The sound of a commotion drifted from the lobby area through the open office door. Nixy raised her head and frowned. What in the world was going on out there?
“Ms. Vogel.”
Her heart rate accelerated at the sound of a man’s voice. Kai’s voice. He hadn’t gone back to Bezchi with Kyzel and Robyn after all. So where had he been the last few days?
Kai strode into her office followed closely by Adam, who, being all of five feet ten inches, looked like an angry cocker spaniel chasing a Doberman.
“I told him he wasn’t welcome….”
Kai came to a stop by the client chairs in front of her desk. “I will speak with you, Ms. Nixy Vogel.”
Adam insinuated himself between her and Kai. “You’ll have to go through me.”
Kai blinked and looked down, as though just realizing Adam was there. Then the vertical creases across his forehead deepened on either side of the widow’s peak created by his headfeathers. The Bezchian equivalent of raising eyebrows.
Oh, boy. Time to step in. “Adam, it’s okay. I’ll talk to him.”
Adam shot an incredulous look at her from over his shoulder. “You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” She made a shooing motion. “I’ll buzz you if I need anything.”
Adam sighed and retreated, glaring at Kai until the office doors swished closed.
“So, Elder Kai, what can I do for you?” Shame on her for not asking him to have a seat, but really, she didn’t want him getting too comfortable.
Yes, you do.
No, you don’t.
Oh, boy, now she was arguing with herself.
He closed the final few steps between himself and her desk. “I have done many hours of research, and have concluded that several other Earth-based match-making companies use applications to bring their clients together.”
There was that cinnamon scent again, setting her mouth to watering. She swallowed. “Good to know the computer in the suite is getting some use.”
“I moved to a hotel yesterday.”
Now why would he do that? Not that she cared…she didn’t. Right?
Kai narrowed his eyes at her. “Through this manner of data collection, one person can get several suggestions for potential matches.”
“Some people like variety.” That wasn’t Silverstar’s M.O., though, which was why the additional DNA requirement had been effected.
“They do not even attempt to provide a valid mate.” He slammed one fist against her desk, and the photo of her and Efrem rattled. “This is insulting, degrading. They mock the necessity of bringing two beings together in a match that benefits both their flocks.”
“I suppose….” She hadn’t really thought of it from that angle before.
“Is this how you process your clients, Ms. Vogel? With an application?” He spat the word like it was something foul.
Wow, he seemed over-the-top offended. “Why do you want to know?”
“I want to know how many other so-called matches you had for Monarch Kyzel.”
“That is none of your business.” The answer was zero, but like hell would she tell him.
Her gaze was drawn to the little tick of his jaw. A sudden urge to kiss it until it stopped twitching rose.
“Why do you refuse to answer my questions?” He ground out the words as sheer frustration flowed from him in waves.
Because I have a sneaking suspicion you wouldn’t use the information for good.
If she’d learned anything in her five-plus decades, it was to trust her gut.
He braced his fists on her desk and leaned close. “I know why. Because your agency is a fraud. You are a fraud, Ms. Vogel.”
Oh, now wait a gosh-darn minute. “You know what? I am so done with you. Get out.”
Was he paler than he had been a second ago?
“No.” He swayed a bit, then recovered his balance.
No?
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. How dare he? Kissable jaw twitch or not, this had gone on long enough.
“All right then.” She gripped her armrests, pushed out of her chair, and strode toward the coat closet in the corner.
A moment later, she emerged with the fire extinguisher.
He drew himself upright with a haughty frown. “What is that?”
“Out.” She pulled the trigger, and a gust of chemical fire retardant blasted in the direction of his sandaled feet with a loud whoosh.
He retreated a few steps, drawing one wing around himself for protection. “How dare—”
Whoosh.
This time he made it to the door before turning. “I will—”
Whoosh.
She followed him out to the lobby, past a wide-eyed Adam, as Kai sprinted into the elevator leaving a trail of foam footprints across the floor. The doors opened immediately to his frantic pounding of the call button, and slid closed behind him with a soft thump.
Blessed silence settled through the disheveled waiting area.
Adam stared at her, mouth open and eyes alight as if she were some sort of Amazonian queen. His shoulders quivered and a sound rumbled in his chest, then exploded out of him and he doubled over with laughter. Her own laughter bubbled out, but sounded somewhat hollow to her ears.
“Well.” Adam swiped a knuckle under each eye. “The cleaning crew won’t be happy, but that’s one way to get rid of a nuisance.”
“True.” Kai had been a nuisance.
Adorable, but still a nuisance. What was his problem, anyway? And had she really been contemplating kissing the jaw of someone who had such a low opinion of her—and the agency?
Even so, it still didn’t sit right that she had chased him out like a stray dog.
Kai curled his hand over his belly as he staggered into the penthouse hotel suite, his wings dragging across the marble floor behind him as if weighted down by rocks. Rebirth had many symptoms, but feeling physically ill was not one of them. Thank the eternal ones Fyad had ignored his order to remain here. There was no telling where he would be if the youngling had not followed him to the Silverstar building.
Another round of needle-sharp jabs tore at his gut and a groan welled up. “Need to…lay down.”
“Allow me to help you to the couch, Elder.”
“No…bed.” Kai leaned fully into the bodyguard’s side. “Over-extended…myself…this afternoon.”
He had been fine until he had called Nixy a fraud. That had been when the first pains shot through him, but there was no reasonable explanation as to why.
Fyad grunted and changed trajectory toward the bedroom door.
“Fyad.” Kai wrapped his fingers around the youngling’s wrist. “Do not fret. Not rebirth symptoms, only exhaustion. I will be better in the morning.”
“If you say so, Elder.” Fyad’s black eyes were full of concern and doubt.
Nothing he could say would ease the bodyguard’s misgivings now. “I do say so, and best you remember. I am the elder.”
Fyad smiled as he eased Kai face-down on the bed. “I will not forget. Sleep well, Elder.”
“Aye.” He breathed out the word on a sigh as exhaustion creeped over him like a dark blanket.
If only he had not been so harsh to Nixy….
The garden was familiar, lush in its floral laden greenery. Roses. Kai ran a finger over the velvety softness of the brilliant red petals. And the springy green turf under his feet was grass. He knew that now. This was an Earth garden, and so different from the meditation garden back home.
He bent and inhaled through his nose, but no scent came from these roses. It was as if they were soulless images of their real-life counterparts.
A sweet instrumental melody floated on the sun-lit air, calling to him, urging him forward to find its source. He moved with reverence between the rose bushes. It was odd that his feet made no sound, even though he clearly heard the music. It all had a dream-like quality, but why would he dream of a place he had never been before?
A soft sob reached his ear. It seemed that not everything in this place was right. Such a shame to be sad in this beautiful setting. He pushed on, rounding the final bush. A short distance away, a long white runner was staked down to the grass, and white human perches with backs were set up in rows on either side.
Off to the right was a pond…. A memory broke loose. He had been here before, that’s why it was familiar. The pond, the fountain, the tree with the drooping branches. But the chairs and runner were new this time. And so was the tall white arch, covered with the palest pink rosebuds imaginable, at the opposite end of the runner.
Odd that everything beyond the arch was fuzzy. It appeared to be rows of some sort of tall-standing vines. A crop, perhaps?
What is this place?
It appeared like a very special event was set to happen here. But the only person he could see was an Earth female standing at the beginning of the white runner with her back to him. Same lacy dress, same upswept brown head-silk, same tiny white flowers…she must be the same female from his dreamwalk.
That is it. I am in another dreamwalk.
And dreamwalks did not happen without a reason. It was up to him to ascertain that reason.
The female drew in a ragged breath and her shoulders shook. It was her crying he had heard. An overwhelming urge to comfort her filled him. He stepped closer, reached out, and touched his fingers to her shoulder.
The female drew in a sharp breath and turned toward him. “Who…wha…. Kai?”
“Nixy?” But not the Nixy he knew.
This wide-eyed woman was a younger version, and slimmer, though still full in all the right places. And tears streaked down her face.
“You look…you look…different.” She shook her head. “Younger. Like you’re in your mid-forties.”
He did? He raised both his hands and turned them back and forth. They did appear less wrinkled and gnarled than normal. How odd.
Nixy snorted. “Just figures.”
He returned his attention to her. “What do you mean?”
“That you’d invade the happiest day of my life.”
“Forgive me,” he lowered his hands to his side, “but how can this be the happiest day of your life if you are crying?”
She stared at him as if his wings had just fallen off, then huffed. “Oh, what the hell, why not? It’s just a dream, right?”
“Aye.” He jutted his chin in the direction of the chairs. “Would you explain what is happening here?”
“Yeah.” She sniffled. “This was my wedding day.”
Disappointment clenched at his gut. “Wedding? You mean mating?”
She had a mate? That knowledge should be a relief, yet he grappled with an emotion he had rarely encountered in his many sun migrations: jealousy.
“Yep.” She turned her attention toward the archway. “And that’s my husband, Efrem.”
Kai followed her line of vision. The chairs were now full of fuzzy images of humans, and under the arch stood two human males. One of them was a blur of black, but the other was clear. “The tall one, with the…facial silk?”
“It’s called a beard.” Her smile was wistful as she stared at the slim male dressed in a black suit. Silver threaded through his curly hair and beard. “Yeah, that’s him.”
There was undeniable sadness in her gaze, and Kai’s heart ached for her. The empath in him yearned to take her pain away so the lively sparkle would return to her eyes.
“Tell me about him.” He waved his hand to include the gathered group. “About them.”
She met his gaze, as though surprised by his offer to listen. Truthfully, it baffled him as well, but the gesture was natural—dream or not. Her dream. Which he had been drawn into, again.
A thought niggled at him, as if he should know why this was happening, but it flitted away the moment he tried to grasp it. It would come back when the time was right. Thoughts like that always did.
Nixy shrugged her lace-covered shoulders. “Guess I do need to talk about it, even if it isn’t for real. C’mon.”
There was no choice but to follow her as she stepped onto the white runner and pointed to a weathered, but grinning, white-haired female dressed in vivid blue. “That’s Aunt Eden, she taught me how to cook. Then there’s my Uncle Ned, who was like my second father.”
As she named them, each relation and friend became clear for a moment before fading back into the gathering. So, those who were most important to her were the only ones he would see, the ones she bore deep fondness toward.
“And this is Efrem.” She came to a stop in front of the male, her gaze full of love.
Efrem smiled down at her and cupped his hand over her cheek. “I love you, Nixy.”
A twinge of pain poked at Kai’s heart and he drew in a sharp breath. What was this jealousy toward a male he had never met?
This is not the first time I have felt this way toward a stranger.
But, this time it was different than his resentment of Fya’s mate. This time there was a possessive edge to it he could not explain.
“Are you okay, Kai?”
“Fine.” He rubbed his hand over his chest, which did nothing to relieve the ache. “How long have you been mated?”
“Together for three years, married for two.” She returned her attention to Efrem. “Then he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I lost him four months later.”
“He is….”
“Dead.” She met his gaze. “It’s been ten years.”
Waves of sadness rolled over him. Her sadness. Her loss. Her sorrow. And he opened himself to it, took it, accepted it as if it were his own.
Nixy’s gasp cut through the emotional tidal wave. “What’s happening to me?”
She took a jerking step toward him, and he reached out and drew her into his embrace. There was no logic about his action other than that this was what an empath did if they chose. Taking her emotions, giving her a respite, was as natural as breathing for him. Even though this was a dream.
The urge to fold his wings around her was strong, but that might scare her. And it would shut out Efrem. He raised his gaze, and Nixy’s mate met it as if he could see Kai. But that was not possible, was it? This was a dreamwalk. Yet there was no denying the intense awareness in the other male’s brown eyes.
Efrem’s mouth curled into a small smile and he nodded as he faded, then dissipated like a morning mist.
Something profound had just occurred that defied explanation.
Nixy tipped her head back and he met her gaze. “I…I don’t understand, but I suddenly feel at peace. Like everything just clicked into place.”
“An undeniable rightness.” With a female who was his rival in the waking world.
One who would never let him hold her like this outside of a dream. Ah, but what was a dream other than a wish? And at this moment, he wished desperately to kiss her—something he would never do in reality.
He lowered his head and breathed out her name. “Nixy.”
Her lips parted, and her soft brown eyes reflected his desire. It was the approval he had hoped for. He brushed his lips over hers gently, in case she changed her mind, then sealed his mouth to hers, taking her sweet breath and stroking her tongue with his.
Fire raced through his veins, just as it had the first time he had seen her. It consumed him, consumed his soul.
Crack!
Blackness spun around him, tearing him from her embrace and sending his body careening into nothingness like an out-of-control fledgling in a storm.
Nixy startled awake with a shout of surprise. Her heart slammed like it would burst out of her chest any moment as the flaming heat that scorched her insides cooled by slow degrees. The sound of her ragged panting filled the pre-dawn semi-darkness of her room.
Same old dream, but this time….
“What…the hell?”
Kai had been there. How had…no, why had she dreamed of him? She pressed her fingertips to her lips. It’d felt so…real. That kiss had done things to her, given her feelings that still resonated even though she was now awake.
Feelings for Kai. Feelings she liked.
She swallowed hard against a knot of uncertainty lodged in her throat. “It was a dream. Just a dream.”
But, holy moly, what a dream. Talking to Kai, telling him about her marriage, the gentle nudge from behind that had sent her stumbling into his arms….
“Efrem!”
She scrabbled sideways, reaching for the lamp switch and giving it a twist. A soft white light filled her room, enough to see the framed photo of her and Efrem in Yosemite.
“You pushed me. Why did you push me? I mean, it’d be one thing if he was Chris Evans or…or…what’s his name—Axill Lund, that guy from the Cosmos Warriors movies. Sexy guys who haven’t been jerks toward me. But Kai Firehouse, or whatever his name is? Efrem, really?”
Aaaand she was shouting at a photograph. A long groan escaped her and she flopped back against her pillows. “Geez, Nix, get it together.”
Adam would laugh at her, if he knew. Which he wouldn’t ever, because she wasn’t sharing this with anyone.
She glanced at the clock. Four thirty-nine, and she had to get up at six. No point in trying to go back to sleep now, especially since there was a chance Kai might make a reappearance in her dreams. She wasn’t ready to deal with him again just yet.
She reached for the photo and ran her fingertip over Efrem’s smiling face. “God, I miss you.”
There should be a stabbing sorrow in her heart right now, but it was suspiciously absent. Instead, there was something new there that she couldn’t name. But it wasn’t negative, or painful.
The sensation of Kai’s strong arms around her, the skin of his warm, bare chest under her cheek, surrounded her as if the dream hadn’t completely faded.
She gave her head a sharp shake of denial. “I don’t have time for this.”
More like, she didn’t want to examine the new emotion too closely. She pressed her lips to the cool glass covering the photograph, then set the frame back on her nightstand.
Time to stop thinking about that and get ready for the day.