Chapter 17
Kitty.
I didn’t want to do this, but Brooke had convinced me it was important. I rode to Chattanooga on a small plane, and thank goodness it was owned by a vampire and wasn’t a commercial one, because I shredded a portion of the seat and bent the arm. It took everything in me to keep from turning to tiger in the plane and destroying everything.
I didn’t know how I’d get back to Birmingham, but it would not be in the belly of a plane.
Which means when I first met Kirsten, I was a wreck.
“Oh, you poor thing. Will you allow me to touch your arms? I can help you settle, but I need your permission.”
I nodded, and she grasped my wrists with her soft, human hands.
And just like that, I felt better. It was as if she’d replaced my energy with that of someone else.
“What did you do?”
“It’s temporary. It’s up to you to make it permanent. You can either let your nerves put you back into that state, or you can choose to focus on your breath and mother earth, and maintain what I’ve gifted you.”
I looked to her side, at the biggest dog I’d ever seen. “You brought your dog?”
She ran her hand through his long, black hair. “This is Smokey.” She bent down so her face was level with his. “Smokey, this is Val. She’s going to be staying with us a few days.” She looked back to me and stood. “I assume you’re aware you arrived late in the evening so I can take you to see Kendra, yes? She insisted on looking through your head before I take you home with me.”
I nodded. “Brooke says I can trust both of you.”
I followed her through the private terminal and outside to her SUV. She opened the back and the huge dog jumped in. She opened the driver side door, and I opened the passenger door. It felt odd to do so without an invitation, but I’d learned much about living in society once I’d escaped, and this was considered normal.
Once we were on the road, Kirsten said, “I live with the Alpha of the Homewood pack, so there’ll be wolves around all the time, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Brooke says you won’t change while you’re with us. If you need to, it’s fine. I know your secret. I had to, in order to try to help you. I’m trustworthy with it, but no one else will know, besides Kendra. My men can be trusted, but I don’t share my client’s secrets with them.”
“Men?”
“Yes. I’m in a relationship with two men. Nathan and Mordecai. I doubt you’ll see them much. Probably around mealtimes, but not much more.” She sighed. “Actually, that may not be the case. I need to talk to you about where you wish to stay. I intended to put you into the old farmhouse with Chase, to keep the separation between the two of us when we aren’t in session. You’ll eat meals with him, if that’s where you stay. If you stay in the big house with me and Cora, then it might be awkward between sessions. However, Brooke and your wolf seemed to think you should be in the big house with us for security reasons.”
“It’s important that word doesn’t get out about me staying with you. I thought Brooke explained?”
“She did. Your family wants you back. You’re in hiding, so word of you can’t get out.”
I looked around. “I expected you’d have more people around to guarantee my safety. If my family were to ambush us now, there’s no way we could fight them off.”
She chuckled. “A dozen tigers? Not a problem. Smokey will let me know there’s danger, and I assume you will, too. I don’t do so well at that part of the security thing, but once I’m aware of a problem, I can take care of it.”
She had power, but it didn’t feel like that of a warrior. For a few brief moments, I’d mistaken her for human. Clearly, she wasn’t.
“I want to ask what you are, but Brooke told me not to.”
“I was born human and I’ve evolved into something more.”
She made a right turn into a fancy subdivision with a golf course, and I rolled my eyes. “What is it with vampires and golf courses?”
“They can play golf at night if they live on the course. That isn’t the only reason, but it’s the one you’ll almost always get if you ask.”
“It’s only four in the afternoon. Kendra will be up?”
“Yes. Brooke told Kendra she has your consent to erase your memories of where the house is and how to get into the downstairs.”
“Yes. I gave consent for that.” I hadn’t wanted to, but Brooke had insisted I allow for it.
“Kendra isn’t big on consent for changing memories. Just so you know. She’s been looking through your head for the past five minutes. She says you don’t know I’m in a relationship with the Amakhosi.”
Fear torpedoed through my veins until I could barely breathe. “Nathan! You called him by his first name!” I fumbled with my seatbelt, opened the door, and fled the vehicle while it was still moving.
And the next thing I knew, the red-haired human was in front of me, holding me. “It’s okay. I’ll put you into an area of the house he never goes into. You won’t have to see him.”
Panic raced through my veins, and my heart tried to beat out of the cage of my ribs.
“He can’t know my name. Or anything about me. I have to go back to Alabama. To Brooke!”
I ran out of air and couldn’t breathe more in, but I tried to keep talking. “He’ll send me back to my father. I’ll never be able to escape a second time.” It came out as a whisper.
I heard a female voice in my head. Val. Kitty. This is Kendra. One of my wolves is walking towards the two of you. He’s going to help Kirsten get you back into the car. I’ve paralyzed you, and I’m sorry about that, but we can’t afford for you to make a scene in this neighborhood. I’m going to knock you out now. You won’t remember that Kirsten is dating the Lion King.