Death Game: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #3) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,37

circle. I laughed and looped my arms around his neck, lifting my legs to wrap them around his torso like the koala I was in a past life.

He walked toward the house, kissing my cheek. “I’m glad you’re here, true mate.”

And I was glad to be here.

I opened my mouth to tell him so, but snapped it shut, resting my head on his shoulder instead.

“Nothing to say?” Kyros asked as we entered the house.

“Nope,” I mumbled against his neck.

We tensed at the contact, but he relaxed after a breath. Maybe that wasn’t the smartest place to put my mouth.

He shifted me higher. “I can feel how content you are.”

It was true and I couldn’t deny it. Just as I wouldn’t confirm it, but I was so content that the current wasn’t as uncomfortable as usual.

“What did you get for dinner?” I asked.

A tiny sadness stirred within him. He grabbed a bag off the bench and then he was lugging me back out of the house, one hand under my ass.

“Thai food. I didn’t know what else you liked.”

“I’ll eat anything but olives and anchovies,” I answered, locking my legs tighter around him. The guy could toss cars around, but the one-arm hold was disturbing my human sensibilities.

Fred was gone when we reached the front door again. Exiting the house, Kyros left the door wide open and walked us off between the trees lining the driveway.

Throwing off the remaining awkwardness, I said, “Do you want to know a fun fact about human women?”

He glanced at me warily. “No.”

I tapped his nose. “We have legs that we can walk with.”

Kyros caught my finger in his teeth. Ouch, those fuckers were sharp! I sucked on it when he let go.

“You want to be in my arms, so why don’t you let yourself be in my arms?” he replied.

He dropped down into the outdoor area that I’d sat in while avoiding his family. The fire there was roaring. A bottle of wine sat on a low table between the swinging seat and the fire pit.

I tried to lower my legs, but he carried me to the swinging seat and set me on it.

Breathing thinly, I surveyed the setup, something akin to panic rising within me.

“My beauty,” Kyros murmured. “What did you think dinner with me meant?”

We’d had meals together before.

We slept in the same bed.

Stayed in the same house for more than a week.

This was a date, our first date if I excluded the beach—which I did because Kyros had coerced me into going. When I agreed, dinner was just casual. Sharing takeaway food at his kitchen bench before work didn’t hold the same terror as this romantic gesture that I didn’t want.

That I didn’t deserve.

I curled my legs under me, glad I wore ankle boots today. The days were getting chillier now. A woollen blanket rested beside me, and although heat poured off the fire, I draped the throw over my legs. Blood loss would do that to a gal.

Kyros didn’t push the issue as he dished the food onto plates and poured the wine.

My hands were shaking when I took the glass from him.

His green eyes settled on me.

I turned my face away, sipping on the white wine. Crisp fruitiness exploded on my tongue. I hummed in approval. “Yum.”

That satisfied him enough to sit on the seat beside me. I eyed the seat springs, wondering if this thing could hold him.

“What do you want?” he asked, picking up a plate.

Peeking at him, I set my glass down on the small table and reached for the plate. “I’ll get it.”

He grabbed my hand.

Blinking, I glanced across at him. “What?”

We locked gazes.

Sighing, he let me go and passed over the plate.

Frowning, I loaded it with papaya salad and grabbed a fork.

He poured Tom Kha Gai into one of the two small bowls and I breathed in the rich coconut scent of the soup.

I was ruining the dinner he’d organised because I couldn’t get a handle on my guilt. Swallowing my bite of the spicy and sweet salad, I asked, “How was your day?”

“Hectic,” he answered.

Every Sundulus roll was hectic these days. Their clan was working overtime, all of them believing the deaths of their royal family was a near certainty. “Is everything going downhill then?”

He knew I was speaking about the bluff.

“If you don’t mind, Basilia, I’d like to leave work for later.”

My brows shot up. Kyros didn’t want to talk about Ingenium? I didn’t know the concept existed. Not that he couldn’t talk