Chapter 11
THE CYPRESS POST
KAL DID HIS BEST TO ignore the twisting unease that tangled his insides as he rode away from Meress into the depths of Stillwater Wood. Away from Kitty.
She’d looked ethereal, standing there on his porch with her mess of wild, dark hair and those honey-green eyes watching him leave, a thank you on her lips.
It had taken everything within him to turn his back and walk away from her.
What he’d wanted was to drag her into his bedroom and teach her the sort of things that would have her begging him to stay instead of expressing gratitude for a safe journey.
He knew taking Kitty to his house was a bad idea. He took no female to his private residence. But damn him, he’d wanted her there. And seeing her in his domain had done something to him. Something dangerous and unpredictable.
Kal roughly scrubbed his face. He needed to get a fucking grip.
Somewhere between Cindamar and now, Kal’s handle on his self-control had slipped precariously.
He’d never had an issue setting boundaries with women.
Certainly, never allowed one to distract him.
And now, of all the females he could have become entangled with, it had to be his friend’s only sister?
Perhaps this distance was for the best. Maybe it would help him pull his head out of his ass.
Kal pushed the gray gelding that he’d borrowed from Meress’s stable into a brisk canter, despite the tight confines of the game trail.
Sig had been left behind to recoup, much to the fiery stallion’s displeasure.
He’d tried to bite Kal’s chosen mount as they passed his stall.
The gray didn’t have the power or stamina of the eager red roan, but he was quick and sure-footed as he drove them deep into the wood.
Kal reached the hunting outpost in just over three hours.
The heavy foliage made it difficult to tell, but he knew the sun was beginning its final descent.
It would be full dark soon, and he wished Kitty weren’t spending her first night in Meress alone.
Without him. She was safe—no forest beasts would trespass onto his property, and the wolf prevented unwelcome shurii—but it was still new, isolated.
Maybe he should have asked Penn to bring one of his sisters to stay with her.
Kal trudged up the steps of the hunting cabin, praying to whichever god was listening that Rask was inside.
The cabin’s interior suffused him with warmth.
A fire roared in the hearth, fending off the descending chill.
A man he recognized as Trex was cleaning a hide against the far wall.
Two other men sat at a square table playing cards.
Trex and Tandoor had been citizens of Meress before Kal found the city; Zadon joined the Cozened several years after.
The three men frequently hunted game together, and he and Rask accompanied them on occasion.
A muscle in Kal’s jaw clenched. Rask was not among them. The men looked up when he entered.
Trex’s face split into a grin as he wiped his knife with a rag. “Ho ho! Look what the weary hound dragged to our door, fellas.”
Kal forced a smile. “I expected to find Rask, not the sorriest lot in all the wood.”
Tandoor pushed up from his chair and clapped Kal on the shoulder. “Welcome back, Kaine. Sit. We’ll deal you in. Show you how this sorry lot relieves men of coin.”
Kal shook his head. “Not tonight. I’m pressed for time.”
“Well, sit anyway,” Tandoor urged. “Harless left for the Cypress Post this morning.” Bushy gray eyebrows waggled. “He won’t surface from that well of depravity until tomorrow at the earliest.”
Kal inwardly groaned. Rask only went to the remote post for one reason, and it wasn’t to hunt big game. Kal didn’t have time for this shit.
The third male, Zadon, filled a mug with foaming amber liquid and pushed it toward Kal. “Looks like you could use a drink.”
Kal sank into the chair and took a deep swallow of ale. “One drink,” he said, resigned. “Then I leave to drain the well.”
The Cypress Post was in the northern section of Stillwater Wood, one of the furthest hunting lodges they’d yet established.
The forest there was dominated by huge cypress trees, and game was plentiful.
However, the post wasn’t frequented, given its remote location.
The other outposts offered abundant game without requiring such far travel from Meress.
The only reason Rask preferred the Cypress Post himself was for privacy. A shurii could scream in that section of wood, and there was no one around for miles to hear.
Kal didn’t hear any screaming now. It was past full dark when he dismounted a short distance from the lodge.
Kitty had now spent nearly ten hours in his house alone, not that he was keeping track, and he couldn’t stop wondering whether she’d decided to sleep on his couch or in his bed.
The fact that he didn’t know, coupled with the realization that, once returned to her brother’s care, she might never sleep under his roof again, left him irritated and edgy.
He pounded on the cabin’s door.
Kal’s ears picked up on shuffling inside. He waited, impatience growing. His fist was poised to pound again when the door swung inward.
The heavy smell of sex wafted into his face.
Kal was momentarily caught off guard when his gaze collided with a pair of familiar, kohl-lined blue eyes.
The woman who’d opened the door had crimson hair that fell in thick, tousled waves past her shoulders.
Surprise lit her heart-shaped features, but Kal wasn’t solely focused on her face.
She was completely, unabashedly naked. Sweat beaded on her brow and trickled down her neck.
Her breasts were wet and peaked. The flat plane of her pale stomach flowed into another nest of red curls at the apex of her slender thighs.
The female assessed him, her carnal gaze traveling the length of his body as though he were the one advertising forbidden delights. A coy smile lifted her pouting lips. “I remember you,” she said, voice husky.
The night he met her came back into focus. Lou. The tavern in Asteros. Santhe’s message. He recalled the feel of her throat in his vice-like grip, pushed up against a brick wall. Remembered her pitiful attempt to stab him. Her name resurfaced. “Reese.”
She smiled wider, body languid, an invitation. The chill from the open door further hardened her nipples, and her lips parted. “Please tell me you’ve come to join us.”
Kal looked past her into the lodge and caught the nude curve of another female’s plump ass. A moment later, Rask pushed his way to the door, cupping himself in a paltry attempt at modesty. “Who the fuck—”
Rask’s heated glare landed on Kal and sobered immediately. “Kal,” he wheezed. “What—”
“Clean up your shit, Harless,” Kal growled, patience finally snapping, “and meet me outside.” He turned on his heel, not sparing Reese another glance, and stalked into the dark.