Page 49 of Destined to Fight

She sorted through the events of the night in her mind, trying to make sense of them, but no answers surfaced. There was much research to be done, and little time to do it. Fabian would not forgo the morning training session. Then she had her afternoon with Ginna, which would likely carry over to the plane.

Turning onto her back, Kelly stretched to try to wake up. A displeased meow came from the foot of the bed, announcing Clyde’s presence.

Kade also stirred, tightening his arm around her midsection.

She reached her outside arm around to nudge him. “Human here, don’t strangle me.”

He jerked back. “I’m sorry, lass. Did I hurt ye?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He relaxed a little with that.

Clyde stretched and made his way to the top of the bed, meowing in hunger.

“Where has he been while we’ve been here?” She asked Kade.

“He usually sticks to the sunny windows for warmth. I suppose ye were a reasonable replacement for the sun at night.”

Kelly reached down and ran her hand over the cat’s soft coat.

“Ye pay more attention to the cat than the man lying beside ye?” Kade feigned disappointment.

“He’s a bit cuter, and softer.”

“I cannae say I wish to be called soft or cute.”

Kelly turned to face him and moved closer until her body was pressed to his, sliding her leg over him.

Kade stopped her, his hand on her thigh. “Nae, lass, I cannae risk more until we ken what is going on. Ye push me too far and I will kill ye.”

“You controlled bloodlust before, right?”

“Aye, but this isnae the same. Bloodlust makes ye mad with hunger. This seemed to disconnect me from sanity completely. I pictured myself draining ye dry and ripping ye to shreds, and I liked the idea for a moment. Bloodlust is pure hunger; ye want to drain a body dry, but that’s the end of it. This was possession, fury, and hunger all in one. The vampire in me wanted to decimate ye.”

That made Kelly pause. She had been naive in thinking Kade was simply experiencing bloodlust. The fact that he had not heard of a vampire with amber eyes in his 276-year existence told her there was much more to this issue.

“Why can’t anything be easy?” She groaned, rolling away from him and getting out of bed.

She grabbed more leggings and a tank top from the armoire and went to the bathroom to dress for the day.

“What time are we leaving today?” she said from the bathroom, not yelling, but speaking loudly.

“Ye dinnae have to speak up around me.”

“Oh, right.”

“We’ll leave here around three this afternoon.”

After she dressed and put her hair up, Kelly came back into the bedroom. “I should go before Fabian gets upset.”

“I suppose yer right.” Kade didn’t move to get out of bed.

“Not even going to get up and tell me to have a good day?”

Kade raised his hands in self-defense. “Whoa, whoa, we’re not married.” He flipped back the covers, exposing his muscular body and a very obvious hard-on. “I was trying not to tempt you with all of this. How would that be fair?”

“Two can play at that game.” She smiled at him. “Just wait.”

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