Page 75 of Kai's Hunger

Lily clutched the blanket in a firm fist. “Could it ... could it kill me?”

“No, I won’t let that happen. I would never harm you,” I swore, reaching for a lock of her damp hair and teasing the strands. “There are unknowns here, but I won’t hurt you.”

Uncertainty played across her face. My own emotions intensified, as a possessive hunger clawed at the edges of self-control. The connection between us was undeniable, but now it was as if every nerve in my body was charged.

“I want you to understand something,” she began hesitantly, her voice soft, almost a caress. “My feelings for you are evolving. I think I might be falling in love with you. But I’m still afraid here.”

Her admission was like a symphony of desire ringing in my ears, setting every fiber of my being ablaze. I found myself aching to take our relationship to a more profound level. “There is no one more important to me than you. No one that I care for more,” I confessed, my voice husky, laced with longing. “But even amid these emotions, the uncertainties persist. Your concerns hold merit, and whatever your decision, I’ll respect it.”

Silence swelled between us, an unspoken dialogue of raw emotions hanging in the air. And then I knew it was time to reveal another truth, one that had clawed at my conscience. “There’s something else,” I admitted, my voice heavy with guilt.

Her left brow quirked upward. “More revelations?”

“The night of your accident—the one that altered the course of your life—it was my doing. I was the beast you were trying to avoid hitting, Lily.”

Her eyes widened. “You were the black wolf?”

I glanced away, unable to look her in the eye. “Yeah, I was on a hunt. I wanted to tell you before, but...”

“Kind of hard to explain that one,” she surmised, her lips twitching. “I seriously would’ve thought you were nuts.”

I winced. “Yeah, and then I smelled your blood and I knew.”

She stiffened. “Blood?”

“The scent I told you about,” I explained, shifting around on the bed to get more comfortable. The conversation was doing things to me. Things Lily wasn’t quite up to seeing. “When we mate, I’ll take a little of your blood, and you’ll take mine. It’ll anchor us together.”

“A blood exchange,” she repeated, her voice a tremor. “Okay, see, that’s starting to sound a bit scary, Kai.”

I cursed and ran a hand through my hair. “I know how this all must sound, but I promise it’s not as Bram Stoker as you’re imagining.”

She took a deep breath, then let it out. “How about we table the blood talk for now? What else should I know? Do you have abilities?”

“We’re stronger, faster, and our hearing is better than any other creature on earth. We can breathe underwater. And we can heal ourselves. It’s why Dad wasn’t killed by Patterson. A human wouldn’t have survived what my father endured these last two years.”

She touched an injury on her forearm. “So, if we mated right now, all these bruises and cuts would be gone,” she said, almost as if thinking aloud.

“Yes,” I bit out, hoping she’d say yes. I hated seeing her in pain. Hated seeing Patterson’s marks all over her. “They’d heal completely. And any other human ailments you suffer from.”

She yawned and laid her head against the pillow. “I think I need time to process everything, to understand my emotions, and to come to terms with all this.”

I nodded, my heart pounding with the need to claim her now. Seal our bond. Keep her from leaving me. But I refused to entertain that side of my nature. Lily would accept me in her own time. “I’ll let you rest. Come downstairs when you feel up to it or I can bring food up.”

When I started to go, to leave her to sleep, a delicate finger touched the back of my hand. “Don’t leave, please.” Her voice broke with unspoken pain. “I don’t want to be alone tonight. Not tonight.”

Our bond was defined by desire, uncertainty, and a hunger that refused to be quelled. I walked around the side of the bed, then laid down on top of the comforter. I propped my head against the headboard and smiled down at her. “I’ll keep my hands to myself,” I teased. “Sleep, Lily. You’re safe.”

She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. Minutes later she was snoring, her hand resting on top of mine as if unable to let me go. As if needing the contact. I knew the feeling well.

I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Fostine, letting her know where I was. She offered to bring us food around noon and I accepted the offer. This was what Lily needed. To feel safe again. To recover in peace. There would be plenty of time to figure the rest of it out. For now, I would watch over her. And with any luck, Wyatt would find Trakker. We’d kill Patterson. Only then would Lily’s nightmare truly be over.

And yet something deep in my gut told me we weren’t going to be that fortunate.

****

Lily

The night was restless, fraught with shadows and echoes of what Patterson and his guard had done to me. I jolted awake, heart racing, breath ragged, my mind still trapped in the clutches of a nightmare. The memory of my ordeal with Patterson had sprouted new tendrils of fear, creeping into my subconscious and tightening its grip on me even in my sleep. The moonlight filtered through the window, casting ethereal patterns on the walls as if the night itself were whispering reassurances.

---