Chapter 9 - Kira
The headache that had lingered behind her eyes since she woke up that morning was just starting to disperse when a howl came from behind her.
Kira jerked, falling out of meditation. She whirled to find Joshua’s wolf charging toward her.
His dark fur glistened in the sunlight, and he was so beautiful that it took her breath away. Her heart jumped to her throat.
Joshua skidded to a stop just past her, snarling and growling. He side-checked her, knocking her into the sand.
“Hey!” Kira shouted, scrambling to her feet. He knocked into her again, pushing her up the beach. His growls made goosebumps break out along her arms. She hurried backward, away from the sea. “What are you doing?”
Once they’d transitioned to the rocky shoulder of the road, Joshua shifted to human form. He bent to grab the bundle of clothes he’d left, and Kira’s eyes dropped to the well-formed shape of his buttocks. Heat pooled between her legs, and her stomach tightened.
Don’t stare! She averted her gaze, then yelped when Joshua grabbed her arm.
“Demon,” he growled. “I’m going to take my wolf form again.
You take this.” He thrust his clothes into her arms. “Run back to town. Don’t stop.
If we’re attacked—” He cut off, twisting his head this way and that as he scanned their surroundings.
His nostrils flared, and a growl built in his throat. “Go!”
Kira didn’t question him. With her arms tight around the bundle of clothes, she rushed along the road.
She cursed her decision to walk to the beach in the first place.
Her legs soon started to ache, her lungs burning with the need for air.
Joshua shifted back into wolf form and loped alongside her, keeping a constant surveillance.
Whenever she started to slow, he nipped at her ankles.
It wasn’t until they were back at his house and Kira had collapsed to the floor in the entrance, chest heaving and hair sticky with sweat, that Joshua shifted back to human form. This time, she didn’t have the strength to get angry at herself for enjoying the view.
“We need… to… tell Gwen,” Kira gasped out.
Joshua shoved his clothes on quickly. Then, he swooped down, picking her up.
Kira groaned. He carried her into the kitchen, where he put her in a chair and got a glass of water.
Then, he soaked a clean cloth and laid it over the back of her neck.
The coolness helped. She sipped at the water, mindful not to take too much.
“Gwen needs to know,” she said when she got her breath back. “A demon that close to town… they’ll be going after Lianne again.”
“It wasn’t after Lianne. It was after you.”
Kira lowered her glass, one hand on the back of her neck, mopping up her sweat with the cloth. “What?”
“Why would the demon be there unless you were its target?” Joshua asked, his voice low and harsh.
Kira shook her head slowly. “Maybe it was coming after me, but I’m not going to be their prime target.”
“Aren’t you?”
A chill wrapped around Kira like a hug gone wrong. She swallowed hard and lifted her chin, tossing her hair as she did so. “I know as much about the demons as you do. They’re not interested in me. Remember how they were after Lianne?”
“Remember how they were also aware enough to mess with you, Chelsey, and Gwen as children? They must have sensed our marriage in some way. They think we’re going to have children.
Lianne is always within the protection of the town.
Joshua moved closer, his eyes narrowed until his gaze sliced through her. “They’re after you. I know what I saw.”
Kira huffed as she yanked her phone from her pocket. “We still need to tell Gwen. And you should tell Rafael,” she added.
Her hands shook as she navigated to Gwen’s number. Joshua called Rafael and agreed with whatever Rafael had to say. Gwen didn’t answer, so Kira left a voice message, briefly outlining what happened. Her skin prickled as she hung up, looking back up at Joshua.
“We’re in the protective barrier now,” she told him, seeing the unease lingering behind his eyes. “The demons can’t get in.”
“They got in before.”
Kira shuddered but pushed herself from the table. Her legs were still achy and weak, but she headed for the door. “We’ve reinforced the boundary line. I—”
She gasped as Joshua’s hands closed over her waist. The heat of his body radiated into her, and she shuddered again, for an entirely different reason now.
Her breath caught in her lungs. Joshua steered her back to the table, sitting her down once more.
Then, silently, he grabbed a protein bar from the cupboard and passed it to her.
“I’ll make you some food. You need to replenish your stores,” he grunted.
Kira thought about protesting. But some part inside of her, larger than she cared to admit, liked how he was looking out for her.
Her heart beat faster, and even though she knew she should insist, she stayed quiet.
They were bound to each other, she reasoned.
Rafael was his best friend, and Gwen was hers. Maybe they should try to get along.
Gwen called back just as she was finished eating. “I’m so sorry I didn’t answer! Lianne and I spent the day backpacking, and I forgot I put my phone on silent.”
Tension that Kira didn’t know she was carrying eased from her shoulders. “It’s alright. I’m just glad you two are okay.”
“Rafael was so worried. He came bursting in so suddenly that Lianne dropped the batter all over the floor,” Gwen said ruefully. “Are you okay?”
Kira sighed as Joshua took her empty plate. “I’m fine. It was just… sudden.”
Joshua started to run water in the sink.
Kira watched him as Gwen grilled her about what she had been sensing or feeling.
When Kira told her she’d gone to the beach to meditate because of a headache, Gwen suggested that it might have something to do with visions.
Kira had had visions in the past, but they were always vague and associated with truly terrible migraines.
This didn’t feel the same, but she supposed it could be connected.
“Call me if you need to talk about anything,” Gwen said.
“I will. Love you.” Kira hung up. Her fingers hesitated over the cracked screen of her phone, wondering if she ought to call Chelsey. If the demons were coming after them now, then she was in danger on the mainland.
On the other hand, what if Joshua was wrong?
There was no reason for him to lie, and Joshua knew this was far too important to make up stories about anyway.
He wouldn’t have chased her all the way back here if he didn’t think there was a danger out there.
But after their fight last night… maybe it was a shark in the water.
Maybe that ‘dark energy’ was just a sudden panic.
It wasn’t like Joshua, but she couldn’t stop the doubts. In the past, when there was demon activity, Kira had been able to sense it. She hadn’t sensed anything in the water earlier.
She didn’t want to bring Chelsey back to the island, away from her schooling, if it was nothing. Not to mention, if the demons are in the water, then she might be in more danger on the ferry than on dry land.
Finally, she sent a message to Chelsey telling her to call when she had the chance. Chelsey sent back a thumbs-up emoji in response.
Joshua’s phone started to ring. He dried his hands and stepped back from the sink to answer. Kira silently took his spot, starting to scrub up the dishes while he answered the call. It was just loud enough for Gwen to hear both sides of the conversation.
“We’re at the beach,” Rafael’s voice said. “We’ve done a thorough investigation, but there’s no sign of demon activity. None of our equipment is showing traces of demon energy.”
Kira bit her lip at that. More proof that Joshua had made a mistake. She rinsed off the clean dishes, placing them carefully in the rack to minimize noise.
“I know what I saw,” Joshua growled.
Rafael sighed. “I’m just saying that we don’t have any evidence that a demon was here.”
“So you think I’m crazy?”
“Josh, I’m not saying you’re making things up. What I’m saying is we didn’t find evidence. It was in the water, yeah? Maybe the ocean disperses the normal traces. We’ll keep looking,” Rafael answered. He sounded as though he was trying to placate his friend.
“We need increased security at the town borders tonight,” Joshua snapped, agitated. He paced around the kitchen and only stopped when he caught Kira watching him.
Rafael was quiet for a moment, then said, “Of course. Call Alpha Bael and warn him.”
When Joshua hung up, Kira took a deep breath. “I didn’t sense any dark energy.” She pulled the plug in the sink and watched the dirty water disappear down the drain. “If there was really a demon there, why would you be able to sense it and not me? I’m the witch.”
“It could have been cloaking itself from you so it could attack you.”
Kira rinsed out the sink, shaking her head slowly.
She wasn’t sure how to gently say this. It was clear Joshua was agitated, and if she was honest, it was quite flattering that he cared this much.
But why did he care this much? He’d been the one who got so grumpy last night when his parents dared to start speaking about his childhood, as though he didn’t want her to know anything real about him.
He wanted to protect the town, so it must be that.
She wasn’t foolish enough to think that he cared about her beyond the fact that he wanted to protect everyone. It was duty for him. It had to be.
“I suppose I just don’t see why the demons would make me a prime target,” she finally said. “It’s not like I’m the only witch on Nightfall.”
“I already said—” Joshua started, agitated.
Kira turned, holding up a hand. “But if they’re aware enough to know we’re married, they have to be aware enough to know that I’m never going to have your baby.”