by Clark, Bekah
“No. I just want you.”
She trembled in his arms and turned to him. She opened her mouth to speak when his lips were suddenly on hers. His tongue was in her mouth, gently teasing her as he picked her up and set her on the counter. At the insistency of his kiss, before she knew what she was doing, she pulled him to her with arms and legs. Her ankles hooked behind his hips and he let out a moan as she kissed him, fire running through her body. She squeaked and ran her fingers through his fine hair. She could stay like this forever.
His lips shifted to her cheek, and then behind her ear, which made her shiver madly. He trailed kisses down her neck and started to nibble her collarbone. She was lost to a myriad of sensations. He could do anything he wanted to her right now and she knew she could not bring herself to say no.
He rained kisses across her collarbone and then stopped at the hollow of her throat. There, he softly licked from the bottom of her throat to the tip of her chin. He kissed her again and then made his way across the other cheek, to the back of her ear and down her neck. If she thought she was his before, nothing could stop him now. She belonged to him and only him. There was nothing she wanted in that moment more than to be as close to Kyle as was possible.
She opened her eyes and it didn’t take Lexa’s shocked expression to make her realize that her loss of control was more than just sexual. The dark room was brighter than it should be. Her eyes had shifted and if Kyle saw, he’d know she wasn’t human. She stiffened in his arms. He leaned back to look at her.
Chapter 17
Lexa was exhausted from a long day of shopping as Ben, Missy and Anna dropped her off. The house was quiet and she was feeling hungry. After hanging her coat, she made her way to the kitchen area and stopped. There, sitting on the counter was Lyssa and she was getting frisky with Kyle. Her eyes went wide. While there was a lot of things about her sister she enjoyed knowing, this, right then and there, was not one of them.
That’s when her sister’s eyes opened. Lexa was shocked; Lyssa’s pupils had become slotted. A human seeing those eyes would compare them to a cat. It took work when it was overcast or at night to keep their eyes human normal, which was why most Hunters who were new to Earth wore sunglasses. A level of control was always needed to hold off the natural shift. Kyle must have been one hell of a kisser because Lyssa had lost all control.
He leaned back, he was going to look up at Lyssa and she didn’t have control yet.
“Hey! Kyle! You hanging out with us tonight?”
It took everything for Lexa not to laugh when he turned to her and she saw the irritation in his eyes. His voice tinged with annoyance, he said, “No, I should head home.”
He turned back to Lyssa, but by then she had control and her pupils were round once again. Lexa watched as Lyssa smiled brightly to Kyle and kissed him softly once more. She headed to the couch and waiting for Lyssa to return from bringing him to the door.
“Don’t say it.”
“Lyss, your eyes. You lost all control.” Lexa couldn’t believe it still, Lyssa never lost control.
She smiled over at Lexa and leaned onto the couch, “I was so lost in his arms. I’ve never felt like that before. It’s a good thing you walked in when you did.”
Grinning, Lexa asked, “Why is that?”
Blushing brightly, she replied, “I would have had sex with him right there in the kitchen if he went that way.”
She laughed, “Want me to make dinner?”
“Yes, we ate, but I’m hungry again.”
“Yeah, well when you have a marathon make out session, what do you expect?”
She earned a pillow tossed at her for that one. Lyssa sat at the bar. Lexa pulled out some fried chicken cutlets she had made the other day and started to put sauce and cheese on them. When she glanced up, she saw Lyssa grinning. Chicken parm sandwiches were one of Lyssa’s favorites, but Lexa doubted that was why she was grinning.
“I can’t believe you didn’t hear me come in. I mean, I know there’s a little hall, but still. Imagine my shock when I find my sister with a face full of Kyle.”
“Shut up!”
“I suppose, it could be worse. You could have been…”
“Shut up, Lexa!”
Lexa laughed as she put the chicken in the oven to heat. Sitting next to Lyssa, she watched as her sister stared at the section of counter she had been sitting on. Lyssa in love was annoying. Well, sometimes. Other times she was downright hilarious.
“When are you going to tell him?”
Lyss blinked, “Tell him what?”
“That you love him.”
Instantly, Lexa regretted the question. The pain in Lyssa’s eyes was unbearable and she looked away as Lyss replied, “I can’t even tell him that.”
“Why not? I mean, I know we can’t stay here forever, but…”
“If I tell him I love him, when I leave, it’ll just be more painful. If he...if he loves me too, my not telling him is better. If he knew that I loved him and then disappeared...Well, he’d look for me.”
Lexa put her arm around Lyssa and they sat in silence, waiting for the chicken to get hot. After a certain point, Lexa got up and started to make the bread for the sandwiches into garlic bread, Lyssa’s favorite way of eating. Food may not be the right choice, but it helped. And with their metabolism, it didn’t hurt either.
Once they were set up on the couch with their food, Lexa put in the old classic Planet of the Apes. Lyssa enjoyed the movie and while Lexa thought it was weird, this was a night for Lyss. As the movie played and they munched on their sandwiches, Lyssa’s eyes brightened and soon they were animatedly talking.
They fell asleep on the couch and in the morning, Lexa got up and started making breakfast. It was Sunday, which meant that Lyssa would probably make her usual “shopping trip” to the convenience store at the gas station Kyle worked at. The least she could do was make sure her sister had a good meal before she left.
When the coffee was brewing, Lyssa stretched and sighed, “That snowboarding took it out of me.”
“You never said, did you have fun?”
Sitting at the bar again, she smiled, “I did.”
“Going to see him again today?”
She sighed sadly, “No, his boss is going to be there and then tonight he’s going out with his friends. I guess they thought he was ditching them for me and so he wants to show he can balance things out.”
“Not his fault you don’t have friends,” Lexa quipped.
“Geez, thanks, sis.”
“It’s true. You close yourself off and then people don’t want to hang out with you.”
“Speaking of people hanging out, what are you doing? Going out with the girls?”
Lexx tilted her head, “No. Wanna do something?”
“Not shopping!”
Lexa laughed as she plated some pancakes, eggs and sausages. Hopping up to sit next to Lyssa, she sighed when she bit into her food. She was starving.
Chewing thoughtfully, she said, “Movie marathon?”
Lyss grinned, “Movie marathon!”
Chapter 18
Kyle knew he wanted to get Lyssa something. Trouble was he had no idea what to get her. He had a feeling that if he bought her a movie or a novel, she’d either already have it, or not be interested in it. There was only one person he could rely on to help him find something to Lyssa.
“Hey, Lexa, can I talk to you a moment?”
Kyle caught up with her in the hall at school in one of the rare instances neither of them was with Lyssa. She looked up at him surprised and smiled, “Sure,” she looked back at her friends, “I’ll catch up…What’s up?”
Once they were gone, he smiled at her, “You know. Um, your sister…”
“Yeah, what about her?”
“She’s hard to buy for. I was wondering, would you come out with me Friday night and help me find something for her?”
Lexa’s grin made him want to run the other way. He’d never been the type to get emba
rrassed, but that knowing look in her eyes told him that Lyssa must have told her all about what had gone on between them on Saturday. He wasn’t sure if he should be happy Lyssa was talking about it or not.
“Sure. But it’ll cost you.”
“Extortion?”
“You treat me to dinner too.”
He smiled, “That I can do. What time should I pick you up?”
They made arrangements quickly and he left. He hoped Lexa at least knew what her sister liked. The rest of the day passed by normally, but he was still a little anxious.
When he got home from school, he was surprised to find his father already home.
“Hey dad, everything ok?”
His father smiled up at him, “Power outage. We were told they wouldn’t be able to get to it until six or so. The boss told us we could go. How’s school?”
Kyle fell into couch and smiled, “Same.”
“How’s Lyssa?”
Kyle shifted uncomfortably, “Good.”
His dad laughed, “Just make sure you’re being careful.”
With that, Kyle jumped up, “Yeah, I got homework to do. I’m going out with Lexa later to buy Lyssa a present.”
“Alright, have fun.”
When he got up to his room, he meant to do his homework, but instead he found himself remembering the make out session he had with Lyssa after they had gotten back from boarding. If only Lexa hadn’t walked in. Where would that have gotten to? His mind had a lot of ideas.
Around five on Friday, he texted Lexa and then left, driving to the Stone sisters’ house. Still no adult vehicle. It was really starting to bother him that he hadn’t met Lyssa’s family yet. It also was bothering him how a set of parents could leave their daughters as much as these two did.
When he pulled up to the door, Lexa ran out and jumped into the car, “Let’s go before she sees us!”
Quickly, he drove off. Once they were on the road, he asked, “Where does she think you’re going?”
“With Missy and Anna to the mall. So what type of gift do you want to get her?”
He glanced over to find Lexa looking at him, curious, he replied, “I wanted to buy her jewelry, but Lyssa isn’t really a jewelry type. I wanted to buy her a book, but I’m afraid I won’t get the right one.”
“Actually a book is a great idea. But an old one. I saw an old books shop in town. Want to go check it out?”
“A used book?” he asked skeptically.
She grinned, “Yep, but only if we can find the right one. It has to be some old sci-fi. I’m sure they have at least one.”
They parked and made their way to the store. Kyle looked at Lexa. It was obvious to him that they were sisters, but when it came to the two of them looking alike, he didn’t see it. Lexa was such a small girl, short, thin and dainty. No one would say Lyssa was dainty. She was athletic, with some curves and sexy. Plus, she was very slightly taller than average. But it was more than that. Lexa was chipper. Lyssa always seemed to be worried something terrible was going to happen. How they had such vastly different personalities, he couldn’t understand.
They walked into the shop and the dry air tinged with the scent of old paper struck Kyle. He looked around at all the shelves and books. Personally, when he read it was eBooks. He’d asked Lyssa once why she preferred paper, she had said the “tactile feeling of the words on paper.” She was so cute.
Heading over to the sci-fi collection, he said, “Her favorite book is Dune, so should we find a cool version of that?”
Lexa laughed, “Are you kidding, she’s got three copies of that already.”
“So do you like any of these?”
Lexa snorted, “Ah, no. Old weird science fiction is Lyssa’s thing.”
“What do you like?” he asked as he studied the strange cover of some book from the fifties.
She was quiet and he looked over, “What?”
“Well…Mostly, I don’t really read unless it’s necessary for school,” she said. She was blushing and refused to meet his eyes. He wondered if she was too embarrassed to tell him what she did read.
He gave a little laugh, “I used to be like that too. I only got into reading last year.”
She smiled at him, “Lyssa is constantly buying me books in different genres in hopes of sparking my interest. Reading the stuff she likes just feels like work… Oh, Edgar Allan Poe!”
A brow shot up, “Lyssa likes Poe?”
Lexa grinned as she looked over the large, and in surprisingly well-condition volume, “A teacher made her read some of his stuff. She really liked him. I don’t think she has a collection like this though.”
“Not exactly in the right section,” he said.
“Maybe someone left it here.”
She handed him the book and he looked it over, deciding to get it. Then he found an old copy of Lord of the Rings, probably from the seventies. It was in great condition, beautifully illustrated and contained all three volumes in one. Well, she had said she’d give fantasy a try.
“I’m getting these two for her.”
Lexa looked at his choices and a brow shot up, “Um, I don’t think Lyssa’s ever read a fantasy novel before.”
He grinned, “I know, but she promised. This is great, an author I know she likes and an author I hope she’ll love.”
After Kyle paid for the books, they headed out and she sighed, “Lyssa won’t expect me home for another hour or two.”
“Wanna get some pizza?”
She lit up, “Your treat? I kinda already spent too much this month.”
He laughed, “Yes, I already told you that I’d take you to eat as a thank you for coming out to help me get something for Lyssa.”
When they got to the place, because of construction they had to park far away. There really was hardly anyone around. Lexa got a coke and started pondering a pizza, he asked, “Wanna split one?”
“I can eat a lot, just like Lyssa,” she grinned.
“And here I thought I’d get out of this cheap. Let me rephrase, wanna split a large pizza?”
“Meat lovers?” she asked hopefully.
He laughed, but wasn’t surprised. Lyssa had told him once how while they both liked meat on pizza, her sister’s choice of meat lovers wasn’t hers. Lyssa didn’t believe bacon and ham belonged on a pizza. Lexa did, however, and so he ordered them a meat lovers and they went to find some seats. It was interesting sitting with Lexa. They’d never spent any time together.
“You must make friends easy,” he said.
She smiled, “You mean as opposed to my sister? We move around so much that Lyssa is afraid to get close to people. I don’t know how you broke her shell.”
He grinned, “Persistence.”
As they ate together, talking about nothing in particular, he was struck by her ravenous appetite.
“You eat like Lyssa, where do you put it?”
She blushed brightly and looked aside, “Lyssa makes me train with her. I’m just not as buff.”
“What do you do with her?”
“Well, I used to do a little of everything, but I don’t have talent for fighting. Now she just has me doing some boxing three mornings a week and cardio. Her new pet project is to try to get me to throw a ‘solid punch.’ Good luck to her on that.”
He laughed. Lexa was charming in her own way and he found that he really liked her. Not as much as Lyssa, but she was still fun.
“You know, if you get a boyfriend, we should double date. Steven’s a really good guy, if you’re interested I could hook you up.”
Lexa blushed, “I’m on a guy break. But if I change my mind, I’ll let you know.”
They headed out to the parking lot. In the dim light, he looked over to see if she was cold. Just like Lyssa, cold didn’t seem to bother her. They were nearly to the car when a voice came out of nowhere.
“You are really hard to find, Elexarn.”
She grabbed his arm and he was yanked behind her. Amazement at her strength was short-lived as
out of the darkness walked two men. One was short, thin and he had brown hair with skin that had a golden tan. The other was tall and bulky, almost like a body builder with golden hair. He was pale as a ghost. Both wore sunglasses. Both gave off this vibe that gave Kyle the creeps. He tried to put Lexa behind him, but she stopped him.
