Page 3 of Midnight Serenade
I nodded. “Miss Liora.”It meant light in Hebrew. I wondered if she knew that.“I’m very sorry about the trouble with your room. It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while, the previous occupants of a room damage the room to such a degree that it’s uninhabitable for a short time. Meanwhile, to compensate you for your troubles, we’re happy to give you onboard credit, and upgrade your room to a Royal Suite.”
“But it’s not your fault that the previous occupants trashed the room. Why should you pay me for something that isn’t your fault or the fault of the cruise line?”
“It’s not your fault either, Miss Liora. And we’re paying you for the inconvenience. We want all our customers to be happy on our cruises.”
She nodded, still looking befuddled.
“I’ll take her to her suite, Kiara.” I nodded at my hospitality manager and then helped Miss Liora with her luggage. We wouldn’t need a luggage cart because she’d packed so little, only two bags. I usually ended up with two bags for Kazi alone.
I politely got her started moving in the right direction, and we got on the glass elevators at the end of the hallway. She was quiet. Very quiet. She didn’t make a peep as she watched the floors go by, a storm of thoughts behind her eyes.
I was still getting a pretty strong SOS from her, though, so I remained quiet. My long life had taught me that silence was often the best and most effective communication. It allowed someone the space to say what they were thinking or feeling with no expectation or hurry. Whereas, if I tried to fill the silence with words, she might feel overwhelmed and rushed.
I stayed silent for the first five floors, nodding to staff who waved hello to me in passing as the elevator ascended each level. After the seventh floor passed, she finally spoke.
“What floor is my new cabin on?” Her voice was soft, as though she was hesitant to speak, and that smoky rasp to it made my stomach tighten. Just that quickly, my fangs dropped and her lure hit me again like a sledgehammer, making my whole body suddenly feel like I had a live wire shoved against my skin.
This was the first time my fangs had dropped spontaneously in over four hundred years. And the smell of her in an enclosed space, coupled with the pain and savage thirst, was nearly more than I could bear. But I was a vampire of extended years, so I just politely kept my mouth closed as much as possible when I answered her and elected not to breathe. Even with her amped-up siren blood calling to me, my self-control was too ancient to be anything but iron-clad.
Don’t move an inch, Bash. Not one inch.
The boiling need lessened as my head slowly grew clearer.That had been potent and close. Too close. I hoped it was just the first few minutes with her that were that rough, otherwise I might need to stay on the opposite side of the ship from her. For her own safety. That would be difficult, though, considering she would be staying on my personal deck for the duration of her cruise, and she might be myArisma.My soul mate.
Still not breathing, I fought for a center of calm and control over my actions. I wrestled every last desire to nuzzle her neck and taste her blood down until I felt like I could unlock my muscles and move without doing something I would later regret. I’d never had this problem before.Ever. Not even as a teenager in my human years. The ache and need for her diminished until I felt safe speaking.
“Deck nineteen, the Siren,”I said, answering her question from a moment ago.The irony of the deck name was not lost on me. “Deck twenty is our Stargazer deck and also Kazi’s deck, so deck nineteen is the last one with rooms, and there are only two on the entire level.”
“That’s?” she spluttered. “How big are the rooms? Theentiredeck is just two rooms?”
She sounded astonished. Really, I was just a being that needed a lot of space. The only other suite up on deck nineteen was the one we usually used for royalty, paranormal or otherwise.
“Think of them like penthouse suites in a nice hotel.”
Her mouth opened in a cute little O, then closed again. “Who has the other suite?”
“Kazi and I,” I said, pointing my chin at the white lion still standing like a sentinel at her side. I eyed my lion curiously.Guarding her was one thing. Being instantly devoted to her was another. “I’ve never seen him act the way that he’s behaving with you. He’s friendly with the crew and passengers, but this is something different altogether.”
She looked down at Kazi. “I didn’t know it was legal to own lions in international waters.”
Well, her paranormal blood was verified. “I used to own a big cat sanctuary. After a while, I decided to go into the cruise business, so I placed the rest of my cats in bigger and better sanctuaries. But Kazi has separation anxiety. He won’t eat if he’s away from me.”
She looked down at Kazi, and I could see something change in her eyes. There was a yearning there that was painful to witness. She looked up at me, her heart in her eyes. “Can I pet him?” she asked quietly.
I nodded. “He’s safe. I wouldn’t have started the cruise line if he weren’t.”
She understood immediately. “Because you wouldn’t have been able to bring him, and you needed to.”
“Yes.”
She knelt, sitting back on her thighs, which made Kazi tower over her, but she didn’t seem bothered by it. She scratched under his chin, and then his cheeks, and Kazi kind ofleanedinto her as though she was sapping all of his energy from him. She laughed as hefloppedonto her knees, humming in complete bliss. Her laugh was all rasp and smoke and it made my stomach tighten again.
“He’s acting like a bigger version of the smaller cats.”
“Well, he is, in a way. But he’s also not. Lions are very much one of the apex predators in the wild. The lionesses hunt, but the lions protect the pride’s territory, and this guy is very much an alpha. With that being said, because he’s very tame, he acts more like a house cat at times.”
Her lips got a cute little quirk when I mentioned the word alpha, but she didn’t say anything. Kazi was practically taking a snooze on her lap. She wobbled unsteadily as he adjusted his gigantic body, nearly knocking her over. I placed a steadying hand on her shoulders. “Kazi, mind your manners. Get off of her.”
He huffed and moaned about it, but in the end, he sat up. I helped Miss Liora up to her feet again just as our elevator hit the nineteenth floor. The clear glass doors opened to a view of a small lounge decorated in dark blues and darker wood. I usually ate or relaxed there after work. It only served the Siren deck. So... Miss Liora and myself for this trip.
