11. Kiron
I fired off another text to Low as I hit the stairs, demanding him to call me. By the time I reached the kitchen, the tension had settled heavy in my chest. The room was dark. I didn’t bother turning on the lights.
What I wouldn’t give for a hot meal.
Normally, Nik cooked enough for leftovers to last us days, but with him gone, we were left to fend for ourselves.
I opened the fridge, hoping to find something to nuke in the microwave, but it was practically empty besides a few bottles of blood.
Rafe got it from a local blood bank, and normally I was thankful for that, but right now it wasn’t appealing in the slightest. Not when the only blood I wanted belonged to a red-headed little spitfire who was probably working a shift at Jack’s Bar.
I growled under my breath, more frustrated than hungry, and grabbed a bottle, nudging the fridge closed with my foot as I turned toward the counter. I could drink it cold, straight from the fridge, but I preferred it warm.
The microwave hummed while I leaned back against the counter and checked my phone again, thumb dragging down the screen even though I already knew what I’d see.
Nothing .
Harlow still hadn’t answered any of my texts, and that settled heavy in my chest, tightening into something ugly and territorial.
He didn’t ignore me unless he was doing something he knew would piss me off, and he’d been gone for hours.
Long enough to make decisions without me.
I set the phone down harder than necessary and dragged a hand through my beard, it seriously needed a trim.
My jaw locked as irritation coiled tighter.
The microwave beeped, sharp in the quiet kitchen.
I twisted the cap off the bottle and took a long pull, not bothering with a glass.
The warmed blood slid down easily, taking the edge off the pressure sitting in my chest but doing nothing for the restless pull underneath it.
I swallowed again, slower this time, already knowing it wouldn’t compare to the temptation gnawing at me—the one I’d been fighting since the moment I stepped out of Jack’s.
I finished the bottle, set it on the counter, and checked my phone again out of pure stubborn habit.
Still nothing.
“Fucking Harlow,” I muttered, the words barely out of my mouth before a voice answered from behind me.
“Thanks for the offer, Ki, but I prefer something a bit more feminine.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and turned, irritation flaring hotter when I realized I hadn’t heard him come in. Hadn’t smelled him either. Harlow howled with laughter at his own joke, and normally I’d laugh along with him, but I was wound too tight for it tonight, and his teasing grated on my nerves.
He crossed the room and pulled one of Rafe’s bottles from the fridge, twisting off the cap and taking a long swig. His dark eyes tracked me with open amusement, like he already knew exactly how keyed up I was and was enjoying every second of it.
“Feeling a little… tense ?”
I didn’t bother with a response. Yes , I was fucking pissed I’d been ignored, and he knew it too. He grinned and took another sip, casually leaning an elbow on the counter across from me, completely unbothered.
My dragon lifted its head at the taunting, and so did my temper. I wasn’t in the right headspace to deal with his shit tonight. I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
“Where have you been?”
He laughed softly around the mouthful. “Out.”
That was it. Just one word. Agitation rolled through me. I narrowed my eyes .
“You went to see her.” I could tell by the arrogant way he stared back at me. Smug bastard. Jealousy flared hot and ugly in my chest, sharp enough to make my dragon lift his unfurled wings. I clenched my jaw. I had no right to that feeling. Didn’t stop it from tearing through me anyway.
Harlow shook his head, black hair falling into his eyes as he took another pull from the bottle.
“Not exactly.”
I shoved back from the counter.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
He straightened, finally looking at me. Really looking. The grin on his face widened, slow and deliberate.
“Why, jealous ?”
“ No .” The lie only made him laugh harder. Fuck, he was seriously pissing me off. I crossed the room in three long strides, my dragon vibrating under my skin, heat rolling tight along my spine.
“Easy there, big fella. You look like you might shift. Nik’ll be pissed if you cause more damage inside the house.”
My jaw set so hard it rattled. He wasn’t wrong . Since the Change, I’d shifted inside more than once by accident—tail through windows, claws through furniture, instinct winning before thought could catch up. And that was before meeting Sina.
It would be worse now.
I crossed my arms, forcing stillness, glaring at my best friend. “Then stop pissing me off and tell me where you’ve been.”
“Okay, okay. Dad , calm down.”
He finished his drink slowly, deliberately, licking blood from his lips with his forked tongue. Crazy asshole liked pain. It was why he had so many tattoos and piercings. He rinsed the bottle and set it on the drying rack, dragging the moment out while my skin grew hotter by the second .
The bastard was doing it on purpose.
“Harlow,” I forced through my teeth.
He smirked, one pierced brow lifting. “I paid her apartment a visit.”
My chest tightened.
“Might’ve had a little fun in Sina's bed too.”
That’s it. I snapped. My dragon surged violently, heat ripping up my spine, pressure slamming against my skull hard enough to make my vision pulse. He looked damn proud of himself.
The floor creaked beneath my feet as my weight shifted forward before I consciously decided to move. The air around me thickened, charged, every instinct screaming to tear him apart for even saying her name like that.
I was right in his space before I realized I’d crossed it.
“You didn’t.”
Harlow didn’t back up. Didn’t flinch.
“I did . All over her pillow too.”
Sick bastard. He'd marked her. Yup, I was jealous.
“Harlow, I swear to God—”
He shoved me. Not hard enough to throw me, but hard enough to snap something tight between us.
“Don’t act all high and mighty, Kiron. You want her just as much as I do.
” His eyes burned into mine, glowing and unflinching, like he was daring me to deny it.
“And I don’t know about you, but I’m done waiting for my brother to do something.
Sina is ours. I won’t sit around with my thumb up my ass while another hive takes her. ”
The words hit harder than the shove.
“No matter how much I want to agree with you, but we can’t just take her.”
“Why the hell not? ”
“You saw how much she’s been through. She’s running from something.”
“That just proves my point,” Harlow snapped, jabbing a gloved finger into my bare chest. “We can protect her from that too.”
“You, of all people, should understand trauma,” I said, frustration bleeding into my voice.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
He was angry now. Really angry.
“For fuck’s sake, Harlow. If you keep pushing this, my dragon’s going to take over and steal her away whether I want him to or not.”
“That’s the point! Get mad. Let your beast out to play. Then maybe we can actually do something and protect her.”
“Nik forced Clarissa on you and she feared you. Called you a monster. Don’t pretend this wouldn’t be the same thing.”
The words landed. Hard .
I hated the way his expression changed when I said it—the way something old and ugly flashed through his eyes.
His control snapping was no secret in this house.
And it had altered the entire hive. She was the reason Harlow hated being touched, hated being cornered.
I didn’t want to hurt him, but I needed him to stop and think.
“You want her to fear you? Fine . Take her choices away. Lock her in here. Tell her she’s a Blood Mate to a hive of vampires and if she doesn’t choose us, another hive will force her.
You want to be the one who tells her that and have her hate you?
” I shook my head. “ Because I sure as fuck don’t. ”
Harlow was breathing hard now, chest rising and falling like he’d just come off a run. His shoulders deflated slightly, anger bleeding out and leaving something raw underneath.
“Fine. What do we do? I can’t let someone hurt her. I fucking refuse to leave her unprotected. ”
His gaze locked onto mine.
That was the problem. I didn’t have an answer.
Not one that didn’t end with blood on my hands.
If anyone so much as looked at her wrong, I didn’t trust myself to stop my dragon from interfering.
And I couldn’t risk my brother or Danielle’s safety either, no matter how much I wanted to throw caution out the window.
I fought every instinct that was screaming that I go to her, put myself between her and the world and damn the consequences.
I couldn’t be near her without risking everything .
The thought of her seeing me lose control.
The fear. No . I couldn’t risk her seeing me for what I really was.
A monster.
Having Harlow go wasn’t an option either. It would be impossible for him to stay under the radar. He had no impulse control, and he dressed like a gothic nightmare.
Subtlety was never going to be an option with either of us.
“I don’t know.” The words tasted like failure. “I just know your way isn’t the answer.”
Harlow scoffed, running a hand through his limp mohawk, frustration snapping back into place. “So we’re just stuck, then? Waiting for Nikolai?”
Before I could answer, someone else did.
“I’ll do it.”
Rafe stood in the doorway, freshly showered, the sharp scent of paint thinner gone from his skin. His long hair was still damp around his shoulders. He was fully dressed in a black hoodie and dark jeans.
Harlow frowned. “You’ll do what ?”
“Watch over her,” Rafe said simply.
The words landed heavy.
“You?” Harlow snapped, jealousy flaring hot and immediate. “Since when do you volunteer as tribute? ”
Rafe didn’t rise to the bait. He crossed his arms over his broad chest and held Harlow’s stare, unmoving.
“This is bullshit!”
“I won’t scare her away,” Rafe said evenly.
Harlow turned to me then, searching my face, waiting for me to shut it down. To say no. To choose him. Or myself.
I didn’t. Couldn’t.
The truth sat ugly and undeniable in my chest. Rafe was human-passing. Quiet. Even with his size, he could sit in a bar without drawing a second glance. He could be near her without her feeling hunted. He could use his abilities to calm her if he had to.
“He’s right, Low. Whether I like it or not.”
Harlow swore under his breath, fury flashing sharp across his face. “Un-fucking-believable.” He threw his hands up. “Do whatever the hell you want. I’m not sitting around waiting for permission. I’ll watch over her my own way.”
He turned on his heel and stalked toward the door. It slammed behind him, the sound echoing through the house.
Silence followed.
Rafe exhaled slowly with a subtle shake of his head.
We both knew Harlow was going to do something reckless. That much was inevitable. My dragon shifted under my skin, restless and furious, hating this plan. Hating the distance it put between me and her. Hating that I wasn’t the one allowed close to her. I lifted my gaze back to Rafe.
“I wish it could be me.”
His brown eyes softened in understanding. But wanting didn’t make it safe. And for now, distance was the only way I could protect her.