Chapter 32 Kai
Chapter thirty-two
Kai
Idon’t know where I’m going until I find myself in the small living room. The cosy space is framed with a fat burgundy armchair and sofa, a wicker basket overflowing with cream blankets.
The soft overhead lights and lingering scent of woodsmoke from the cold fireplace should calm me. But as I pace the seven steps from the door to the window, over and over, all I can focus on is the anxiety eating at me.
A new family?
Half-demon?
Where is my soul?
And Golden wasn’t drinking blood again.
“And I haven’t updated my to-do list!”
I turn to start a new lap only to find myself in Vidar’s waiting arms. My body instantly melting into his warmth.
“Breathe in and out.” His low voice fills me, his other hand drawing circles between my shoulder blades. “In and out.”
Two beats and then—air flows out of my strained lungs.
Vidar’s voice pushes into my mind, pulling me from the waterfall of thoughts and feelings crashing through me. I shouldn’t be surprised; the pushy bastard always finds a way to insert himself exactly where he wants to be.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Vidar says.
“I’m not fucking human.”
In the quiet, our voices are hushed. Thunder grumbling somewhere outside is the only other noise.
“I always thought you were fae, so not much has changed.” He kisses my forehead. “Now you're just my tempting little demon prince.” A wet hiccuping laugh leaves me, my fingers relaxing around my braids one by one. “The rest?” He shrugs a shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”
A niggle of doubt creeps in. “...And you’ll stick around?”
Vidar tilts back enough to brush kisses over the last two fingers still clutching at my hair.
I hate my nervous tic. The lack of control, the way it might as well be a neon bloody sign pointed directly at my source of deepest insecurity. Yet Vidar doesn’t make me feel ashamed or lacking. He makes me feel…
Freed. Loved.
“I’m right here, Kai,” my soulmate promises. “I am going nowhere.”
It takes longer than I’d like, but slowly—inch by inch—my hand fall away from my braids, and then my mouth is captured. His lips move with mine, a slow brushing, a gentle caress. He drinks down each of my sighs, and I learn the curve of his mouth, a shape just hours ago I nearly gave up.
Not again. I’m keeping this—him.
Us.
“I don’t want to betray my family,” I whisper.
“My love, all I want to do is protect this lovely heart of yours.” His palm cups my cheek. “You won’t betray anyone by learning more about yourself.”
“What if I hurt them? My Dad can be pretty sensitive. I’m obviously not going to tell them about the demon or fire stuff, but the other family stuff…”
“If they’re anything like the amazing man they’ve raised, I can’t imagine your parents turning their backs. Besides—” Vidar’s voice turns wicked “—I can always compel them to forget if they do.”
Laughing, I shove away from him, but Vidar keeps hold of me. “I can’t believe I have to say this, but do not compel my family.”
“Mm, I’ll think about it,” he teases, kissing the shell of my ear. Sending shivers down my spine. A shiver that spills low and pools hot in my belly.
“Ya know…” My eyes travel up to his grey gaze, my fingers running up to the large expanse of his shoulders. “I’ve been so curious about your tattoos.”
Vidar’s grip on my back slowly drags down to my ass, and I moan out a breath when he cups me. His hand so hot even through the thick material of my sweats.
“How about I show you…” Vidar rocks his hips into mine. “Every…single…one?”
Gasping, my tongue flicks out across his bottom lip. “I wanna—”
The shrill sound of my phone going off breaks the tension. Vidar growls as I sigh and slip it from my pocket, a possessive hold staying on my backside.
“Hey?” I rasp, impatient.
“Why are you in a creepy, unlisted mansion in the middle of nowhere?”
It takes a couple of seconds for my brain to register who’s speaking. “Teagan?”
“You’ve been acting so weird lately, big bro. Not messaging in the chats, keeping secrets and going to random places.” Teagan’s voice is louder than normal, which for everyone else would be a regular volume.
“You’ve been watching where I’m going?” I pull away from Vidar.
“Yeah, stalker. The Find My Friends app works both ways. Feels weird to be on the other side, doesn’t it?”
“Listen, Teagan, I can’t talk right now—”
“But why?” There’s an edge of panic to his voice. Like when he got chlamydia and thought he was dying.
“I…shit.” My hand drops to Vidar’s forearm, and I use the thick muscle as a stress ball. “Little bro, I can’t explain right now.”
“Then I’m coming over—”
“Fuck no you ain’t!”
“Why not, Kai?” Teagan’s voice rises. “What’s happening?”
Frantically, I rack my brain for an excuse. But when I come up with nothing, I glance at Vidar, who—master wordsmith that he is—just shrugs.
“Kai!” Teagan calls.
“Okay, calm down, alright?” I reply, exasperated. “How about I come visit you at Uni?”
Teagan pauses. He does this when he wants to change the subject, allowing the silence to awkwardly hang. But I know my brother, and can wait him out.
“I’m not at school right now.” All the volume in his voice is tossed to the wind, and he’s back to his quiet little rasp.
“What? Why? Mate, you worked your ass off to get into art school.”
Another long pause, one where I have to hold onto my patience with the skin of my teeth.
“I dropped out,” he murmurs. Not in a shy way, my little brother hasn’t been shy since he came out of the womb. He sounds upset.
“Why did you drop out?” I ask, worry growing in my chest. “Did something happen?”
“Why are you in a creepy mansion?” he argues back.
“If you aren’t at Uni, where the hell are you?”
Pause.
Pause.
A longer pause where I’m about to snap my phone in two.
“Back home with Mum and Dad,” Teagan finally grumbles.
“But you were so excited for your own place!”
Another long pause. But this isn’t him trying to make things awkward; this silence is filled with words, all too sharp for Teagan to speak and shreds my impatience to pieces.
“Teagan?” I say his name softly. “Listen. I’m sorry I’ve not been around lately, but you know you can talk to me, little bro.”
“Drop it, alright?”
The worry in my chest grows warning spikes. “Alright, I’m coming over, and we’ll chat.”
Vidar takes hold of my chin and forces me to meet his gaze. “Kai, we don’t have time.”
“Who’s that?” Teagan asks, jumping at the chance to change the subject.
Pulling away from Vidar, I say, “Nobody.”
Vidar growls.
I roll my eyes. “Alright, fine, my boyfriend.”
“The dick who hurt you?”
“Vidar and me patched things up, and we’re giving it another go, okay?” I reply, I try to sound calm, even though all I want to do is grab my little brother by the shoulders and shake until he spills all his secrets. It didn’t work when he was ten, and it won’t work now.
Teagan scoffs.
“Don’t act like you know anything. How many relationships have you been in? And being in someone's bed doesn’t count.”
“It ain’t always a bed. Sometimes it’s up against a wall.”
“Delightful,” I groan. “Me and him are good. You and me, though? We need a long chat. And I’m bringing Vidar, so be fucking nice. Got it?”
“Fine.” But I can hear the eye roll in his voice.
Another long pause, this one not to make things awkward. It’s expectant.
“Fuck sakes, what do you want me to bring?”
“Anything sweet.”
“Yeah, yeah, alright.”
Teagan hangs up without saying goodbye, like usual. The little jerk.
Huffing, I slip my phone into my pocket. “I know we’re busy, and my brother is a pain in the ass, but I love him. If he comes here and gets tangled up in all this mess, he could get hurt, and I can’t have that.”
Vidar doesn’t look happy about it, but he nods once in agreement. “We’ll check in with Summer first to ensure you’ll be okay.”
“I agree. Trust me, I’m ready to get my soul back.”
Vidar nods, arms folded as his face becomes hard as stone. “And I must prepare to visit your family.”
“Prepare what?” I raise an eyebrow.
“The mundr.”
“The murder?!”
“Mundr,” Vidar says slowly, as if I’m being annoying. “Bride price. Surely you’ve heard of it. I’ve seen those little diamond rings.”
“Bride price?!” I squeak.
He nods, frowning like I’ve lost all my senses. “Of course.”
My mouth drops open.
“Now, would your father prefer weapons or land?”