s Jackson?”
“Not here,” Damien snips. “Although I think if it were Jackson you found wrapped around Kayla, you would’ve had no problem with it.”
Kayla smacks him hard and hisses, “Shut up, Damien!”
Mrs. Blakely sighs again and rubs her temples. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for anyone to be making out in the Jacuzzi.”
“Then we’ll go to my room,” Damien says with a grin.
“Damien,
” Kayla exclaims. “Stop.”
He pulls away from Kayla to sit next to her. “There, no more touching, happy?”
“Why don’t you guys get out of there?” Jackson’s mom suggests.
“Yeah, Jackson will be back with our food soon,” Kayla murmurs to Damien. “Come on.” She climbs out of the Jacuzzi and walks over to get a towel. “I really am sorry, Mrs. Blakely. This is embarrassing.”
She gives Kayla a look. “I don’t think your parents would be too happy about this.”
“We weren’t having sex or anything, and I wasn’t planning on it,” Kayla mutters quietly.
“Things are different with us, Kayla. You should talk to your parents about it.”
Looking at Jackson’s mom, Kayla whispers, “Why? So they can tell me that I should be with Jackson, just like you do?”
It’s like a verbal slap in the face. Mrs. Blakely goes white. “Who told you that? How do you know?”
“So it’s true,” Kayla snaps. “Wow, if you didn’t just seal the fate between your son and me, I don’t know what did.”
Shaking her head, Mrs. Blakely says, “It’s not even like that.”
“Don’t worry. I will be asking my parents about this, and we always promised not to lie to each other, so we’ll see what they have to say.” Kayla takes in a deep breath to calm down. “Anyway.”
Mrs. Blakely looks at her. “Your mom called us because she couldn’t reach you on your cell phone. Did Damien tell you?”
“Yeah, I don’t mean to be a nuisance.”
“Oh, Kayla, my dear, you are more than welcome to stay here.”
“Thanks.”
Damien comes up behind her. “Come on, let’s get you dry and into your clothes.”
Giving him a look, Mrs. Blakely says, “I really hope you plan on showing Kayla more respect than you do other girls.”
“Don’t forget whom you’re talking to?” Damien cautions.
“Damien!” Kayla exclaims.
He looks at her. “Kayla, please understand, I‘m a representative of the council. My actions should never be scrutinized, especially in a manner like this.”
Kayla looks at him with a kind expression. “She’s looking out for me, okay? Relax.”
“I’m sorry, Master Blakely. I meant no disrespect,” Jackson’s mom says, not meeting his eyes.
“Emma, you’re family. I’m sorry if I got angry. I don’t intend to use Kayla like a toy. I am being respectful to her. She knows exactly what’s going on and what my intentions are. There are no hidden motives. There isn’t going to be any sex of any kind, so you don’t need to worry about that. The only thing you may need to worry about is a dog running loose in your house.”
Mrs. Blakely looks up. “What?”
Kayla elbows Damien in the stomach. “Shut up, you jerk!”
“What about a dog?”
“When I shift, it’s into a dog and I’m doing it spontaneously. So really, he’s making fun of me,” Kayla says, clicking her tongue.
“Oh.” Mrs. Blakely laughs. “Damien, leave the poor girl alone. Did he ever tell you what he first shifted into?”
“Emma,” Damien says sternly.
Looking back at Damien, Kayla laughs. “No, what did he first turn into?”
“An orange tabby cat.”
Damien puts his face in his hand. Kayla bursts into giggles. “That is fantastic! You are never going to live that down.”
“I was five,” Damien interjects. “I couldn’t very well turn into a tiger!”
“It was cute,” Mrs. Blakely tries to say seriously. “He couldn’t shift into anything else for years. Jackson, on the other hand, turned into a dog when he was five and then a monkey. Yup, that’s my boy, a dog and a monkey.”
Kayla giggles even more. “I feel so behind. You shifted when you were five? That’s insane.”
“Most children shift when they're older but not these two. They were fast learners. Damien here is more daring than my Jackson. Damien’s bloodline is also a lot less restricted on what it can do. Jackson has to be careful of how many creatures he shifts into.” Mrs. Blakely turns her attention to Kayla. “And then there is you. You are a miraculous creation, young lady.”
Blushing from embarrassment, Kayla whispers, “I don’t think that’s true.”
“Nonsense, your family has wanted a girl for so long—generations. Your parents were so excited about having you, and I don’t mean just because you were a girl. Your mom and dad always wanted to have children, and your dad always wanted a little girl, and I don’t mean for shifting reasons.”
“If you knew my parents so well, why have I never met Jackson before?” Kayla asks.
Mrs. Blakely smiles. “You have.”
“What?”
“When you were, oh I want to say, six, I think. You met. You played together for hours. You wouldn’t even take a nap. It was quite adorable actually.”
Kayla shakes her head. “I don’t remember that.”
“Jackson does. He never told you?”
“No, I wonder why not.”
Mrs. Blakely just starts to laugh. “He is going to kill me for saying this, and I swore never to mention it, but I am a mother and feel the need. You were Jackson’s first kiss.”
“Excuse me! What do you mean?”
“When we were leaving that day, you leaned in and kissed him good-bye. I don’t think he was ever the same after that.”
In shock, Kayla retorts, “I don’t remember any of this. Are you sure it was me?”
“Quite sure. I’m not sure why some of your memories are blocked. You would have to ask your parents about that.”
“Okay, okay, okay, enough of fond childhood memories,” Damien interjects. “We need to dry off so we can eat. We did a lot of shifting today, and I’m starving.”
Mrs. Blakely nods her head. “All right, Jackson’s probably back with the food. We’ll be going away for a few days. I expect I can leave the house in your hands and come back to find it in one piece.”
“We won’t burn it down, I promise,” Kayla articulates with a smile. “No parties either.”
“Yeah, huge shifting population to have a party for,” Damien groans. “We aren’t in LA.”
Suddenly, Kayla gets a cramp and doubles over. “Ouch, ouch!”
“Okay,” Damien instructs. “Sit down.” He helps Kayla to the ground. “Now close your eyes and try to harness your energy, okay? Remember, deep breaths.”
Kayla clenches her eyes shut and tries to take deep breaths. “It hurts,” she whines.
“Come on, baby,” Damien says, sitting down behind her. “Feel your energy. Your energy is building up and that's what is causing the pain. You need to release it. If you go to Shima, you can expel it. You don’t have to shift.”
Taking in a deep breath, Kayla holds onto the energy in her body and is sucked through and shot into Shima. She lands on her knees and breathes a sigh of relief. Damien appears next to her a few seconds later. “You did it. Are you okay?”
Nodding, Kayla says, “Yeah. Now what?”
“Now nothing, you expelled your energy. You’ll be fine.”
“I just expelled it? I thought I came here to gain energy, not release it.”
“Shima levels you out, balances you. It can help one way or the other. Are you ready to go back?”
With a smile, Kayla whispers, “Show me someplace cool.”
“Like where?” Damien inquires back, pulling her against him.
“I don’t know. Where is your favorite place in the world that you’ve been?”
“That’s easy.” With that, they appear in a snowy yard. It’s night and the stars are out. A log cabin sits behind them with big snow-covered pine trees surrounding it.
Kayla turns around and laughs. “Where are we?”
“At the family cabin we used to have in Switzerland. I learned to shift a lot here. My dad would take me into the woods. This is where I learned to shift into a bear and such.”
&nb
sp; “It’s so beautiful. Look at the sky. The stars are so pretty!”
Damien laughs and looks down at her. “I’m looking at something much more beautiful.”
“You make me blush all the time with your words,” Kayla bashfully murmurs, looking back at him.
He puts his hand on the side of her face and kisses her gently. Kayla gives in and kisses him back. They embrace each other for a minute, before Damien pulls away. “We're about to be interrupted.”
“What?” Kayla breathes out.
“Jackson’s here. I’m going to let him in.”
Jackson appears next to them. “Is she all right?”
“Yes, obviously she’s fine,” Damien sighs. “Can we help you?”
“My mother was concerned. I wanted to come and make sure you weren’t…well…never mind.”
Damien grabs the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “I think I’m going to rent a house for us.”
“What!” Kayla and Jackson gasp at once.
“We have no privacy and everyone seems to think I’m relentlessly trying to get down your pants, so I may as well just get us a place of our own. Then they can make all the assumptions they want.”
Kayla’s eyes widen, and Jackson steps up to Damien. “That’s not going to happen.”
“It’s not your call to make,” Damien retorts harshly, straightening up. “Kayla is under my care, not yours.”
“Damien, stop it,” Kayla interrupts, stepping between them. “We are going to stay at Jackson’s. I don’t trust myself enough to live alone with you. That’ll just be a bad situation.”
Damien replies, “I’m over all of this. Half the time Jackson is all over you, and yet I’m the one whose character is always being questioned.”
Jackson states, “It’s not like that with us.”
Those words sting Kayla’s heart. She shakes her head and agrees. “Yeah, nothing is going to happen. I’ll slap him if he kisses me again.”
“Promise?” Damien asks with a smile.
“Yes, I promise, I will slap him.”
Nodding, Damien says, “Fine. If a girl kisses me, I won’t slap her, though. I will just nicely push her away.”
“I’ll punch her,” Kayla exclaims. She quickly covers her mouth in shock. “I didn’t mean that.”
Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) Page 24