Virgins and Vampires: Blood Falls (The Blood Falls Book 3)

I knew Kris left because his motorcycle was loud. But also…because I felt him leave. I didn’t feel Bridge or Cass. I didn’t feel my parents anymore. Not unless I tried really hard.

But I felt Kris.

All the time. Without thought. No matter how high or thick I built my wall, I still felt him. And that…that blew my mind.

“Where did Kris go?” I helped finish making the half-made dinner Kris abandoned when he heard me agree to make Rever my Shield. I knew it would upset him but I did it anyway. Without talking to him. I was such a fucking hypocrite.

Cass shrugged as she tossed the salad. “When the weather’s nice he’ll ride the scenic route for hours, but the weather’s not nice. He’s probably overdone with so many people in the house and needed to clear his head. Probably just rode into town where the roads are maintained.”

I held a stack of plates in my hands. “Should I set a place for him?” I hated that I was the reason he left. It made me feel sick to my stomach.

“Oh yeah. He’ll be back.” But I noticed the way my best friend watched me. If she didn’t know I was sleeping with Kris then she suspected. Strongly. “You know it’s interesting.”

“What is?” I moved around the long wooden dinner table setting out the plates.

“Kris hasn’t spent this much time inside the house in…years. And now, all of a sudden, he’s not just cooking us dinners, he’s cooking us feasts. Hours of cooking and preparing…like he wants to be in the house but not in the way.”

Suddenly the tablecloth was fascinating. 

Dray walked in. “Who are you talking about?”

Cass beamed at her big brother. “Kris. He rode out of here like a bat out of hell. And I was telling Rain here that he’s probably reached his limit with social interactions, seeing as he’s been spending so much extra time in the house lately.”

Dray picked up a dinner roll and took a bite. “Well that’s because he’s helping analyze the metals.”

Cass frowned. Dray grinned. I froze.

“That,” he said, “and because he’s in love with Rain,”

I wanted to disappear under the table. Or slide back to my bedroom, put up my enchantments, and hide until the embarrassment wore off.

He took another bite and swallowed. “When you went toe-to-toe with Shoshanna today I thought it was for Kris, but then you went and chose Rever instead. Surprising turn of events there.” He gave me a pointed look.

I found I did not like disappointing Kris’s eldest brother. “We barely know each other.”

Dray frowned. “That’s a weird way to say you’ve known each other for six decades.”

“I—” I started to respond but realized I had no words. “You’re all insane.”

Cass set the salad on the table. “I don’t think she knows.”

Dray shuffled closer. “No, I don’t think she does.”

“Should we tell her?”

Dray carefully examined the last bite of roll in his hand. “Naw. It’s a lot more interesting when you figure it out yourself.”

“I’m right here. You guys can see me still, right?” I might as well be invisible.

“Oh yeah,” Cass teased, “we see you. Just didn’t think you could hear us over all the noise your brain is making overthinking your feelings for Kris.”

“You two are ridiculous.” I marched into the pantry, yanked open the hidden door, and disappeared into the quiet of the secret cellar.

Only it wasn’t quiet. Leena and Rhysa were down there sharing some wine. I liked the low lights, stone walls, and cool temperatures. Maybe my future home needed to be built underground. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“Would you like to join us?” Leena reached for a wine glass.

I wanted quiet but maybe conversation was better. “Yeah. Sure. Why not?”

“That’s the spirit!” Rhysa held her glass up in a toast. “Why not!”

“So what brings you to the cellar, Rain? You look like you’re running away from something with all that frazzled sighing.”

Oh. I stopped and held my breath for a moment, trying to get it back under control. “Dray and Cass were giving me a hard time.”

“About what?” Leena handed me a very full glass of white.

“Oh…uh…” I searched for something that was mostly true but not a lie. “That I’m thinking too much.”

The females traded a look. Rhysa asked, “About Kris?”

This really wasn’t a secret, was it? How had I failed so spectacularly at keeping this under wraps?

“Do you like him?” Leena asked very slowly, drawing out each syllable.

“Of course I do. Kris is a great guy.”

“No,” Rhysa chuckled. “Do you liiiiiiiike him?”

It physically hurt to have such a personal conversation when I didn’t know what the outcome might be. “I think so.”

“Think?” Leena wrinkled her nose. “With this you either know or you don’t.”

“When did you know with Atsila?” Rhysa asked.

“I mean, I liked him from the moment we met. But I knew the first time we had sex in the cave.”

Of course they had sex in the Heida archives. At least I didn’t have to go back there any time soon.

“And you, my dear Rhysa, you knew from the moment they breezed into your bookstore and you couldn’t take your eyes off Dray.” She leaned towards me and whispered, “Gigi tells a very dramatic version of this story.”

“Don’t forget the whispers,” Rhysa pointed out while rolling her eyes at us. “But the first time I drank from him—to stave off the bloodlust—we dry humped like teenagers and I couldn’t get enough. I knew then.”

“Knew what?” I sighed. It was a night of riddles and I was too tired to figure them out. Instead I sipped at my wine hoping for relief.

“I told you,” Leena said. “She’s got no idea.”

“But how is that possible?”

“Rever and I talked about it up North. She’s just got so much focus, laser focused all the time, that she misses the obvious stuff a lot.”

“Miss what?” I yelled. My voice echoed off the cellar walls.

The females stared at me for a long moment, then went back to talking to each other. “If Gigi hadn’t brought you to Blood Falls, if you were in your cottage and focused on your classwork, it would have taken you a lot longer, Rhysa.”

She agreed. “And if you hadn’t gone North and gotten into all that trouble with the salishan, you’d probably still think it was lust.”

“High stakes and alone time really help you tune into your feelings.”

They both turned and stared at me again.

Feelings. Alone time. Lust.

Dray and Rhysa were Fated. Leena and Atsila were Fated.

A sudden pain struck me at once and my wall took a hit as adrenaline that wasn’t my own penetrated. An echo of Kris flying through the air flashed through my mind. He was hurt but okay.

I knew that.

“What just happened, Rain?” Leena was off her stool and cautiously moving toward me.

I clutched at my shirt. “Kris. He was just in an accident. Which I know because I’m a psychic and I can know just about anything I want to.” I swallowed down the lump in my throat as the truth slowly dawned on my poor slow mind. “But I know things about Kris without asking or trying because…” I still couldn’t say the rest.

“Because,” Rhysa prompted. “You’re…”

“Because we’re…Fated?”

“There it is!” Leena threw her hands in the air. “She finally figured it out!”

“Is he okay?” Rhysa frowned.

I nodded. “Uh, yeah. Seems to be.” I felt him everywhere. Like I was in two places at once. Heard him swearing at himself. Felt the bike rumble back to life. “This is why he’s so certain about us? He knows?”

“I mean,” Leena examined her nails like they were the most interesting thing in the world, “I haven’t said ‘hey brother, you Fated to that totally awesome psychic chick?’ but yeah, Rever and I felt it in the cave. You two had a spotlight on you so bright. Fated Mates.” She said dramatically with her hands.

At the sound of a low rumble, Rhysa grinned. “Seems like your Mate has made it home safely. We should make sure dinner’s ready.”

They pulled me up the stairs. While they buzzed around the table I stood in a stupor, my mind racing a mile a minute as I tried to make sense of this new information.

I had been with all of one male and now I was Fated to him? This seemed like a cosmic joke. Wasn’t I supposed to go out and sow my wild oats now? Sample the buffet of sexual delights?

Supposed to.

I always hated that phrase and now I was throwing it around as a terrible defense against something wonderful.

Kris was wonderful. The sex was wonderful. Being near him was wonderful. Why was I shocked by this turn of events? I should have seen it coming from a mile away. Plus, now I could really relax and trust that everything happening—everything that seemed too fast and too permanent—was supposed to happen.

I would take Kris as my Shield. We already shared a special connection, but the bond we could make had the potential to be truly epic. It would make a familial bond look like a single thread holding two samhain together. Kris and I would form an unbreakable tether.

I knew that now. I felt it.

Because I wasn’t fighting the obvious anymore.

When he walked in the door all I could see was Kris. A little rough for wear, but perfectly, gorgeously him. Grey shirt, scuffed jeans and boots, and a scrape on his hand.

“Damn car slid on what has to be the only patch of black ice for miles. Swerved and dropped my bike.”

His family swarmed around him while I stared from across the room. He stared right back.

“Are you hurt?”

“How’s the bike?”

“How’s the car?”

Kris shooed them away and sat down at the table. “I shifted before I hit the pavement. Bike needs some love though.”

I sat across from him as everyone took their seats, trying very hard not to stare at us. He didn’t look at me once as he filled his plate, passing dishes along as he finished.

It wasn’t until the meal was mercifully over that he finally looked up. His gorgeous, expressive eyes told a new story. One I didn’t want them to tell ever again. He was hurt, frustrated, and seething.

He directed every single bit of that at me.

Because I hurt him the way everyone always hurt me. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t.” He growled. “You warned me I was asking too much.”

“I’m learning as quickly as I can.”

He grunted.

“I’m not bonding with Rever.” I waited for the hit that always came when his eyes met mine. “I’m not taking him as my Shield.”

“Because we had a fight? Don’t let your emotions dictate your safety, princess.”

“My emotions are the whole damn problem.” Why were we doing this at the dinner table with his family a few feet away eavesdropping on everything? “No one knows how to navigate the stunted emotional soup of my mind better than you. I reacted out of fear today and I’m ashamed of that, but I understand everything much more now. My doubts are gone. No more questions.”

His eyes narrowed as he examined me. “What changed?”

I fidgeted. His emotions were everywhere, knocking at my wall and seeping through the cracks. “Things.”

His eyes rounded. Then he shot up from the table. “Good night everyone. Sorry to leave a mess, but we’ve got to run.” He rounded the table, grabbed my hand, and shifted us away.