She got out of the car and followed the directions she’d been given, punching in the keycode to remove the key affixed to the doorframe.
Inside, the small home was delightful.
Plush furniture, a colorful but not too vibrant palette of decor, and a large kitchen dominated the first level. The one bedroom suite above had a large hot tub on the outside deck overlooking a small lake. Only one home sat across from them, far enough away not to be a bother.
They’d passed the closest town ten minutes ago, so it would be an easy trip to swing back and pick up something to eat.
But the best part of it all was the root cellar where the owner kept a “magical” space for wine tasting. Cold and damp but protected from the sun, the spot where Orion could rest without worrying he might burn up and die looked ideal.
Kaia yawned and glanced at the time. Just after nine at night. “I need a nap.”
“Go ahead. I’m going to scout around after I bring in our bags.”
She didn’t ask, but he’d managed to grab clothing for both of them from a retail store on their way. A thieving vampire, her hero. Eh. She was too tired to care.
Kaia flopped onto the bed, closed her eyes, and woke to a dark sky, the moon a sliver when thin clouds parted. She wondered if her mom had found out about her missing lycans and vampire yet. She checked the flip phone and saw no missed calls from Macy, so probably not.
Macy had taken care of excusing her from work, pretending MEC needed her help researching a classified case. Something her father would also support. Orion, however, would be a true test of Macy’s ability to hide them. Before Kaia had fallen asleep, she’d overheard him call Mormo to say he needed more time. Then he’d cussed out Kraft, a friend, she thought, and demanded they watch over his kitten.
She still had a tough time envisioning Orion taking care of something so small and cute. Yet another contradiction concerning the large vryko. Was he kind because of the spell, or because he truly cared for a feline and a woman he thought he’d mated? Vampires were known to be cruel, calculating, and evil. But the more time she spent with Orion, the easier that was to forget.
She sat up and looked around, spotting him in a plush chair in the corner watching a small television mounted to the wall, the volume so low she couldn’t hear it.
Seeing her awake, he turned it off and joined her on the bed.
He leaned close to stroke her face, and once again, she wished at least a part of this facade were true. Such caring actions made her long for a relationship. Sadly, the only man she’d grown close to that hadn’t wanted to sex her up within five seconds of meeting her had been Sean, and her mother had ruined any hope of rekindling that.
Male magir and human men responded too readily to her pheromones, the gift (curse) of a sea nymph, so she remained shutdown when in public, to the point that most fellow magir had no idea she was anything more than a low level nymph or witch.
Not a witch, asea witch, she thought, wondering how her mother and father could both be so powerful yet she only had a small portion of their power. Her mother was the White Sea Witch, the big bad water witch in the northwest. Her father, a grand mage, controlled several elements and had a lot of clout in MEC, working with a demon for a partner.
Kaia got scared when confronting house snips, able to avoid trouble only by pretending to be her mom.
She sighed.
“Are you okay?” Orion reached for her hand.
At that moment, her stomach rumbled. “I’m hungry.” Which meant he was probably hungry too. “A-are you?”
His sly smile had her blood pumping. Then he flashed a long white fang and laughed.
CHAPTERNINE
“Iate earlier.” Orion winked. “Don’t worry. I left them alive. A few coeds on their way out to party on a Saturday night.”
“Where? Here?” There was that house across the lake.
“Nah, in the town we passed. I made sure you were safe and the area deserted before I hurried to town and grabbed some food for us.”
“Oh?”
He lifted her off the bed so fast her head spun. Then he carried her down the stairs and sat her at the kitchen counter. “What would you like?”
For this to be realpopped into Kaia’s head before she could stop it. Fortunately, he was studying the contents of the refrigerator and didn’t see her blush. “What do you have?”
“We have a lot of stuff. I didn’t know what you like, so I got plenty of protein and some sweet and salty snacks.” He removed a carton of eggs, bacon, ham, a roasted chicken, and a carrot cake and set them all before her.
“Why carrot cake?”
