Set To Start (Morningstars) (2 page)

“My … husband and I took those boys in when their parents made them leave the house.”

“Them?” Cia inquired, deciding to ignore the hesitant pause before the word ‘husband’.

“Kaden has a brother, but anyway, this isn’t why I showed up here. Kaden loves you …” Cia snorted, but the woman just ignored it kindly. “The problem is that Kaden is promised in a way. No matter what he does or feels for anyone else, he cannot choose whom he wants to be with. Once his girl shows, he’ll have no other choice but to leave. Telling you how he feels won’t change a thing. Keeping you at arm’s length though … might not be the right thing, either. He’s lying to himself, pretending this will make it better. He’s a good guy. Staying away from you was your wish, I know, but it’s the hardest thing he has ever done, I think. He’s just thinking about how you’ll hurt least in this. In fact, you are
all
he thinks about.”

Cia kept her hands busy, cleaning the counter while staring at the place she was wiping. She couldn’t form a coherent thought. Promised. He had meant it when saying his heart wasn’t his to give. He could never be hers.

“Lara! What the fuck are you doing here? Colbin will have my head if he finds out!” Cia’s heart stopped, but once she looked up, she realized it wasn’t Kaden. Instead, she stared at his mirror image, a guy wearing a black leather jacket, jeans, and boots, with his chest bare, his muscles just as well-defined as Kaden's. It struck Cia as weird, but between everything that had happened in the past few minutes, it sure was the last thing for her to worry about. The twin didn’t spare her one glance, just focused on the blonde woman. Since he looked almost exactly like the guy that held her heart, Cia couldn’t help but feel disappointed and hurt.

“I wanted some soda, but they don’t have my brand here,” the blonde mumbled, turning away from Cia.

“I’m sorry that I can’t change it,” she called after her and the woman paused, giving her a sad smile over her shoulder.

“Well then, I’m sorry, too,” she heard, but then the two were gone. The shift seemed to be never-ending after that. Her mind wasn’t on any of the tasks she was supposed to perform. Instead, she thought about how Kaden and she had left things the night she had kicked him out. She didn’t even have a chance to get in contact with him since their relationship had always been based on his visits first to her work here and then later to her apartment. Now she wished she had thought quicker when the woman was here.

All she had left was the hope that the woman would tell Kaden that she had seen her and maybe then he’d show. Maybe then she’d be able to apologize.

The nagging in the back of her head got worse and finally she let her thoughts go where they hadn’t been in more than ten years. It couldn’t be possible, could it?

Eventually her shift ended and Cia dragged her tired body home. She didn’t go to bed though, but instead stepped on the balcony and waited to smell cinnamon and spice, yet all that came to her nose were the scents reminding her that spring was coming soon.

Kaden stepped out of the shower, washing off the scent of the woman that had jerked him off while she had satisfied Jaden orally. It only had worked because Kaden had closed his eyes, imagining those hands belonged to an entirely different girl.

He hadn’t even been ready to go out with Jaden to find a girl, but then Jaden would have gone alone … and that was no longer acceptable. This time  he had grabbed the woman’s hair so hard, Kaden had been worried he’d pull it right off with the skin.

He shook those thoughts off, reaching for a shirt.

“Kade.”

Kaden groaned, having totally forgotten that they were back at the compound and not in their own home. Everyone just walked right into the rooms and even though most of them were men, this time Lara had waltzed in.

“What?” he snapped, pulling over some jeans, not even caring for boxers. He was only going home anyways.

“I went to see her. Ciarda, your girl,” she explained, settling down on the bed Kaden hadn’t used much in the last time. He whipped around, staring at her. How in the world had he ever thought talking to her about the way he felt was a good idea?

“Does Colbin know?” he asked, his worries first and foremost for Cia, who would probably get a visit and a mental swipe if their leader knew. He needed to keep his mouth shut. There was a reason why Jaden didn’t know anything about her after all, especially now that she no longer wanted to see him. Her intention had been pretty obvious when she had told him she’d be busy.

“Of course not. You asked me to keep this between us and it’s not as if she is an Origin or anything. There was nothing coming from her like I would have expected if she would have been … you know, meant to be a vampire’s mate.”

“You think that’s why I’m attracted to her?” he asked and she shrugged. “Don’t you think I would have known if she would’ve been meant to be mine?”

Again she shrugged, placing her entwined hands in her lap after sitting down on his bed. “Something’s still not adding up about her. She felt weird to me, as if she wasn’t herself. Anyways, that wasn’t why I came. That girl seriously has feelings for you. A lot of them.”

He shook his head, turning away to walk over to the window. He knew that. In his soul he too had known that she wasn’t an Origin or his to be, but still, his heart was hoping and praying that there just was a belated reaction. All of this still didn’t explain though why Lara had been out to see her.

“What did you promise yourself from seeing her?” he wanted to know and Lara got up, coming over.

“I was hoping I could make her understand. She might not be your one and only, but you really like that woman and I think you should have a shot at a relationship. With any luck your Origin will not come along for a very long time and your human will long be gone by that.” He appreciated the effort, but his heart still broke. The thought of Cia being gone wasn’t exactly something to ease his mind.

“What did she say?” Even though he could guess the answer, his heart couldn’t help but pick up speed with hope. No matter that it was beating much lighter than any human's heart, he still felt the rhythm change.

“She said she couldn’t change it and I’m guessing she meant the fact that she hurt you. Or hurts about you not saying those words she wants to hear so much. I don’t know, but it didn’t sound very promising,” Lara admitted and Kaden gave her a smile. No matter how sweet her intensions had been, they most likely just cut Cia deeper. He needed to see if she was all right and even though the night was only two more hours long, it would be enough time to go and stalk her. Again.

“I’m gonna tell Jaden I’ll stay here tonight,” he decided.

“I figured,” Lara smiled, touching his back before she walked over to the door. “Good luck,” she then added before fully leaving.

Kaden called his brother while he made his way to the door. “I’m staying at the compound, don’t wait up,” he said without hello.

Jaden growled, broodier than ever. “If you can stand all that love stuff, be my guest. I hate how Colbin and Lara always hang on each other’s lips. Literally.” He made some noise and Kaden had to shake his head. He hadn’t even noticed because he was so preoccupied with thoughts of Cia.

“Which is why I stay in my room and read. I’m too lazy to come home, so I’ll just watch some TV and see you tomorrow.”

“’Kay,” Jaden replied, then hung up. Sometime soon things needed to change, but for now he had other things that needed to be taken care of.

Cold air was blowing in, making the curtains rustle in the slight breeze while Cia watched the open balcony door. Having spent the last hour thinking about Kaden and about what Lara had told her, things finally started to make sense, and pieces of her that had been broken for too long come barreling in, reminding her that there was a fully different life out there.

His scent reached her before Kaden stepped inside.

She was determined to make this right with him, but that didn’t mean she would jump on his arm until she had said all she needed to say.

She saw how he turned, locking the door tightly. Cia wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep her in or something out. Maybe it was only a precaution ingrained in his genes.

“You knew I was coming,” he said when he turned back to her, his back to the door, his eyes hidden from her view since only her night lamp was on, throwing dark shadows across his handsome features.

“I hoped you would,” she agreed and then pulled her knees up so she could hug them. Her eyes stayed on him since his reaction to her next words would determine the direction their relationship would take. “By the Creator, I missed you,” she whispered, feeling weird using the name of a god she hadn’t heard of in so long.

Just as she had expected, his whole body stiffened and he swallowed once, twice, and finally a third time. “What did you say?” he asked and she finally got up from the bed, the need to be close to him propelling her forward faster than they both had expected. He stumbled slightly as she crashed into his arms, but it didn’t take long until he locked his arms around her body, holding her tight. She had missed this like nothing else.

“I said what you heard,” she whispered, pulling back even though it seemed even harder to do now than ever before. “I didn’t think of all this … vampire business until after that woman was gone. Lara it was, right? That’s what the other guy called her. I am assuming that he’s your twin because … his voice was so much like yours.” She waited to continue, seeing how Kaden just stared at her. “Okay, I have to tell you something,” she announced, reaching for his hand so she could lead him over to the bed. “Sit, this might be complicated.”

By the way Kaden looked at her, she was suddenly worried that she had broken him with just a few words. He was utterly silent; his handsome face a mask of pain. She figured the sooner she had her story out of the way, the better.

“Okay, so, ten years ago I had this car accident…”

By the Creator. She had said it. She knew. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Could fate be really so cruel as to bring Cia to him, a vampire to be, but no potential Origin, which they called true vampire's mate, for him or anyone?

“Okay, so, ten years ago I had this car accident. I was walking down the street and a drunk driver just took me by surprise. He hit me right there on the sidewalk in broad daylight. I was rushed to a hospital. This was … the doctors said it should have been fatal, but because of my genes, I was healing just enough to not die right on their table, but I lost a lot of blood. And if I say a lot, I mean it. I was supposed to die, I think. My parents couldn’t get to me on time since … well, it was what? Two in the evening. So they did some blood typing and figured every blood would work well with mine.” It was just something about their metabolism, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to drink from just anyone without their bodies rejecting the nutrition.