Werewolves Be Damned - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,17
you miss living here?”
She snorted. “Nope, can’t say I will.”
The moonbeams drifted along the side of his defined cheekbone and she scanned over the side of his face, finally resting on his sculpted lips as he said, “Don’t you have any close friends who will miss you?”
“Not really, it’s been…” Was she going to share this with him? Apparently, she was since before she could stop herself she added, “Drake told me the police put a search out for me, declaring me a missing person who’d been likely abducted, after they found my parents. I’m sure some of my friends will be sad. But I’ve never been very close to anyone—more like friends out of convenience—so I’ll probably be forgotten quickly.”
He examined her again, then blew out a breath sounding rich with tension. “I can’t imagine what it’d be like not to live in the Otherworld, to be without your magic and not know your purpose.” He leaned against his hands. “Must feel good to be where you belong.”
She didn’t stop herself from admiring his wide shoulders, his square pecs, or the deep ridges of his six-pack. Heat whipped like wildfire through her veins and she shifted against the grass, trying to get away from the burn low in her body.
She had noticed Kyden’s attributes the minute she’d awoken in the Otherworld, but in the past weeks, all he’d done was lecture her. His domineering personality killed the sexy. Her adoptive mother, Gloria, didn’t raise her to put up with that crap. And the bossy side of him made the package not as appealing. Now with this gentle side of him exposed…why couldn’t guardians wear turtlenecks?
When she managed to drag her attention to his eyes, it was like a cold bucket of water had been thrown in her face. He had taken notice of her admiring him, and he gave her a wicked smile that shouldn’t belong to any man, considering it made her think incredibly naughty thoughts.
She bit her lip—hard.
He chuckled.
More than ready to get things to a proper place, she shifted the conversation off her. “Did you grow up in the Otherworld? What are your parents like? Do you have any sisters or brothers?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Which one of those do you want me to answer first?”
“Any of them.” She scooted backward, getting a bit of breathing room, until she rested against the trunk of her willow. “Lately all anyone wants to know about is me. It’s nice to get the attention put on someone else for a while.”
He frowned, clearly at the distance between them. “Yes, I grew up in the Otherworld with my father. No, I have no brothers or sisters.”
She took notice that he hadn’t mentioned a mother and she suspected that could only mean it involved unhappy memories. With enough of that in her past, she didn’t dig deeper. “Does your father live in the Otherworld?”
“He does.”
At his silence, she added, “Are you going to tell me about him?”
“What do you want to know?”
She shrugged, running her hands along the soft grass. “I don’t know. Just about him. Is he nice to you? Does he work for the Guard? Do you have a good relationship with him?”
“Yes to all the above—he’s Talon.”
Her mouth dropped open and she hesitated, waiting for him to continue. When he simply stared at her with thoroughly amused eyes, she gasped, “Talon, as in the Master of Guardians, Talon?”
“That’d be him.”
Now thinking it over, she wondered how had she not seen it. The resemblance between the two guardians was uncanny, especially in their green eyes. Perhaps it made sense now why Kyden was the Elite Guardian. Apparently, he came from a talented family, considering his father was the top guardian in existence.
Glancing at the leaves above, she grabbed one and twirled it in her finger. “Do you like being a guardian?”
“I’m not sure it’s something I can like or dislike. It’s my life. It’s who I am.” He paused and when she looked at him, he continued, “If you’re asking, do I ever regret what I do or want to leave the Guard? The answer would be no.”
She wondered if she could ever see it way and be proud of her guardian heritage. At the moment she wanted to avenge her parents, nothing more than that. Being a guardian gave her the power—and soon, she’d have the skill—to make that happen. “Maybe one day I’ll look it like that, too.”