Page 51 of A City of Hearts and Feathers

His drowsy moment was ruined with a deep growl of his stomach. He was starving in a way he hadn't been for centuries. Zoe didn't rouse as he carefully lifted her and placed her back onto the bed. He pulled on his gray pajama shorts, his gaze not leaving her.

Zoe's hair was a golden halo around her head. It was a mess that matched his own. His braid had unraveled somewhere in the early hours, and he would have to wash it in order to get all the knots out of it.

Damn, she was gorgeous. His dick started to stir, and he quickly looked away from her. She needed sleep, and his dick would just have to deal with it.

Kahil wandered out into the kitchen to cook something for breakfast. If he was hungry, Zoe would be too. He put on tea and was chopping up ingredients for a thrown together shakshuka when Kerem came up the stairs.

"What are you doing here?" Kahil asked, trying not to act guilty.

Kerem looked him over and frowned. "You haven't been answering your phone, and Arslan was worried about you both."

"We got in late. Zoe's still sleeping," Kahil said and turned on the stove.

"Not anymore," a sleepy voice replied. Kahil glanced up, and his dick wanted to misbehave again. Zoe was wearing his black shirt from the night before, and he wanted to kick Kerem out and get her on her back again. She must've known what he was thinking because her grin was nothing if not knowing.

"Sorry if I woke you, Zoe," Kerem said, looking awkwardly between them.

"It's okay. Get the tea on, will you, Kahil?" she replied and headed for the bathroom, a bundle of clothes under her arm.

As soon as the door closed, Kerem turned to Kahil with raised eyebrows. "Something you want to tell me, brother?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kahil replied, turning back to the stove.

Kerem sat down at the counter. "I'm not an idiot, and I can smell her all over you. What happened last night?"

"A maenad at Akamos's club spiked her wine. Don't give me that look of judgement either!" Kahil said, pointing the spatula at him. "I brought her home, dosed her with antidote, and didn't lay a finger on her until it was out of her system."

"I know you would never take advantage of anyone in that condition, brother. I'm just surprised she finds you attractive enough to want to do anything with you sober," Kerem teased.

"Just because I'm not your type, doesn't mean I'm not everyone else's," Kahil shot back. He risked a glance in his brother's direction. "I really like her, Kerem. I'm not being casual about it. I…"

Kerem held up a hand. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Zoe is a grown woman and no fool. If she's taken this step with you, it's because she likes you back."

"Really? That's it? I thought you would be more overprotective. You know, threaten me a bit for fun?"

Kerem's eyes flashed with a cold violence Kahil had only seen a few times over the centuries. "I don't need to tell you what I'll do to you if you hurt her. You're smart enough to know."

Kerem looked like a good natured, bookish lawyer but Kahil knew he was the Order's top interrogator for a reason.

"True, and I'm telling you right now, that you won't ever have to use your torture tools on me. I—" Kahil struggled to finish the sentence.

"You love her."

Kahil rubbed at his chest. "Is it weird after such a short time?"

"Not for people like us. We have lived so long, Kahil, seen and met so many people over the centuries. The special ones like Zoe, you recognize them because in a sea of faces, they shine," Kerem replied, his eyes turning soft.

Kahil nodded, thinking of her shiningkathe night before, and was once again struck by the power of it. "She really does."

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Zoe wanted to crawl back into bed with Kahil wrapped around her. She was planning to get up to eat whatever delicious thing he was cooking and then drag him back to bed. Kerem's arrival had dashed that idea to pieces.

Probably a good thing to have a break, she told her reflection in the foggy mirror. Her lips were red and swollen from kissing, her throat and chest dotted with suck marks. Her smile was smugger than she thought it was physically possible.

Kahil laughed at something in the kitchen, and her heart pounded, wanting to hear it again.

"Be normal. Don't act like a blushing idiot," she told herself, pulling on a shirt that covered up the marks on her throat. Her phone buzzed in the pile of clothes she had brought into the bathroom.

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