“So… are we showering or should we discuss this domestic pet’s situation some more?” Kyan asks, tugging his shirt off over his head. I nod, showering, we are showering. I try to remind myself to function while Kora whistles and hollers in my head.
“Okay! Well, I’m going to shower and you just do whatever it is you are doing,” Kyan says, stripping his pants off. He steps closer, reaching for the shower door and opening it.
“If you were a dude, I would totally be giving you a boner right now,” Kora purrs, and I shake my head at her. Kyan moves over as I finally get up the courage and get out of my own head enough to get undressed and open the shower door, stepping in with him.
“I think tomorrow we will try letting you use the shadows if you are up for it.” Kyan offers.
“Without Jonah being here?” I ask, feeling a little unsure if that is a good idea.
“Kaif won’t hurt you, Ella,” he chuckles.
“You mean not yet he won’t.”
“We can wait until he returns but I am not sure when that will be,” he tells me, handing me the shampoo I am trying to reach for from the niche behind him.
“Yeah true, I wonder what is going on with Rose. Maybe I should call her. It must have been a shock for her to learn that Casen is her mate.” Kyan nods.
“Yes, but they’re mates, so she needs to get over it. He isn’t that much older than her,” Kyan shrugs.
“I don’t think it is the age thing, Kyan. Imagine growing up thinking he is just your personal guard only to find out he is your mate, and that’s why he stuck around. No wonder he always hunted her down when she started dating, or how he dragged her home whenever she snuck out. It all makes so much sense now.”
“Yes, it could have been handled better, but I also understand Casen’s point of view about it,” Kyan shrugs.
“And what’s that?” I raise an eyebrow.
“He watched Rose grow up. The bond is different when your mate is a child, it’s not,” he appears to think for a second like he is trying to find the easiest way to explain.
“It would be different for Casen. He was seventeen when Rose was born. I am only nine years older than you, but I also knew you were my mate at that age because of Kaif, but that didn’t mean I wanted you as a mate.” I raise an eyebrow at him. He is digging himself a hole here.
“Yeah, that came out wrong. I meant in a normal mate way, it would have probably been more a protection thing, brotherly at the start. Not in a creepy, I am stalking a child way. It’s different, not like my bond with you now, which screams for me to mark and mate. It is more protect and preserve if that makes any sense,” he laughs.
“So, when did that change?” I ask.
“When you were no longer a little girl, once you hit puberty and that is when I started avoiding you completely, so I imagine it is the same for Casen, except he can’t escape Rose as I did you,” Kyan admits.
“So when you turned into a jerk, basically not that I remember any other version of you,” I tell him.
“Not long after your thirteenth birthday was when I cut all contact with you, so I imagine Casen has struggled for at least a few years or so now,” Kyan says, and my brows furrow as I rinse my hair out, washing the conditioner out. It is hard when he speaks of a past I have no memory of.
Lost in my thoughts, my eyes fly open when I feel Kyan’s hands cup my face, his thumbs brushing over my temples before he gives them back.
“I was always there, Ella,” Kyan whispers as I am plunged into forgotten memories.
Marabella
Flashback
I was at Jonah’s. It was the weekend after mine and Eziah’s birthday. Eziah was having a party, but I didn’t want one and asked to stay at Uncle Andrei’s and Aunty Sage’s place. The arguments that followed were ridiculous. It was probably the only time I ever argued with my parents and refused them. But in the end, Uncle Andrei convinced them to let me stay. It was better than hiding away in my bedroom, and I hated the thought of having to put up with Eziah’s friends.
“Which one?” Jonah askes, flopping down on the couch beside me, holding two DVDs in his hand.
“You really have to ask. You should know the answer by now. It’s always the same one,” Kyan says when I feel his fingertips graze the side of my face. I shiver before awareness smashes into me.
“You came,” I shriek, turning on the couch and hugging him. Kyan hugs me back. “I always do,” Kyan says before I feel his lips press to the top of my head when he freezes next to me. He clears his throat, drops his bag on the floor beside the couch and takes a step back from me. He stares at me oddly before Aunty Sage’s voice drags his attention away.
“Kyan, you’re here,” Sage says excitedly before embracing him.
“Hey, Ma.. sure am,” Kyan says, and she pats his arms, giving him a quick hug again.
“I will let Andrei know.”
“Already saw him. He is out the front with Casen and Malik,” Kyan tells her and she nods, wandering off down the hall to finish cooking dinner. Kyan walks past Jonah and grips his shoulder. Kyan then plucks one of the DVDs from his fingers before shoving Jonah, who slaps at him.
“You alright bro?” Jonah asks him as Kyan puts on the movie before flopping down on the couch beside me. Kyan tugs me to him, wrapping his arm around me, but he is extremely tense. He fiddles with my charm bracelet that I used to wear all the time before it became too heavy and I became paranoid about it slipping off my wrist, so I hadn’t worn it for a while now and it lived in my jewelry box. He slips it off my wrist.
“Any more and it will be too heavy,” I tell him.
“Last ones,” he tells me, yet as he says it his demeanor changes and he looks upset. The charms jingle as he reaches beside the couch before pulling out a small velvet pouch.