As though he didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary, Khalon please’d and thank you’d her before taking her wrist to his mouth. His fangs pierced her a second later. While he fed, his eyes remaining down, Acadia fought the strange emotions that were churning inside her. For the past four and a half months, ever since Kaj had arrived, she had fed no one but him. This felt like something of a betrayal to the male she’d grown close to over those weeks.
A sound in the hall had her turning quickly.
Kaj was standing in the doorway, one hand on the jamb, the other rubbing his chest as though he was in pain. Their eyes met, held, and she could see the torment in those lovely green eyes.
Something churned in her stomach at the thought of him seeing her like this. It had never felt like an intimate thing, not even when there was sexual interaction because it was a means to an end for them. Acadia required their energy to survive and they required her blood. A give-and-take.
But right now, right here, Khalon taking from her wrist felt like the most intimate thing she’d ever done, and the thought of Kaj witnessing it...
She was seconds from halting the male still feeding from her when Kaj stood tall and masked his expression before disappearing.
Knowing she had to go after him to explain, she urged Khalon along, then excused herself before he was finished. She felt a tad guilty for leaving him there, staring after her as though he’d done something wrong, but getting to Kaj was all that mattered.
Kaj needed to go.
Clearly he’d overstayed his welcome, and he needed to get back to the life he’d abandoned when he’d been injured. Kardobahn and the Zenith were likely worried. Or more aptly, they were pissed, thinking he truly had abandoned them.
Up until this moment, the thought of leaving Acadia had been one he ignored, putting it off, telling himself he could stay a little longer. He wasn’t back to one hundred percent, though he was close, so he could take a little more time.
Evidently, he’d been the only one who wanted him to stay.
The instant he’d felt the pain in his chest, he’d thought he was having a relapse, that Obsidian hadn’t removed that final bullet or maybe there’d been another. But the pain had been different and there’d been a strange pull that dragged him out of the dining room and up the stairs. He had followed that invisible line only to find himself standing in the doorway, watching the female he loved feeding another.
The agony he’d endured in that moment had surpassed even the worst of those bullet wounds he’d sustained all those months ago.
Because he had nothing here that belonged to him, Kaj wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing. He didn’t need to pack, and he already had his cell phone on him. Taking a deep breath, he turned to face the door, resigned to going downstairs and thanking Obsidian for his hospitality. Before he made it to the door, it flew open and Acadia came racing in. Her hair had fallen from the pins holding it up, and for a second, he thought he would lose what he’d eaten. Had she…?
“Kaj. I’m…” Her eyes widened as she came to a stop.
At first he wasn’t sure what she looked so shocked by, but then he heard it. He was growling, an animalistic sound that escaped him. The thought of another male taking what belonged to him… It was all he could do not to storm out of the room, find that fucker, and rip his head from his body.
The door closed, clearly willed so by Acadia.
“Did you let him fuck you?” he snarled.
She jerked back as though he’d slapped her, and a hint of regret went through him.
“How dare you?”
Kaj stepped forward. “How dare I? You were the one in that room with that male, Acadia. Not me.”
Her shoulders squared and her expression shifted from stunned surprise to outrage. “Because that’s my duty, Kaj. That’s why I’m here. Or did you forget that?”
“Or do you mean, did I think I was special?” he shouted. “Of course I didn’t.” Oh, he totally had but now he knew the error of his ways.
“Then why are you upset?”
“I’m not,” he lied, and he knew she could see right through him.
“Then maybe you should stop growling,” she countered.
Yep. That was him. Still doing that.
Fucking fantastic.
“What do you want, Acadia?”
She stared at him for a long moment. When she finally nodded, her shoulders squaring, her chin tilting up, he knew he was not going to like what came next.
