Although my radar isn’t pegging him as a threat, the heat in his eyes suggest something different. He reminds me of an old-school mobster from the Godfather movies.
The dark-haired man pushes himself away from the tree and takes a few steps toward my direction. “Hey!” He tips his chin up and raises a hand to wave. “Wait up!”
Not wasting any time, I tighten my grip on my book bag and head to the bus stop. I hold my breath and pray. Please don’t follow me.
I can see the bus coming my way, maybe a half-mile down the street. I look over my shoulder one last time to see if the dark-haired man follows me. My eyes dart from one side of the parking lot to the other to see where he is, but he is gone.
My heart pounds in my chest. I inhale a deep breath and with my head down, propel myself toward the bus stop.
“Humph.” I walk into a solid wall with arms that grasp my shoulders to steady me.
“I am so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention, I...” A set of piercing green eyes stare down at me. The man’s blonde eyebrows bunch up and his eyes narrow. My goodness he is, in a word, beautiful.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I am holding. “I apologize.”
He is at least six feet tall, blonde hair that wraps around his collar. His dark suit fits him. Definitely not off the rack.
A jolt of electricity flows through me and into him. My cheeks warm from the blood rushing to my face. His eyes widen.
“Static electricity. I didn’t mean to shock you. I am sorry.” This isn’t static electricity, but I have no explanation for it. I sometimes build up static electricity, but this feels different. My static somehow connected with this man.
“No apology necessary.” He tilts his head. “Does that happen a lot?”
I realize he still has his hands wrapped around my shoulders. I move a step backward to extract myself from his hold. “More than you would expect.”
I straighten up and readjust my book bag on my shoulder. The exhaust from the bus hisses as he continues to stand in front of me, blocking my way to the bus.
“Do I know you?” He asks, still holding my shoulders.
“No. I don’t think so.” Stepping to the right, I attempt to move away from him. He matches my step and continues to block me.
“Funny. You seem familiar to me.” He reaches out and takes my hand. “I’m Grant.”
“Um, Kelly.” I look over his shoulder to see passengers getting ready to board the bus as it comes to a halt. “Listen, I’ve got to go. I will miss my bus.” I pull my hand from his.
“I will take you wherever you need to go.” His green eyes change to silver orbs.
He leans in and whispers. “You want to come with me, Kelly.”
The fine hair on my arms stand on end. My skin prickles as I pull back enough to see his face.
“Uh, thanks. But I don’t think so.” I shift my body away from Grant and head toward the back door of the bus. Its large door unfolds in front of me. I leap up the steps and take the first seat available.
I concentrate on breathing, hoping my anxiety level will dissipate. My blonde hair falls over my shoulders and covers my face, shielding me from the other passengers. What just happened?
As long as I can remember, I’ve had an ability to sense good from bad; Someone safe or a threat. I have a built-in safety gauge that keeps me out of trouble. The man in our parking lot sent mixed signals. His predatory gaze scared me, but my radar didn’t match my fear. And then the good-looking blonde I ran into. I mean that literally. Grant. Thinking about him sends a shiver down my spine. As confused as I was, it didn’t matter anymore. The bus gives me the security I need and some relief after the strange encounters. I look down at my watch, knowing I will make it to school on time. So that will be something that goes right today.
Chapter 4
Grant
Nick’s shadow appears next to mine as I watch the bus take her away from me. I am now walking in the same direction as the bus. It is not a conscious decision.
“Boss?” Nick plods next to me, matching my stride. “Boss? What are you doing?”
My eyesight is better than a human. I continue to track the buses journey, watching it as it stops every few blocks, wanting to be with my girl.
“I need to follow her.” The sidewalk is full of pedestrians. I continue my quest, weaving through the throngs of people.
Nick’s iron grip takes me by the arm and swings me into an alley. “What are you doing? Boss. Talk to me. Is the mating bond beginning to escalate?”
I feel my fangs elongate and dip between my lips. “Nick. I’m warning you. Let. Me. Go.”
His glare softens as he realizes the thin line he is walking. I can see this act of aggression or as a power challenge. “Boss.” He takes a step back and lowers his eyes. “Boss. I’m sorry. Do you see how you’re acting right now? I’ve got Tony shadowing her at the school, she’ll be fine.” He stands waiting for me to either accept his apology or to give him the final death.
My hands roughly rub my face. “Apology accepted.” I step back onto the sidewalk and look toward the end of the street for my girl’s bus. “Damn it. I need to be near her right now.”
Nick is right. The closer I am to her, the stronger the bond becomes. My plan to wait until her eighteenth birthday to ingratiate myself into her life may not be viable. I don’t know if I can hold it that long. I place a fist to my forehead and force myself to breathe through the tightness in my chest.
“Nick. Please.”
Nick straightens his lapels and smooths the non-existent wrinkles from his jacket, then turns his wrist up. “It’s almost eight-thirty. She has a humanities class that starts then. Boss, she will be in school for a few hours.” He rushes the information.
I walk in the direction the bus has been heading towards.
“Uh, boss? Do you want to go back and get the SUV?”
Both my hands are now in fists and I close my eyes. “Fine.” I turn and retrace our steps.
The jolt of energy that shot through me as I grabbed her arms to steady her blindsided me. It was something supernatural; The energy is not human, and we need to figure out what Kelly is. Her life energy may be what is attracting Finn, not the potential of selling her into becoming a blood slave.
“We need to ensure we protect her from Finn. If she is his target, we need to understand what he wants and use it as leverage and end to him.”
We slow our pace as we approach the SUV. I go to the passenger seat and climb in. I need him to keep her safe from Finn. Hell, Nick needs to keep her safe from me, at least until her birthday. Shaking my head at the thought because I would never harm her.
Nick slides into the driver’s seat and sits for a moment. He turns and looks at me. “You know, I’ve had your back for almost a hundred and fifty years. Not once have a given you reason to distrust me. I have proven my loyalty to you over and over. Not because you are my sire, but because you are my friend. You have entrusted me with protecting your mate and I will let nothing happen to her. We have a plan. Fifty days, Grant. That’s it. You can court her or whatever the kids call it now. But wait just a little longer. I know it’s killing you, but you can get close to her and win her over after she turns eighteen. She will feel the same pull that you do once you’ve spent time together. It will work out.”
He’s right. Nick is the only one I trust with my life. And now Kelly’s life. I continue to fix my gaze out the front windshield. “Let’s go to the school.”
Without another word, the engine roars and Nick puts the SUV into gear. We pull around to the front of the apartment complex as he points us in the direction I last saw her. “Thank you, Nick.”
Nick makes a quick glance in my direction. “We’ll find her, Boss.”
“We have to find her. I don’t know if I can survive not knowing where she is at.” I knew what I am feeling is instinctual. From what I know of fated-mates, they have an insatiable need to be near each other. I have never been so driven to find
someone.
“How does this work with humans, Boss? I mean, I’ve never heard of a supernatural and a human becoming fated mates. Yeah, there have been lifelong bonds between a supe and human, but fated mates?”
I think about the jolt of electricity that shot between Kelly and me. That tells me she is more than human. At the very least, she is a human with very strong psychic abilities. But this doesn’t explain the mate connection.
“I don’t know. But we need to figure it out.” I can see the high school coming up on the right.
Nick pulls into the school parking lot and begins looking for a parking space.
“No. Just drop me off here. I’ll find her and then we can decide what to do from there.”
“Boss.” Nick drags his hands through his dark hair and clears his throat. “Grant.”
I jolt out of my thoughts and look at him.
“I know you need to find her and you’re having trouble controlling it.”
He looks me up and down. “But you can’t go on a campus full of kids wearing that.” He points at my Armani. “You will stick out like a sore thumb. Let’s find you something else to wear. The less you stand out, the better.”
I nod as he pulls into a parking space. A vampire always has control. However, I am losing some of my control and realize Nick is right, I need to get a grip.
I jump from the passenger side door and take in the students. Yeah, I need to change into something a little more casual. We are already drawing attention to ourselves just standing here.
I point us toward what looks like the gymnasium. “That direction.”
I need to find something else to wear and blend in, so we head toward the boy’s locker room. Then I will find my girl.
Once Nick and I break into the boy’s locker room, I find blue and gold student sweatpants and hoodies. I change my clothes and hand my suit to Nick.
“You look like you’re a jock that got held back a year, maybe more.” He smirks at me.
“Even in sweats you look like you are a member of the Soprano family. Go take our clothes back to the SUV.” I command.
Waiting outside the gym, I inhale a small whiff of vanilla and honey. Her scent pulls me to a small building to the north of the student quad.
“Nick. I think I’ve got her.” Nick jogs next to me as I make it to the building and go straight to the last classroom door. “She’s in here.”
I grasp the door handle and try to open the door. It’s locked. They locked my girl inside that room. She can be in danger. My fists collide with the door, rattling the frame.
“You’re not going in there, Boss.” Nick wraps his arms around my chest and pulls me away from the classroom.
“I need to make sure she’s safe.” I am much stronger than Nick and broke free from his hold.
“Boss, what are you going to do when you get inside? Hmm? Don’t do it. Wait until her class is out.”
My rational side knew he is right. But the monster in me wants to claim his mate.
“We wait. When she comes out, we’ll follow her to make sure she stays safe, yeah?”
“If something happens to her before I lay eyes on her again, I’ll kill you.”
Nick shook his head. “Yeah, I know Boss.”
We both lean against the building facing her classroom. The wait is short. Kelly is the first one to leave the classroom. We pace behind her to the next class, and then the next. We enthrall two teachers when they question why we weren’t in class, making them forget they ever saw us.
“Is she ever going to come out of there?” I mutter.
Nick looks down at his watch. “This is her last class, Boss. It should be over any minute. Just hang tight, okay? I’ll go get the SUV. Text me where I need to pick you up, yeah?”
I pat his shoulder before he takes off toward the parking lot. “Thanks, Nick.”
And just like he said, the class lets out and my girl comes out of the classroom. Her white blonde hair flows down her back, she is exceptional, and she doesn’t even know it.
I follow Kelly toward the bus stop and then onto the bus. I sit a few rows behind her. She sits down on a bench in the middle of the bus and lays her head on the back of the seat. As she closes her eyes, I try to listen to her thoughts. The more I know about her, the easier it will be to convince her she is mine. But as I probe, I find her mind is blank. Did she fall asleep?
The man sitting across from Kelly takes notice she has dozed off, and he reaches across the aisle for her bag.
I move toward him, but my girl instinctively reaches out and grabs his arm. A jolt of electricity fills the air and sizzles her assailant's hand. He screams and jerks himself out of his seat. He stumbles to the front of the bus, making the driver stop the bus to let him off.
Well. She is definitely more. However, what this “more” might be has yet to be defined.
Oh my god, what have I done?
I watch as Kelly twists her body to face the window, hiding her emotions from the rest of the passenger. In the window’s reflection, I see a tear escape from her closed eyes.
What is happening to me?
It took everything in me not to grab her and pull her into my arms. It wasn’t a good idea to contact her, not yet. Kelly needs to be brought into this world in a way that would not scare her. I feel a vein in my temple pulse, and I jab my fists into my hoodie pockets, and try my best to control the beast.
Control yourself, Cooper. She’s secure, and this will need to be good enough for now.
My little human has a built-in protection system. There are high energy humans that have a highly charged electrical system. All human cells conduct electrical currents throughout the body, some are more charged than others. Kelly is beyond anything I have encountered in a human being.
She has to be more than human. But what? I need to find out soon, so I know what we’re up against.
I feel the bus slowing down, not a moment too soon.
Kelly gathers her things and approaches the folding doors at the front of the bus. Thank god. I exit from the back of the bus and took a moment to breathe in my surroundings.
I let her get ahead of me as she moves toward the apartment complex. She is going home. I stay back far enough for her not to notice me. She makes it back to her apartment, and I watch her unlock the door and close herself inside.
Pulling my phone out, I text Nick. Meet me at her place.
I receive a response. On my way.
Chapter 5
Kelly
I jiggle my key in the lock to the apartment and make my way through the door. Stepping to the dining room table, I place my book bag and keys down and head into the hall towards Joe’s room.
The apartment is still. The stagnate air lends to the stench of smoke, but the rooms are silent. After taking another few steps, I stand in front of Joe’s bedroom door and realize he must not be home.
Striding back up the hallway, I head into the kitchen to start dinner. It would need to be something easy, so I open up the freezer and pull out a box of frozen lasagna.
I turn the oven on to preheat. The groan of gas snapping on fills the oven with heat. Raising the lever at the sink, the water flows and washes over the chopped lettuce I have in the strainer. I remove the frozen dinner from the plastic wrap and will put it in the oven once it finishes preheating.
The front door slams open and Joe stumbles through the door, drunk. It will be a long night.
“KE-LEEEE! Where are you, Princess?” He drags himself into the kitchen and leans his body against the wall, blocking the exit. “We need to talk.” Joe pulls out a cigarette and lights up, blowing smoke in my face.
“Hi, dad. I’m just making dinner for you. Why don’t you sit down and let me finish things in here, then we can talk, okay?” I hope he isn’t in angry drunk mode. If he is drinking for the sake of drinking, I may get out of tonight unscathed. I glance over at him and watch as he struggles into the kitchen.
He reaches out and grabs me by the ha
ir and drags me into the living room, pushing me to the couch. I try not to react and push down the emotions that are bubbling to the surface. So, it will be angry drunk tonight.
“I said. We need. To. Talk.” His bloodshot eyes glare down at me as he punctuates each word. “How much money do you have? I need whatever you have hidden away in your room. NOW.” He positions himself in front of me.
Risking a chance, I may aggravate him, I need to understand what is happening. “Why? Did something happen?” Before I can finish my thought, he is on me. His fist connects with my face and I can feel my eye swell close. As he leans up to deliver another blow, I push my back against the couch and throw my legs up to hit him in the stomach to push him away. What I don’t expect is my aim is much lower, and Joe is on the ground, screaming like a baby.
What have I done?
“You bitch!” He continues to roll around on the floor, curling into the fetal position.
I hop over Joe’s body and grab my book bag and keys, then run to the front door. I am out the apartment and leave Joe to fend for himself.
The early night air stings my face as tears fall, grateful it is becoming dark outside. I don’t want anyone to see what a mess I am at the moment. I hurry down the sidewalk toward the coffee shop, not knowing I am being followed.
My eye throbs as it continues to swell. I haven’t looked in the mirror, but I’m sure the pain I feel is the beginning signs of a black eye. Joe’s temper was volatile, but he never physically harmed me before tonight. When he has lost his temper in the past, he’s verbally hurt me. But not this. I touch the tender area of my cheek and flinch.
I’m not sure what set him off tonight. I had said nothing to upset him, at least I don’t believe I had. He was already drunk when he made it through the door. Something happened, but what? He must have gotten himself deep in trouble this time and was trying to dig his way out.
Paid in Full: Kelly Kennedy Series (Book One) Page 3
