Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
Skye
Something was off. Even though the light wasn’t great in the corridor outside the cell, Kolt looked different.
At least he’s alive, Skye. That creepy Zagrath said he took a blaster hit to the chest and hit the floor hard.
I scanned his body as the two Zagrath guards held me too tightly by the arms. A scorched splotch seared the skin on one side of his chest, but there was no gash or hole. I breathed a sigh that he’d been stunned and not killed.
He slowly raised his hands and took a step back, his movements slower than usual.
Even his tail didn’t slash behind him like I would have expected after being ordered around by the Zagrath.
Had he finally decided to appease them, or was this another ploy?
I desperately hoped Kolt had no intention of rushing the guards again.
The last time hadn’t gone well for either of us.
“She’s all yours, Vandar.”
I didn’t have time to prepare before the cell door opened and I was shoved roughly inside. My feet got tangled in each other as I tried to stop myself from tripping and landing on my face, but Kolt darted forward and caught me by the arms.
My pulse jangled as I straightened, and I was grateful when the guards walked away so they wouldn’t see the flush of my cheeks.
I didn’t know if it was being so close to the Vandar that made my heart race or the fact that I was supposed to be convincing him I was in love with him, but I was certain anyone within shouting distance could hear my erratic heartbeat.
I looked up, preparing to thank him for catching me and ask if he was okay, but the words got lost on the way from my brain to my lips.
The Vandar stared at me with such intensity, his dark eyes flashing something raw and hungry, that I forgot to breathe. My mouth fell open as his brows knitted together as if he wanted to ask me something. Then his gaze drifted to my lips, and my knees wobbled.
Kolt had looked at me in many ways since I’d first encountered him.
He’d looked furious when I’d tried to stop him and the other Vandar from taking Jasmine.
He’d looked impatient when he’d untied me on Lexxona.
He’d looked annoyed when he’d realized we were locked in the same cell together.
And he’d looked briefly amused when we’d bantered about escape plans.
But this look was something else entirely.
This look was primal and possessive and so unlike the slightly hostile Vandar I’d encountered before that I didn’t recognize him in it.
As his arm snaked around my waist and jerked me closer to him, alarm bells went off in my head. The Kolt who’d made it perfectly clear he didn’t like humans and was only tolerating my presence would never do this.
Those thoughts fled my brain the moment he crushed his lips to mine. If I’d had any intention of resisting him or pushing him away, those intentions melted away as he parted my lips with his tongue and deepened the kiss.
Fucking hell, who taught this Vandar how to kiss?
I moaned into his mouth as my arms wrapped around his neck of their own accord, my body reacting entirely on its own.
My legs went boneless as he lifted me off the ground, walking me to the wall and pressing my back to the stone.
Muddled thoughts fought their way to the surface even as pleasure made reasoning impossible.
What in the thawsoft hells was happening?
When I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he ground something incredibly large and hard into me, my brain snapped back to reality. I tore my lips from his, gasping for air.
“What are you doing?”
Kolt blinked at me, his expression dazed. “I am kissing my mate.”
That slapped the remnants of the pleasure haze from me. I pulled back even farther. “I’m not your mate.”
He instantly released me, and I dropped to the floor, the impact of my feet on stone rattling my teeth. Then he backed away, blinking deliberately. “You are not my mate? We are not…?”
I shook my head, my already warm cheeks now blazing.
He raked a hand through his hair and winced. “Then why did you…” he flailed a hand at me, “kiss me?”
My embarrassment switched agilely to anger. “Me kiss you? I didn’t kiss you. You kissed me.”
He opened and closed his mouth a few times. “But…but…you kissed back.”
I didn’t want to admit that it would have been impossible not to kiss back.
I’d never had anyone kiss me with so much passion that I’d lost the ability to think or breathe or control my own body, but when Kolt had kissed me that’s exactly what had happened.
And there was no way I would ever confess that.
I tried to change the subject. “Why would you say you thought I was your mate? You know exactly who I am and you know very well I’m the last person you’d want as a mate.”
Confusion flickered across his face. “I do not know you, and I think there are many people I would desire less as a mate, starting with the warriors who brought you to this cell.”
Was he messing with me? No, Kolt might be a cocky, annoying Vandar, but I’d never known him to be anything but obnoxiously honest.
I pushed aside my embarrassment about the kiss and stepped closer to him. “What do you mean you don’t know me?”
He took wooden steps to the bench and sank onto it, dropping his head between his shoulders. “I do not know you because I do not know me. I don’t know who I am or why I’m here or why I’m here with you.”
His somber tone told me he was serious. I sat next to him, eyeing the tough warrior who suddenly looked scared. My gaze snagged on a bloody patch on the back of his head, and the pieces slatted neatly into place.
“I think you hit your head,” I told him gently. “That must have dislodged your memories.”
He tilted his head to look at me, his brow furrowed. “All my memories?”
“You don’t remember anything?” I asked, trying to keep the shock from my voice.
He bit his lower lip before sighing. “Only instincts and feelings, which is why I kissed you.”
My breath caught. “Your instincts told you to kiss me?”
He twitched one muscled shoulder. “My gut told me you meant something to me.” The corner of his lips quirked. “And another part of me told me that I desired you.”
I gave him what I hoped was a quelling look. “Well, I can help you fill in some of the blanks, but the first thing you should know is that we aren’t a thing.”
His brow bunched more. “No? We have not kissed before?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Not even close.” I didn’t want to tell him that there had been something about his kiss that’d been both familiar and exhilarating, and that I’d sunk into his kiss like I’d never done with anyone before.
Kolt frowned. “Then I beg your forgiveness…”
“Skye,” I told him, “and there’s no need for all that. It was only one kiss.”
My cheeks burned hot at the flagrant lie that tripped so easily off my tongue. It had hardly been a simple kiss.
“Skye,” he repeated. “Then if we are not mates or lovers, then why are we being held in one cell?”
“You really remember nothing?” I pressed. “Not rescuing me on Lexxona or being ambushed by the Zagrath or being brought here and trying to overpower the guards?”
He shook his head. “I only know that my name is Vandar. At least, that is what one of those warriors I want to kill called me.”
I grinned, doing my best not to laugh at him. “Your name isn’t Vandar. You are a Vandar.”
When his befuddled expression didn’t change, I added. “It’s your species. The Vandar are known for being tough warriors and for fighting the Zagrath.”
His spine straightened. “I am Vandar.” He flicked his gaze to the corridor. “And those warriors were Zagrath?”
“Yep, although I wouldn’t call those pricks warriors. They’re more like babysitters with weapons.”
“Are all Zagrath pricks?”
I did laugh at this. “Pretty much.” I didn’t add that until very recently, I’d thought the same about the Vandar.
He squared his shoulders. “And what is my name?”
“Kolt. I don’t know if you have any other names, but that’s what the other Vandar call you. Oh, and you’re a battle chief.”
“Battle chief Kolt,” he said slowly. “I do not remember any of this, but I will believe you.” Then he locked his gaze on me, and his dark eyes flared. “But I am not sure if I believe you when you say that we are not lovers. And if we were not, maybe we should be.”
My mouth went dry as his fiery gaze wandered to my lips. I wasn’t sure I disagreed.