It was Saturday, and I’d declared a pool party. A day lounging by the water under the hot sun served two purposes: a distraction from thinking of Kyros’s body all the damn time. And gifting most of the Indebted with a new experience.
Plus, waking up to go through my shave, cleanse, and hydrate routine before donning my tiniest white bikini had felt good. Normal. My blonde hair gleamed under the hot sun. My skin was silken smooth. I looked and felt amazing.
“Is anyone getting in the water?” I called, scanning the Indebted strewn about the area over the tops of my sunglasses.
Not having swimsuits, they’d shucked their black leathers to lounge around in their underwear. Fifty gorgeous vampires surrounded me. Like, shit, they were unbelievably beautiful. In a scary will I have the best night of my life or will I die way. Which was probably why none of my staff had ventured out here—except my stoic butler.
“I thought we were sunbathing for this part of the day,” Kelsea answered from next to me. “I’m just following your lead.”
I scanned the Indebted. Oh.
“Sunbathing is one thing you do at a pool party,” I said, knowing the others would listen in. “There’s usually swimming and jumping in the pool and splashing and music.” I cocked an ear. “Well there’s our first problem.”
Swiping up my phone, I opened my Sunday Session playlist and connected it to the outside speakers.
Josie sat up as the pool speakers blared to life. “I love George Ezra.”
I threw her an approving nod. “Modern-day Johnny Cash, right?”
None of the Indebted budged toward the pool.
Cracking my knuckles, I tossed my sunglasses down and hauled my sexy ass off the sunchair and to the deep end of the pool. I lined up with where Laurel reclined in her red lacy underwear surrounded by male Indebted.
Was that her harem? I was totally asking later because while 49 percent of me was scared of knowing the gory details and being unable to forget, 51 percent wanted the logistics.
Without fanfare, I leaped out over the water surface, pulling my legs close to form a ball.
I shattered the pool’s calm, carving an uncontrolled path through the water before kicking upward for air.
I grinned over the pool edge at the row of drenched Vissimo.
“Water looks good on you, Loz,” I sang out, kicking onto my back to float.
All I heard was running feet.
Bait taken.
Splashes erupted as Indebted cannoned from all sides. I spluttered against a mouthful of water, treading as I tried to make sense of the chaos. Hands gripped my ankles and I managed a gulp of air before I was dragged at speed backward through the water.
Coughing, I clung to my attacker after surfacing.
“Got ya!” Jillian beamed.
“No fair,” I spluttered, torn between spluttering and laughing. “I can’t do that.” Hopefully no one was looking out the second-floor windows. Because shit.
I pulled myself from the pool and studied the anarchy of my making. A job well done. Evie and Josie dunked Laurel, and I chuckled at the glee on their faces before grimacing. Hands were definitely roaming between a few small groups in the corners.
Spotting Kelsea, I let out a battle cry and cannon-balled into the pool right next to her. Grinning under the surface, I grabbed her waist, my head popping above the water.
“Don’t drag me around like Jillian, please,” I begged.
She wasn’t laughing.
The silken baritones of George Ezra’s singing aside, the entire pool area was deathly quiet—no splashing, no laughing, and no groping.
Kelsea shifted her eyes to my face, flicking them over my left shoulder.
Close to the edge already, I let go of her, flailing for the poolside as I blinked water out of my eyes.
Strong hands closed around my wrists, pulling me bodily upward. Torrents poured from me as I hovered over the water.
My insides clenched as I dragged my gaze up over black athletic shorts, a tight black tee, and a jawline that haunted my waking and sleeping dreams.
I glared up at Kyros. “What are you doing here?”
His anger thrummed through me, his green gaze riveted on the Indebted in the pool and the surrounding pagodas, not on me. “Is that any way to greet your true mate?”
“Don’t start with that crap.” I tried to kick him, and he held me farther from his body. Fuck, the sight of him out of his usual suit was destroying me.
Kyros’s attention finally left the Indebted to snap onto me.
He went predatorily still, body and mind as he took in my bikini-clad frame.
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
Once.
Twice.
“You mind?” I snarled, my wrists starting to ache.
A growl slipped between his teeth, and I yelped as he let go of a wrist. His arm slipped around my waist before gravity noticed it could control me again. Kyros held me against his body. Water soaked his athletic clothes, but the vampire didn’t seem to mind. Hell, most of me didn’t mind.
“I meant that my feet would touch the ground,” I said breathlessly.
He lowered me until my tiptoes were perched on the very edge of the pool. Without his help, I’d fall backward into the pool.
And that’s what happened when I left things open for vampire alpha interpretation.
“Why are my Indebted in the pool?” Kyros asked, his menace unfurling overhead.
I clicked my fingers in his face. “Hey? Down here. We talked about this. I told you they were scaring the staff. This is them blending in—which you agreed to.”
A rumble filled his chest as he returned his stare to the scantily clad Indebted. “I agreed to nothing of the kind. They’re not guarding your property—therefore, they are not doing their job.”
Wrath seeped through our bond.
Eek.
I gripped his chin. “They’re not here to guard my property. They’re here to guard me. You think anyone is getting close with fifty Vissimo around?”
A snapping growl ripped from him. “I got close to you.”
Screw it, I was choosing the pool, I tried to push out of his embrace to no avail.
“Dammit, Kyros. I told you: my house, my fucking rules! I bet my life that they know exactly what’s happening on the estate right now. But this, pool parties and movie nights, is what they’ll do while on my property.”
His hands slipped lower, inching toward the high waistband of my thong bottoms.
I folded my arms across my chest, toes on the edge. “With that settled, why are you here? Haven’t you got dice to roll or something?”
My brain finally caught up.
Oh my god, Kyros was at the estate. This was terrible for so many reasons, but I’d known there was a strong likelihood it would happen eventually. Consider me begrudgingly impressed he had the cahoonas to turn up so soon after betraying me.
“It’s my weekend off,” he said, gaze on my chest. “I’d like to spend it with you. At the beach.”
He got two days off each month, and he wanted to spend them with me? “You spend your weekend off with your family.”
“Usually, yes. If you aren’t busy, it has been a long time since I visited Lyall Bay.”
My favourite beach. I narrowed my gaze. Was he aware of that somehow? And why were normal words coming out of his mouth? I didn’t like it.
I gripped his forearms and side-stepped him to gain a more secure footing. He let me anyway.