She sat up and scooted off the bed. Abraham frowned. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know,” Kai said as she picked up her shirt off the wood plank floor. “Just not here.”
“Why not?”
“I told you. I won’t be owned by you. The king set me free, and I’m not about to be the possession of another.”
Abraham rolled over to his side and propped his head on his hand to watch her. “I never said I wanted to possess you. I have a hard enough time keeping track of me somedays. I’m offering you a few feet of soft and comfortable mattress. And if you’re in the mood, a warm, hard, slightly fuzzy body to cuddle. I would think it’s better than taking your chances with the bears in the woods. But that’s up to you.”
Kai froze as she tugged the shirt over her head and stared. Her gaze flickered between Abraham and the empty spot on the bed beside him. She heaved a sigh as she pulled the shirt back off and tossed it onto the floor again.
“Fine.” She crawled across the bed again and dropped on it next to him. “Don’t think this means I belong to you.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Kai rolled onto her side with her back to him and fluffed the pillow beneath her hair. Abraham flopped onto his back and tucked an arm behind his head. He had never shared his bed with anyone before. His sexual encounters before were quick and not very affectionate. Was he even going to sleep? Why the hell has he still hard?
He frowned as he felt two soft, firm ass cheeks pressed tight against his thigh. A small hand reached across him for his opposite wrist. Once she had it, she dragged his arm over herself and hugged it to her. Abraham curled up against her and wrapped her in his embrace. His cock fit snug in the cleft of her ass. She wiggled against it. His mind went void of all thought. Every drop of blood went to his erection.
Kai looked over her shoulder and kissed him. Her lips lingered on his as she spoke. “Sweet dreams.”
“You in my arms?” Abe replied. “They could only be sweet. But sleep is the last thing on my mind.” He slid his tongue along the curve of her neck as he arched his hips against her. He chuckled as she moaned and guided his hand to her breast. She didn’t want him to possess her? Who was she kidding? All he was going to do all night was claim her as his over and over again. Neither of them was getting any sleep.
Chapter Five
Every muscle in Abraham’s body ached in a good way. Never in his short existence had he had sex like that. And it wasn’t just the sex that was mind-blowing. It was the tender moments cradling Kai in his arms as he kissed her, it was listening to her whisper his name, it was her feather-soft touch on his skin. He’d met her only a few days ago, and it felt as if he had known her his whole life.
He groaned as he full body stretched across the mattress of his bed. He was a pretty tall guy with long limbs, yet he didn’t collide with anything. The comforter of his bed scraped at his flesh as he moved. Puzzled, he pried his eyes open to search for Kai and the top sheet that had been tucked in and spread over his bed.
His breath caught in his throat as he found her staring out the window of his bedroom, the sheet wrapped tightly around her. Her long hair waved down past her shoulders in hues of lavender, sapphire, and deep pink. Her brown-eyed gaze fixed on a point outside and didn’t waver.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Abraham greeted with a purr in his voice. Did he sound sexy? He sure as fuck hoped so. He was out of his element with this whole mating thing.
Kai didn’t move at the sound of his voice. She didn’t even flinch. She stood stone still, staring out the window. He wasn’t even sure she was breathing.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he repeated a little louder and scowled when she didn’t respond.
“Kai,” he shouted.
She jumped out of her skin and lost her hold on the sheet. She bent down to grab the cloth before it hit the floor. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
She straightened once she had a grip on it and glanced out the window again. “Of course, I am. Why do you ask?”
“I said ‘good morning, beautiful’ twice and you ignored me. It’s like you didn’t hear me.”
She huffed an impatient sigh. “I didn’t.”
Abraham sat up and studied her closer. He could see the shimmer of unshed tears in her eyes. “All right. Kai, is something wrong?’
She dropped the sheet and stormed to the other side of the room where her clothes lay in a pile. She pulled her shorts on and slipped the shirt over her head. Abraham sucked in a breath as she tugged it tight around her breasts. “I don’t need to explain anything to you.”
“I get that. If I can help and let me.”
“Why? So you can hold it over me?”
“Fuck, no.”
She clenched her hands to her hips. “I have the knowledge of every civilization in this world. I have studied humans for two centuries.”
“Yet you suck at personal interaction. Books, or whatever you read underwater, don’t teach you how to live with a human. You need to learn to trust me. I have no reason to lie to you.”
“Humans cannot be trusted. You denied me as your mate in front of my king.”
“Sweetheart, I’m not human. And if you remember, I was at the pointed end of a very sharp three-pronged stick. I would have been dead before I got out the words, ‘Oh, yeah. You’re the chick I banged in the locker room. Bad news. We’re mated.’”
“It’s a trident.”
“Semantics.”
“How do you say it? Oh, yes. Fuck you, Abraham Hallow.”
She strode out before he could respond to her. Her last word was the slam of the front door. He slumped back on his pillow and covered his face with his hands. The great power that guided the Hallows to their mates teamed him up with a mermaid with a hatred of anything that walked dry land. Fantastic. Eternity with her was going to be a treat. He tossed off his covers off and slipped out of bed. He needed a shower then find a whole lot of snack food to eat before Micah and Josiah found him. Training camp was about to start, and he had eight weeks to get ready. He had a mythical creature to face in the cage.
He was a werewolf and even he had a hard time believing that one.
He twisted the knob for the hot water and waited for the small tile room to fill with steam. He stepped under the scalding stream of water and moaned. He picked up the bottle of body soap and squirted an aqua green puddle of the musky scented gel into the hollow of his hand. Could his little mermaid handle a shower hot enough to melt flesh like he liked them? Would he have to cool down the temps for a girl used to swimming in the frigid depths of the ocean? He imagined her in the shower with him, her soft body pressed against him as her tiny fingers ran through her wet, colored locks.
He stroked himself to release twice before he ever got the chance to lather up. The second time left stars in his eyes. This endless need for sex was going to kill him. He grabbed his towel off the rack and dried his flesh as quick as he could. It was time to get around people who could quench the desire for a bit. He pulled on a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt and hurried from the cabin to find the rest of his family.
No one was outside, and there wasn’t a sound from the other seven cabins. All the vehicles were there and Littlefoot’s truck was parked in front of Momma’s. Abraham’s heart clenched in panic as he raced through the camp to the family building. Had they been attacked while he and Kai were fucking each other senseless? Was he the only one left?
He took the steps of the porch two at a time before he threw open the door. The rush of voices hit before he stepped inside. He scowled. They weren’t dead. They’d left him out.
He leaned against the doorframe and glared at the rest of the family. Everyone was there from Momma and Littlefoot to his baby niece, Ruby, perched on her father’s lap. Noah, Littlefoot’s nephew, and the Hallow’s doctor, even occupied a chair next to his uncle.
“Thanks for inviting me,” Abraham said to them.
Micah shook
his head and chuckled. “Don’t be like that, Abe. A few of us know what you’re going through. We wanted to give you and your mate time together to, you know, work things out.”
“And none of us wanted to interrupt you and have to see any of that,” Caleb added.
Abraham cracked a grin at them and shuffled to his chair. His smile grew bigger when he found a new empty one beside it. His family had already set a place at the table for Kai, and she had barely been there. “Don’t worry. There was nothing to walk in on.”
Josiah cocked his head as he stared at Abraham. “You slept alone?”
Abraham laughed. “I didn’t say that. Kai took off first thing this morning. She swears I’m out to own her and she wants nothing to do with it. So, what did I miss?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
Micah glared at Josiah. “Now’s not the time to protect him. He’s just as much a threat as the rest of us. And he’s mated, Joe. If he’s old enough to mate, he’s old enough to take care of himself.”
“By the way he acts? No, he’s not.”
Abraham snarled at his oldest brother. “I am getting really…”
“Here’s the deal, short shit,” Samuel interrupted. By the look of rage in his eyes, Abraham was ready for him to spit fire. “The vamps keep attacking our home, looking for the amulet. They killed Amos and Sharky over it. Hiding it just makes them tear the place apart more. So the suggestion is on the table to make a decoy. Let them find that and keep the real one safe.”
“Where the hell would we come up with a decoy?”
Samuel slumped back in his seat with his arms crossed over his broad chest. Delilah, his mate, touched his arm, concerned. Then she wrapped her fingers around the hand of their other mate, Henry.
Abraham stared at the three, baffled. Finally, Joshua broke the silence. “Henry would make it.”
Abraham waved his hands in protest. “Whoa. Henry’s the Heka. I thought we didn’t want him to do magic so he wouldn’t let that ancient Egyptian bastard he shares a body with out.”
“And now you know why I’m pissed that anyone would dare put my husband at risk,” Samuel replied.
“Is this marriage official?” Abraham questioned.
“Is it any of your fucking business?”
“Sam,” Delilah chided. Samuel growled and looked the other way. She shook her head and continued. “It will be soon, Abe. Sam’s passport just arrived. I was booking our flight to Tibet when we were called into this meeting. It looks like we’ll fly out in a couple of days.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it.” Abraham offered her a smile. “I didn’t want to miss it. I mean, I know we’re not going, but I at least want to offer my congratulations to my new official brother and sister.”
“That’s sweet, Abe. Thank you. We’re going to get there, have the ceremony, and get home. With the little one on the way and the chaos here, we don’t want to be gone long. I have friends packing up my apartment in Shanghai and shipping my things to me gradually.”
“We’re getting off topic,” Josiah warned. “I think this can wait, don’t you?”
Littlefoot chuckled. “With fifteen members of the Hallow family and the number growing steadily, are you surprised you just lost control of the conversation, Joe?”
“I’ll do it.”
The whole room fell silent, and everyone’s gaze fell on Henry. He sat rigid as a board in his chair with his lips pressed into a thin line. It was his normal look when he was scared shitless.
“Come again?” Samuel demanded.
Henry reached across Delilah until he cupped Samuel’s cheek. He leaned toward them and drew Samuel in for a long, soft kiss, sandwiching their soon-to-be bride between them. “Baby, thank you for defending me. I know I will always be safe by your side. But I did magic long before we met and it didn’t bring Granddad to the surface. This will protect our family. I need to do this.”
“I love you, Henry.” Samuel kissed the palm of the hand touching his cheek. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“I have you, Dee, and our son to keep me anchored. You won’t.” He let go of Samuel and looked at Josiah. “I’m not a magician or anything. What I can do is limited and untrained. I can’t make this thing appear out of thin air.”
“What if I get a costume piece of jewelry? Can you change that?” Josiah questioned.
“It’s our best shot. Yeah, I think I can.”
There was a grunt from behind Samuel and Henry. Delilah’s hands appeared between them. “Guys, I love you both. But you’re squishing me and the kid.”
“Poor mama.” Samuel pressed a kiss to her cheek and settled back in his seat. Henry did the same.
Josiah chuckled. “All right, I’ll go to town and pick something up for Henry to do his voodoo on. In the meantime, boys, we need to get Abe ready for his upcoming fight. Micah, can you arrange a venue?”
“Of course,” Micah confirmed and turned to Abraham. “How are we going to let your opponent know the details?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Message in a bottle?” Abraham replied.
“Wait,” Eve interrupted as she wrapped her hand around her mate’s. “What are you talking about? You just contact the guy’s camp. It’s simple.”
“Not so simple, baby,” Micah countered.
“Why not?”
“Because, and before I say this, remember you are married to a legit werewolf, Abe is getting into the cage with…” Micah’s words trailed off as he shook his head.
“The fucking Loch Ness Monster,” Caleb finished for him.
Meg laughed. The other women, Littlefoot, and Noah joined in with her. “Okay, guys. Really funny. We’re not that stupid.”
Abraham growled under his breath. “It’s the truth. My mate, Kai, is a mermaid. She’s betrothed to Loch, or she was before she met me. Her king drove her to exile, but for some reason, Loch wants to fight me over her. Oh, and he actually turned into the monster before he waded off into the sunset.”
The room fell quiet. “Please tell me that you’re shitting us.”
“Afraid not.”
“We were all there,” Joshua added. “We all saw it. And we met the king, or Neptune as Joe calls him. He wants the amulet. And he wants every mortal in the planet dead, including all of us.”
“Are we sure we can trust this Kai if she worked for him?” Eve insisted.
“She’s my mate,” Abraham defended.
“She’s a Hallow,” Littlefoot concluded. “The ancient power that binds you all to your mates is far stronger than any other bond you can hold with someone outside this camp. She can be trusted. However, this sheds a new light on what is out there coming for us.”
“Where is Kai now?” Sarah, Josiah’s mate, questioned.
“In the woods somewhere,” Abraham answered with a sigh. “Trying to escape me.”
Josiah pointed at Samuel. “Cay, Josh, Zeke, can you work with him today? Possibly go over some stand-up with him.”
“What about me?” Samuel crossed his arms over his broad chest. “When do I get a shot at the little shit?”
Josiah cocked a grin. “When you get back from your wedding. Go get married. I mean, after Henry does his magic, of course. Family meeting dismissed.”
There was a low rumble in the dining room as the family members stood and scattered through the family building and across the camp. Caleb wrapped an arm around Abraham’s shoulders as he balanced Ruby on his hip. “I hope this mermaid of yours likes tough-looking guys because I’m gonna give you a shiner.”
“Fuck off, asshole,” Abraham replied as he shrugged the arm off.
Caleb roared with laughter as he followed Meg across the lush green grass to their cabin. Abraham growled as he made his way to his home. He didn’t want to fight. All he wanted now was his mate.
He just wished he knew where she’d disappeared to. Was she ever coming back? He huffed as he ascended the steps of his cabin and stormed inside to change.
C
hapter Six
The next forty-eight hours were the longest in Abraham’s life. He trained from sunup to sundown with whatever brother was available, stopping long enough to get something quick to eat. He wanted to tell his siblings to let up. He was the Luchador. He fought all the time. Getting beaten on by his older brothers wasn’t helping him at all.
He hoped to get some sort of rest when he finally retreated to his cabin. Both nights when he got to his bedroom, he found Kai lying naked on his bed, waiting for him. Instinct took over the deep desire for a shower and sleep. He barely got his clothes off before she tugged him down onto the mattress with her and straddled his naked hips while she stroked his cock to rock hard. The hot, crazy sex lasted until the wee hours of the morning. He was existing on three hours of sleep per day tops.
And every morning he found her staring out the window. He called her name a few times before he frightened her out of her trance. Then the accusations flowed. He wanted to own her, and she wouldn’t be owned, not by him or anyone anymore. She was dressed and out the door before he could untangle himself from the covers and scoot off the bed.
Of all the insanity that had become his life, that was the shit he was sick of. Sunlight pierced his senses, alerting him it was morning again. He pried his eyes open slowly with a groan. Like the past three mornings, Kai was standing at the window, her gaze fixed tight on nothing.
Abraham glared at her as he shoved his body off the mattress. He was a predator. A tired, somewhat slow to comprehend one, but a predator nonetheless. She wasn’t getting away this time, not without an explanation.
He climbed off the bed with a growl. “Kai.”
She stood stone still, not aware of his voice. He took a step closer. “Kai.”
Once again she didn’t even flinch. Abraham cursed under his breath and crossed the bedroom until he was right behind her. “Kai.”
She jumped out of her skin. The other couple mornings she turned, laid into him, and fled. This morning she didn’t move. “Leave me alone.”
Bantamweight Page 5
