by RS McCoy
“It was fine,” she told him when they were alone. “He was nice and respectful and nothing happened, as you know because you could see the whole time.”
In the mirrored finish, she saw his jaw flex with tension through his beard. “I told you. A later discussion. Now, kindly don’t mention it again.”
Blossom clenched her teeth together at the return of his Vice Syndicate voice. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at his reflection, though he didn’t seem to even notice. His gaze remained even and straight ahead.
When the elevator doors opened and released them into the stark-white lobby of the Syndicate Building, he put his hand at the small of her back as he had so many times before, except now he all but shoved her forward. Blossom had to half-trot to keep up with the pace of his long legs.
They bypassed the counter of Aero portal attendants and went straight toward hallway of the portal rooms. Kaide pulled the door so hard it slammed into the wall and sent a loud echo across the lobby, but he didn’t seem to notice. Blossom felt curious eyes staring as they disappeared down the hall.
Kaide chose their usual portal room and ushered her in first, then slammed the door closed behind them. When Blossom assumed her usual position with her back against the wall, he inserted his copper coin in the wall slot to produce a faint metal clinking within the portal mechanism.
Then his hands cupped her cheeks as he pulled her up and off the wall. His lips melted against hers, sending the air from her lungs in a single, intoxicating instant.
Around her, the portal launched into its invisible spinning, throwing her stomach in a hundred directions, but Blossom couldn’t be bothered with that now. With Kaide holding her that way, with his kiss as intense as the sun, there was nothing else.
He clutched at her as if he’d missed her for years rather than moments. His energy was all desperate desire and frantic need. Blossom kissed him back—good and hard and strong—despite how she was angry with him. There would be time to argue after she’d had her fill of his kissing him.
When the portal stopped spinning, Kaide pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. “This was a mistake,” he breathed against her.
“Excuse me?” She glared up at him and tried to pull away, but he held her firm.
Blossom put both hands on his chest to push him away when he said, “Now that I’ve started kissing you I won’t be able to stop.” Kaide chuckled lightly as he dusted her cheeks with soft kisses.
“Then don’t stop,” she whispered, her voice lost after such words.
Kaide groaned and kissed the top of her head. “You’re trying to make this hard on me, aren’t you?” He slid his fingers down her neck, trailing fingertips along the tops of her shoulders and descending the length of her arms until a shiver rolled through her.
It only made him smile, easy and open like he hadn’t been all night. Blossom knew the Vice Syndicate was gone, and it was finally time for her to be with Kaide—not the politician, just the man.
Kaide grasped each of her wrists and pulled her out the door, into the hall of portal rooms, and back into the dark onyx lobby of the Pyro Building. Firelight licked at the walls, and through the windows she could see the pure black of midnight. Pyros darted around the building, attending to the portals and other such business, though it was far less crowded than it had been earlier.
That was fine with Blossom. Less people to get in their way. With his hand still on her wrist, Kaide pulled her toward the door, but after halfway crossing the lobby, he decided she wasn’t going fast enough. He stopped short and bent behind her. Before she realized what he was up to, his arms were lifting her from the floor, cradling her against his chest. Trapped in her massive dress, she couldn’t do much about it.
“Put me down!” she fussed, but she couldn’t keep the girlish laughter from her voice. Blossom covered her face with her hands as every person in the building stared at the Vice Syndicate carrying a young woman out the door.
“Everyone is looking at us.” She spoke quieter this time and pressed her palms over her red-hot cheeks.
“Let them look. I kissed you in the middle of the Syndicate. There’s nothing to hide anymore.” Kaide marched down the steps to the awaiting transport. Druma and Olin stood at attention on either side of the door, and Blossom couldn’t help but notice the curl of Druma’s lip as he tried to hide his amusement.
Kaide ignored them both and headed straight through the open door of the transport. Rather than putting her down, he sat on the long bench that surrounded the perimeter of the enclosed space and continued to hold her. With Olin navigating, the transport shot into the air, so fast and sudden she clutched tight to Kaide’s neck.
“Can you put me down now?” The transport-light dimmed and cast them in the fiery glow of nearby volcanoes.
“Are you so eager to get away from me?” He raised an eyebrow at her as he smirked, already knowing her answer.
Blossom tried to be annoyed but couldn’t quite manage. Instead she leaned over and pressed her lips just above his rough beard. “Thank you.”
Kaide blinked in confusion. “For what?”
“For taking me tonight, and dancing with me, and just everything I guess.” She shrugged with her arms still around his neck.
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?”
“That nothing I do will ever be worthy of you. You still can’t see it, can you?”
Blossom looked down at the dress he’d complimented all night. “But this isn’t me. This is Raene and Stride and Paloma and everyone else.” She’d literally done nothing but stand there while they got her dressed so she could attend a party where she was nothing more than decoration on his arm.
“It is most certainly you. Your curls. Your freckles. Your stubbornness,” he teased. Kaide reached for her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the wooden ring on her finger.
That, more than anything, caught her off guard. Kaide had an uncanny knack for unsettling her, but this time, it rolled through her like a storm. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t the kid sister or the delicate flower or the caged animal. Kaide saw her as she was. It filled his eyes and tugged at his smile. He knew her deep in her marrow as no one else ever had.
Blossom leaned into his chest and rested her cheek against his shoulder, feeling the vibration of the transport mixed with the slow draw of his breaths. Her forehead pressed to the side of his neck until he turned enough to plant a sweet kiss in her mess of curls.
When the transport settled back to the ground and the door opened, Blossom wasn’t ready to leave. Instead, she sat motionless on Kaide’s lap with her cheek on his shoulder, content in their embrace.
Kaide, too, made no motion to leave. His hand moved up her back, running his fingertips along the length of her spine. Like Hale had done. Like her mother would have done had she lived.
Blossom savored the sensation of his pulse thumping under his skin, and the way his hand skimmed across her back. For several minutes she remained in his arms, until without warning, he jumped up and carried her out of the transport.
“I can’t possibly be expected to refrain from touching you for another moment,” he said, though she hadn’t asked.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” There was one more thing to do yet.
Kaide stopped mid-step and hung his head so low it pressed against hers. “I was hoping you’d forget.”
“You promised.”
“No, I didn’t. But I gave you my word. Are you sure this is what you want?”
Blossom didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes. No more secrets. No more hiding. Show me.”
Kaide answered by lowering her feet to the ground. He rubbed a hand over his beard for several seconds, his eyes dim in thought, before he called out, “Druma?”
The serviceman appeared from the far side of the transport and trotted over. Neither said anything, but it was clear from Druma’s posture that he wasn’t there in a
social capacity. He stood only five steps behind Blossom, his feet planted and ready for action.
Kaide unbuttoned his official cloak and tossed it into the grass toward the manor. He stood before her in his sleek black shirt and pants, looking as handsome as ever. “Please don’t think less of me,” Kaide whispered as he kissed her cheek. There was so much pain and anxiety in his voice, Blossom almost stopped him, but it had taken so long to get him to reveal his totem. It was so much a part of him, she had to see it. She had to know if it was as bad as he feared.
Kaide pulled away and stepped back, taking two-dozen steps toward the middle of the clearing before he turned to face her again.
She couldn’t see him well from such a far distance, but there was an unmistakable darkness in his eyes that made her afraid. Blossom tried to swallow it down, to suppress any inkling of fear, sure he would sense it on her.
Kaide started with his hands at his side—they clenched into fists that burst open to reveal huge claws. His arms rippled with muscle building, layering upon itself. He threw his head back, as if in pain, though he made no sound. A moment later, he fell onto all fours, his back arched. The sharp points of his vertebrae appeared moments before thick grey hair sprouted over his entire frame. With each passing second he grew larger, his legs lengthening, his frame widening with muscle and darkening with fur. Then he stretched his neck toward the sky and let out a long, loud howl.
When his transformation was complete, Blossom could only stare. His head was that of a wolf, but rather than the slender snout, his was thick like a bear’s. The ears, too, were wolf, prickling and rotating at sounds she couldn’t hear. He bared all the shimmering-white teeth of a predator.
The body of his totem was robust and humming with pure strength, and in the amber, volcanic light, she could see the shadows of stripes running along his back and ribs. His feet were the huge, soft paws of a cat, and she knew he could produce his retractable claws, as sharp as blades, when needed. Behind him, his thick wolf’s tail swung in anticipation.
For several moments, they all stood frozen. Kaide in his beast form hovering in wait, Blossom standing in awe, Druma stationed behind her, anticipating a crisis that never came.
Blossom’s first instinct was fear. Her pulse raced at the sheer size of him; his shoulders looming well over her head. The look of his teeth under his snarled wolf’s lip would make anyone run for their life.
But then she saw his eyes. Those bright-blue orbs that were so unmistakably his, staring at her with that same intensity as always. Not murderous or violent or hungry, but afraid.
He was afraid of what she would think of him.
“Thank you, Druma. I’ll be fine,” she told the serviceman behind her. Blossom summoned up all the courage she had and stepped forward. She walked toward him, wearing her thin-soled slippers, the grass crunching beneath her feet. More than once she had to yank at the dress trailing behind her, but she refused to stop.
Beast-Kaide kept his eyes on her, watching her carefully but refusing to move. She wondered if he thought she was scared of him, but of course, she wasn’t. He must have known, must have smelled it on her.
When she was near enough, she reached her hand out to stoke his fur-covered cheek. At first, he shied away, pulling his head to the side.
But Blossom persisted, stepping forward until she could run her hands through his thick fur, charcoal-grey and softer than she expected. Her hand disappeared into his fur well up to her forearms, thick as it was, until she collapsed against him, wrapping her arms as far around his neck as she could manage. Blossom pressed her cheek into his fur and breathed in that ashy scent of his.
Deep in his throat, a vibration emerged, something like a growl. It was enough to make her step back until she realized it was the tiger in him, purring like a kitten.
Kaide the kitten. The thought sent her reeling. She hooted with laughter and clutched at her stomach, racked with uncontrollable chuckles.
Then he really did growl. And it only sent her into another fit of giggles, laughing harder.
Beast-Kaide managed to glare at her even in his animal form. Blossom reached out a hand and stroked the fur along his shoulder, trying to calm his anger and her laughter.
Instead, he collapsed, pressing his belly to the ground and resting on his paws that were almost as large as she was. Blossom wasted no time in climbing on top of him and lying prostrate across his back, feeling his deep inhales and exhales, rising and falling with each of his breaths. She could feel the energy and power in him.
No wonder he was so strong—able to carry her up the stairs or up a mountain. No wonder he had those intense eyes he insisted on using to disarm her. Kaide had this beast lurking within him even in his human form.
It was the most incredible thing she’d ever seen. Never in her life had she been so impressed.
Then, without warning, Blossom started to fall. As if he’d disappeared from underneath her, she plummeted downward. Her heart pounded and her stomach sank like a rock. Her arms and legs swung wide on reflex, but nothing stopped her fall. Not until Kaide caught her.
With his human hands.
Strong arms held her above him until he lowered her onto his chest, the same as before, only now a man lay where the beast had been.
“You scared me!” Blossom smacked him across the shoulder.
Kaide only wrapped his long arms around her back and squeezed her tight. “You scared me.”
Blossom planted one hand at either side of his head and pushed up so she could see his face. “What? I didn’t do anything. You were the one growling,” she reminded him.
A flash of pain filled his eyes. “I’m sorry I scared you. I didn’t want you to think of me like that, like a monster.”
Blossom leaned down to kiss his totem tattoo. “I wasn’t scared of you. I know everyone wants to think I’m some baby bird, but I could ride a bear when I was eight. I stopped a bear fight when I was ten. I’d be in serious trouble if I was afraid of every man with a big, furry totem.” She offered him a bright smile so he’d know she meant it.
“You stopped a bear fight?” he asked with an amused glint in his eye.
“Lathan and Parson got into it a few months after Parson’s transformation. I jumped between them and neither was willing to hurt me to get to the other.”
“Beauty, that’s unbelievably dangerous. You can’t do things like that.”
“Why? It worked didn’t it?”
“Totems aren’t like human forms.” Kaide sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “It’s hard to be in control in that form. I’m not always—sometimes I do things I regret later. Dangerous things. You shouldn’t have come so close.”
Blossom rolled her eyes and leaned down, this time to kiss his neck, feeling the prickles of grass tickling her ear as she lowered herself onto his chest. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re afraid of hurting me?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I—”
“I don’t believe you,” she said, cutting him off. “You couldn’t hurt me. You’re not capable.” Blossom planted a row of kisses in a line from his ear to his shoulder, feeling the blood pumping just beneath his skin as her words sank in. She loved that she could still make him nervous, that she wasn’t the only one struggling every time they were close. “Was there a single moment when you thought you might hurt me?”
“No,” he admitted. “It was better than usual. I don’t know if you made me calmer or if I was just too afraid to move. I didn’t even come close.”
“See? That settles it. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Once again, Blossom leaned over him and pressed her lips to the griffin tattoo on his neck. She really did love his totem—loved his strength and power and sheer size. She knew she would never be in danger with him, in human or totem form.
Kaide clutched her cheeks once more, as he had in the portal room, and held her steady over him. She was trapped to wither in his gaze. His eyes raged bright-blue as he told her, “I will never, ever,
for all the days that I live, be worthy of you. But I promise that I will spend every day I have working to change that.” His thumbs brushed across the apples of her cheeks as he drank her in.
Blossom felt like a dying flower, wilting with each passing second, not under heat or stress or sun, but under the sheer, overwhelming power his words had over her.
Somehow he knew, he always knew what he did to her, and he lowered her down and let her kiss him. This time it was her that was all passion and energy and ferocity, gliding her lips over his and exploring his mouth in full. His beard scratched at her chin, and his heart pounded against her chest where it lay over his. Her lungs ached for air, but she didn’t care. She only wanted him, her Kaide, her beast.
As if he’d been struck by lightning, Kaide peeled himself from the grassy clearing, kissing her hard as he maneuvered to standing. Blossom wrapped her arms around his neck and gripped her elbows to keep from falling, though she didn’t need to. He would never let her go.
Both of his huge hands held her up as he moved. Blossom could feel his legs pumping beneath her, but she didn’t care where they went.
The air changed from volcanic warmth to the calculated coolness of the manor. Then they started up, step after step up the stairs, and yet Blossom continued kissing him, still squeezing her arms around his neck.
And then they fell. Their entwined frames plummeted downward, but instead of crashing, she landed in the lush sheets of his bed with one of his arms propped up to bear their weight.
Only then did Kaide pull away from her.
Standing tall, he worked his hands over the buttons of his shirt, each movement revealing more of the intricate artwork across his chest and arms. Blossom propped up on her elbows and watched with decided interest, failing to miss the glint in his eyes, his gaze never straying from her.
Kaide stripped his shirt off his arms and tossed it on the floor behind him. Then he reached forward and pulled Blossom to her feet, catching her when she didn’t find her balance right away.