Page 59 of Castor
I mentally calculated the distance from Okinawa to our sleepy seaside town. Almost six thousand miles, give or take a few hundred. “Your brother comes to visit you though? Quite a long way to travel.”
“He can travel quickly through the water. Like crazy fast.”
“Really? That’s awesome. Can you do that too?”
“No. Full-blooded dragons can, but since I’m only half…” Kyo shrugged and let his words fall away. “But anyway. He actually bought a house in Echo Bay a year or so ago. So when he comes to see me, he has a car and place to stay.” He faced the sun and shut his eyes, basking in the warmth. “Probably just so he could keep tabs on me. Being nosy as always.”
“Or maybe it’s because he cares about you and wanted to feel closer to you.”
He scoffed. “I doubt it. Tatsuya isn’t the caring type. It’s all about control for him.”
I thought of Alastair. Sometimes it seemed like he was the same way. Uncaring and stern. He was the oldest of us, if only by a few months, and he was our leader. He gave us orders and forbade us from doing certain things, but he always had our best interests at heart. Even when it didn’t feel like it.
Kyo was young. With time, he’d come to see that maybe his brother wasn’t as bad as he believed him to be. Just like, long ago, I’d realized the same about mine.
Chapter Twelve
Kyo
“I didn’t know there were female Nephilim before we came here,” I said as Castor and I walked through the marketplace.
We had been on the island for three full days. Despite being on edge when we’d first arrived, I was finding the atmosphere—and the people—refreshing.
“Yep, there are a lot, actually.” Castor stopped to admire a shiny trinket on a market stand. Gems sparkled along the silver bracelet, and his eyes sparkled right along with them. Reluctantly, he placed it back down and kept walking. “Most of the original two hundred fallen were male, but they had daughters. Other angels have fallen since then, female and male alike.”
“Oh.” I looked around, seeing women laughing outside a small café. Children ran by. One of the boys unfurled his wings and lifted into the air. “How does that work?”
“When Nephilim have children, regardless if their mate is human or not, the children will have Nephilim blood too. Wings and all. So there are thousands of Nephilim now.”
“Makes sense.”
The island was like a blend of modern and a more traditional way of life. The market reminded me of ones I’d read about from ancient times or seen at renaissance festivals, but there were also restaurants, a café, a blacksmith shop, and even a place for ice cream and frozen yogurt.
It was a thriving community where they not only lived by their own rules but could also be themselves. I looked up as three Nephilim teenagers flew overhead, laughing as they swiped a smoothie from one of the women at the café.
“You little brat!” she said. “I’m telling your mother.”
Castor chuckled at them before slipping his hand into mine. He quickly pulled away though, second-guessing himself.
We’d had sex the night before and had woken in each other’s arms that morning. He’d even kissed me before we’d gotten out of bed. But weirdness remained between us. It probably always would. Until the day I had to leave him.
“Hold my damn hand, Red.” Our palms slid together as I threaded our fingers. “I’ll only bite you if you want me to.”
Grinning, he gently squeezed my fingers and kept walking. The September day was warm, but I could feel a slight shift in the air as the season prepared to change. I hated the reminder that summer was ending. Autumn would soon turn into winter. And I wasn’t ready for winter.
I held his hand tighter.
“Look who it is.” Castor nodded to something in front of us.
Titan exited the blacksmith shop carrying a bulging bag that clinked when he walked. He hadn’t warmed up to us much over the past three days, but he no longer glared like he wanted to kill us. He was on our side. Seeing us, he gave a sharp nod before heading toward the field where the others waited.
“They needed more weapons for training?” I asked.
“Yeah. For killing too, probably. The warriors here know how to fight, but they haven’t faced hordes of demons before. A small sword won’t cut it.”
Baxter had told his people about the alliance, and warriors from the island had vowed to serve. Training had then taken place. Raiden and Alastair were instructing them on how demons fought to better prepare them. Bellamy helped out too, though he was told to limit his presence on the training field as it had been a distraction to the other Nephilim. Hard to focus on training when all of them were fantasizing about fucking him senseless.
Castor stopped walking when he came across a display of jewelry. Rings, necklaces, wrist cuffs, and earrings.
