by I. T. Lucas
No wonder she was so skinny.
Poor Tiffany was in over her head. Sooner or later someone was going to take advantage of her naivety and youth. She wasn’t exceptionally pretty, or smart. Girls like her weren’t likely to get their big break.
By providing her with shelter and food, he’d probably be doing her a favor—and saving her a lot of heartbreak.
CHAPTER 32: KIAN
The blinking red light on the bedside phone was the first thing Kian saw when he cracked his eyes open the morning after his and Syssi’s date.
Damn, I forgot to turn my cellphone back on.
Ignoring it, he rubbed his eyes and turned to his side. Syssi was snoring lightly beside him, nude save for the choker and the ring—a testament to last night’s sexcapades. The poor thing had been too exhausted to take the jewelry off before falling asleep. He would have taken it off for her, trouble was, that he’d passed out as well.
Syssi’s stamina in bed had improved so dramatically since her transition that he had a nagging suspicion she was capable of outlasting him. But he’d be damned if he ever allowed this to happen. He’d keep on going until one of two things happened: either Syssi was done, or he dropped dead.
Not a moment earlier.
He wrapped his arm around her and snuggled closer. Sleepily, she swept her voluminous hair to the side and over her shoulder, exposing her long neck. Kian frowned. There was a red indentation where the choker’s clasp had been pressing into her skin. She shouldn’t have slept with it on, must’ve been uncomfortable. In fact, it was probably dangerous. The thing was called a choker for a reason. He pinched the clasp open and gently removed it from Syssi’s neck. The ring could stay.
“What time is it?” she rasped in her sexy morning voice.
“Seven-fifteen.”
Syssi bolted up and twisted to face him. “Really? We overslept?”
“Yep.” He pulled her down to him and kissed her dry lips.
She covered her mouth with her hand and spoke through slightly splayed fingers. “How did it happen? And how come you’re not freaking out?”
“I turned off my phone last night and forgot to turn it back on. And guess what? The keep is still standing, we are not under attack, and I feel damn good, relaxed.” He kissed the fingers she was shielding her mouth with. “You’re still obsessing about your morning breath? I told you it’s all in your head, and even if it were bad, which it’s not, I wouldn’t mind. I’d rather kiss your mouth even when it’s stinky, which it’s not, than not kiss it at all.”
She wiggled out of his arms and rolled off the bed, holding her hand in front of her mouth until she was a safe distance away. “I’m going to brush my teeth and get us something to drink, I’m thirsty.” She disappeared into the bathroom.
With his excuse for not checking his messages gone, Kian picked up the receiver and punched the blinking button. There were a couple from Shai about rescheduling a meeting and one from William about some new equipment he wanted to order—as if he needed Kian’s approval for that. He’d told the guy, countless times, to buy whatever he deemed necessary as long as it was within the budget allotted to him, and to call only if he ran out.
Kian suspected that William’s calls were more about sharing his latest ideas than asking permission to spend money.
The last message was from Onegus.
“Eh, Kian, I know that you’re out with Syssi, and I’d hate to ruin your date, that’s why I’m leaving the message on your home phone instead of calling your cell phone. Steve from security called me. There is no way to sugarcoat it so, yeah, here goes. Amanda is back and she moved in with the prisoner. She told Steve that from now the cell apartment was going to be her residence and demanded he cut the surveillance. He had no choice but to do as he was told because it is clearly stated in the bylaws that monitoring clan members’ personal quarters is not allowed. I double-checked and he is right, so there is nothing I can do about it either. It’s up to you, tell me what you want to do.”
Fuck, Amanda was one hell of a clever manipulator. But it was not going to help her with him. He would go down there and drag her out by her hair if need be. Playing house with a Doomer was not going to happen, not on his watch.
Kian was out of bed and in the bathroom before finishing his internal rant. Even Syssi’s sumptuous naked butt, which was shaking enticingly as she brushed her teeth, failed to lighten his mood.
Syssi spat out the last of the toothpaste and wiped her mouth with a towel. “Why are you out of bed? I only wanted to freshen up and was coming back to you.”
“Amanda is back.” He grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste. “Fuck!” He squeezed the tube too hard and a big blob landed in the sink. Struggling for control, he applied gentle pressure on his second try and got the right amount.
Syssi turned around and leaned against the counter, crossing her arms over her naked breasts. “You’re not happy to have her back home?”
Kian spat out the paste. “She is down in the dungeon with that Doomer and has no intention of leaving anytime soon. She ordered security to cut surveillance to his cell.”
Syssi was quiet for a moment. “Is it really so bad, Kian? Do you really believe he’ll hurt her?”
“No, but that’s beside the point and you know it.” He wiped his face with a towel and headed for the closet to get dressed, hoping Syssi wouldn’t follow. The last thing he wanted was to argue with her while he was fuming with rage.
The one who deserved his wrath was Amanda and not Syssi, but she was in the way.
Except, of course, she had to follow him. The girl had no sense whatsoever when her romantic ideas hijacked her otherwise sensible brain. In this, Syssi was the quintessential female.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“What do you think? I’m going to drag her out of there, lock her in her apartment, and reinstate the surveillance.”
“You can’t do this. She’s a grown woman and you can’t behave like a caveman. What do you think is going to happen? You think you’ll order her to get out and she’ll meekly obey? Or are you planning on throwing her over your shoulder and carrying her up to her penthouse?”
Kian buttoned his jeans and grabbed a T-shirt off the shelf. “If she will not listen to reason, then yes, I have no problem with hauling her out of there caveman style. I’m in charge of this keep and everyone here answers to me, including the spoiled princess.”
Syssi shook her head. “I can’t believe how unreasonable you are. They are in love, Kian, let them be, for God’s sake.”
Slipping his feet into a pair of loafers, he turned around and pointed a finger at Syssi’s chest. “Stay out of it, Syssi, I know you mean well, but I’m in no mood for silly arguments.”
“Silly arguments?” She was the one fuming now. “You dare call me silly? When you’re the one who is not thinking straight? What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. This is who you’re marrying, sweetheart. Deal with it.” Kian was well aware that he was behaving like a monumental jerk, but he was too pissed off to control it. Why the hell was she antagonizing him? She should know him better by now…”
“Maybe I shouldn’t marry a man who was born in the Dark Ages and evidently has never left…” Her voice quivered, and there was a sheen of tears in her eyes.
Damn! Kian gritted his teeth and summoned the last of his self-control, reaching for Syssi and pulling her into his arms. “I’m sorry, baby. Please, let’s talk about it later, when I’m not so close to the edge.”
Syssi’s arms were still crossed over her chest and she didn’t return his hug, but her stiff shoulders relaxed a bit and her voice was almost steady when she asked, “Don’t you think it’s also a good idea for you to calm down before confronting Amanda? You don’t want to say or do something that you’ll regret later.”
“I’ll try, that’s all I can promise.”
CHAPTER 33: SYSSI
The moment Kian had left, Syssi collapsed onto the wardrobe�
�s footstool and let the tears flow freely. She felt disappointed and disillusioned. Once again, she had discovered that Kian wasn’t all that she’d built him up to be.
He wasn’t perfect, far from it.
The dominant alpha tendencies that she found so arousing in bed were annoying as hell outside of it. The man was a Neanderthal. Living by some outdated notion of a man’s supposed authority over his family.
Question was, would she be able to live with them?
Did she have a choice?
Kian was the love of her life, warts and all. Perfect or imperfect, it didn’t really matter. She loved the big arrogant jerk too much to even think of leaving.
She’d have to learn to deal with him and his heavy-handed attitude.
He’d hurt her feelings, though, big time. The dismissive manner in which he’d talked to her—as if she was some silly little girl, a pest. Where were his proclamations of appreciation for her intellect? Her common sense? Were they just empty compliments?
It certainly seemed like it. This morning, he’d showed her his real opinion of her, hadn’t he?
Oh, I’m just overreacting, being melodramatic.
She needed to talk to somebody. But the only one she could confide in was Amanda, who, naturally, was otherwise engaged at the moment. True, Annani had promised to always have Syssi’s back and box Kian’s ears if he earned it, which he had, with interest, but running to Kian’s mother every time she and Kian had a fight wasn’t a good idea. Not in the slightest.
That left Andrew.
Oh, God, she needed to make more friends. Immortal female friends, so she could pour her heart to someone other than Amanda without worrying about exposing the clan. Andrew loved her dearly, but he wouldn’t understand, or worse, would get mad at Kian and initiate a fight. Who could predict how far men were willing to take their macho posturing and what idiotic things they might do?
Pulling on her soft yoga pants and a T-shirt, her comfort clothes, she plodded to the bedroom to get her phone.
She selected Andrew’s name from her short list of favorites and waited patiently for him to pick up. Weird, Andrew almost always answered immediately, but this time, the phone kept ringing and ringing, and she was considering ending the call when he finally came online.
“What’s up, Syssi?”
“Nothing much, just wondered if you have a few minutes to shoot the breeze with your sister.”
Andrew wasn’t fooled by her casual tone. “I’m coming up. I’ll be there in a minute. Start the coffee.”
“What do you mean you’re coming up? Are you here? In the building?” She glanced at the bedside clock. “At seven-thirty in the morning?”
“I’ll tell you all about it when I get there.”
What the hell was Andrew doing in the keep so early? Even if Kian had called him, perhaps summoning him to help with Amanda’s situation, Andrew couldn’t have made it here so fast. He must’ve crashed at someone’s apartment overnight.
But who? Had he befriended one of the Guardians?
That was the most reasonable explanation. He’d probably gone drinking with some of the guys and they’d brought him here because he’d been too wasted to drive home. If Amanda was a typical example of an immortal’s drinking capacity, then Andrew was no match for them in that department. No wonder he had gotten drunk. And that’s why he wanted coffee.
Mystery solved.
Syssi went back to the closet for a pair of clogs then headed for the kitchen.
The doorbell rang just as the machine finished brewing and began spewing little steaming jets into the two tall porcelain mugs Syssi had placed under the twin spouts.
She opened the door with a smile. “You’re right on time. The coffee is ready.”
“Good, I need it.” Andrew followed her to the kitchen counter and pulled out a stool.
She chuckled. “I can imagine.”
His brows lifted in surprise. “So you know?”
“About what?” She placed a mug in front of him and sat down.
“Me and Bridget.”
“You went out drinking with Bridget?”
“Drinking? Why would you think that I went out to a bar? And with Bridget?”
“You said Bridget, not me. I thought you went out drinking with the guys and crashed in one of their apartments…” She turned to him and a small smile bloomed on her face. “Wait a minute, so if you went out with Bridget and then crashed at her place, does it mean what I think it means?”
“Yes, just minus the drinking part. Bridget invited me to dinner at her place and I fell asleep.”
Syssi snorted. “I bet the interesting part of the story happened in the interval between eating and falling asleep, you naughty boy.” She slapped his shoulder. “I like Bridget, and I’m very happy for you.”
“It’s nothing serious, so please don’t make a big fuss about it. I don’t think Bridget wants to advertise our whatever it is. Anyway, I came up here to talk about you, not me. What’s going on? And who do I need to beat up?”
“I had a fight with Kian.”
“You want me to rough him up for you?”
“Why does everything have to end up with you beating up somebody? I just need someone to vent to, and you happen to be the only one available.”
He made a sweeping motion with his hand. “Vent away, I’m all ears. But after you’re done venting, my offer still stands.”
“Fine.” She took a few sips from her mug while Andrew finished his. “Last night, while Kian and I were out, Amanda came back.”
“I know, I met her on my way to Bridget’s.”
“Did you know that she was planning on moving in with Dalhu in his dungeon apartment?”
“No, but good for her.”
“That’s what I think too, but obviously Kian doesn’t. As soon as he heard about it, he wanted to storm out and head over there. I barely managed to get in a few words, trying to convince him to calm down before he went to talk to her. But I only succeeded in annoying him even more, and he told me to stay out of it, very dismissively, as if my opinion was irrelevant. And now I’m thinking that maybe I’m making a mistake marrying him. He made it very obvious that he doesn’t see me as his equal. What kind of marriage will I have? The little wife who is expected to say ‘yes, sir’? I can’t live like that.” She was getting more and more agitated as her rant went on, and, of course, the tears came as well.
Andrew laughed—out loud—and she had to fight the strong urge to take off one of her heavy wooden clogs and chuck it at his head.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just that you were spouting one nonsense after the other, and your face looked so pouty, it was comical.” He took her hands and she let him, even though he was infuriating.
“I’m not pouting.”
“Yes, you are. Now listen, you know perfectly well that most of what you said is not true. Kian worships the ground you walk on, and his opinion of you is probably higher than what you deserve.”
“Hey…” she objected.
“You’re a twenty-five-year-old woman, who is smart and compassionate and loving and the best person I know. But, you cannot compare your life experience or your level of responsibility to Kian’s. There will be times, probably many, that you’ll have to defer to him and abide by his judgment. That being said, I’m sure there are many things that he can learn from you. In a good marriage, each partner contributes his or her strengths to the unit and trusts the other one to handle matters which he or she is more knowledgeable or is better equipped to deal with. It should be an equality of value, where one partner’s contribution is deemed just as important as the other’s. Both partners are equally valuable—but that doesn’t mean that they have to share every responsibility equally. It doesn’t make sense. It’s like the CIA and the Air Force are both equally important, true? But pilots shouldn’t go spying, and spies shouldn’t go flying jet planes.”
“In theory, you’re absolutely right. But in real life, men used that sa
me argument to excuse delegating inferior tasks to women, claiming that females were ill-suited to do this or that.”
“All those mean, mean males. You girls should’ve gotten rid of us long time ago,” he mocked.
“Don’t make fun of it, you know I’m right.”
“I do. It’s just that accusing Kian of misogyny is preposterous. His clan is headed by a woman.”
“Yeah, I know.” Syssi sighed and slumped her shoulders. “Here I am, feeling all sorry for myself when there is probably an all-out war going on down there. Maybe we should go and try to help. Amanda and Kian’s relationship is already strained as it is, and I know Kian is going to make an even bigger mess of things.”
“They are both big kids and they’ll figure it out. If not today then tomorrow, or in a month, or a year from now. Putting yourself in the middle will only get you hurt.”
Syssi chuckled as Andrew’s argument evoked an image of Kian and Amanda as kids. Annani had been lucky to have them eons apart. Both were so hard-headed and stubborn that raising them together would’ve been a nightmare.
Suddenly, her vision blurred.
Oh no, here it comes.
It had been such a long time since her last premonition, but the sensation was unmistakable.
All outside stimuli receded. Vision, sound, smell, all of it was no longer there. A small swirl of intense bright color started filling the void, getting bigger and bigger until it completely filled her inner sight. Then it began to coalesce into a picture, or rather a movie—the image wasn’t static.
It was a beautiful summer day in a park. Somewhere where the green was strong and vivid, the trees and the grass and everything that grew appeared healthy, like in Hawaii. Andrew and a little girl were the only ones there. He was tossing the giggling child up, or rather just pretending to throw her because his large hands never left her tiny waist, then pretending to catch her, sneaking hugs and kisses in between the tosses.