Chapter 6
Kylian
Fucking Karter.
He just had to point out that I’m nothing more than a frail human in front of Erick.
I yank open the refrigerator door and survey the contents, my stomach doing somersaults as a bead of sweat trickles down the side of my face.
Holy hell, I’m hot and my stomach has been queasy all afternoon.
I tried to eat something at dinner but nothing tasted good and I feared I wouldn’t be able to keep it down.
I’m full of energy but it’s the nervous kind—like I know something bad is about to happen but I’m not sure what it is.
Could I be coming down with the flu? Being raised in a closed shifter community, cold and flu season doesn’t really apply here.
Shifters for the most part are immune and although I can get sick, I’m not around people who can transmit viruses to me.
But I guess that’s no longer the truth now that I’m going to school in Great Falls and kissing boys like James.
James. I haven’t thought about him in a couple hours.
Closing the refrigerator door, I pull my phone out of my boot and check my text messages. I googled how to turn off read receipt before leaving the house and hope it’s working because I have since read his earlier messages.
4:34pm James: Pick up the phone Kylian.
4:35pm James: How dare you ignore me. You don’t realize who I am or what I’m capable of. I was taking it easy on you but when you learn the truth, you’ll understand why I will not tolerate being disrespected. Now answer the fucking phone.
4:36pm James: Understand me, babe. We can do this the easy or the hard way.
For the last month, we’ve been taking the easy way.
I took my time with you, took you out on dates, showed you off as my girl and let you set the pace.
You have one last chance before I show you what it means to do this the hard way. Answer my fucking call.
4:37pm James: The hard way it is.
4:38pm James: It would be a mistake to think I don’t know where you live.
There’s been nothing new since then and his silence scares me more than the ranting and raving via voicemails and text messages.
If he knew what he was walking into—a house full of bear shifters that would rather tear him limb from limb than deal with him—he wouldn’t be acting so tough.
Hell, even if I didn’t have six giant brothers, Lana and Alyssa want to tear a chunk out of his ass for what he did to my face.
He’s a big guy but not even the toughest human could match the smallest shifter’s strength.
I peek out the window at the campfire and the men sitting around it. Erick has his back to me and although I can’t hear what they’re saying, it seems like there is an intense conversation happening. My brother Kash sits up abruptly and everyone looks at him with giant smiles on their faces.
While I have perfect eyesight, it’s too dark for me to make out the features of Erick’s face. But I know he’s handsome even by normal girl standards. Was it over the top to flirt with him like I did a few minutes ago? Did he notice? Did my brothers?
Screw them. I don’t care what they notice and I don’t care if it pisses them off. I’m tired of tiptoeing around them, of hiding what I want and of apologizing for who I am.
And screw James for thinking he can intimidate me through text messages.
What a loser.
Anger simmers in my veins and a wave of oppressive heat and nausea wash over me at the same time my stomach twists into a debilitating cramp. I violently fall to my knees, my forehead smacking the end table and sending a blinding, stabbing pain behind my eyeballs.
Then everything goes dark.
“Hey Killer. Wake up for us.” Someone dabs a cool washcloth over my neck and chest while Kash’s voice comes from further away.
“That’s a lot of blood,” the voice closest to me murmurs.
“Head wounds do that,” another close-by voice replies.
“Will she need stitches?” Valery asks.
“Maybe. Could someone get my kit out of Kash’s room?”
“On it,” Karter says.
“What’s going on?” I croak, my eyes fluttering open to find the most beautiful set of brown eyes with an amber glow staring back at me.
Erick flashes me a small smile, the silver and gray whiskers in his reddish-brown beard catching the light from the lamp. “You scared me.”
“You scared me first,” I say weakly.
“Can you tell us what happened, Kylian?” Sly asks.
I blink multiple times to clear my vision, quickly realizing that everybody is standing over me.
Well, maybe not over me but standing around the couch where I appear to be laying with my head in Erick’s lap.
Kneeling next us is Sly, his eyes shrewd as he looks me over and checks my pulse with his fingers on my wrist. “Your heart rate is through the roof. Are you sure you didn’t take anything?
No pills, no drinks meant for someone else, nothing? ”
“I’ve barely eaten or drunk anything all day. My stomach hurts.”
“What about last night?”
“Ummm—” I think back to my date. We grabbed takeout and went to James’s house to watch a movie. After the Chinese food but before the end credits, James had me flat on my back on the couch and was shoving his hand down my pants.
I told him to stop.
I said I wasn’t ready.
The funny part is, I didn’t know why I wasn’t ready. I’ve been dreaming about losing my virginity for years, ever since Lana lost hers. I’m not dumb, I knew exactly why he wanted to stay in for the evening. It doesn’t take a neuroscience degree to know he’d use our time alone to get into my pants.
All of our other dates were in public with other people: grabbing drinks at a bar, going out to dinner with friends, or dancing at a nightclub. A few times we grabbed a quick sandwich after my class and before I drove home.
Hence the nickname Jimmy John.
Besides kissing me breathless in a parking lot, or running his hands all over my body under the strobe lights on the dance floor, he’s never tried to get past second base.
I thought last night was what I wanted, but once we were in the moment; I knew I wasn’t ready.
Not with him.
And that’s when he got angry.
“Let me re-ask the question, Kylian,” Sly says, but it’s the tender way Erick strokes my hair while staring into my eyes that keeps me focused on him. “What happened to your right eye?”
“My eye?” That forces my gaze from Erick’s as I scan my brother Kade’s glower while I turn to face Sly. “Oh, that? I had too much to drink last night and walked into a door.”
“A door?” Sly glances at Erick and then at Kade but no one says a word.
“Stop doing that telepathic shit in front of me!” I snap and push myself up into a seated position, pulling out of Erick’s tender caress.
My scalp, arms, and legs itch and I’m sweating profusely.
Reaching up, I pull my fingers back from a sticky red mess at my hairline, but it’s quickly forgotten when a bead of sweat drops off the tip of my nose.
Gross. What is wrong with me?
The triplets turn and walk out of the cabin without saying a word. Kade announces he’s going to see what is keeping Karter and takes Dinah and Valery with him, leaving me alone with the only two people here who are not family.
“I know we only met this morning, Kylian, but I’m a doctor,” Sly offers.
“Technically, I’m a combat medic but you get the point.
I’m asking about your eye because I want to make sure you’re not fainting.
Random and sudden drops in blood pressure could have fatal consequences.
Shifters rarely seek medical advice for their ailments, so I know you don’t have a doctor in Fortune Falls, and I need to rule this out as a problem. ”
My shoulders relax and I use the cloth Erick had been dabbing on my neck to wipe the sweat from my face. “I’m okay. Last night was a one time thing and it’ll never happen again.”
“How are you feeling at this moment?” Erick pulls my attention back to him.
I look into Erick’s eyes that glow similar to my brothers when they stare into their mate’s eyes and think nobody is paying attention.
His scent hits me hard—woodsy with hints of cinnamon and cranberry like spiced tea simmering on the stove in the winter.
It would be calming except for the fresh wave of heat low in my belly, spreading up my chest and through my limbs like an inferno.
I swoon and lean back but Erick pulls me into his arms again before my head can hit the cushion.
“Are you okay?” His voice is rich and slides over me like silk sheets.
“Holy hell, I’m so hot. Why am I so hot?”
Erick brushes a damp chunk of hair from my cheek. “All shifters run hot. I’d think you would be used to it.”
Shaking my head, I look away from his penetrating gaze. “Don’t you know the big Barrington secret?”
“You have a secret?”
“Sure. One that everybody in town knows.”
He smiles. “Sorry, I missed that one.”
I arch my brow. “Really? Kade never mentioned his only sister can’t shift like the rest of the family? He didn’t tell you I was dysfunctional? Or that I am the only shifter in Fortune Falls over the age of fourteen who can’t shift?”
There’s a bitterness to my voice, snark in my tone, but my words hold no heat as I say them to Erick. Whether or not he knows my shame, I think it’s sweet he pretends he doesn’t.
“It doesn’t ring a bell.” He continues to stroke my cheek, his eyes warm and intoxicating. “But he never mentioned how beautiful his sister was either, so something tells me he was keeping you a secret so I wouldn’t come make you mine.”
My heart swells at the same time my stomach cramps, causing me to curl into a ball in his arms.
“What can I do?”
“I don’t know. It hurts.”
He sighs and sits me up on the other end of the couch before stepping across the room, putting way too much distance between us. Rubbing his beard, he stares out the window. I don’t know where Sly went, but I suspect he’s back in his seat at the fire. Are they conversing telepathically?
Erick nods and swings his gaze back to me, his eyes bright and vibrant. I want to say something about them, ask him if he is as attracted to me as I am to him, but I’d be inconsolably embarrassed if I was wrong.
Instead, I arch my brow again. “Talking about me?”
“I have an idea on how to make you feel better.”
“How?”
“Formulating a plan right now.” He smiles and tosses me a wink. “I’m going to head home but I’ll call you when I get there.”
Frowning because I really don’t want him to leave, I cast my eyes to my lap. My stomach is over its cramp and the nausea has decreased for the moment. While I’m still hot and in desperate need of a shower, I’m not as itchy as I was two minutes ago. “You don’t have my number.”
“I will once you give it to me.”
“Kade won’t like us talking.” I glance up to see his reaction.
Erick chuckles, his phone already in his hand. “He’ll get over it.”
No one has ever defied my brothers for me and there is something insanely attractive about that. I rattle off my number, my phone vibrating on the floor where I dropped it when I hit my head and passed out.
Erick grabs and hands it to me without looking at the screen. “It’ll take me an hour to get home. In that time, please let Sly patch you up, take a shower, and eat something.”
“Are you bossing me around?”
“I’m asking you to take care of yourself, since I won’t be here to do so.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask if he wants to take care of me, but instead I nod. “Okay.”
Erick walks to the door, pausing in the threshold. “Feel better, babygirl. I’ll talk to you soon.”
A few minutes pass before Sly walks in his bag of supplies. My stomach has settled significantly, my skin no longer itches, and I’m absentmindedly grabbing the throw blanket off the back of the couch to wrap around my shoulders to stave off the chill in the air.
Sly smiles and nods to himself. “Let’s get you patched up.”