Chapter 32
Kayla
I take another sip of my coffee, mostly so I can recover from my heart nearly stopping at that wink.
I look up at him, ready to make some smart comment about coffee, mostly just to get him to smile again.
But his body stiffens, and I see his gaze on something.
I look over and see that Garrett and Emma have just entered the room.
Garrett’s eyes scan the room and land on us.
The look on his face is...not good, and I remember how things went down last night.
Without thinking about it, I drop a hand to Jackson’s thigh.
For a moment, I lose my train of thought.
His thigh muscles are way firmer than I thought they’d be.
I look down. “Is there a problem?” Jackson asks in a deliciously, low sexy voice.
“How are your thighs so hard?” I whisper back and push on his leg again.
“They’re like rock hard.” I reach out to touch him again, but he grabs my hand before I touch him again.
Reality slams into me, and so does embarrassment.
“Sorry; I didn’t mean to touch you. Well, I did. I was trying to get your attention.”
“You got it,” he says. “All of it.” I look up and see him looking at me with a look in his eyes that looks almost predatory. “And you don’t need to apologize for touching me. Ever.”
My breath sort of stalls in my lungs, and I look away...mostly so I can breathe again. I catch sight of Ransom’s grin and notice Paul’s as well. I scowl. “They can all hear everything, can’t they?” I whisper to Jackson.
“Every single word,” Ransom answers with a grin. He points to his ear and mouths, shifter hearing.
“Don’t mind them,” Sage says.
“Good morning.” Garrett’s deep voice greets all of us, and I jump in surprise. But I notice Jackson didn’t even flinch; he knew Garrett was there. Of course he did. “Can we sit here?” he asks.
I nod right away and then realize he’s not asking me; he’s asking Jackson.
But I’m worried Jackson won’t respond well, so I answer for him.
“Sure.” I smile at both of them and nudge Jackson’s knee under the table, giving him the same treatment he’s been giving me.
But he shocks me by wrapping his long, strong fingers around my knee and squeezing gently.
I have no idea what that means, but I stay perfectly still.
It’s a long moment before he releases my knee, and it’s even longer until I can breathe again.
I realize that I missed Emma introducing her and Garrett to my quiet brother.
She smiles at him. “Well, you definitely look alike?”
I look at Noah and then back at Emma. “You think?” Both she and Sage nod.
“Garrett and Emma,” I say, thankful my voice sounds mostly normal. “How do you both drink your coffee? Black or with cream and sugar?”
“Oh, with as much cream and sugar as possible,” Emma says right away.
“See,” I say to Jackson, giving him my most challenging look. I’m mostly trying to distract him and keep him calm. I’m not sure what it is exactly about Garrett that sets him off, but if I can help, I'm going to.
“Black,” Garrett says and takes a bite of food.
Jackson looks down at me and smirks. I frown at him. “Hey, you drank one of my concoctions before,” Emma points out to Garrett.
“That was one time, Baby,” he says easily.
“But you still did it,” she says with a grin. He gives her an affectionate smile, and I can’t help but stare. Emma turns to me with a bright smile. “We have a coffee shop on pack lands, and we’re always experimenting with new drinks.”
“Ooo, what’s some of the latest ones?”
“One of our most popular summer drinks was our peanut butter fluff drink available in either iced or hot.”
My eyes widen. “That sounds amazing; I can eat marshmallow fluff by the jar.”
“So can I!” Emma says.
“And she did,” Garrett says in a low voice. “When she was pregnant.”
Emma laughs. “What? I was craving it.” He smiles at her, and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that kind of love before.
Or maybe I just haven’t in a long time. Garrett turns to face Jackson and me, and his smile fades.
I feel a shiver run down my spine, and it feels like Jackson shifts closer to me.
But maybe not; maybe I just imagined it.
“Bryce called me this morning and relayed some interesting information about you, Kayla.”
I eye the alpha. “About me?”
He nods. “What is it?” Jackson demands.
Garrett levels a look at him, and I will Jackson to be calm.
“There’s a healer in their pack,” he says quietly.
“Her name is Sherese.” He looks between the two of us a moment.
“She was born in the same city you were, Kayla.” My eyes widen in surprise.
Before I can ask any questions, he continues.
“Their tech guy found records, and you and she went to the same clinic the same week. She’s a few years older than you.
” He pulls out a manilla folder and opens it up and slides a sheet of paper across the table to us.
“You both had appointments the same day with the same doctor.”
I feel a chill run down my spine. “What does that mean?” I ask. This time, I know I don’t imagine it when Jackson moves closer to me. We were already close, but now, there’s not a centimeter of distance between us.
Garrett watches me intently. “We’re still figuring it out.”
“How old were you when you started to heal, Kayla?” Sage asks. “You said you were young, right?”
I nod. “I don’t know when the power developed exactly, but I know I was able to heal by the time I went into high school.”
Sage nods, looking thoughtful. “Sherese healed early as well.”
“If they were given something back then, it could explain why Sherese and Kayla both healed early,” Paul say, looking past us. I can tell he’s thinking.
“You think the vampires were targeting girls even back then?” Emma asks quietly with an awful expression on her face.
I frown. “Don’t all the healers heal young?”
Sage shakes her head and explains, keeping her voice low. “No. I didn’t manifest healing powers until after I was eighteen.”
“What about Ava?” I ask.
“Ava and Rose were different.” Her voice is so soft, I have to lean forward to hear her.
“How so?” I ask. She glances at Paul a moment, and I try to read the situation. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“No, I know they wouldn’t mind me telling you because you’re one of us. It's just a hard story to tell.” She looks like she’s going to cry, and I regret asking.
“It’s fine,” I tell her.
It’s Paul that continues the story. “Rose and Ava were both captured by vampires and kept at one of their facilities. They were given vampire serum. The vampires at that time were trying to turn females into vampires. They failed miserably and lots of females died. Rose and Ava survived and became healers because of it. We’re still learning how it works; I’ve done a ton of research.
We know that Sage was created, but the other healers were formed.
We think it has to do with the type of blood, combined with genetics.
We’re not really sure, but when that combination is met with the vampire serum, it creates a healer.
That’s the only reason Rose and Ava survived. ”
I swallow, feeling like I’m going to throw up. “I got injected with that, or something like that.” My words are barely a whisper.
Sage reaches across the table and takes my hand in hers. “You did, but we knew how to save you. That’s why Jackson—”
Jackson coughs loudly. “I think that’s enough for now.”
Silence falls over our group, and I look up at him. His face is set in an unreadable mask. When I look over at Sage, she has a guilty expression on her face. She gives me an apologetic look. “It’s okay,” I reassure her. “I wanted to know.”
She nods and then glances at Jackson again. There’s a stern expression on her face, and it confuses me. I look up at Jackson, but he doesn’t look at me. I look back at Sage and cross my arms over my chest. “Tell me what I'm missing.”
Her eyes widen, and she glances at Jackson again. He growls low in his chest, and I elbow him lightly. “Stop that.”
“I suggest you find another outlet for your aggression than my mate,” Paul says in a tone that surprises me. Gone is all trace of the gentle doctor; he looks downright scary right now.
Jackson picks up his trash and looks like he’s about to stand. “Wait.” He stops moving and looks at me. There’s a wariness in his eyes that I don’t like. “You said you’d tell me anything,” I remind him.
He takes a deep breath. “I did, and I will.”
I lift an eyebrow. “So?”
“Not down here.” He stands and picks up my plates and his. I watch him go drop them off and look across the table at Sage.
She gives me a soft smile, but I can see worry in her expression. It makes my gut tighten. “Just remember, he didn’t have a choice, Kayla,” she says softly.
“Sage,” Paul warns.
“I’m just saying; she was going to die.”
“Sage, Baby,” Paul says gently. Her face falls, but she reaches out and squeezes my hand. “Come find me if you need to talk. I understand; believe me.”
Her words are cryptic, but I know I’m not going to get anything more until I talk to Jackson. I turn to Noah, who’s been silent this entire time. “Ready?” He nods and slides out of the booth.
“It was nice to meet you, Noah,” Emma says.
He doesn’t say anything, and I make a mental note to work with him on being polite to people.
Noah and I walk over to where Jackson is waiting for us.
He doesn’t say anything as we walk down the hallway to the stairwell.
When we get to our room, Noah heads over to the couch and pulls out his iPad and headphones.
I turn to Jackson. “So, what did I miss?”
He stares down at me, and I wait him out. “I want you to know, I would never have done what I did if I hadn’t needed to.”
My heart rate picks up speed, and I try to imagine what he could have done to me. My mind is a little too helpful giving me suggestions. “Maybe just tell me, because my imagination is working overtime.”
When he begins, his voice is soft. “When they injected you with the vampire serum, your healing power started to fight against it. But it wasn’t enough; your healing power wasn’t enough to fight against it.
They told me the vampire power would completely overtake your healing power until it was all gone.
Your body was so weak from the beating you’d taken.
” His words sound like they’re forced out.
“The combination of those things was too much for your body. You were dying. Your heartbeat slowed down so much, and you were struggling to breathe. They told me I needed to do something, but I thought you would pull through. But then your heartbeat stuttered, and I knew you weren’t going to survive if I didn’t do something. ”
I can hardly breathe as he describes what happened. “What did you do?” I ask, my voice breathless.
He stares down at me. “I claimed you as my mate.” I stare up at him.
“I bit you, Kayla.” He steps closer. “Shifters claim their mates with a claiming bite. It marks you as mine forever and ties our souls together. I don’t regret doing it; I’ve wanted to do it since the moment I first saw you.
I do regret doing it without asking you, though. ”
I stare up at him and can’t form a single, coherent thought. “What does that mean?” I ask in a whisper.
He reaches up and runs his thumb down my cheek. “It means that you’re mine, just as I am yours. Our souls and our lives are now tied together. If you die, I die and vice versa.”