Page 7 of Kai
I stood in profile at the opposite end of the photo, looking up at Nix, laughing. I’d wrapped my arms around my brother’s broad shoulders and pulled him to me. Affie had dyed her hair neon green that week. Mirroring my stand, she flanked Nix on the other side, coiling her arms around his waist and making a funny face. Nix was laughing at the tug-of-war Affie and I were waging over him, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth. Even now, his quiet chuckles rang in my head.
We would never be together again.
I gulped down the burning in my throat and tightened my grip on the photo box. Before my incredulous gaze, a glow formed around the group. Everyone but me glimmered in tones of gold plus a variety of blues, violets, and greens that were different for each person.
“Oh, no. Fuck, no.” I dropped the box on the desk and pushed it away from me. “We arenotdoing this.”
As soon as I released the box, the glow went away. My pulse raced, and a distant hum buzzed in my ears, but I huffed a relieved breath.
“You’renotgoing nuts, Astor.” I stared defiantly at the now glow-free picture. “You’renothaving visual hallucinations. People, we are going to ignore what just happened,” I announced, having an imaginary talk with my family on the picture. “I’m fine. I’mnotcrazy. It’s back to work for me.”
I’d had two previous experiences with the glow, but these had happened when I’d seen it flaring around two real people, never when I looked at the picture. Why the picture? Why now? My scientific mind buzzed, both intrigued and alarmed.
I leaned back in my chair, dropped my glasses on thedesk, and slumped. Maybe I’d stop seeing weird shit if I ate. If I took a break. If I slept. But sleeping was a risky business. The memories turned into nightmares. Eating was also problematic. The mechanical act of chewing left my mind idle. Not a good thing for an overthinker like me. I mean, really, how much thought did mastication take?
I blew out a breath and forced myself to return my attention to the slide before me.
“Ahem.”
I snapped so straight that my spine cracked. Then I went so still that my shoulders ached and my neck muscles throbbed with tension. It sounded as if someone had just cleared his throat behind me, which wasn’t possible. I kept the doors locked night and day, and my alarms hadn’t gone off. My heart beat like a war drum in my chest. Had my father’s minions found me? Or was I losing my mind?
That last option was a possibility, especially since I’d just had a brush with the glow.
The sound came again—masculine, low, and insistent.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
My thoughts raced like the horses at the Kentucky Derby. I pretended I hadn’t heard anything. I might miss my sisters a lot, but I wasn’t going back to Father, not now, not ever. My hand trembled as I reached out and faked a movement as if to pick a new slide. Instead, I wrenched open the desk drawer, reached for my gun, and spun on my chair.
“Don’t move.” I aimed my gun at the intruder. “If you move, you die.”
Chapter Three
Cece
The man before me didn’t bat an eyelash. He wore a dark neoprene suit and gazed at me calmly, as if I didn’t have a loaded weapon in my hand and the ability to kill him on the spot. Instead, the stranger leaned a brawny shoulder against the door frame and crossed his arms, raining an impossibly serene smile on me.
“Aloha, Sorceress,” he offered in a quiet, rustling voice that tingled all over my body. Keeping his gaze on me, he settled a hand over his heart and inclined his head. “Don’t be afraid. Peace is all I want between us.”
The relaxed harmony built into his face and the total absence of fear I spotted in his eyes struck me mute. For a moment, all I could do was stare at his wide face, square jaw, and straight nose, finding beauty in the symmetry of his handsome features. His brown skin gleamed under the yellow bulb as if the light adored him. That same skin stretched taut and smooth as a canvas, highlighting the strong bones of his cheeks and forehead.
Daaamn. If I had to suffer hallucinations, this was a good one.
Shoot him!Panic shook me out of my shock and screamed in my head.Shoot him NOW!
My finger refused to obey. I couldn’t move. Or breathe. Or think. But I could see. Oh, yeah. I could seehimvery well. And he was quite a sight.
He wore his straight, midnight-black hair longer at the top and faded at the sides. Water dripped down his wetsuit andpooled around his neoprene booties. Translucent drops clung to his raven hair and his dark eyelashes, sparkling like tiny diamonds beneath the light. His full, straight eyebrows curved slightly down at the ends and perched above a pair of angular eyes that looked nearly black and yet projected the purest kind of light.
I don’t know why, but his stare struck me as both dangerous and gentle. His eyes narrowed into perfect crescents as he expanded his smile.Holy fuck. This man’s grin could shatter rock and melt glaciers.
I opened my mouth to speak or perhaps to scream, and yet only silence poured out of me. My pulse hammered in my head, marking the crucial seconds passing me by, the ones that could save my life.
Knock knock. Anybody home? Hallooooo.My sarcasm waved at me.Stranger danger. Whoever the fuck he is, he’s not supposed to be here.
My heart jackhammered against my ribs, but I forced my mouth to close, rose from my chair, and keeping my gun on him, ground out the words. “Who the hell are you?” I pretended I wasn’t about to crap my pants and my hands weren’t shaking. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Easy now.” He showed me his bare hands, stretching out his large palms and his long, blunt-edged fingers in the air. “See? I’m not here to harm you.”
