Page 34 of Tainted Gifts
"You've seen me naked before."
His mouth closes, and his eyes come up to meet mine. "It's just... you're comfortable with me."
I shrug, a little confused by that. "You've saved my life repetitively and you've spent the majority of the day in my bed. Yes, I'm comfortable with you."
I laugh again while pulling on my pants, and as I start to fasten my bra, his lips are against mine. It's not like it was with Jase, nor will it ever be. I don't love Kellan at all, but I feel... good with him. It feels... it's possible he's really my... I have to stop thinking like that.
Built up hopes are nothing more than disastrous falls waiting to happen. Until I find my savage, I don't want to think about the possibility of finding my counter.
Kellan grips me a little tighter than I'm used to with him, and then he releases me. I'm curious as to why he's so breathless, but I'd rather hear if he's like me or my mother.
His hearing is like mine, but I don't know enough about emergents and their descendents to make the assumption based on that.
"Like your mother. You're rare. Very rare."
Exactly why I knew better than to assume.
"Why do you hear as good as I can?"
He threads his fingers to line up with mine with one hand, and my bare upper half presses against the soft fabric of his shirt as he runs his free hand up and down my back.
"I don't know. I guess because we're all different. Different strengths, different weaknesses."
I lean into him more, letting his body heat me, though I don't need heating. Though his heat is actually a little uncomfortable, this is nice. I needed comfort, and here he is. Jase left me in shambles, and though it's selfish and not at all fair to him, Kellan might just be what I need to get through this.
"Let's go, guys," Simone says from the other side of my door, breaking up our low-whispered conversation.
"So you can't help me unblock myself," I say, rather than ask.
"I think you're doing just fine," he says while motioning to the distraught room.
It's absolutely nothing compared to the destruction I've caused while blood fucking Jase. Maybe it's good I bit Kellan instead. I just got this place.
I quickly finish dressing, and I open the door to wait on the prisoner I'm in charge of. Could this be considered abuse of power?
Kellan takes both of our bags in one hand, and he laces my fingers with his as we walk out. Simone is already gone, which is odd. I'm surprised she left me behind.
"How do you block out Jase?" I ask in a muted whisper as far as anyone else is concerned.
"It's all mind power. What I'd like to know is how a full blood has the ability to read minds. Gifts don't flow to their blood."
"It's an evolving world out there. There could be all sorts of full bloods with level two powers like that, but we'd never know because we fear the new... the different."
He nods, accepting that to be a complete truth.
"We'll pick this up later. It might look odd if everyone sees our mouths moving but hear no words."
He's right. Our whispers are too low, silent to the ears of the ones already surrounding us around the large vehicles meant for upgraded camping.
Yay. No tent tonight.
"Everyone ready?" a man asks, motioning to the vehicles.
We all start loading up, and Jase walks by me without so much as a glance. He heads into the vehicle I was about to board, but a man holding a screen shakes his head.
"Ranked personnel only."
Kellan smirks, and then he motions to the one in front of it. "I'd rather not be around him anyhow," he says while pulling me away.
