Chapter 12: Chapter Eleven--Can I Trust Him?
What can I say about flying through the air? Other than I couldn’t breathe. The wind raged from all angles. My legs flailed as if separate entities of pure consciousness. I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I loved it.
We plunged into the aquamarine water. Suspended in a liquid world, I opened my eyes. I’d done it! Amazed, I exploded through the surface. The top of the cliffs sat above us, no longer an intimidating height, but a challenge I’d conquered. “Again!”
He wrapped his arms around my waist, kept me afloat with strong kicks. “You want to climb all the way back up the rock face, or circle around to the lake and climb the hill?”
“Is there a third option?”
“Yeah. Wrap your arms around my neck, and your legs around my stomach.”
I snorted. “How is this plan C?”
“Trust me, beautiful.”
Skepticism wasn’t something I could cure in one night. And neither could he. However, I’d let him try. I curled around him.
His body gracefully glided through the water. “You ready?”
“For what?”
“The climb.”
“I thought you said we weren’t climbing.”
“We are not. I am.”
“And I am supposed to do what?”
“Hang on.” He leapt out of the water, with impossible momentum, then caught a cleft in the rock.
I molded myself to his torso. “You sure you’re okay with this? I’m not exactly a light girl.”
He sent me a droll look over his shoulder. “You’re not heavy.”
“I’m not light,” I repeated.
“You’re perfect, just how you are.”
“Uh huh.”
Without so much as breaking a sweat, he scaled the rock. “Did you expect me to fall for rail thin, anorexic models?”
Again, with the mindreading. “Have you seen the women you hang out with?”
Not that Carmen was anywhere close to anorexia. Her powerful form spoke of more hours of care in one week than I’ve gone through in my life.
“Do not compare yourself to them. The females I surround myself with lead overly active lives. And much as I do, possess an incredibly high metabolism. I prefer a female with a little meat on her bones. I like that you enjoy real food, and don’t eat like a rabbit.” I rested my chin on his shoulder. “Did you want to go all the way up, or jump from here?”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“I jump, you ride.”
Oh, the ideas that danced through my head. “You like to do things for people, don’t you?”
“For the special people in my life, always. I come from a world, where males complete tasks for their females, because they want to. It isn’t an expectation, but a privilege. That is how we are raised. Granted, male and female are equals to be respected but also treasured.”
“That answered a little more than the comment warranted,” I said.
“This was not the first time you’ve brought this up. As I said before, you been meeting the wrong kind of males. Of course, our ways would be strange to you. And before that opens a new line of questioning, take a few moments to watch Syber and Quinn the next time you see them. See how they act. Now, hold on tight.”
“What?”
He hurdled from the rock face, twisting in midair to shield me from impact as we submerged. The moon, stars and lagoon flashed before me in rapid succession. We surfaced at a slower rate, my arms around his neck, his hands at my waist as he laid back. He floated with me sprawled over his stomach.
I watched the sky. “Full moon in a couple of days.”
“That it is.” His muscles coiled tighter.
“Something wrong?”
The silence stretched to the horizon. “Would it seem strange to ask you to go back into town during the full moon?”
“Ahh, yes. I came out here to camp in the forest. I paid for the campsite, remember? They don’t exactly give refunds.”
More silence stretched. I entertained myself by running a hand over his pecs.
“Then do me a favor. When the moon reaches the end of its cycle, be sure to stay in your campsite for the night.”
“Huh?”
“Just promise me. And keep Lola with you. Make any excuse that’s believable.”
“Why?”
He frowned. “The woods won’t be safe, Katrina.”
“Is a werewolf going to get me?”
He laughed. “There aren’t any werewolves on this mountain. They aren’t that stupid.”
I searched his face. He had to be joking. But he lived on this mountain. Maybe there was a crazy cult out there somewhere that sacrificed wandering campers under the full moon.
“Will you promise me?”
“Yes.”
He relaxed. “Good. I expect you to keep it, no matter what.”
Kalvyn glided to a flat rock in the center of the lagoon. He pulled us out of the water and sprawled out with his hands under his head. I rolled over, on my side to face him.
I smiled as a slight breeze brought gooseflesh over my arms. I shivered, and he rubbed my back vigorously. I’d never felt so pampered. Not even Lola was this attuned to me.
I touched the wet strands lying across his neck. “I love it out here.”
“So, do I. When the others are asleep, I come here to think. To dream.”
I couldn’t blame him for that. Since we’d come to Hell’s Gate, all of this felt like a dream to me. Surreal. As if I didn’t quite live it, but my spirit drifted above a fantasy land, where someone else’s life played out. Maybe I was at home in bed, my subconscious creating everything.
“About?”
“Life, leadership.”
“You’ll admit that you lead your friends.”
He didn’t respond for so long, I didn’t think he would.
“I attempt to lead them. Though I’m not sure I always succeed to please. What I have learned is it’s not about gratifying them as I’d once hoped. But keeping them safe, so they can survive.”
I watched his pupils as they dilated and stretched, resembling a cat. I blinked, and they were back to normal.
Surely, I hadn’t seen that. “What are you?”
“I thought we have covered this. Are you sure you want the answer?”
I thought about that. “Do I?”
“I do not know, or I wouldn’t have asked.”
“Okay then. Answer another question.”
“All right.”
I chewed on my fingernail as I debated the best way to ask what I truly wanted to know. “Will knowing what you are hurt me?”
“Perhaps.”
“I’m safer not knowing?”
“Yes. For now.”
“Are the others like you?”
“Yes.”
“Would they hurt me?”
He shook his head. “Never. Though be wary of Bianca. She can be unpredictable, even to me.”
“I figured that out thirty seconds after she arrived.”
“I won’t permit her to endanger you.”
“This sounds like a stupid question, but I’m a fan of absolutes,” I said. “Do you like me?”
“Of course. Or we wouldn’t be here.”
I sat up, pulling my legs to my chest. “Then that’s all I need to know,” I paused. “For now.”
“For now.”