Page 85 of Under a Wicked Moon
Ky looked rumpled but incredible. He’d shaved, but blond stubble was already forming. He wore a heavy, dark brown leather jacket and a high-neck athletic shirt that stretched tight across his chest. She could see every indentation of his abs, outlined by the shirt, right down to the V at his waistline. His roguishly long blond hair became wavy as it dried.
What she wouldn’t give for him to look her way and engage her. She didn’t even care if it was a fight or if she got to see the playful side of him he let peek through yesterday when discussing fairies and other woodsy magic. She wanted to feel his strong arms wrapped around her and taste his lips like she’d dreamed about last night. The dream had been so real that she remembered his taste.
How was that possible?
They must’ve been a lot more than acquaintances before. There’s no other way she’d recall taste.
Her eyes betrayed her as they swept across the elevator to find him. Like the fool she was, she looked away as fast as she found his gaze, but not fast enough. In the one glimpse, their connection burned her. His expression, dark and moody, branded into her head.
Emotions flooded her like an unexpected tidal wave crashing into her heart. Whatever happened between them must’ve beencataclysmic. Possibilities of what could be inundated her. That was, if he’d let it happen, which wasn’t looking promising. This man held her heart in his hands. And she didn’t even know him.
As they exited the elevator, Nova paused to let the others get ahead. She leaned in and whispered, “He’s trying to do the right thing by staying away from you. Let him.”
“Is it the right thing?” she asked. “I feel like I’m dying a slow death on the inside. He looks like he’s experiencing the same.”
“It’s dangerous for you to remember. For either of us. If you and he… It might trigger something that shouldn’t be activated.”
Roman paused before entering the apartment. He said to Nova, “You can’t be visible to Colin or Simon.”
Once they went inside, the first thing she saw was Colin sitting at the kitchen counter with a lycan in handcuffs next to him prone on the floor. “Oh hey, guys.” He waved at his captive. “He’s drugged. Wasn’t a picnic to get him up here, but I did it.”
“Good job.” Roman pointed at the lycan on the floor. “That him, Vivi?”
She chewed on her lip.
The lycan on the floor wasn’t necessarily unattractive but represented someone on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum to Ky. With his soft belly, short-cut white-blond hair and moderate stature, nothing remarkable about Simon stood out. Not one single thing about him evoked a memory, not that it surprised her. These days, nothing evoked memories. Except Ky. She was getting better at expecting less when she would normally remember more.
Nova had been 100 percent sure this was the person who tricked both of them into getting caught by humans. She’d trust her sister.
Everyone stared at her, so she choked out, “Yes.”
Roman knelt next to Simon and shook him. “Wake up.”
“As if I haven’t already tried that on him?” Colin said.
“Whose place is this?” Flynn asked.
“Mine. I own the building and keep this apartment here as a retreat. Anyone else want some tea?” Colin filled a kettle with water.
“Love some. Thank you,” Vivi said.
“From the moment I first saw you, I knew you had class, unlike these boys.” Colin had a kind smile, but also one filled with so much pain. Her read on him was that he’d lived too long and suffered on full-moon nights more than most. He wanted, no needed, to find his mate. The brightness of his face was filled with hope she might be it.
Sorry, Colin. Not going to work.
She hazarded a side glance to Ky, who studiously avoided her by staring out the window.
Colin said, “Roman mentioned you have amnesia and can’t remember all the facts of how you disappeared. That true?”
“Yes. I can’t remember anything other than…” She struggled to remember exactly what Nova informed her she’d told her of this guy on the floor. “Simon turned my parents in to the Council for practicing magic. They were executed. I didn’t know that he was the one who ratted on them until he deceived us into believing he was helping us escape the Council. Then we ended up getting captured by humans. I was imprisoned for a few years. He might’ve sold us to them.”
Colin recoiled. “That’s disgusting. I might kill him myself when he wakes up.”
Simon moaned.
She caught herself staring at Ky again, who’d moved away to lean against a wall, observing. Little about him was relaxed. For an instant, he looked her way. The level of rage in the depths of his blue eyes startled her. He was angry at Simon for her.
“Uncuff him,” Roman said. “He’s not going anywhere.”
