CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1)

by McMann, Laney

  "Ladies, you look lovely this evening." His gaze shifted toward Kade. "Sparrow." He inclined his head in a gentlemanly way.

  She let out a gasp and touched his bottom lip without even realizing it. "What happened?" His mouth was swollen. A cut trailed from his jaw to the corner of his lip. His cheekbone was bruised, and his face was pale.

  "It's nothing." He smiled, but pain was present in his gaze. "You look...beautiful."

  Kade's face flushed and she lowered her hand, a rush of energy flooding through her, hot and fast. Memories or dreams, she wasn't sure which, streaked through her thoughts. "So do you." She'd missed hearing him call her Sparrow. Seeing his face. Missed the way he always gazed at her like she was something desirable, not the monster she truly was.

  A slight flush touched Cole's cheeks. "Yeah, well, some of us don't need to try."

  His black suit fit his body in all the right places, and the very top button of his shirt was undone, his tie knot slightly loose and off center, showing a hint of skin on his neck. Kade wondered if Tiffany had undone it. The thought made her blood boil, and her energy spiked again, too hard and too fast. Her hands went to the edge of her chair with an iron grip.

  "Did you lose your date?" Lindsey asked in a bored tone.

  Cole either didn't hear her, or chose to ignore her, because his stare remained locked on Kade's. "Are you okay?"

  She nodded without speaking, concentrating on keeping herself still. All her life Kade had hoped to meet someone like him. Someone who would understand. Who she wouldn't have to hide from, and she hoped, even though she never admitted it to herself, that Cole was that person. That he knew. Understood. But staring at him gazing at her, a sinking feeling took over her emotions, and she wanted to look away. To hide what she was. He would never want something like her.

  "How's the head?" His hand lifted a fraction off the table as if he wanted to touch her, but he laid it back down. "Have you been watching your feet while I've been gone? No more falls?"

  "It's only been a day," she said without breath.

  "Felt like forever." His gaze traveled over her bare shoulders, following her collarbone, and up to her face. Heat flushed her skin and the air around them moved. "You're blushing, Sparrow."

  Her lips parted, and his gaze lowered to her mouth. He bit the edge of his bottom lip, and the action set her on fire. You can't want me. You won't after you know what I am.

  "So, Jake, huh?" Cole leaned close enough to kiss her, and it was all she could do not to breach the distance between them and press her lips against his. "Does he make your body heat up like I do?"

  Her breaths increased, heart pounding, and she could no longer contain the energy. The chair trembled underneath her, the metal legs making a faint rattling against the gym floor. Without her crystal to calm her down, she was going to blow.

  "Sparrow?" Cole glanced at her hands, gripped around the edges of the plastic chair like a life raft. The beads of sweat forming near her temples, over her forehead. He shifted toward Giselle and Lindsey with a furious stare. "When did this start?" The question sounded like an order. A command. The same tone of voice he'd used on the sidewalk outside of Crystalline when he'd told Giselle to take Kade home.

  "A little while ago. Just as you walked in the gym," Giselle answered like a student might to a teacher. "I tried to shut it down, but—"

  Cole glanced back at Kade. "It's okay," he said in a gentle voice and touched her cheek with his thumb. "You're okay."

  That was all it took. She knew that voice. That sweet, lulling tone. A thousand memories came flooding at her as if a dam had broken loose. Cole holding her hand at the Kinship while she lay in a strange bed. Cole telling her he wouldn't leave her. Cole explaining to her that he was Primori in the woods outside of her house when he protected her from Dracon. Cole kissing her, a tiny kiss, his lips barely brushing hers, but it was still a kiss.

  He was a Primori. The memory turned over in her head. One of Celestial Children. The godly ones. He'd told her that. Whispered it to her. The memory, knowing it was a memory, made tears well up in her eyes.

  Cole reached for her hands, unlatching her stone grip, and turned her chair with her sitting in it to face him. Their knees touched. "You remember." His voice hitched. "I can see it in your eyes."

  Kade nodded, and lost it. Tears streaked down her face.

  "It's okay." He wiped her cheeks. "Don't cry. We're just going to stand up and walk out of here. Easy. No one will even notice. You can hold my hand if you want. Squeeze it as tight as you want." He gave her a sweet grin.

  She wanted desperately to do that. To hold his hand the same way she'd held it in the Kinship. She wanted him to put his arms around her, to kiss her like he had in his Jeep in front of her house. More tears fell as the memories continued. No one had ever talked to her the way he had. In a caring, empathetic way. The same way he'd spoken to her when the doctor had drawn her blood and pricked her finger. Telling her stories to make her laugh so she wouldn't think about the pain. Drawing circles on her face with his finger, down her cheeks, over her temples.

  Cole wiped the tears away again, holding her jaw in his hand. "I've got you." He stared into her eyes. "I promise." He turned toward Lindsey and Giselle. "Cover me."

  "Cole, we can't—" Lindsey began, suddenly fully alert. "You can't—"

  "Cover. Me." He shoved one of the chairs out of the way with his foot, steering Kade through the crowd. "See, you're okay," he said. "Just breathe. Sometimes our energy surges up and makes it hard to control. It's totally normal for fledglings."

  Kade remembered that Cole was the Brotherhood's Alpha, the one who looked out for the younger kids who were just learning what they were. She could understand why. He was good at it. Blindly, she reached for his hand, the one that wasn't around her waist, and the warmth of his fingers thread through her own. Her pulse both raced and slowed and she had no idea how that was even possible. They stepped into the hall and cold air rushed over Kade, causing her to tremble.

  "Go get her coat," Cole said over his shoulder. "Without being seen."

  Giselle made an angry noise, but she didn't argue. Kade heard the double gym door swing shut behind them. She wanted to sit down, or fall down, all her weight was hovering somewhere near her knees. Cole steered them into an empty classroom and walked back into the hallway, meeting Giselle as she came back with Kade’s things. "Tell Jake she got sick or something, and her dad picked her up."

  “Cole, we can't just—" Giselle started.

  "You can, and you will, or you can take Kadence's possible exposure under your watch up with Warden Caelius."

  Kade wanted to apologize to Giselle for walking off with Cole, but for the moment she thought being with him was the safest place for her to be. Giselle gave her a quick hug before heading back to Lindsey.

  Cole held her coat and purse. He slipped the coat over her chill-bumped arms and buttoned it up to her chin like she was five years old.

  "I wasn't imagining it all." Kade still thought she might fall.

  "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. The Warden cleared your memory. There are rules we have to follow." He handed over her purse.

  She gazed at him, and the past few days rushed at her too fast, so unbelievable, that she stumbled. Cole swooped underneath her.

  "Whoa. Careful. I'll take you home. Sometimes, when we get really upset, our energy burns too fast and drains us. You'll get better at conserving it when you're trained."

  "Trained?" Her legs were wobbly and the high heels weren't helping. She thought of the newborn calf look she'd had getting out of Jake's car. Somehow, leaning against Cole as if she'd drunk too much and couldn't stay upright, was worse than that.

  "All fledglings need to be trained in order to protect themselves, stay hidden from humans. That sort of thing. Your dad didn't tell you that?" He sounded irritated.

  "No ... he, we don't ever talk about anything. Only Dracon—" she stopped short as darkness bled into the blues and grays of Cole's e
yes.

  "Only Dracon what?" His tone was deadly. She remembered him taunting Dracon in the woods outside of her house. Telling him to let go of Kade's arm. The realization that all of that actually happened swept over her again and made her want to vomit.

  "He...he's the only one who's ever told me anything about the Primordial race. Did I... didn't I tell you that before?"

  "Yes, and I don't understand it any better now than I did then. And it doesn't piss me off any less, either." Cole made a growling sound. "The more I hear, the less I like. Let's get you to the Jeep. Can you walk?"

  "Can you?" She noticed his color had faded.

  "Don't worry about me. Can you walk?"

  Kade took a shaky step forward, wondering if she should take her shoes off for better balance. Rubbing her hands down her arms, Kade followed Cole into the empty hallway, slightly steadier on her feet. The girl's bathroom door swung open, and Cole stopped.

  "What the hell is this?" Tiffany stormed toward them, her curtain of straight hair fanning out behind her like a cape. "You sneak out of the infirmary to come here. Against doctor's orders, and now you're out here in the hallway with her?" She thrust her arm in Kade's direction. Again with the her. Like Kade was a pariah.

  Cole snuck out of the infirmary?

  "You said there was nothing going on, Cole!" Tiffany yelled. "And now you're out here with this little...little," she glared at Kadence, "low life bitch."

  Come again? Before Kade realized she'd moved, Tiffany's back was against the lockers, and Kade was two inches from her face, charged energy shedding off her body like a second skin.

  "Whoa." Cole chuckled, no, he laughed. "Whoa, now." His hands wrapped Kade's shoulders, sending heat down her arms, and he pulled her away from Tiffany. All of the tension humming inside her body doubled under his touch as if he was a conduit. Her conduit. "No need for all of this. Just a misunderstanding. I needed to talk to Kade regarding Ward business."

  Tiffany shot Kade a furious glare. "You better watch yourself, new girl."

  Kade grinned. "Backatcha."

  "Two minutes, Cole. That's all you get. Two." Tiffany held her fingers up. "Or I'm calling Plumb."

  The usual cocky arrogance Kade had come to know so well, flashed across Cole's expression. The part of him that made her want to slap him and kiss him at the same time. It wasn't the first time she wondered if he always got whatever he wanted. Whoever he wanted, whenever.

  "Two. Minutes," Tiffany said again, and the gym doors swung closed behind her.

  "That wasn't very nice, Sparrow." He gave Kade a sideways grin.

  "Not very nice? She called me a bitch." She patted the pockets on her coat. Nothing. Her fists clenched and unclenched, energy increasing. Unzipping her purse, she dug through it, searching.

  "Need something?"

  Her eyes narrowed as she glanced up. "No." She lied, her body shuddering slightly where she stood.

  "Gotta control that temper of yours." He stepped closer to her. "It's a lot fiercer than I would've pegged you for. It's cute, though," he whispered. "I like it on you. Don't take crap from anyone, do you? Wouldn't have guessed that either, honestly."

  "Cute?"

  "And when your face gets all red,” he grinned, “sexy."

  Kade's entire body might as well have been on fire and she had the overwhelming urge to touch him. Inch a little bit closer, close the gap between them.

  Cole's head tilted. "And I thought you only got hot for me."

  Her mouth dropped open, and she fought between wanting to kiss him, and wanting to yell. "Your loser of a girlfriend just got in my face. And you're flirting with me like you don't even have a girlfriend. And you kissed me before. At my house." Her voice cracked as she stared at him. "There's nothing sexy or cute about that if you have a girlfriend. I appreciate you helping me, more than you'll probably ever know, but—" With more effort than she would've imagined, she took a step back.

  "Actually, you got in her face." He grinned and closed the space she'd created between them. "We should really go." Reaching for her hand, he started down the hallway.

  "Go? But—you." Kade gestured toward the gym. "Did you hear anything I said?"

  "I heard everything you said. I have excellent hearing."

  "Well?" Her high heels clacked off the floor. "What about Tiffany?"

  "She'll be fine, but I'll let her know you were worried about her later if you want." He gave her a cocky sideways grin.

  "What is it with you? One second you're a complete douche and the next you're ... you're..."

  "I'm what?" He smiled, the sweetest smile she'd ever seen, and the gym doors flew open with a thwack against the wall.

  "What do we have here? The new girl and Cole?” Alex stood near the doors.

  Kade dropped Cole's hand.

  "Alex." Cole crossed his arms.

  "I heard you were incapacitated. Got the shit beat out of you. 'Bout time."

  Cole's arrogant smile returned. "You heard wrong, obviously. That's the problem with the Kinship. They can't tell their head from their ass half the time. It's not your fault. It's in the blood." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

  Something about the way Cole spoke...the formality and politeness of his tone, while still being completely arrogant, fascinated Kade. He seemed totally at ease in his own skin, while at the same time, an unharnessed power radiated off of him all the time.

  "Was there something you needed to enlighten us with this evening?" Cole asked. "Or were you out for a stroll in the high school hallway?" His gaze tracked the plain off-white walls with feigned interest. "No one you should be doing rounds to find?"

  "Considering the way your face looks, you might want to check your mouth," Alex said. "And my rounds aren't your concern."

  "Speaking of the way my face looks, and your obvious ignorance as to how it got that way, where's Kyle?" Cole's smile vanished, replaced by a hard line marking the edges of his strong jaw.

  Kyle did that to his lip? His cheek?

  "Haven't seen him."

  "Well, when you do, let him know that he already earned one strike for touching Kade." Cole's gaze tracked her from head to toe before he faced Alex again. "Let him know that he earned the second strike for yesterday—he’ll understand—and let him know that when I see him, and I will make it a point to see him, that he used up his third and final strike when he ran like the coward that he is."

  Alex's eyes narrowed.

  Another door opened near the gym's entrance.

  "What in the hell are you doing out of bed? Here of all places?" Danny yelled from the end of the hall, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, smears of black dirt everywhere.

  "Look, it's my most loyal friend." Cole gave a curt nod. "Dan, I thought you were aware this was a formal event?"

  "Alex, if you could excuse us, I have some business to discuss with Cole." Danny walked toward them.

  "Jake was looking for Kade earlier." Alex glanced at her. "He thinks you left."

  Kade's stomach dropped. She had no issue with Jake, and when she'd left the gym and gone into the hallway with Cole it was because she had to. She would've exposed herself if she'd stayed, but she'd had no intention of hurting Jake's feelings.

  "I don't give a damn what Jake was looking for," Cole said, before Kade could respond.

  "She's not one of your own," Alex said.

  Cole cursed. "I swear to god the next person who says that is going to find my fist lodged in their throat."

  Kade grinned against her will, glancing at the floor.

  "Kade stays with us unless she chooses otherwise." Danny stopped a few feet away, his stance broad. "In which case she stays with Giselle. And Giselle only. Kade?" His green eyes brightened as he glanced at her.

  "I'm staying with Cole if that's what you're asking." Girlfriend or not, Kade felt safe just standing next to him.

  Cole grinned, a quick, shy smile.

  "It's what I'm asking." Danny turned toward Alex. "She stays. And like I said, I
have business to discuss, so if you could…"

  "Primordial business is my business. And fledglings aren't privy. She goes, I stay."

  Cole's head dropped back. "Good god, man, just go. I'm being as nice as I can possibly be at this point. You have no idea."

  "Not without Kadence," Alex said. "She doesn't belong with you."

  "I am seriously beginning to hate the word: belong," Cole said. "But, you're right. She doesn't belong to me. She doesn't belong to anyone other than herself, but she does have free will, and that free will is what's keeping her standing next to me instead of next to you, or next to Jake. It's easy math."

  The gym doors swung open again.

  "Really?" Cole said in a bored tone. "Please, join the party, Lindsey. Who's wheeling the dessert table out? Danny, you can carry the punch bowl and the cups. Maybe someone could convince the DJ to set up out here, too. Oh. We can have a dance off. I bet you'll win, Alex." Cole turned around, reached for Kade's elbow, and tugged her forward, walking away. "Goodnight, everyone," he said without looking back. "It's been thrilling."

  "Cole!" Danny shouted.

  "I'm fine, Dan. Really."

  Danny let out an exaggerated sigh.

  ***

  Cold air hit Kade like a slap and knocked her breath away as they exited the gym. Wrapping her arms around her body, her heels sunk into newly fallen snow.

  "My Jeep isn't far." Cole sounded distracted.

  She nodded, teeth chattering.

  "Come here." He pulled her against him, and warmth radiated through her body. "Why'd you wear that? I mean you look..." His gaze traced her bare legs. "It's like thirty degrees out here."

  "It's a dance. You dress up for dances." She motioned toward his suit.

  "Here, wear my jacket." He started unbuttoning it.

  "I'm not wearing that," she stuttered. "Then you'll be cold. Besides, I have a coat—it’s just my legs."

  "Are you always so stubborn?" He wrapped both arms around her.

  Kade's entire body zinged like a live wire, and she trembled, but it was no longer because of the cold. "Not always."

  "If you won't wear my jacket," he whispered, "well—" In one swooping motion he picked her up and cradled her in his arms. "Then I'll just have to carry you to the Jeep. I can't have you getting chilled again. It took me forever to warm you up last time."