by Leela Ash
Kyna ran her hand through her silver-blonde hair and sighed. There was no choice but to stay focused. She had no other option if she was going to help to liberate them all to Kaldernon before the Guardians retaliated. When they did it was going to be a massacre, so they had to hurry.
“Well, what have we here?” a man’s voice said from behind her. Kyna whipped around, her heart thudding in fear. The man didn’t sound particularly friendly.
“What the hell are you wearing, girl?” another man asked with a cackle.
Suddenly, Kyna found herself surrounded by five men. The first man who spoke stepped forward gripping her gown in his dirty hands. She tore it away from him and the men snorted at her.
“Are you sure that’s how you want to play it?” the man asked with a grin. “Cuz it’s looking to me a lot like you’re out numbered here.”
“I’m not playing anything,” Kyna said, glowering at the man.
“That right?”
The men chortled and suddenly she realized that there was danger. She was used to being with a group who could help to protect her, but she had gone out alone without even telling anybody where she had gone. She had put herself right in harm’s way.
“You look a little funny,” the man said.
“You’re one to talk, Ralph!”
The men cackled again and Ralph glowered at them.
“Shut up, will ya? I’m trying to have a conversation with the lady here.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Kyna said.
“Well, that’s all right, so long as you’re a good listener. What would you say? Are you a good listener, honey? You look like one.”
Kyna’s stomach churned as the man came up in her face. She turned away and tried to hide her face in her arm, but Ralph pulled it away and gripped her by the shoulders, forcing her to face him.
“Now that’s not very nice. We just came over here to make a little friendly conversation. What crawled up your ass?”
“I told you I don’t want to be bothered,” she said.
“Well that’s just too bad,” Ralph said, pulling out a hunting knife. “Because I’ve been needing somebody to talk to.”
***
A sharp scream startled Cain as he made his way through the dark forest surrounding the city. He had gone in the opposite direction of the strange underground settlement, and yet the voice sounded like it could be coming from Kyna.
He took off running with all of his power and arrived just as a stout man shoved Kyna to the ground. Cain was instantly filled with rage as her head bounced off the ground and an expression of pain filled her face.
The man didn’t know what had hit him by the time Cain was done with him. Two had already escaped, but Cain caught the others. He blacked out as he boxed them senseless, his anger fueling his power. He nearly lost control of himself and went too far, but Kyna’s gentle hands draped over his shoulder and they locked eyes. He suddenly felt his strength dissolving as his rage fled his body, and he moved away from the limp bodies of the men.
“They won’t hurt you anymore,” he said, turning away with every intention of walking away.
Kyna nodded, and he could feel her eyes on him as he began to leave the scene. She tried to walk after him, but staggered and fell heavily to the ground. The man had caused her to hit her head pretty hard, and she was having a hard time staying conscious.
“Shit,” he mumbled, walking over to examine her. She was alive, but badly injured. “You need to get out of here until you feel better.”
She opened her mouth to try to reply, but he silenced her.
“Come on,” Cain said, lifting her to her feet. He cradled her close to his chest and headed back toward his truck. It had been a crazy idea to go hunting, anyway. And now he had found the one person he had been wanting to avoid more than anything. And, if that wasn’t outrageous enough, he was taking her back to his apartment.
Cain situated Kyna in the passenger’s seat and she opened and closed her eyes heavily as he tore out of the parking lot and headed toward his home. He didn’t want to involve the hospital in case they investigated the men and found any of them brutalized to death. Cain knew how to treat bumps and bruises anyway.
“Hey,” he said, snapping his fingers in front of Kyna’s face as he sped toward the highway. “Don’t go to sleep, now.”
Kyna’s golden eyes fixed upon him and Cain felt his heart thud despite himself. She sure was something else. He was furious that anyone might want to harm her. Cain felt responsible for her somehow. As if they had a connection that nobody should interfere with. He wanted to protect her, even if he thought she was a little bit out there.
“Where are we going?” Kyna asked quietly.
“To my apartment,” Cain said with a heavy sigh. “If that’s all right.”
“You can just take me home,” she said. She was tired of fighting. “I know you don’t want to be near me. You probably think I’m insane. Or maybe some kind of witch.”
Cain was surprised by the assumption. The idea of witchcraft hadn’t entered his mind. Though now that she mentioned it, she did have a strange, otherworldliness that being a witch would explain. Still, he couldn’t help but be drawn to it.
“Well, I don’t think I believe what you believe about me if that’s what you mean. But I don’t hate you for thinking it.”
They were quiet for a moment as Kyna considered this.
“What would it take to convince you?” she asked. “I’m kind of lost out here.”
“You’re pretty far from home,” Cain agreed.
“You have no idea,” Kyna sighed.
Cain pursed his lips as he merged into the highway leading into the city. Traffic was bad even this late at night, and they got stuck behind a bus, giving them ample time together in his truck.
“Can you answer something for me?” Cain asked.
“That depends,” she answered.
“What were those lights in the sky? I can’t stop thinking about them.”
“The lights of Kaldernon,” Kyna said softly. “They are what led me to you.”
“Ladernon?” he asked, turning down the radio. The mournful country song disappeared and they were left together in silence.
“Kaldernon,” she said, laying her head back heavily in the seat. “I don’t think you’d believe me, so don’t bother asking about that.”
“All right,” Cain shrugged. “No skin off my back.”
He could feel her glaring at him and had to force himself not to meet her eyes. They drove quietly until they finally reached the road his condo was on.
“I’ve seen that!” Kyna suddenly exclaimed, sitting straight up. The effort was taking a lot out of her, but she kept her eyes fixed on the building, rapt. “It was in my dream.”
“What, are you some kind of psychic or something?”
Kyna turned to him then, giving him a deadpan look. She didn’t answer yes or no, just stared at him as if he were stupid. It gave him the creeps a little bit, but at the same time he felt intrigued. If he would believe anybody in the world was a psychic, Kyna would be the top of the list.
“That’s my apartment building. Maybe you saw it when you were stalking me to get my phone number at work.”
“I didn’t stalk – “
Kyna fell back against the seat, overcome by another wave of sudden pain. “you…”
“Shhh, don’t worry about it right now. We’re gonna get you taken care of.”
And with that, he parked his truck and helped her to the elevator of the condo. What in the world had he had gotten himself into?
Chapter Eight
Kyna sat nervously on the couch as Cain rummaged through his bathroom for medical supplies. When she had fallen she had cut her arm pretty deeply on the jagged rocks along the edges of the stream.
“Don’t want it to get infected,” Cain had said, disappearing behind the door.
When he returned, he was surprised to find Kyna digging through the magazines he
had beside the end table. She devoured them quietly, her amber-colored eyes wide.
“See anything you like?” he asked, his lips twitching in a bemused smile.
“Oh! I’m sorry,” Kyna exclaimed. He laughed at the horrified expression on her face as she slapped the magazine she was looking at closed. It was a travel issue, and she shoved it under the table.
“It’s all right, that’s why they’re there,” he said, smiling gently at her.
Kyna stared at him in a daze. Why did she always lose track of her thoughts when he looked at her?
“What’s wrong?” Cain asked.
“I…nothing,” she said, sitting up rigidly and trying to smile at him as if they were sharing the most typical experience in the world.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Cain said with a chuckle, kneeling in front of her. Kyna noticed that he had changed his shirt, stripping off the outer layer and replacing it with a tight tank top that revealed his impressively muscular arms.
“You’re going to feel this for a second,” he said apologetically, unscrewing the cap off a large clear bottle of rubbing alcohol.
“Okay,” she said, not fully understanding what he meant.
He sat the bottle down on the coffee table and held her arm gingerly in his hand, carefully lifting the sleeve of her otherworldly dress to reveal the area where it was bleeding.
“It’s pretty heavy bleeding,” he said, more to himself than to her. “Does it hurt?”
She gazed into his soulful, sea-colored eyes. He seemed sad, probably about several things, judging by the depth in them. She sighed. Did he feel guilty for not believing her?
“It’s not that bad,” she said, mustering all of her strength to help reassure him.
“Oh, that’s good. What about your head?”
She couldn’t lie about her head. She had probably gotten a concussion from falling so hard onto the ground, and she had to battle a strong surge of nausea every time she moved too quickly.
“I don’t know. I feel sick whenever I stand up too fast or move. Sometimes just sitting here.”
“So it’s kind of like being drunk?” he asked with a laugh.
“I guess so,” she said, smiling with him. She had only been tipsy once on ceremonial wine, but she knew several of the men enjoyed their ale and suffered from hangovers that made the strong, capable shifters act like surly children.
“All right, that’s not too good,” he said. “I’ll take care of you.”
Kyna’s heart thudded when she heard the words, and she watched his lithe, handsome body cross the room. “I’ve got something you should take for the swelling, all right?”
When Cain was out of the room, she felt a confusing loneliness. Kyna had spent most of her life in isolation because that was the way she was best able to keep in touch with her powers as an oracle. But she had never truly felt the absence of somebody else before. What was going on?
“Here, take this,” Cain said when he returned, handing her a little round pill. Kyna stared at it skeptically. “What, haven’t you ever taken a pill before?”
“Do you chew it? This doesn’t look like food.”
“It’s not. It’s medicine.”
“Not my kind of medicine.”
Cain smiled wryly. “I’m sure it’s not,” he said with a short laugh. “But this will help you feel better faster.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Just swallow it with the water. Like this.”
Cain demonstrated with an invisible pill before handing her the water. Kyna sighed, keeping her eye on him as she took the pill.
“Good,” he said. “Now let me finish bandaging that up. Helping your head feel better is way more important than your arm.”
She gasped when Cain’s strong fingers wrapped around her again, sending a soft jolt of pleasure through her body. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before and she pulled her arm away reflexively.
“Hey, cut it out,” Cain said with a deep frown. “I need to do this. I’m sorry if it hurt.”
Cain gripped the arm assertively and Kyna closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pounding in her chest. He dabbed the wound gently with a cool cloth.
“Brace yourself,” he said, his low voice close to her ear. “This is going to hurt.”
Kyna hissed as he poured the rubbing alcohol over the cut and the stinging traveled up her arm.
“Here,” Cain said, pushing his broad hand into hers. “Squeeze it if you want.”
Kyna opened an eye to look at him, gauging whether or not he was serious. Cain’s eyes settled upon her, no humor in them, and she squeezed as he wrapped the bandage snugly around her wound. It was oddly sensual, despite the pain. When Cain was finally finished dressing the wound, he looked up at her with a small grin.
“There,” Cain said, his beautiful eyes locked on her. “All done.”
Kyna opened and closed her mouth, unsure of what to say with his face so near to hers. She wanted to speak, but her heart was hammering in her ears and there were no words for what she really wanted.
Cain lingered there for a moment. He also seemed conflicted about something, but he stood up and grinned down at her. “Lucky for you I found you on a weekend, so you’ll get to sleep in before I take you home.”
“Yeah,” Kyna whispered. She didn’t believe in luck, but she didn’t want to tell him that. “Lucky.”
Cain set to work bringing out sheets and blankets for her, making a comfortable bed on the couch. His condo had a beautiful view overlooking the city’s skyline, and he lay the pillow on the end of the couch so she could gaze at it as she fell asleep.
“Good night,” Cain said, dimming the lights and heading into his bathroom again.
Kyna heard the rush of running water as he showered, and stared at the night sky out the window. The lights of the city reminded her of Kaldernon, and she felt a sudden pang of sadness and panic. She was a failure. There was no way she would ever be able to convince Cain that she was telling the truth. He seemed set in his ways, and nobody would ever change that about him.
In a way, Cain’s firm grasp of who he was and what he believed was sexy. Conviction had always been highly revered by the Lonis. But on the other hand, inflexibility could make Kyna feel more frustrated than she knew what to do with.
Eventually the sounds from the bathroom ceased and Cain settled down for the night in his bedroom. Kyna sighed and closed her eyes. Maybe things would change for the better in the morning.
Chapter Nine
Cain thought he would finally be able to sleep after his hunting trip, but having the strange, bizarrely beautiful woman in his house kept him wide awake. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Kyna, and now that she was so close, he wasn’t sure what to do. He had to fight away thoughts of the things he wanted to do with her, to her maybe. It was hard being a man sometimes.
But wouldn’t it be a mistake to get involved with a woman who seemed to have something wrong with her? Still, that didn’t change the fact that she seemed to know things. Things most people overlooked. The idea of Kyna being a witch had stuck in Cain’s head ever since she’d brought it up. Was that the strange impression he had of her? Kyna had managed to articulate the level of strangeness that he had experienced when dealing with her. Should Cain be concerned that she was in his home? She seemed perfectly harmless, but what if she had friends? Those weird men that had stopped him in the forest?
Nothing made sense anymore. Cain groaned softly to himself and buried his head in his pillow. What was he going to do with that girl? Now that Kyna knew where he lived, she probably wouldn’t leave him alone. Should he go to the police? And did he really want to?
Her biggest crime was believing that Cain was something that he wasn’t. And he was a sucker for the mystique; the strange and beautiful way that Kyna presented herself. There was something that drove him to feel intensely attracted to her, beyond anything that she had ever felt with another woman. That was alarming in itself.
Cain was used to being cool and aloof, his feelings never on the line. But Kyna made him feel vulnerable. Unsure of himself. Unsure, even, of his own sanity.
All Cain really knew was that of all the things he had done in the past few weeks, having her climb into his truck so that he could drive her back to the underground tunnels and out of his life was going to be the hardest. Even harder than restraining himself from going back to her in the cover of night to tell her how she made him feel. He cringed as he felt an erection begin to creep against his leg and sighed deeply. It was going to be a long night.
***
Kyna couldn’t sleep. Her mind was scattered and seemed to be jumping all over the place. It went from focusing on the deep burning that she felt in her body whenever Cain was near and the terrifying close encounter she’d had with the men in the woods. Why did he make her feel that way? She was feeling much better after taking the medicine he gave her, but she missed being near him. It was making her anxious.
Her amber eyes were wide and alert after everything that had happened, and the artificial light from the city outside hurt her eyes. It was nice to look at for a while, but it was so bright compared to the underground burrows back at the Kersh clan’s settlement. It gave her a panicked feeling of claustrophobia. She longed to be able to lay down on her preferred spot on Earth and look up at the comforting lights of Kaldernon. But ever since they had started to pulse, taking on that unearthly hue, she hadn’t been comforted so much as puzzled and concerned.
Kyna tried hiding her face from the lights underneath her pillow, but that didn’t work. Not only was it still too bright, but it smelled just like Cain. It was driving her crazy to battle her longing. What would she even do with him if she had him? Play cards? Tell him how handsome he was?
She sighed in frustration, just about the same time she heard a similar sound come from Cain’s bedroom. Were they feeling the same way? She sat up and stared into the darkness in the direction of his bedroom. What was he feeling right that moment?