Page 48 of Kidnapping Their Third

Over the last few days, his language skills had improved immensely. His sentences might be simple and not alwaysgrammatically correct, but who cared when they could actually talk to him?

“I’m not tired,” she lied because the truth was that she was always tired. Right now she was baseline tired, not extra tired. “I don’t like being this dirty. Do you think you could put a chair in the shower so I could get clean?”

Pike frowned and shook his head. “That sounds super dangerous.”

“No shower,” Kimble agreed, but he was smiling. “Bath instead.”

She hadn’t thought of taking a bath. Not only would it get her clean, but she could relax into the hot water. That sounded wonderful.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” she agreed. “You guys chill here. I can do this by myself.”

She planned to strip down, sit in the tub, and let it fill up around her. That way, she could take all the time she needed to wash herself and if she got too tired, she could lay back and rest.

However, it was obvious by their expressions that both Kimble and Pike didn’t like her suggestion.

“No,” Kimble said with a shake of his head. “You don’t do bath alone. We do it for you.”

She knew what he meant but couldn’t resist teasing him. “If you and Pike take a bath for me, I’m not going to get clean.”

Kimble burst out laughing, something he’d been doing a lot more lately. It seemed Kimble’s brush with death had changed his attitude. He wasn’t only trying hard to come back to himself, but he was enjoying life again.

He’d even started humming and swept Pike into an impromptu dance while the shifter was fixing dinner the other night. Poor Pike had looked awkward and confused but had tried to join in with Kimble’s old time-y dance. By the end, all three of them were laughing, and Cora was gasping for air. It had been a little magical.

And now he was laughing again, making both her and Pike grin.

“You be in bath, Pike and I soap you,” Kimble explained. He tilted his head thoughtfully. “With candles and wine.”

Pike made a negative sound as he got to his feet. “Not wine. I bet you want a cold Coke instead.”

“Yes to the bath, candles, and Coke,” she agreed. “But do we have any in the glass bottles?”

“I picked some up this afternoon,” Pike answered. “You guys cuddle here; I’ll fill the tub.”

Taking his job very seriously, Kimble picked Cora up and arranged her blanket-wrapped form on his lap. She was easily chilled since the night Tobias took some of her aura, so her men had made sure to keep her bundled. Kimble’s well-fed body was always pleasantly warm, but Pike was a furnace, so she tended to cling to him in her sleep.

“Do you remember anything from your past?” Cora asked. She’d put off asking but with all of Kimble’s good humor, she decided it was time.

“Jumbled images,” he answered with a sigh. “Tobias knows me. Could ask him.”

His reluctance was obvious. “But you don’t want to, why?”

“Favors,” he answered succinctly. “Nothing among vampires is free. Not to other vampires.”

Kimble had a point. Cora vividly remembered Tobias demanding future favors for his assistance. Owing Tobias gave her an uneasy feeling. Whatever he eventually asked for probably wouldn’t involve her skills as an electrician.

“Is he more powerful than you?” Cora asked.

“Yes and no,” Kimble answered with a little grumble. When Cora craned her neck back to give him a look, he explained. “Me weakened. He is stronger. Now we are equal-ish. When you are a full flock member, I’ll be stronger. Sup-sup-superior to almost all. I’m old.”

He didn’t glitch much anymore, but when he did, it was usually on bigger or less common words. Sometimes he’d mix in foreign words as he spoke. He wouldn’t realize he’d done it until Cora or Pike pointed it out.

“I’m sorry I’m not ready yet,” she whispered. He hadn’t pushed her to exchange souls, but each day she felt a little guiltier for delaying.

Kimble pressed his lips to her forehead then urged her to relax against him. “No rush. I’m your vampire. I can wait a lifetime, only pick me before dying. Can’t exchange souls with a ghost.”

Cora snorted. “So I need to decide sometime in the next sixty years.”

“Correct,” Kimble answered, then chuckled. “Hopefully sooner, yes?”

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