Page 79 of Edge of Darkness

A few seconds later, a shadow next to the couch suddenly extended. Kage and Austin stepped through, holding hands.

As soon as the shadow returned to normal, Austin dropped Kage’s hand and immediately stepped toward Kit. “I’m so happy to see you. Just going to go ahead and warn you, hug incoming!”

Connie watched as the two hugged. He was a little worried about how he would react, but his dragon was okay with it. Huh. Go figure. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he could literally smell Kage all over Austin. Plus, Austin smelled like a daemon to Connie. That was probably due to Austin taking Kage’s blood.

He wondered if the same thing would happen to Kit when he started drinking their blood. His dragon rumbled again in his head. He liked that idea. So did Connie.

Not long after Kage and Austin appeared, the kitchen staff brought the appetizers. Kit seemed a little stiff at first, but it didn’t take long for Austin to get him to relax. Kage’s mate had that effect on people. If ever there was a sunshiny person, it was Austin.

Kage and Austin sat on the love seat. Connie and Hudson managed to maneuver Kit into sitting between the two of them on the couch. Austin was telling them about his latest book while simultaneously poking fun at Kage.

Dinner was served, and they ate with gusto. The dessert was equally demolished. Once everybody had a glass of wine, they retired to the living area. Then Kage began explaining to Kit what he’d found out while in Greece.

Seeing the horror on Kit’s face destroyed Connie. But the anger that soon followed? That anger reassured Connie more than anything.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE – KIT

“A FUCKING twin? Mother of all, are you kidding me right now?” Kit exclaimed.

Kit didn’t know if he wanted to cry, throw up, or scream like a banshee. Shit. Were there actual banshees? His brain shied away from that because he couldn’t handle one more thing at the moment.

A twin.

Kage explained his unease with the photocopied pictures of Nox’s birth certificate and how that had prompted him to dig into the subject.

Maybe some doubt or something showed on his face because Connie leaned over and reminded Kit that things—like birth certificates—were done differently in the 1500s, which was when Kage, Nox, and Lennox were born.

Kit downed his wine at that and held it out for Connie to refill. Dammit. Wasn’t the 1500s, like, the late Middle Ages? So Nox had a twin who looked amazingly a lot like him. Kit could testify to that. The two looked so similar that Kit had thought LennoxwasNox.

Thinking about Nox brought back memories that Kit didn’t want to deal with right then, so he stood up. “Excuse me for a moment.” Hudson and Connie jumped up, but Kit shook his head at them. “I need a minute, please.”

Taking his wine, Kit slipped past both of them. Air. He needed air, dammit, but he didn’t know the layout of this place well enough to know where to go.

Austin hopped to his feet and hooked his arm through Kit’s. “Come on.”

Kit let himself be led outside to Hudson’s pool area. Fortunately, there was nobody out there. Then he remembered Hudson had his own private areas that the other dragons didn’t get to use.

“Thanks,” Kit said quietly, staring at the water.

“I get it, you know,” Austin said. “It’s a lot.They’rea lot, and I say that while freely admitting I love Kage more than life itself. I mean, I gave up being human for him. I love that guy, but yes, they are definitely a lot. He’s my monster under the bed.”

Kit raised an eyebrow. “I take it there’s a story there?”

“Oh, you better believe it.” Austin cackled as he told it. “So, yeah. That’s how we met. I’ve known Kage in one form or another since I was a small child. And he has loved me, in some form or another, the entire time.”

“Then you knew about this world.”

“I did, yes.”

Kit took a big gulp of wine. “I got thrown into it.”

Austin rested his hand on Kit’s shoulder. “Yes, you did, and I’m so sorry about that since I’m indirectly responsible. Nox targeted you because he saw you with me.”

“At least now I know why you made overtures of friendship and then went MIA on me.”

“Not that it did a darn bit of good,” Austin muttered.

Kit swirled the wine in his glass, staring at it. “Weird question time.”

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