Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,112
was the least offensive thing King Julius said. “You’re downplaying things. A lot.”
A quick study of his emotions confirmed it.
“Tell me straight, are things okay? I don’t want any nasty surprises. He was pretty deathly adamant that the fourth exchange wasn’t happening.”
“There’s always room for negotiation, vixen. Last time he was angry at me, so I had to wait before showing my hand,” Kyros said. “He was calmer at the dinner last weekend, and I decided to make my move. However, though he agreed to the fourth exchange for security reasons, he does not anticipate further exchanges will occur.”
Right. Damn. “That’s a relief.”
Water pounded down on us, and my chest began to rise and fall as Kyros’s hands roamed. How was it possible that I wanted him more? I’d known this feeling was coming, but how did the want keep expanding? When he touched me, I felt so settled. Instantly calm. And then my body just wanted to fit itself around him—on him—and never leave. It was beginning to feel like—
“Possessiveness,” I whispered.
My nipple still held Kyros hypnotised. “Hmm?” he murmured.
The fourth exchange hadn’t been anywhere near the mercurial impersonal swap I’d imagined when forming my plan to secure the Indebted. I had feelings for Kyros that I suspected were no longer mindless infatuation.
Yet I’d known my feelings—natural or not—were going to deepen as a result of the exchanges. So which were they? Natural or unnatural?
“Never mind,” I whispered.
“Okay,” he answered.
Kyros wasn’t home right now.
I pushed away. “What’s the time?”
“Four in the morning.”
Fuck. My sleep pattern was messed up these days. I felt wide awake. “I need to go.”
Recalling my messed-up balance, I stood with the help of the graphite wall. “I’ll pay for the wall to be repainted.”
“I’m keeping it.”
I set my jaw. “It’s going.”
Kyros growled.
“I mean it,” I snapped back, backing out of the shower slowly so I didn’t fall on my ass again.
He didn’t answer. “I’ll give you privacy to dress.”
Yeah, I saw right through that answer. The painting was going. He’d lose that battle, guaranteed.
Towelling dry was excruciatingly slow—as was dressing. I managed without being rendered to helpless maiden a second time.
“How long until I get used to this again?” I asked, blinking several times to adjust my vision upon entering the main room.
“Anywhere from a few days to two weeks. When Vissimo exchange blood, their senses heighten, but they’re more used to exerting control, so I believe your adjustment will be closer to two weeks.”
Huh. “Did your senses change?”
“A little. You’re human, so the effect of your blood on my power level wasn’t as dramatic.”
He’d felt a tiny blip of difference, I took that to mean. I felt kind of bad that the big bad alpha was pairing with a comparative weakling.
He stared out the windows. “You should consider staying here so I can show you how to handle the influx.”
I wanted to go home to remember who I was in isolation from Kyros. Because right now we were so tangled, I couldn’t tell where I started and ended. “Will the influx be bad?”
“This room is soundproof. I’m speaking very softly right now.”
He was? I thought back to how loud the shower was. “That’s a yes then.” Dammit.
“You’re still leaving?”
I nodded.
Jaw clenching, Kyros sighed. “Then come here.”
I teetered over.
“Look outside. As far as you can see.” He steadied me in a cage of his arms, his voice centering me.
Doing as bade, I gasped as dizziness slapped without warning. His arms tightened around me.
“What can you see?”
See? What about feel?
His voice. The current between us. His scent. His heat.
Focus, Basi.
The dizziness receded somewhat. What could I see? Shit, I could see the theme park. Not just the Ferris wheel. I could make out the blurred outlines of the people on the Ferris wheel.
Freak out time!
I wasn’t entirely human anymore.
How had I accepted this with cool calm before?
“Hush,” Kyros rumbled. “You’re not in danger, true mate. You are the same. Just a different model.”
My body trembled in his arms. “Do not compare me to a fucking car.”
His chuckle rolled through me.
“I think I’m really overwhelmed, Kyros.” My voice was thick and the urge to cry fell upon me like a heavy blanket. Really overwhelmed.
“Then here’s how you will sort through each sense,” he said, his lips next to my ear. “Look as far as you can, my beauty.”
Latching onto his voice, I obeyed, staring at the blurring forms on the Ferris wheel again.
“Draw your vision back. Just a little. Say, to the freeway.”