Lightning Lost

by Miranda Hardy

  His pants lay on the floor by mine, and I feel his excitement.

  He feels the water and slips under the stream, pulling me in with him. The warmth beats down on us as Kyle shuts the shower door.

  “Are you sure?” he whispers into my ear.

  He pulls me against him. I wrap my legs around him, inviting him to unite with me.

  After our shower, Kyle doesn’t allow me to dress. He unwraps my towel, throwing me on the bed. We spend the next four hours wrapped in each other’s arms, discovering one another again, or for the first time in this lifetime.

  I feel safe in his arms. The moment I’m ready to tell him all I’ve seen and been through, he’s fast asleep, and I haven’t the heart to wake him. Slipping out of his arms, I dress and leave the room. Lunch waits for us in the dining area. One of the flight attendants stands at the doorway, smiling at me.

  “If you need anything, press that button and we’ll come to your service,” Ashley says. She points to a button above a chair.

  “Thank you.”

  She returns to the front of the plane.

  For the first time in a while, I have a moment alone. The last few days feel surreal…like reliving a dream through a movie reel, with me as the main character, struggling to grasp life. Living as me this time, moving from place to place, never being able to settle down feels fake. I’ve been a fraud, living an unreal existence on the run. Being Thera felt real. I was a part of something, one with the island. Kai…Kyle bought me joy and happiness, which was jerked away by greed and jealousy.

  Anger…it gripped hold of me and tore me to pieces.

  “Lunch looks good,” Kyle says. He wears sweatpants and no shirt. His ripped chest muscles tighten when he walks. “My face is up here.” He points, and a large smile forms. His wheat-colored hair hangs over one eye, making him look positively sexy.

  “Aren’t you still tired?” I ask.

  “Yes, you wore me out. I should be sleeping for hours, but I rolled over and you weren’t there.” He pouts. “Plus, I smelled the food.” He bites into his bacon burger and winks at me.

  “Can you imagine living like this all the time?”

  “I could get used to it.” He raises his eyebrows. “Jetting from one exotic destination to the next, lying on tropical beaches with you by my side, and stargazing at night. Sounds perfect to me.”

  “From flipping burgers to owning private jets. Sounds like a fairytale.” I set my fork down. “We’re not on vacation, you know.”

  His exuberance evaporates. “I know.”

  “Have you ever been to Greece?”

  “No.”

  I take a deep breath. “Yes, you have.”

  Although I’d rather be in his arms telling him my story…our story, I’m facing him to see his expression as I recount our lives together on Thera all those years ago. He gives me his full attention and winces when I tell him how he died. Once I get to the end and recount the destruction, he closes his eyes.

  I bite my lip. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

  He leads me to the couch and wraps his arms around me. “You’re not.” He kisses my forehead. “It explains why I’m so enamored with you and have been since the moment I saw you in the diner.”

  “I’m sorry.” I rub the smooth surface of his hard stomach.

  “Why are you apologizing to me?” he asks.

  “For not realizing how important you were to me until now. For choosing another when it should have been you from the beginning.” Thoughts of Colin drift in my head. I was too blinded by our connection to see things clearly. That bond faded the minute I saw him hit Father. It snapped completely when he murdered Bo. I close my eyes.

  “Shh. It doesn’t matter anymore.” His grip tightens. He lies back, placing my head on his chest. His steady heartbeat comforts me.

  The intercom wakes us. “We will be descending into London. Please buckle for the decent. The time in London is approximately 11:05 PM.”

  “I think we were both tired,” Kyle says. “We should have gone back into the bedroom.”

  The table’s clean, so even the flight attendants didn’t wake us.

  They make an appearance through the front privacy curtain, smiling as they make sure we take our seats, and then disappear once again. I wonder how comfortable the front of the plane is for them.

  Darkness surrounds us. The lights from the city below mesmerize me. “It looks so pretty.”

  “I wish we could stay and visit a while. You’d love London.” Kyle smiles at me.

  My ears pop when I swallow. “All I can think about right now is my family. I hope Vadoma’s okay.”

  “Your evil brother who beat me to death? Figures Vadoma was the one who did that to me.” Kyle looks out his window. “Do you think history repeats itself?”

  His forehead creases. He hadn’t voiced his concern about my revelation until now. He obviously needed time to think about it.

  “I don’t think she would do that now. I don’t think history repeats itself always. I’d like to think we change over time to become better people.”

  “Your circumstances have changed, and you weren’t raised together in this life. But your powers are the same, and jealousy still exists.” He shivers. “I can’t believe I was with her. She fucking killed me, the bitch.”

  I glare at him. “She’s my sister, Kyle. She’s changed. She’s not Bastin. And Bo…he was my father…I mean, Thera’s father. I’ll never be able to forgive him now that he’s dead. I’ll never tell him about our past lives and how he treated me. Almost the same way he used my mother and aunts.” Saying it aloud makes me reconsider the history repeating itself theory.

  “I didn’t hear about that story,” Kyle says. “But it sounds like you have your own doubts, too.”

  “Bo had profited off my mother’s ability, as well as Aunt Simza and Aunt Mirela when they were young. He made mistakes, but then rectified them. My aunts forgave him. I forgive him,” I say. “And he died because of me.” Thinking about Bo’s death causes me to shiver.

  The wheels screech on the ground, and the plane slows.

  “I’m sorry that happened.” I feel Kyle’s gaze before I turn to meet it.

  “None of this is your fault, and you shouldn’t apologize for something you had no control over.”

  Kyle unbuckles his restraint and kneels by me, his topaz eyes sparkling under the fluorescent light of the plane. He takes my hand. “Before I met you…let’s say that I wasn’t the most philosophical man. I had a limited scope of thought. I wanted revenge. Although I knew about the paranormal world, I focused on finding my mother’s killer, ignoring everything else going on.

  “I never told anyone this before, but the stars always fascinated me. Dad constantly brushed it aside and often told me to get my head straight. ‘There’s no money in astronomy. It’s a hobby and a waste of time.’” He sounds so much like his father when he mimicked his voice. “He didn’t see the practicality of spending time on useless pursuits.”

  My face starts warming. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Stop.” He squeezes my hand. “You’ve apologized enough about Dad, and I forgave you. Let me finish.”

  People in the front of the plane shuffle around.

  “When you came to town…from the moment I laid eyes on you, something inside me stirred. It awoke a need to pursue more pleasurable things in life…to focus on what’s important and forget the negative things I can’t control. Mom had been long dead. I asked myself what she would’ve wanted for me.

  “I saw what revenge did to Dad. He would have killed me to get it.” He purses his lips.

  The flight attendants appear. “Would you like dinner?” Melissa asks.

  “Yes, thank you.” Kyle unlatches me, pulling me up. “How long will it take to refuel?”

  Dan walks out from the front. “It’ll take an hour or less. I’ll make sure it’s completed as quickly as possible. You’ll be in Greece soon.”

  The two women leave through the
front curtain.

  Butterflies dance inside my stomach with the thought that soon we’ll be on the island in which it all started.

  “Thanks, Dan,” Kyle says.

  “My pleasure,” Dan says. He opens the door, and his feet pounds on the metal stairway.

  “Let’s eat. I’m starved.” Kyle leads me to the dining room.

  “You’re always starving.” I laugh.

  “Right. Where were we?” He wraps me into his arms.

  “You’re not a philosophical man,” I say.

  “Yes, you’re right. I’m not, but one thing I know for sure.” He bends down and whispers in my ear. “This feels right. Us. We are meant to be together, and it’s embedded in every cell in my body. Elysia, I love you.”

  He kisses me so deeply. Warmth encompasses me. Scenes rush back to me…our kisses under the stars at the base of the mountain…Kyle showing me the major clusters through a telescope…feeding carrots to the horses in the meadow…all the past and present memories mix together, and I begin to jumble them around in my head, unable to sift through them.

  One of the flight attendants clears her throat, and Kyle pulls away.

  I blush and face away from them.

  Melissa and Ashley place our meal out on the table and retreat to the front of the plane. It makes me wonder if they think this trip is one of romance for Kyle and me, and I envy their naivety of our world.

  After dinner, the plane takes off again, and we watch the lights of London fade in the night sky.

  Kyle closes the door to the bedroom, wraps me in his arms, and kisses my forehead. “What can we possibly do for three hours to keep your mind off your troubles?” A sexy grin forms on his face.

  Desire builds inside me for the man who was…is my personal universe. The man who taught me how to love…the man who showed me the stars…the man who suffered through the cruelty of slavery…the man for whom I started a curse.

  He’s less gentle and more demanding with me, pulling off my top and throwing it aside. I welcome this change as it ignites excitement within me. He kisses me, pushing me back into the bed, and my body aches for his bare chest against mine.

  We unite again, and I squeeze the sheets free of the mattress as pleasure races through every inch of my body.

  Our heartbeats slow. He cradles me against the warmth of his naked body, and exhaustion consumes me.

  Loud voices reach me, but I don’t open my eyes until our bedroom door flies open, and a tall young dark-haired man enters. “What do we have here?” he asks. It’s at that exact moment I realize he’s Rom.

  Chapter 19

  Kyle pulls out a gun and aims it at the man.

  “Whoa. I come in peace.” The Rom man holds his arms up.

  “I apologize, Ms. Lovell, Mr. Moore,” Dan says from the doorway. “He pushed his way through. I couldn’t stop him.”

  “I’m here to help,” the Rom says. “I guess we should let you get dressed now.”

  I blush, realizing the sheets aren’t covering my entire body, and the guys both got an eye full of my bare skin.

  The Rom man shoves Dan out the door and follows him.

  Kyle points the gun at him the entire time.

  “You brought your gun?” I pull the sheets around me even though it’s a moot point now. “I can’t believe you brought your gun. I thought you left it for Vadoma.”

  He shrugs. “I figured we’d need it more since you’re the one they’re after.”

  “Argh, you didn’t think my gift was enough to slow someone down?” I throw the cover over him and get out of bed to dress.

  “Are we having our first fight?” He smiles.

  I toss his shirt in his face.

  “She needed that gun to protect herself since we abandoned her in the cabin alone.” I glare at him. “You left her more defenseless.”

  “Hey, she killed me—”

  “Don’t even go there. You knew nothing of our past at that time.”

  “Fine. I wanted to protect you. That’s all.” He holds his hands up.

  We dress, grab our things, and walk through the empty plane. The pilot and flight attendants have already exited. Dan and the Rom guy stand at the bottom of the stairs in the darkened morning. The large bunker-like building provides a dim light for us.

  The minute I step out into the arid heat, a gust of wind blows through, whipping my hair around my face. I breathe in and smell the mixture of the sea and sand, but no sweet flowers. It’s home, but it’s vastly different.

  “Again, I’m sorry for the rude intrusion,” Dan says. “Here are your documents, and we will remain on the premises for a few days, as requested.”

  “Thank you.” I take the package from him and wonder what’s inside.

  Kyle pats his gun that’s neatly tucked into his pants as he glares at the Rom guy who leans against his cab. “Thanks, Dan. I have your number and will call you when we need to leave.”

  Dan nods and secures the plane, leaving us facing the Rom man. He’s tall and skinny, wearing a black newsboy cap, reminding me of a character out of the book The Great Gatsby.

  “I’m Luca.” He removes his cap and bows. “I’ll be driving you to your hotel, as well as everywhere else you need to go while you’re here.”

  “Our own private taxi?” I ask.

  “I’m here for you.” Luca opens the door for me.

  “Thanks, but I can handle it.” Kyle blocks Luca as I slide into the car. “Just take us to the place we will be staying.”

  “You don’t need to be rude.” I chastise Kyle. “He’s only doing his job.”

  “Yeah, by busting onto the plane? Something’s off with him,” Kyle says.

  Luca gets behind the wheel. “Mr. Dan booked one of the best hotels for you, which I’m surprised since they are usually full a year in advance. You must be important people.”

  Luca eyes me through the rearview mirror.

  Once he takes off through the dark streets, I open the envelope to find a passport…my passport and several thousand euros. Without saying a word, I show it to Kyle. His eyes bulge, so he obviously didn’t know about Dan giving me money.

  How did he have a passport for me? Bo…he must have had contingent plans for all of us. Maybe the plane would have been an escape for all of us if we needed to flee the island, which ironically, we did. Even in death, he’s helping with our search to break the curse.

  “You’ll get a splendid view of the caldera,” Luca continues. “Do you know how the caldera was formed?”

  “I’m sure you’re going to tell us.” Kyle rolls his eyes.

  I squeeze his hand and mouth ‘be nice’ to him.

  “The Theran eruption was in 1627 BC. We have a lot of history here in Santorini. I’m sure you’ll probably take in a tour or two, so you’ll hear all about it.”

  Kyle looks at me. My eyes water.

  Luca turns on some classical tunes.

  Looking around, I recognize nothing. It doesn’t even look like the same island. White and brown buildings have flat square roofs or circular tops. The darkness hides a lot of the scenery, but it’s void of too much color. The buildings are close together, connected to one another with no room for yards. Not that they can grow too much at this time of year, but this island was once lush with life. Now it seems desert-like.

  “Welcome to Akrotiri.” Luca pulls up to the entrance of a huge dome shaped structure. He stops before the brown cobblestone starts. “I’ll drop you here. The front desk is through that door.”

  He gets out and rushes around the car before Kyle has a chance to open my door. Kyle groans and gets out on his side while I use the opposite side that Luca has offered.

  “Thank you,” I say. “What do we owe you?”

  He swats my hand away from the envelope. “You owe me nothing. I’ll pick you up here in a couple of hours, yes?”

  “Couple of hours?” I ask. Did Dan pay his fare already?

  “Give you time to settle. It’s six in the morning. I’l
l return at eight. You have much to see,” Luca says.

  Kyle moves next to me. “We will take it from here. We don’t need you anymore.”

  “I was told to take you to the ruins, and that’s what I’ll do.” Luca turns to leave. “I’ll be back at eight.”

  Kyle raises his hands, and his eyes bulge, asking me silently what’s going on.

  “Luca?” I dash and touch his shoulder. A gush of wind sweeps by. He shudders. The question I was going to ask escapes me as he turns to look at me.

  “Yes?” The look in his eyes calm me. The tension in my shoulders eases, and the feeling of serenity engulfs me.

  “I…um…how long have you lived here?” I ask.

  “Grandmother and I came over three months ago. We are cursed to roam, you know.” Luca smiles, leaving me in a state of complete tranquility.

  Kyle pulls me back and allows Luca to leave. Once he’s several feet away, my mind clears and the tension in my shoulders return.

  “What was that?” Kyle asks.

  “He’s Rom. I think he used his gift on us,” I say.

  “That’s great. What if he was sent by the werewolves?” Kyle asks. “They are good with using Roma for their twisted ways.”

  “I don’t think so, but he knew I was Rom, too, otherwise he wouldn’t have even spoken about the Roaming Curse.”

  Kyle picks up his duffel bag and leads me to the entrance of the hotel. It looks like a series of circular cones stacked next to one another. White and brown cobblestone walls border the entire hotel that sits on top of a steep mountainous incline. Kyle takes my envelope and checks us in while I gape at the incredible view. The sun makes its appearance, illuminating the surrounding islands.

  The inside of the walls looks like igloos without the cold. I run my hands over the cement and feel nothing of the earth around us.

  “Our room is this way,” Kyle says. We go through a series of walls lined with lighted sconces. “It’s really expensive to stay here. I’m glad that your grandfather left you that money.”

  “He trusted Dan,” I say.

  Kyle unlocks our room. We enter through a curved archway, reminding me of ancient Roman temples.