“Hold your hand out,” Kyan tells me before turning the small pouch upside down and two gold charms fall into my palm, one a cauldron and the other a letter. This one was an F. He has a weird thing with giving me letters, but I adored each one. Jonah also always brought charms for my bracelet, so it was full of them. Jonah had given me a wolf charm this year with the letter H.
“An F, I will soon have the entire alphabet at this rate,” Kyan chuckles and nods. While trying to find somewhere on the bracelet to place them.
“Where are yours at?” Kyan asks Jonah, looking past me where Jonah sits with my feet on his lap.
“Mom has them. Dad was going to solder them on for her tonight.”
“I’ll do it,” Kyan tells him, getting up from the couch.
“Is he alright? He is acting strange,” I ask Jonah, who watches him leave.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Jonah says, but he doesn’t look convinced. Halfway through the movie, I hear arguing in the kitchen, and Kyan still hasn’t returned. Jonah looks up the hall toward the kitchen.
“Wait here,” Jonah says. I wonder what is going on and I can see Uncle Andrei becoming angry as he tries to keep his voice down before it rises higher.
“It’s not the answer Kyan, you know this,” my uncle calls out down the hall just as Kyan bumps into Jonah as he walks in.
“What’s wrong?” I ask Kyan. I watched his eyes flicker to his wolf, only now I realized it wasn’t his wolf but Lycan.
“Nothing, but I can’t stay this time,” Kyan tells me, reaching for my wrist. He locks the clasp in place as he puts the bracelet back on my wrist.
“Kyan, this isn’t the way,” Uncle Andrei tells him.
“I have no choice. Do you think I want this? I fucking love her. But it’s the only way to keep her safe from me!” Kyan yells at him.
“Come on, bro, listen to Dad, we can work it out. Speak to Kat,” I stare at them in confusion.
“What and own up to covering up for me for years, not just let it be. It’s how it has to be, at least for now,” Kyan tells him.
“Kyan, your father didn’t want it this way.”
“Well, he is dead. He doesn’t get what he wants anymore!” Kyan snaps at him.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, Ella, but I can’t, not now.” Kyan says before pecking my forehead.
“Wait, what?” Then he is gone. I look around at everyone. Sage has her hands clasped over her mouth when I hear the door slam, making me jump.
“Are you okay Aunty Sage?” She clears her throat while Jonah comes over to me.
“Why is everyone staring at me like that?”
“What? Nothing, hun. I just had an argument with Rose is all.”
“Rose is back?”
“She just took off, Andrei went after her.” So that’s why the door slammed, I thought.
Reaching for the popcorn on the coffee table, I notice my bracelet. “Dad put the charms on for you,” Jonah blurts as I fiddle with it.
“I don’t even remember him giving it back to me,” I chuckle.
“You dozed off,” Jonah chuckles, sitting on the couch beside me and reaching for the bowl.
The memory fades as I am brought back to the present, and Kyan smiles sadly.
“I remembered you.”
“I always gave them back before taking them when I would leave again, only after that I never returned if you were there,” Kyan tells me, and I nod as Kyan returns all my memories, every single one. Each always starts the same.
He would touch me, and I would know who he is only for him to take them away before he left, right until my thirteenth birthday. It is also why Uncle Andrei and Aunty Sage are always encouraging me to come over, knowing it is the only time I would see Kyan until he stopped coming and it was only Jonah and I. Or me and Rose.
“Now, you know,” Kyan says.
“I always thought Jonah got all the charms.”
Kyan shakes his head. “No, I got you the bracelet when you were….” he pauses, trying to remember. “Eight,” I tell him and he nods.
“Every year I would give my charms to Jonah. I couldn’t come back after that. But you never wear it now, or did it not adjust big enough?”
“It’s at home and it fits. It just became too heavy, and I was worried about losing it,” he nods.
“Yeah, it had a lot of charms on it,” he laughs.
“Yes, pretty sure it also has the entire alphabet on it too,” I add.
“Not the Alphabet, the letters Jonah and I used to give you were our names. Your thirteenth birthday I gave you the letter F, the last letter to Kaif,” Kyan laughs.
“I always wondered why some letters doubled up. I just thought Jonah lost count of what he put on it,” I chuckle.
“No, once I put my name on it, Kaif demanded I put his name on it too. You should have Jax and Jonah on it as well,” Kyan tells me.
Realization dawns on me. That is also when my depression got worse, when Dominic pretty much became a constant presence. It wasn’t much longer after that when I started cutting myself.
“What is it?”
“We should hop out,” I tell Kyan.
“We only just got in?” Kyan says as his brows furrow. I say nothing and reach for the soap.
“Ella?” Kyan asks before I feel him suddenly in my head. I try to shove him out the moment I feel it before Kaif shoves through the barrier.
“Kyan, don’t!” I go to tell him when his lips smash against mine, cutting off my words. My back hits the tiled wall when Kyan grips my throat gently. His fingertips trail up my thigh over the scars that cover it before he pulls back. He looks down at where his fingers move up my thigh, then looks back at me.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. His thumb brushes over my jaw and I swallow, not knowing what to say when his hand moves to my hip, and he leans closer, this time kissing me gently.
His lips press firmly against mine and his tongue traces over the seam of my lips. He purrs, then nips at my bottom one, and I feel him smile against my lips when I kiss him back. My lips part, and he presses closer until I can feel his entire body pressing against mine.
A fire ignites under my skin as the buzz of the bond flares to life. His touch becomes harsher and firmer. His tongue delves between my lips, tasting every inch of my mouth. I feel Kora press forward at the same time as I feel Kaif lurking beneath the surface of Kyan. I pull away from him when my canines slip out, not wanting to bite him.
Kyan stares at me for a second, and his eyes flicker to Kaif for a moment before Kyan takes back control.
“I can’t mark you, not yet.” I nod, looking away and disappointment fills me. Kora whines in my head when Kyan’s hand moves, his thumb tugging at my bottom lip.
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t mark me,” he says, and my eyes move to his. Kyan presses his lips against mine briefly then offers me his neck and Kora lurches forward like she is worried he will change his mind. Kyan chuckles at her enthusiasm and my teeth sink into his neck.
“Finally,” Kora sighs as my teeth slide through the tissue and muscle embedded deeply in his flesh when I feel it. My head is deluged with voices, and memories of Kyan as every memory of us is suddenly returned to me, every single one I shared with Kyan. I feel the tether sew its way into me, bonding him to me when I hear Kaif’s voice in my head loud and clear.
“Now we are yours. We just gotta make you ours.”