“Hey, Kaia, right?”
“Yes.”
“Did we, ah, did we have sex? Is that what we did all week while we were here?”
“No.” Hell, she looked even sadder. “I didn’t want to bind you to me against your will, and I worried that intimacy would make us mates in truth.”
“Huh. Okay.”
He’d swear she was crying, though in the water it was hard to tell. That she might be upset bothered him more than it should. He rubbed his heart. “Well, it’s time to go.”
“Okay.” She drifted by him, and he stopped himself from reaching out. He supposed he shouldn’t blame her for what her mother had done. The young nymph had saved him. Well, she’d gotten him out of there before he’d had a chance to rip her mother’s throat out. He didn’t think he’d been mistreated with her. But not having his memories or control over what he’d done the past week enraged him.
He forced himself to wait until she left the lake before following, needing some distance so he didn’t harm her.
But when he left, he saw her wiping her eyes and wondered why it felt like he already had.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
“I’ve been taking care of your kid’s meal,” Kraft was telling him, and it took Orion a moment to realize the vampire was referring to his kitten. “Smoky’s been crying a lot, and he started sucking up to me. I think he misses you, and since I’m the only one close to your size, he’s tolerating me. Even sleeps on my bed.”
Orion grunted. He sat in the back, letting Kraft take the front passenger seat while Duncan drove with a smooth confidence. Then again, the revenant did everything smoothly, Mr. Sophisticated with fangs.
Kraft continued, “Varu and Fara have been working hard with the third stone. It’s different than the first one. The second one has been pretty quiet. But this third one talks to Varu all the same.”
He had nothing to say to that and out of the corner of his eye watched Duncan and Kraft exchange a look.
Duncan said, “Every now and then, it talks to me too. It’s weird. It actually has a decent accent.”
“He means it sounds like a Londoner.” Kraft snorted. “Not like a red-blooded Bavarian.” He mouthed off in German.
The two vampires exchanged quips before devolving into a discussion about pantheons and who had more strength during battle.
They drove in the SUV he’d stolen while Kaia rode with Macy in one of the Night Bloode’s vehicles. He didn’t like the separation from the sad sea nymph. Though pleased to be free of witchy influence, no longer bewitched, now he felt empty, as if a part of himself had gone missing.
Perhaps Macy had screwed up and taken a piece of his non-existent soul, giving it to Kaia. Wouldn’t that suck goblin balls.
“Why so quiet, Orion?” Kraft asked.
“Leave him be, Kraft. He’s been under the spell of a witch for days. Trust me, I know how that feels. It’s not pleasant, even if you do end up mating her.” Duncan chuckled. “Though I have to admit it was fun making Macy pay.”
Kraft asked him about bloode magic—in particular, what it felt like to be Macy’s bitch since Duncan had to provide her bloode.
“I’ll give you a bitch, you bloody wanker,” Duncan shot back.
“I do like to be bloody, lightweight.”
Orion didn’t listen, focused on his own befuddled discomfort.
Of course he had every right to be angry. Yet when he directed that anger at the dark-haired nymph, he felt echoes of hurt and bewilderment, disappointment with himself.
Why should he be disappointed with himself? Because he’d been bespelled? Vampires could withstand a hell of a lot from their kind and most magir. But demons were a whole other level of fuckery. Of course he hadn’t been able to protect himself against demon magic.
Kaia might not have put the spell on him to steal his will, but she’d been there to take advantage of it. Hadn’t she?
The past six nights with her seemed a dream, snippets coming to him of her smile, of him doing all manner of things from making her food to protecting her while she slept, and even once or twice of swimming with her. But laughing? Orion wasn’t a big laugher unless it was at someone else’s expense.
Then he’d recall how she kissed, how she tasted. He shifted in his seat, bemused to find himself growing hard. Did we have sex despite her denial? Is that why I’m still fixated on the female? Or is there something more? Why do I care that she doesn’t like her mother and worries about disappointing her father? Or that I have a sudden hankering for hot chocolate and carrot cake?
The flashes faded, the swirl of memory washing down the drain in his mind and disappearing.
An hour passed.
“You’re pretty quiet,” Duncan said as they turned toward Mercer Island.
That woke him up, and he looked behind him but didn’t see the SUV. “Where’d they go?”
Duncan answered, “We thought it would be a good idea for Macy to take her sister to their father’s, so they can check her out there. He’s a grand mage, his wife a strong witch. His home is protected from the White Sea Witch better than Kaia’s place on the water.”
“She should be with us.” Irritated at the separation and not sure why, Orion floundered for an excuse that sounded believable. “She might still be holding onto me with her magic. What if I told her something?”
“Mormo will figure it out,” Kraft said. “We’re all meeting together, Hecate too, to see what we need to be on the lookout to handle.” He swore. “I hate witches.” He shot a look at Duncan. “Except for Macy. But she doesn’t count. She’s our witch.”
“My witch, but okay.” Duncan smirked.
Sure, Duncan could be a smartass. His mate had committed herself to him and the clan. But Kaia hadn’t exactly— She’s not my mate. Stop thinking she is.
Yet the more he told himself to forget about her, the more he missed her.
“She’s going to be watched, right? I don’t want to find out later that she and her mother planned this from the start.”
Duncan frowned. “We’ve got a handle on it, Orion. Relax. Just sit back and shut up.”
He grunted, swearing at them under his breath, but on the drive home, he felt nothing but an ache under his breastbone, where his heart beat a forlorn rhythm, Orion surrounded by kin yet once again all alone.
“Oh my God. I knew this was going to happen.” Macy handed Kaia another tissue without looking, her eyes on the road.
Kaia took it, wiped her eyes, then blew like a foghorn. “Sorry,” she said, muffled by the tissue. “I can’t help it.”
“You miss Orion?”
Kaia frowned at her sister. “You can stop asking that. Yes, I miss Orion. I’m telling you, he was different than he is now. He was sweet and kind.” She sniffed, doing her best to stop crying. “I knew it was a mistake, but it’s hard not to like someone when all they think about is you. He was so helpful and sweet.”
“You said sweet already. Ugh. The vryko I know is a big pain in the ass. He’s funny but also once threw me across the room. He’s all for equality, even when beating people up, so I guess that’s a plus.”