Chapter Six
With my free hand, I stroked her cheek, staring at her in amazement. “You’re so full of life. I would never allow anyone to take that away.” Before she could argue, or fully understand what was happening, I kissed her. I exercised a great deal of self control that day. My mouth barely brushed against hers. From that brief contact I was so hard I was certain I would embarrass myself. I pulled my mouth away slightly. “I would kill my father before I let him touch you.”
Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog
“Tempest, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Tempest had been so lost in her own thoughts, she hadn’t heard Ivy come up behind her. She stopped with her hand on the door knob and tried to smile but failed miserably. “Is there a problem with one of the women?” She already knew that wasn’t why Ivy wanted to talk to her but a girl could hope, right?
Ivy shook her head. “No more than usual. I wanted to talk to you about Aiden.”
Tempest sighed and walked into the small room. “I am in no mood to have you nag me about that man.”
“Did you talk to him about what you want from him?” Ivy asked.
“Not exactly,” she hedged and pretended to organize the magazines on the table in the small sitting room. This room served as Ivy’s waiting room for patients. Ivy was one of three counselors at the women’s center where they both worked and lived. She mostly met with patients away from her office, so the waiting room didn’t get much use. Tempest frequently hid in there when she needed a moment alone. She’d hoped to find a quiet place to think about her situation with Aiden.
“But you did talk, right?” Ivy pushed as she moved around so Tempest was facing her again.
Tempest started to fidget like a child who’d been caught being naughty.
“What did you do?” Ivy asked, the anxiety in her voice obvious.
“I bathed him,” she mumbled.
“You did what?” Ivy almost screeched. Her lips curled into an impish grin. “I guess you two got along better than I expected. Honestly, I was worried you were feeling guilty because you’d tried to hurt him. I can’t wait to hear this story.”
“Well,” Tempest paused, pretending to be fascinated with one of the magazines to avoid making eye contact. “I may have tried to drown him just a little.”
When Tempest finally looked up, Ivy’s eyes were as wide as saucers and her mouth hung open. Finally, Ivy recovered from the shock enough to speak. “He’s recovering from a head injury, a head injury you gave him. How could you try to drown the poor man?”
“I didn’t succeed.” Tempest added quickly. “That man is so annoying and in my defense, he started it.” She groaned. “He makes me so angry. He was trying to make me angry.”
“You really need to tell him what you want and send him on his way,” Ivy insisted. “I don’t really know him, but something tells me he isn’t going to agree.”
“You’re right,” Tempest reluctantly admitted. “Not that I blame him for being so angry with me. I’d feel the same if someone had taken my blood and locked me in a cage. I went down there, fully intending to talk to him like a rational adult. When I saw him touching you, it made me angry, and then he was naked.” She groaned again and covered her eyes with one arm. “It all got out of hand.”
When she uncovered her eyes, she saw the mischievous twinkle in Ivy’s eyes.
“He’s kind of cute isn’t he?” Ivy asked.
“You find him attractive?” Tempest gasped.
“Duh,” Ivy replied. “He may not be my type but he’s still nice to look at. I think he likes you,” Ivy added and bumped against her.
Tempest snorted. “The man can’t stand me. I don’t know what it is about him that makes me act so crazy. I mean, sure he tries to bait me, but I’ve dealt with much worse and stayed calm.”
“It’s because you think he’s hot,” Ivy teased and sat down on the sofa in the room.
Tempest was about to deny it before she smiled and sat beside her sister. “When I was in there with him, he rolled on top of me, and I forgot to kick his ass. Honestly, I was a little disappointed when he rolled off me. I still have no idea how I managed to maintain eye contact with him when he was naked.”
Ivy covered her mouth and pretended to cough to cover up her laugher.
“Fine, I’m willing to admit he’s attractive, but he’s also a total jerk,” Tempest added.
“Can you blame him?” Ivy asked. “The man hasn’t done anything wrong, yet we have him locked up. Are you really sure it’s necessary?”
“Ivy,” Tempest began patiently. “I trust your instincts because you are almost always right. We can’t risk this being one of the times when you’re wrong. We have no idea what he is, or what he’s capable of. He moves faster than anyone I’ve ever seen, and I get the impression he’s still weak from the injury.”
“Fine,” Ivy conceded, “we’ll keep him there for now. It still seems wrong to me. The least we could do is try to make him more comfortable.”
Tempest stood up. “Fine, you’ve made me feel even worse about all this. I promise I’ll talk to him tomorrow morning. We can’t put off hunting today.”
Ivy nodded, her expression became solemn.
The longer they let this monster prowl the streets, the more women he would torture. His most recent victim had been a fifteen-year-old girl, and she hadn’t survived. Tempest felt responsible for it and guilt weighed heavily on her. It had happened the afternoon she’d run into Aiden. Had she been a strong empath, like Ivy, she might have caught the right man. The young girl might still be alive.
Ivy sensed her distress. “You can’t blame yourself, Tempest.”
Tempest nodded, but she did blame herself.
Ivy squeezed her shoulder. “I’m sorry I let you down the other day.”
Tempest’s gaze jerked toward hers. “This isn’t your fault.”
Ivy shrugged. “If I’d been with you, you wouldn’t have made the mistake with Aiden.”
“You couldn’t have known you’d get stuck on the train,” she pointed out in a reassuring voice as she squeezed Ivy’s hand. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Ivy flashed a knowing smile. “You’re right. It wasn’t my fault I got stuck on the train, and it’s not your fault you aren’t a strong empath. Those were the cards we were dealt. It sucks that we didn’t catch him, but we’re doing our best.”
“Thank you,” Tempest told her. “I need to change. Would you mind bringing down the tray for Aiden? Something tells me he doesn’t want to see me. Find out if there’s anything we can get to make him more comfortable.”
“I’ll take care of it, but something tells me he’d rather see you,” Ivy insisted.