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  “You were unconscious for about twelve hours.”

  “I need to get back. People are going to be worried about me. I always go in on Mondays.”

  “It’s just now Sunday? ’Bout six in the morning.”

  “What? Oh man. I went for a run on Saturday, didn’t I?”

  “Yes. You were shot around one. So you can stay here for another day. Your leg should heal fully,” he said as his palm stroked my thigh, sending a shiver through my body. His hand retracted and he seemed to pull in on himself.

  I stretched my leg out in front of me and looked at it. Pointing my toe, I extended my other leg and noticed the right was still placid compared to my tanned left leg.

  “Nye.”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s an interesting name. How did your parents…”

  “I chose it. When I was reborn as a Frozen. My name was George. Big George before…Your name means beautiful sunbeam. Did you know that?”

  “Yeah. Hippie mom. Sorta. She spelled it wrong. Kirana is sunbeam. But she added the extra i. I don’t know why.”

  “Maybe so she could call you ‘Kiri’ as opposed to ‘Kir’.”

  “No one’s ever called me Kiri. Until you. I like it.”

  We sat on the bench and took in the smells and colors. I had never seen such beautiful flowers. They lined the path and seemed to have their own section at the end of the trees.

  The silence was hard for me to take, but Nye seemed more at peace because of it. Our proximity was also making it hard for me.

  On the bench I tried to keep my hands on either side of me, but I could feel the heat coming off him. He was mere inches away from me. I tried looking at my feet, but his pull was so intense. I wondered if it was because he was some sort of supernatural being or because he was gorgeous.

  “What’s so bad about being a ‘George’?” I asked, breaking the silence.

  “I became a Frozen a few years before the Civil War. I wanted as little of my life before to be the same.”

  “You were a slave? Is that where the scars come from? On your back?”

  “Yes.”

  Nye’s answer was short and quick, letting me know not to press.

  “Now I understand why you’re nervous about touching me. But it’s not like that anymore. I could never put anyone into a dangerous situation.” I looked at my hands. My fingers intertwined and twisted. “You have no reason to trust me. I understand that, but if I can trust you not to hurt me…”

  “Forgetting my past is important for healing, but I also learn from my experiences.”

  “I wish I could do that, forget my past. Wipe clean everything I’ve done. But I guess I’ll never lose this,” I said, pointing to my temple.

  “Memories never go,” Nye said solemnly.

  “No. This.”

  Nye looked at me and smiled. My finger traced the scar right above my eyebrow.

  “I cut my head on a nail. I was sneaking out of Ryan Bent’s tree house when his mom came home early. Took three stitches. I had to lie to mom about how I got it. What was I supposed to say? I was blowing…Memories suck too.”

  “You just can’t let them cripple you.”

  That comment threw me off. What did he mean by that? His fingers curled around the cement bench. Nye started to rock a little. I could tell he was getting upset.

  “So, I’m going to be here for a day or two,” I said. Our heads both turned and I was caught by his dark eyes. “What ever shall we do?”

  Chapter 5

  Nye

  “Are there strawberries?” Kiri asked.

  “Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries…”

  “Take me to them.”

  I helped her up and reached for her cane. We walked side by side, her hobbling, but not wanting my help. The limestone path wound around. Kiyoshi loved curving paths. He had each area cleaved off. When we got to the berries, Kiri smiled, and I had to look away and lock my hands behind my back. Every part of me wanted to grab her and kiss those lips that were so nicely curved up.

  She lifted her shirt to create a basket causing it to tighten against her backside. My shorts hung past her knees. How was it that she could make my clothes look alluring?

  She passed me her cane, then started to pick at the berries. Her fingers were so gentle, pulling just enough for the berries to fall. The red, plump strawberries, the rich, dark, blackberries, and the red and golden raspberries.

  Walking back down the path, she brought a strawberry to her lips. Her mouth surrounded it. It was so quiet I could hear her break the skin and suck in the juice.

  I knew she was holding back from making too much noise after how she devoured the apple. Her tongue caressed her lips, catching the last of the berry’s sweetness.

  “What’s your favorite berry?” she queried.

  “Um…blackberries, I suppose.” Before I knew what happened her fingers were holding a blackberry to my lips.

  “Open,” she ordered and I obliged.

  The sweet berry hit my tongue, but her finger stayed between my lips and our eyes locked. I didn’t know which was sweeter. I sucked lightly on her finger as she slowly pulled it out. Her thumb then stroked my chin right under my lip where some juice had escaped. Then her hand cradled my jaw.

  “More?” Her voice was breathy as she stood on her tiptoes so she was right by my lips.

  “Um…” I swallowed hard. More. Did I want more? I wanted more than more. I wanted all.

  * * * *

  Kiriana

  Oh! My! God! What was I thinking? Nye’s tongue had tickled my finger when he sucked it in. Talk about heat. My whole body was warm as hell. He could’ve pushed me up against a wall, squishing the berries up against my body, and I wouldn’t have protested for a second.

  He was man in its purest form. Strong. Toned. Gentlemanly. How was that possible in one person? I sucked my lips in and knew any relationship was going to be impossible. Get your head on straight, Kiri. Kiriana. No one calls me Kiri. No one but him. When that name rolled off his lips, my whole body softened.

  In the room I found a crystal bowl that had some decorative balls in it and took them out. Dropping the cane, I walked to the bathroom to rinse the bowl and the berries.

  They were soft as the cool water cleaned them. The light hair that’s always on a berry tickled as it touched the pads of my fingers. I wished Nye would just come in behind me, let his hands meet mine and trap me against the sink with his hard body. His lips would glide down my neck as our fingers kept pretending to wash the fruit.

  I looked in the mirror to see my flushed face and then I looked farther and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at me. My glance caused him to turn away.

  Walking into the room, I sat at the top of the bed and placed the bowl between us. I crossed my arms and really looked at him.

  “I thought you didn’t have any powers,” I said accusingly.

  “I don’t.”

  “Then what was that?”

  “What was what?”

  “In the bathroom. The little suggestion you had for me.”

  “I didn’t have a suggestion.”

  “Fine. Play it that way.”

  I stretched out on the bed and popped a berry in my mouth.

  “Well…so, you got any hard liquor?”

  “I stopped drinking when I realized I wanted to complete my sentence. With no real downtime, drinking just puts me at a higher risk for death, but I could get you something if you want.”

  “I don’t need anything, but isn’t this downtime?”

  “We hunt at noon and midnight. The hunt can take three to four hours. Usually, I sleep and eat in between.”

  “You don’t have to stay awake for me.”

  “I slept earlier. It was a shorter hunt.”

  “How long have you been working that schedule?”

  “A little over a hundred and fifty years,” Nye replied.

  “Everyone has that schedule?”

/>   “Yes,” he said, confused again by my questioning.

  We both reached in the bowl to retrieve a berry. His fingers lightly touched mine and heat came off them again.

  “Why does that happen?”

  “Why does what happen?”

  “The hot and the cold.”

  “I’m not really a science person. It has something to do with the rotation of the earth, so I’ve read.”

  “Okay, smartass, don’t tell me.”

  “I really don’t know what you mean.”

  “Your skin,” I said, taking his hand in mine. It was warm again and I turned it over. My fingers traced the lines of his palm. “Even now it’s heating up.”

  “No, it’s not,” he whispered.

  “And before it was cold. Like ice-cold.”

  I looked at him. He was staring at my finger. He must have noticed me looking at him and our eyes met.

  “You said you’d tell me everything.”

  I kept my voice soft and my finger circling inside his palm. His temperature dropped again. How could his body go from a hundred to twenty in a split second?

  “Our temperature is guided by our mood. I can’t feel the difference. To me I’m always the right temperature.”

  “What does cold mean?” I kept my finger moving even though I was starting to fear frostbite.

  His voice stayed slow and our eyes remained locked, as if I had him in a trance. I was a snake charmer and he was my snake.

  “Fear, embarrassment, anger, rage…”

  “Are you mad at me, Nye?”

  “Ashamed.”

  “Why?”

  “Because…”

  He shook himself and I realized I had stopped tracing his palm. He removed his hand from mine.

  I had lost my chance.

  * * * *

  Nye

  The trance Kiri had me trapped in was soothing. I had no idea what I said. How much had I said? She looked disappointed. I must have said too much.

  Adrenaline rushed through my veins. I hadn’t felt that in years. Even when hunting, I hadn’t felt this kind of rush. I needed something from her. I wanted to know about her. I needed to know about her.

  “I shared with you.”

  “I guess.”

  She picked the bowl up and placed it in her lap. Maybe I hadn’t said as much as I thought. Or maybe I said something to upset her.

  “Could you do the same for me?”

  “Hungry?” she asked, holding out a blackberry to me.

  This time I wasn’t going to make the same mistake and touch her.

  “Maybe later.”

  Her hand curled around the berry; she cocked her head to the side and pulled her lips together. She looked upset with my choice. Or maybe it was because she wanted me to touch her. That’s how she pulled me in last time.

  “What do you want to know?” she asked, then popped the berry in her mouth.

  “Are you from here?”

  “No. I just moved from California.”

  “What do you do?”

  “I’m a coach. Track, at the college.”

  “Do you teach, too?”

  “I’ll have two courses this fall. One in the spring.”

  “Is it sports you teach?”

  “Kind of. I majored in sports psychology so I’m teaching track coaching, but also some coaching philosophy type courses.”

  “What does that cover?”

  “You know, how to motivate teams, the mind of an athlete. You need to know how to get inside a person to really make them achieve their potential.”

  “Is that what you did to me?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Her delicate fingers circled the crystal bowl.

  “Would you like some?”

  Something about the way she asked me seemed as if she was saying something else. It was probably just more of those stupid fantasies I’d been having. Great, the bowl was frosting over.

  She nodded and set it back down. It was like she figured something out.

  “What did I say before?”

  “You don’t remember?”

  “No.”

  “You said you were ashamed.”

  “About what?”

  “You never said.”

  “Why would I be ashamed?”

  “You tell me.”

  “Maybe it’s because I’m nervous about Gabriel. He tends to not be forgiving when rules are bent.”

  “And I’m the bendy one here?”

  Swallowing hard, a thought sent a thousand visions to my groin.

  “Something like that.”

  Her finger began playing with the green on the top of a strawberry.

  “What rule are you bending?”

  “You’re what we call a normal, they’re not allowed in the house.”

  “So…” Kiri made a swift movement and ended up straddling my hips. I held my breath unsure of what she was doing. She placed the strawberry at the edge of my lips, then pulled back before I could bite it. Surrounding the tip of the red berry with her lips she licked it lightly then bit. “Sharing food isn’t the problem?”

  She placed the berry in my open mouth this time and I bit. The sweet juice coated my tongue.

  “No,” I whispered. “Eating is not a problem.”

  Her hips shifted up and she placed her hands on the headboard, trapping my head between her arms.

  “What about being close?” she asked and my lips began to tingle. “Would the rules be broken if I were to kiss you?”

  “Remember when I said I come from a different time…” I began, but she leaned in and captured my lips. Warm and soft, her lips fell against mine. My arms surrounded her as my hands traveled up her back and came to rest at the base of her neck.

  She moaned against my mouth as her lips spread. Her tongue licked at my lips. As much as I wanted to taste her I couldn’t. She had reinvigorated my spirit. Almost as if I had been reborn. Since I became a member of the Frozen, I hadn’t felt alive. Maybe this is what Lars was talking about. Could she be bringing me back? Back to when my heart beat for a reason. Her smile seemed to make my whole world make sense again.

  Then I felt it. The sinking feeling of what I’d be bringing her into. The world of the walking dead. That wouldn’t be fair.

  With a sudden release she pulled away then crossed the room and grabbed a blanket from the chair. Wrapping herself up, she came back and looked at me.

  “You can’t freeze me out. I won’t let you.” Kiri’s voice was stern.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “If I talk, will you warm up?”

  “What will you talk about?”

  “You wanted to know about me, right? Hey, maybe I’ll become your favorite subject.”

  “Maybe.”

  Definitely! I thought, and realized I did scream in my own head. I hoped I hadn’t woken Zarmina up with that one. It only took about five minutes for the blanket to slip down Kiri’s shoulders. My temperature must have gone back up. She had relaxed me.

  * * * *

  Damarion

  Voicemail. Again. Fuck.

  With a map in front of me, I imagined a million scenarios and couldn’t get my leg to stop shaking. Where the hell was she?

  “Yahweh?” A soft, sweet, soprano voice floated in my office. Cailean, it had to be.

  “Yes,” I answered not looking up from my map. The topographical breakdown of the whole county, not that the breakdown was saying much. A few ponds they called lakes. No real hills.

  “There is a bantling ready to be released.”

  “One actually made it to maturity? However is that?”

  “I just need to know his assignment.”

  Pulling open a drawer in a black, dented file cabinet, my fingers glided over the records.

  “Where had he emerged from?”

  “The east.”

  The file came back to me at once. It was a good emersion. The bantling came home quickly with little tro
uble. Zuma brought it in. My mind was clicking with the memories as if I’d become fully restored after a good meal and nap.

  “Is he with you?”

  “No. He is in the fourth house,” Cailean answered.

  “Fine,” I stood up and finally looked at her. She was cowering with her head bent low.

  “Is there more?”

  “No,” she looked doe-eyed and innocent. “Should there be?”

  “You look…” My hand spun as I tried to put into words that she looked scared. “Never mind.”

  Walking past her, she eeked. “Do I not please your eye?”

  “Pardon?” I turned back to her.

  “You have begun to take us, regularly, have you not?”

  “Take who?”

  “The other Deumos?”

  “What I do or do not take is not your business.”

  “But you do not wish to take me?”

  What was I suppose to say? I’m in love with the Princess and the thought of fucking any of you nasty whores is enough to make me want to vomit. I’d felt like shit ever since I had taken Nemesio. Both times. Cailean wouldn’t be any different.

  “I do not wish to have this discussion with you.”

  “I am just as skilled,” she assured me.

  “So is any creature with a hole.”

  “His name is Gregor,” Cailean stated while arching her back.

  “Whose?”

  “The bantling …but Yahweh …I do hope you reconsider.”

  I walked back to her and tried to think of a diplomatic solution.

  “If I take you before the week is out, will that appease you? I have much to do and taking time to properly lie with you would consume my day.”

  Her hand glided down my chest to the top of my pants. With a gentle tug, she pulled me close.

  “Do you promise?” she asked in a husky voice, losing the innocent façade she’d created.

  None of them were innocent. What was I thinking? Innocence can only be found in the humans who are ignorant to the world that truly surrounds them.

  “By the end of the week…if Nemesio bores me.”

  “Variety is the spice of life, Yahweh. Nemesio is but a sprinkling of cinnamon.”

  Leaning closer to her lips, I asked, “And you are?”

  “Pequin.”

  “Because you are the smallest?”

  “Most cannot handle my heat.”

  “Pequin does have a kick to it.”