He dipped low and ran his lips across hers. He whispered softly, and she felt herself shiver in awareness. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
She wanted this, badly. She ached to feel his cock buried inside of her. He reached between their bodies and aligned his cock with the opening of her pussy. Just when she thought he would push into her, his whole body tensed, and he turned his head to the side.
“What’s wrong?”
He didn’t speak, didn’t move, for that matter. Fear started to take root, as well as confusion.
A string of curse words fell from his mouth. “We have company.”
“What?”
He got off her, and she instantly felt the chill in the air. He helped her off the bed, and she wrapped the sheets around her body. Adrik slipped on his pants on and went over to the banister. He looked over it and stayed there for several seconds.
“You might want to get your clothes on.”
She didn’t ask any questions, just quickly grabbed her dress off the floor and pulled it on. When she picked up her underwear and got a good look at them, she realized they were beyond repair. She hadn’t heard Adrik move, so when she realized he was right in front of her she took a startled step back. He took her panties and brought them to his nose, inhaling deeply and growling. She stared at him with what she knew were wide eyes. He stuffed them in his pocket and grabbed her hand.
He led them over to the banister. A suspended moment seemed to pass when everything seemed quiet and still. Just as Kayla was about to turn and ask him what was going on, she heard the sound of deep rumbling. She strained to hear, not able to distinguish what was making that noise. It was almost like thunder. She opened her mouth to say something just as the front door burst inward. Stifling a scream, she felt herself get shoved back, behind Adrik’s body.
Glancing around Adrik’s arm, she felt her eyes widen at who stood in the doorway. She covered her mouth with her hand as she stared at her twin, Kaleb. It was definitely her brother, but there was something wrong with him. He was huge, easily seven feet tall, with massive muscles stacking his body. Even from this distance, she could see his amber-colored eyes glowing fiercely.
“Kaleb?” She heard the strangled note of fear in her voice.
What’s wrong with him?
His clothes were shreds of fabric hanging off his huge body. Her twin’s gaze shot to her, and his eyes seemed to darken with rage. She choked back a cry when she noticed the claws that covered the tips of his massive fingers. A growl erupted from her brother, and she sucked in air as his fangs flashed brightly, two on the top and two on the bottom.
Adrik pushed her back farther behind him as Kaleb took several steps forward. The sound of her heart pounding in her chest was loud in her ears. Kaleb took a running step and then leapt, flying through the air and grabbing the banister. He flung himself over it, landing on the second level mere feet from them.
She involuntarily took several steps back. The man-monster in front of her was not Kaleb. She looked at Adrik, gauging his reaction. He seemed cool and composed, not at all like how she was feeling.
“I thought I told you to stay away from her?” Kaleb’s voice was deep and distorted, gravelly and laced with malice.
She wiped her cheeks, realizing hot tears coated them. Kaleb was supposed to be away on a mission, but here he was, looking like a beast ready to tear apart the man she loved. Choking back a sob when Kaleb flicked his glowing amber eyes toward her, she actually feared her brother.
“Please don’t cry, Kayla. I won’t hurt you.” Kaleb attempted to sound calmer, gentler, but it fell short. His murderous glare shot to Adrik and seemed to darken even more. “Look what you’ve done to her!”
“For your own good, I suggest you leave right now, Lyken.”
Kaleb gave a humorless laugh and took a step toward Adrik. “You’re kidding, right? I could rip your throat out right now, and you wouldn’t even see it coming.”
Lyken?
“What the hell’s going on?” Her voice rose with fear and anxiousness. She stepped all the way back until she felt the cool wall behind her.
“I’ll let you live right now if you hand over Kayla.” Kaleb kept clenching and unclenching his hands, the wicked-looking claws he sported digging into his palm, blood dripping onto the floor.
“I’m not going to ask you again, Kaleb. I suggest you leave, now. There is no way in hell I’m letting Kayla leave when you’re turned.”
Kaleb bared his fangs at Adrik, and Kayla gave a cry. “Kaleb? What’s going on? Someone tell me what the hell is going on!” She sounded hysterical. She could hear it in her voice. She needed answers.
Adrik turned and looked down at her, sympathy covering his features. He lifted his hand and ran it down her cheek. Kaleb let out an animalistic growl, and they both looked at him.
“Don’t you fucking touch her, you
leech
. I could smell your lust for my sister all the way down the fucking road!”
Adrik took a step forward, and the tension in the room seemed to shoot up. When he spoke, his voice was low and distorted. “Kayla is my Chosen. Now leave!” Adrik roared the last word.
Kayla flinched, the sound sending tingles of fear and worry down her spine. Kaleb let out a string of nasty curses and then lunged for Adrik. Screaming, she took several steps back as the two men she cared about the most attacked each other. Adrik’s eyes were changed to those bottomless black orbs, and she could see his fangs as he bared them at Kaleb.
Kaleb was taller and thicker than Adrik, but her vampire was holding his own, throwing punches and fighting her brother fiercely. Blood started to coat their clothing, and Kayla felt helpless. She couldn’t stand and watch her brother and the man she was in love with kill each other.
Yelling, screaming for them to stop, she realized they wouldn’t listen. Without thinking, only feeling she needed to stop them, she ran forward, intent on pulling them off each other. A stupid move, she realized it midstride, but she refused to let them tear each other apart. Grabbing Kaleb’s beefy arm, she tried to pull him away. He was immovable, the muscles in his forearm so rock solid he wouldn’t budge.
With her arm still gripping Kaleb’s, she felt him rear it back. She cried out in pain when he inadvertently slammed his elbow into the side of her face. She flew backward with so much momentum she crashed into the opposite wall. The air wheezed from her lungs, and she slid down to the ground. Colors flashed before her eyes, and she groaned in pain. She could barely make out Adrik and Kaleb, saw them stop fighting, and felt a small sliver of relief overshadow the pain. It was gone as soon as it appeared. The last thing she saw before darkness took her was Adrik and Kaleb rushing toward her.
Chapter 9
Pain is what woke Kayla. Her head pounded incessantly, which in turn had her groaning. Opening her eyes, she blinked several times, trying to clear her vision. Her cheek started to throb, and she lifted her hand to cup it. Wincing at the tenderness, she let her hand fall. She blinked a few more times and turned to the voices that murmured softly beside her.
“How are you feeling, love?”
Adrik’s voice was pitched low, but she could hear the strain in it. He sat in a chair at the side of the bed. Kaleb paced behind him while he ran a hand over his hair. As if he felt her stare on him, he stopped pacing and moved toward her. He pushed Adrik away, which caused Adrik to growl disapprovingly.
Kaleb sunk to his knees until he was eye level with her. He gripped her hand and held it tightly. Concern was etched into his features, and she just now realized he was back to “normal.” She still couldn’t get the image of him looking like a crazed monster out of her mind. His gaze kept going to the side of her face, and his expression turned darker.
“It was an accident.” She remembered clearly what had happened and knew the guilt he must feel.
Shaking his head, Kaleb closed his eyes and breathed out. “I am so fucking sorry. I will never forgive myself for hurting you.” Bringing her palm to his mouth, he kissed it gently. “I didn’t even realize you were right beside me. I was too far gone to realize. I’m so sorry.”
Adrik let out a deep and rumbling growl, and she looked at him. “I would have ripped your throat out if you weren’t her brother.”
Kayla expected Kaleb to say some smart-ass comment, but he just kept his head down, his jaw clenched.
Taking her hand from Kaleb, she pushed herself up and regretted it. Her head instantly pounded, and a wave of nausea took hold of her. Stifling a moan, she gripped her forehead.
“Can someone please tell me what is going on?” The image of how her brother looked, fierce, animalistic, washed through her in a powerful wave. Adrik and Kaleb glanced at each other before Adrik spoke.
“I think it best you tell her, and since you fucking knocked her out cold, I think you should be completely honest, about
everything
.”
Kaleb winced, and she sat up a little higher. Taking a deep breath, her brother let go of her hand and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Fuck! Why is this so hard?” He stood and paced the length of the bed as he worried his hair with his hand. The blond strands stood out, making him look vulnerable.
“Just start from the beginning, Kaleb.” She kept her voice soft. Adrik got up, kissed her on the forehead, and descended the stairs. She watched him leave, shivering from the chill in the air.
Several quiet and heavy minutes passed before Adrik returned with a big glass of water in one hand and a bottle of pain reliever in the other. She thankfully took the two pain pills and followed them with a big swig of water.
“Remember when Mom and Dad died?”
Kayla nodded as memories of their parents flooded back to her. They had been only thirteen when their parents had died in a MVA. It had been a hit-and-run accident that resulted in their parents’ car skidding off the road and over an embankment. The car had rolled and landed in a lake, which resulted in them drowning.
Even though they were only thirteen, they had become emancipated—Kaleb’s doing. Their parents had left them everything, which, surprisingly, had been a fortune. Three years later, Adrik had come into the picture. She remembered when she first saw him, so big and powerful, confident and sure of himself. He had told them he knew their parents, knew things about them that couldn’t be disputed. He acted like a big brother to her, but her feelings for him had instantly grown into something deeper.
At eighteen, Kaleb had enrolled in the military, and after graduation, he left, checking in on her regularly, but not coming home for long stretches of time. That had been so hard for her. Kaleb had left, and so had Adrik. So she immersed herself in her studies, getting her nursing degree and working at the hospital, and then Adrik had come back.
“Yes, I remember.”
Kaleb exhaled, but didn’t stop pacing. “I never joined the military.” He said it so matter-of-factly.
She stared at him, knowing her confusion was clear on her face.
All this time has been nothing but lies?
“I don’t understand. If you weren’t in the Special Forces, then where have you been all this time? Why did you leave me?” Although she knew anger and betrayal should have been strong inside of her, she couldn’t bring herself to feel much of anything. He breathed out again, and Kayla clenched her teeth.
“I have been staying in the mountains.” He walked over to the banister and gripped the railing hard. “I knew since I could speak, but Mom and Dad wanted to wait. They wanted to wait until you were older and could fully understand what it meant. They planned on telling you when they got back from their trip, but…” He shook his head. “Well, you know the rest.”
Yes, she did. Her parents didn’t tell her anything because they had died. She was at a loss for everything. She glanced over at Adrik, saw his downcast eyes, and could tell what Kaleb was saying wasn’t news to him. The confusion was substantial, and slowly she started to feel the hurt that she had been lied to by two people she loved more than anything.
Glancing back at Kaleb, she willed her voice not to shake when she spoke. “Okay, so you’ve been living in the mountains doing what?”
“I’ve been training.”
“Training for what?” Kayla could hear the bewilderment in her voice. She didn’t miss how Adrik and Kaleb looked at each other once again.
“I have been leaning how to hunt and track, how to provide and protect. It’s what
we
do.” There was a little catch in his voice on the last part, and he turned his back on her, as if what he had said shamed him.
She looked at Adrik, his eyes seeming hard and void of some unknown emotion. “You knew my brother was here all along? In the mountains?”
God, if he admitted it, admitted that he had kept something so vital from her, she knew her heart would break. The muscles in Adrik’s jaw tensed, and she could hear his teeth snap together. His stare leveled on her, and she could see the torment in his ice-blue eyes. He nodded, but didn’t speak. Her heart broke, but a far stronger emotion was growing inside of her. Her anger was being fueled by the fact that she had been lied to, deceived.
Not only did Adrik leave her all of those years ago, he had kept what he was a secret and everything about her brother hidden. To top it off, her brother had been lying to her about his whereabouts and what his true nature was. She stayed quiet, knowing it wouldn’t do anyone any good to let her anger out. She needed to stay calm and see what the hell was really going on.
“Okay, so I can let go that you decided to play mountain man, but I think you need to start explaining everything to me, Kaleb!”
He turned around, then looked at Adrik before glancing back at her. “I’m…” Kaleb seemed to be struggling with his words. “
We’re
different, Kayla.”
“What do you mean we’re different?” Her heart beat frantically against her sternum.
“We’re Lykens, Kayla.”
She could only assume her confused look prompted him to explain a little further.
“Werewolves.”