Blindly Indicted

by Katie May

  “Oh my god!” I scream, and Damien drops me onto my feet, immediately grabbing a dagger from his ankle.

  “What?” he demands, surveying the expansive hallways. Rion and Braelyn run to stand beside him, weapons drawn as well.

  “Are you okay, Buttercup? Who do I have to maim?”

  “Maim,” Damien snorts. “That’s child’s play.”

  Rion whispers conspiratorially, “I don’t want to say the K-word in front of her. You know. Kill.”

  Damien turns to stare at me, my heart-shaped face filling up his entire vision. On silent feet, he steps forward and cups both my cheeks. He waits for me to get my thoughts together enough for me to speak.

  “Bronson,” I manage to stutter out. “Is he...?” I can’t dare articulate my question out loud. My heart thunders so loudly I’m surprised they can’t hear it. Panic pulsates through me.

  “He’s fine.” Damien almost sounds annoyed by my concern for his friend. Maybe disappointed he didn’t get to kill someone. I’m under no delusion that Damien is anything but an avenging angel; he’s more demonic than angelic.

  With a sigh, he slides his dagger back into his sock and lifts me back up. I rest my head on his shoulder as relief courses through me. “He was injured, but he’s alive and well. Fucking worried about you.”

  Through Damien’s eyes, I see Braelyn shrug sheepishly. “Sorry.”

  The events of the day crash over me like a tidal wave, submerging me beneath the ocean line. I take one last breath before I allow the water to carry me away.

  I’m pulled out of my slumber by a nose nuzzling my hand. A familiar whine greets me.

  Bronson.

  A moment later, coarse fur is replaced by human flesh as I’m ripped from Damien’s arms.

  “You’re okay. You’re okay. You’re okay,” Bronson murmurs repeatedly, burying his face in my hair. He rocks me gently side to side. The original darkness creeping on me like a phantom dissipates the longer I’m in my protective wolf’s arms.

  “I’m okay, Bron. I’m okay.” He releases a breath, body shuddering, before his entire body goes rigid. I push myself into his head to see what has ensnared his attention.

  Bronson’s gaze is fixed firmly on Jenny and Braelyn, the latter of which meets his stare with a defiant one of her own.

  “I’m going to kill you,” Bron roars, blowing the tiny hairs at the base of my neck. I fist my hands on his chest, both keeping him with me and grounded to the present as well as stopping his pursuit of Braelyn.

  “No,” I say firmly, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek. “Trust me.”

  “Isn’t this adorable?” Rion asks cheerfully. He bounces from foot to foot. “All my people are getting along. I could write a sonnet right now.”

  “We’re not your people, shifter scum,” Bronson spits out, and I inwardly wince at the venom in his tone.

  Ignoring the men, Braelyn steps forward and raises her chin. Her eyes spew fire as she focuses first on Rion and then on Bronson. Finally, her eyes rest on me. “My mate and I have sworn our loyalty to your mate Nina. She saved my life, and I hope to return the favor.”

  I know Bronson thinks I’m his mate, but I can’t ignore my feelings for the other men. Is it possible for someone to have more than one? What does it mean for all of my relationships? Right now, I’m so relieved that he’s alive and well that I can’t resist tracing the contours of his bare broad shoulders. Bronson wrenches his gaze away from Braelyn to pepper kisses on my neck. It’s an oddly arousing sensation to see the pathway his lips take across my skin.

  Pulling out of Bron’s head, I settle in Braelyn’s. Her gaze encompasses the entire room we have found ourselves in. Rion is standing over Bronson’s shoulder, a surprisingly tender expression on his handsome face as he considers me. Damien has his arms crossed, stone-faced, a frigid aura emanating from him.

  “Bambi!” a voice screams from down the hall. A moment later, the twins appear in the doorway. Abel has a bright smile on his face, eyes glimmering, while Cain’s expression is as stoic as usual. Though I could’ve sworn I saw his body sag in relief when he caught sight of me.

  Abel races forward and pulls me off of Bronson’s lap—ignoring his growl—and spins me in a circle. A laugh escapes, unbidden, at his antics. I can always count on cheerful Abel to pull me out of whatever mood I’m in. He’s light personified, the sunlight I so desperately need to not only survive, but thrive.

  “You need to learn how to fight,” Damien cuts in suddenly. “By the time I’m done with you, you’ll know a thousand different ways to incapacitate a man with your bare hands.”

  My body goes taut as I process his words. Me? Fighting? Before, I would’ve laughed at the absurdity of such a statement. Now, with both fear and adrenaline pulsing through me, I find myself nodding eagerly. I don’t want to have to rely on others to save me. I have spent enough time as the damsel in distress. I’m sure people assume I have a “white-knight complex” because of what I’ve been through.

  But the thing is, we all handle abuse in different ways. Some people work to make themselves stronger and faster physically while others grow emotionally. And there are also people who revert back to a time when they weren’t a victim.

  Maybe I should be stronger. Maybe I should learn to fight. That isn’t to say I’m not going to need someone to save me every once in a while, but maybe, in the long run, I can learn to do the saving myself. It’ll be a process—a long, drawn-out one—but a process I’m willing to endure.

  And sometimes, your biggest strength is trusting others to shoulder half of the burden. You still feel the weight, the pressure, but it’s not nearly as overwhelming.

  “I want my Angel to bathe in the blood of her enemies,” Damien says stoutly.

  Abel blinks at the mage. “I know what you’re going for, man, but you needed to dial it down a notch. You’re here.” He moves his hand above his head. “And you need to be here.” He lowers it to his chest. “Remember what we talked about: girls don’t like crazy.”

  The glare Damien throws him is capable of cutting glass.

  “Guys, we do have a problem,” Cain cuts in, casting me an anxious glance. Braelyn immediately drops Jenny’s hand and moves to stand beside me, knife at the ready. Cain’s eyes flicker to her and narrow before settling once more on me.

  “What kind of problem?” I ask, abusing my lower lip with my teeth.

  “A fifteen-foot, scaly kind.” Cain steps forward to grab my hand and pull me down the hall. I mentally squeal at his initiation of contact, but manage to keep my face blank. I slip out of Braelyn’s mind and comfortably settle in Cain’s.

  The sex demon leads me to the opulent throne room just as a deafening roar echoes from all around me.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Braelyn interjects before I can enter. “You’re going to make her enter a room with an out-of-control dragon?”

  “He won’t hurt her,” Cain dismisses with absolute certainty. “But she’s the only one who can bring him back. Think you can talk some sense into him, Trouble?” He gives my hand a squeeze, and warmth migrates to the center of my chest.

  “I’ll try,” I agree tentatively. None of the guys seem worried, and that bolsters my confidence.

  Taking a deep breath, I push open the heavy doors and listen to them thud shut behind me.

  I pull out of Cain’s head—now on the other side of the closed door—and embrace the darkness. Welcome it like an old friend.

  “Kai,” I whisper as another roar sounds from directly in front of me. I take a timid step closer followed by another one. My hands are outstretched in front of me as I rely on my other senses.

  A moment later, my searching fingers connect with something cold and scaly. Warm air blows back my dark hair.

  Kai.

  No, his dragon.

  “Kai?” I whisper. Another burst of air is the only reply I receive. “Malakai, you need to come back to us. To me. Can you do that? Please?” I stroke his scaly muzzle as war
m air continues to waft across my face.

  In the next second, his scales shift into skin as iron bands wrap around my torso. My hands shake slightly as I rub his now human back.

  Despite him being back in human form, his words are audibly beast-like when he speaks next. “You. Are. Mine.”

  Chapter 34

  Nina

  “Kai,” I whisper, unable to say anything else. He’s all I can sense, all I can breathe, all I’m aware of. His tangy scent invades my lungs as I inhale sharply.

  “Mine,” he growls again in an unexpected spurt of possessiveness. His large hands capture my shoulders, holding me steady. “Say it. Say that you’re mine.”

  I consider my answer very carefully. He reminds me of a ticking time bomb, one second from detonating. Though I can’t see him, I can feel the tension in every line of his rigid body.

  My disappearance had shaken him. Bled him. There’s something distinctly primal in his actions now.

  “I’m not just yours,” I reply at last, and when his hands tighten, I fear I said the wrong thing. After a moment, he loosens his steel grip and presses his forehead to my own.

  “Even just a little piece of you is better than no piece at all,” he whispers, breath fanning across my lips. “You can be mine...but you can also be theirs.”

  I’m left speechless by his words, my jaw dropping.

  Surely, he can’t mean what I think he means?

  “Nina...” He cups my cheek tenderly, reverently. I know that if I were to go into his head, I would see only myself. His eyes are a physical caress on my suddenly overheated skin. “Can I kiss you?”

  I swear my brain forgets to function as my breath leaves me. This proud, beautiful man is asking for a kiss from me as if it’s the only thing he needs. The only thing he wants.

  Kai. My first true friend—my best friend. My protector.

  “Kiss me,” I agree breathlessly.

  Still, he hesitates, lips hovering over mine.

  “If you need me to stop...” He trails off, continuing to knead both of my shoulders.

  “I’ll tell you,” I say instantly. And I know he would, no matter how far along we are.

  His lips are tentative against mine at first. Soft and careful, as if he’s afraid the slightest pressure will break me. It’s such a contrast to Bronson’s heated, desperate kisses—though I can’t compare.

  I place my hands on his shoulders, trail them down to his biceps, and then raise them once more. I repeat this pattern three times as we exchange the most innocent, sweetest kisses imaginable.

  At that moment, it’s not just lust, though there’s plenty of that too. It’s a merging of souls reconnecting after years apart.

  I reluctantly pull away, my lips tingling from his kiss. His kiss. How many times have I imagined this exact moment? It’s even sweeter, better, than I had hoped.

  “Nina...” He caresses the skin of my neck, each touch sending lightning through my veins. My body feels as if it’s on fire, as if the heat his dragon emits is almost palpable.

  “I need to shower,” I reply, brushing my thumb over his plump lower lip. “I’m gross and sweaty and bloody.”

  “You’re perfect,” he declares immediately. A swarm of butterflies escape in my chest, fluttering their wings in tandem to my rapidly beating heart. Kai has always made me feel valued and loved. In his arms, there’s not a storm we can’t face.

  “I’m gross,” I counter with a giggle. “There’s a lot we need to talk about.” Pressing my forehead against his, I lean closer, our lips a hair’s breadth away.

  “We’ll talk,” he agrees at last. With a pained groan, he steps away from me. “But just remember, Nina. You’re mine.” His husky voice causes flames to burn throughout my body, filling the space with a cloistering heat.

  But his possessiveness doesn’t scare me. If anything, it only reinforces what I already know.

  Maybe, just maybe, I’ve always been his.

  Kai leads me to his private bathroom, through a door in the throne room. After quickly relieving myself, I fumble into the shower and scrub myself raw. Kai provides me with a fluffy towel, a change of clothes, and a shampoo bottle.

  When I finally force myself out from under the spray, I feel relatively human again. The last few hours are nothing but a horrible dream. A nightmare.

  Dressing in the satin white nightgown Kai has provided me, I drape the towel over the sink and step back into the throne room.

  It’s silent when I enter, eerily so. I push myself into the nearest mind, marginally surprised that only one person is here with me. The tattooed sleeves crossed over his chest allow me to see that the man is Kai.

  “Where are the others?” I query. Through his vision, I see myself step closer. My dark hair cascades down my back in wet curls, and my face is devoid of any of the makeup Rebecca had applied earlier.

  “I sent them away,” Kai announces quietly. His eyes track me—a lion hunting a gazelle—as I perch on his throne against the far wall of the room. “I told the twins to make rooming arrangements for...Braelyn and her mate.” His voice lowers to a rough tenor as he speaks about my kidnapper.

  “And Rion?”

  Kai’s head dips once as he nods. “We set him up in a room as well. As far away from you as fucking possible.”

  I want to scoff at his over-protectiveness but wisely remain silent. Rion will never hurt me, but Kai doesn’t know that. Heck, even I don’t know how I know that. It’s the same sixth sense that made me comfort a little boy so many years ago in the Compound.

  “We haven’t really talked since you’ve been here,” Kai says. He doesn’t take a step toward me, but I feel his daunting presence almost physically.

  “We talk all the time,” I point out.

  “Not about what’s important.” Finally, he moves forward until he’s leaning over me. His eyes focus on my lips before moving upwards, staring in first one eye and then the other. “I never meant to leave you.”

  His voice is like a cold trail of water sliding down my back.

  “At the Compound?” I whisper, anxiety clouding my face.

  “I knew about the supernatural world since I was a young boy,” he admits, dropping to the ground. This position puts his face at level with my breasts—he’s intimidatingly tall while I’m painfully short. “My family is descended from dragons. The last of our kind. I was kidnapped from my mother when she took me to the fucking supermarket.” He releases a humorless laugh. “If that isn’t a fucking cliché, I don’t know what is. Kidnapped at the supermarket.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Tears burn my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. Instead, they hang suspended on my eyelashes like raindrops. In a matter of seconds, he has ripped the security straight out from underneath me. I thought I hadn’t been alone during my years at the Compound. I thought that Kai had been stumbling blindly through the dark with me.

  Stupid, stupid me.

  I’m the only one with lost vision.

  “I thought... I wanted to protect you.”

  “By keeping me in the dark?” I snap back. “Because, Kai, as someone who has spent her entire life in the dark, it’s not that fun.” Rage swirls low in my stomach like a tsunami. It courses through my bloodstream. Interwoven with the rage is betrayal. Disappointment.

  Crippling loneliness.

  “I was a little boy, Baby,” Kai pleads, taking hold of my hands. I immediately pull away, his touch too much. “I was a stupid little boy who wanted to be your knight in shining armor. I wanted—no, I needed—to protect you. You’re my mate. When I started showing signs of being more powerful than them, they took me away. Took me from you.” His voice lowers to a whisper, but it echoes in the cavernous room.

  “Why... why does everyone keep saying that? Bronson. You. What does it mean?” My fingernails dig into my palms. That one simple word causes goosebumps to bloom across my skin. My heart gains wings and flies around my rib cage.

  Kai unclenches my fists, dropping his
gaze to my hand. It’s soft and delicate compared to his. Despite all I had endured, my hands have remained relatively clean. They’re not as tainted as the rest of me.

  “It means you’re made for me, and I’m made for you. It means you’re mine to protect and love and cherish. It means that I’ll never leave you again, that I’ll go to the ends of the earth for you. That not even bars can keep us apart. It means that I’m yours, despite you deserving ten times better than a monster like me.”

  His eyes lift to my face, my lips, and an insatiable hunger fills me. I pull out of his head, embracing my customary darkness, and smash my lips to his in a feverish kiss.

  He freezes beneath my assault, hands stilling on my own, before he wraps them around my waist and pulls me to him. I lower myself onto his lap, kneeling on either side of his thighs, and brush my fingers through his hair. It’s getting longer now, the strands cascading through my fingers like silk.

  I... I want him.

  That thought pierces me with its intensity. I want him in the same way I wanted Bronson only earlier today.

  “Nina...my Nina...” he murmurs against my lips. Dozens of fires blossom throughout my body, a bomb exploding, and I embrace the sensations they evoke within me.

  “Yours,” I agree, because at that moment, I am completely.

  He lowers us both to the ground, me still on top of him, and slowly begins sliding down the straps of my nightgown.

  “Is this okay?” He pauses with bated breath, awaiting my permission. When I nod, leaning down to kiss him again, he places a gentle hand on my chest. “I need to hear your words, Babygirl.”

  “Yes, Kai. Yes.”