Chapter Four

 

 

Once Seth finished smoothing things over, he found them in Dr. Kim’s office. Dr. Ranz had been called away, but Isabel and the orthopedic doctor remained. Seth took in the cast as well as the scrubs Isabel and Eliana had maneuvered onto Kayla. “All done?”

They nodded.

“Let’s get her home then.”

Nick slipped his arms beneath Kayla’s shoulders and knees and lifted her into his arms. Her head rolled to rest against his chest. “I’d like to take her to my place.”

Eliana gently took the slender arm, which was encased in a cast and dangled down at his side, and shifted it to rest in Kayla’s lap.

Seth nodded, unperturbed, and motioned them closer. After thanking Isabel and Dr. Kim once more, he touched Nick’s and Eliana’s shoulders.

The room around them darkened. That peculiar feeling of weightlessness engulfed Nick. Then the room brightened, and he found himself standing in his living room.

Some of the tension that had strung his muscles tight eased.

Seth caught his eye. “She’ll know when she awakens that all is not as it should be. Should I alter her memories, or do you intend to speak with her?”

The normal procedure would be to alter her memories. The only reason Seth would deviate from that and offer him an option was if the powerful elder immortal had recognized Nick’s feelings for her.

“I’ll speak with her,” Nick replied.

Seth nodded. “Let me know if it doesn’t go well.” He would definitely have to alter her memories in that instance. If Nick had ever doubted the necessity of keeping gifted ones, immortals, and vampires a secret from the general public, the events of recent years had stomped those doubts into oblivion. Anyone who learned of their existence and did not become their ally could not be allowed to retain those memories. The threat was simply too great.

“You can take the night off,” Seth added.

Nick glanced at the window, surprised to find it already dark outside. “Thank you.”

A trebly version of Skillet’s “Monster” filled the air. Seth retrieved his cell phone. “Yes?”

“Seth!” a male immortal blurted. “It’s Miklos. I need your help.”

Seth met Nick’s gaze. “I’m needed in Hungary.” He vanished a second later.

Nick looked at Eliana. “I’m going to get Kayla settled.”

She nodded.

Turning, he headed for the stairs and up to his bedroom. Eliana followed and moved forward to draw back the covers on his big bed.

Nick gently lowered Kayla to the mattress and arranged her so she looked comfortable, her head on his pillow, her arm with the cast at her side. Drawing the covers up to her chest, he glanced at Eliana. “Would you call Henderson or Reordon and get the flight info for Becca?”

“Sure.” Palming her cell phone, she left the room.

Nick sat on the edge of the bed and drew Kayla’s right arm out to rest atop the covers. Her hand was so small in his. He traced the blue veins that showed faintly through her pale skin, touched each freckle. Her nails were neatly trimmed. Kayla always kept them short so they wouldn’t interfere with her typing when she edited manuscripts.

Leaning forward, he brushed her hair back from her face, happy to find it free of glass shards.

He hated that they’d had to leave the cuts and bruising that marred her pretty features. It only made her look more fragile.

His heart began to pound as he contemplated telling her what he was. And what she was. He hadn’t realized she was a gifted one. And he’d been so distracted at the hospital that he’d forgotten to ask Seth what her gift was.

How would she react to his being different?

Did she realize she was different, too?

Eliana returned. “Reordon put her on a private jet. Henderson gave me all the details. He planned to have a network employee pick her up, but I told him I’d do it myself before I begin my hunt tonight. I thought she might find a familiar face comforting.”

“Thank you.”

She hesitated in the doorway and studied Kayla. “How are you going to tell her?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

He read the same uncertainty in Eliana’s expressive features that he was sure painted his own. Mortals rarely responded well to learning immortals were different. Most immortal confessions had been met with violence in the past. Hell, when Roland Warbrook had told his fiancée what he was centuries ago, the woman had told her sister and a mob had tried to kill him. And she had supposedly loved him… until she’d learned what he was.

“I never thought I would have a reason to tell anyone,” he admitted. If he had, maybe he’d have put some thought into how he might break the news.

“Me either.” Her brow furrowed as she studied Kayla. “She doesn’t seem quick to hate the way so many are though.”

He shook his head. “She isn’t. She’s a firm believer in the treat others as you wish to be treated philosophy.”

Eliana sighed gustily. “Damn, I wish there were more people like her.”

He smiled. “Me, too.”

“Well, here’s hoping she’ll react well.” A twinkle of mischief entered her brown eyes. “You want me to take the scenic route home to keep Becca out of your hair in case things go better than you think and Kayla decides to get you naked?”

He chuckled. “I doubt that’s going to happen, but I appreciate the offer.”

She shrugged with a grin. “Suit yourself. I’m going to head out.”

“Thanks again, Eliana.”

“Anytime, my friend.”

He listened to her soft tread as she headed downstairs. Keys jingled. Then she left, locking the door behind her.

Silence fell.

Nick pulled a chair up beside the bed, sank down on it, and reclaimed Kayla’s hand.

He couldn’t seem to resist touching her.

Maybe he simply needed the contact to prove he hadn’t really lost her.

He shook his head at himself. He’d spent centuries doing the same old, same old: hunt vampires at night, come home, eat, sleep, and repeat. The only thing that ever varied was his location and his Seconds as they aged, retired, and were replaced.

Now, in the space of just a few hours, everything had changed. Dramatically.

He studied the lovely woman sleeping in his bed.

Everything.

Consciousness beckoned. Kayla sighed, not yet ready to relinquish sleep.

She turned her head on the pillow.

Mmm. It smelled like Nick. Masculine with a hint of the outdoors.

Smiling, she rubbed her cheek against it, then went still.

Wait. Why does my pillow smell like Nick?

She straightened her head on the pillow. And why am I sleeping on my back? She never slept on her back.

Frowning, she opened her eyes.

The ceiling above her was dark, the room around her dimly lit by flickering images on a large flat-screen television that graced the opposite wall. Her heart began to pound in alarm as she looked toward the windows and took in the sleek black dresser between them.

This wasn’t her room. What the hell?

Something warm tightened around her right hand. She hadn’t realized until then that someone held it. Kayla jerked her head in that direction and stared at Nick.

Seated in a chair beside her, he leaned forward. “Easy. It’s okay.” Much to her shock, he reached out with his free hand and gently brushed her hair back from her forehead in what could only be described as a gesture of affection.

“Where am I?” she blurted.

“My home.” His voice was soft and calming. “My bedroom.”

What the hell was she doing in Nick’s bedroom? “I don’t…” Remember. She couldn’t remember how she had come to be here.

“It’s okay,” he said again. “Don’t panic. I can hear your heart racing. But everything is going to be okay.”

She frowned. He could hear her heart racing? What did that mean?

Wait. Everything was going to be okay? Hadn’t he said something like that to her before? Everything’s going to be okay. I promise. Then he had kissed her forehead and said, Just close your eyes and rest. Blindingly bright lights had shone down on her and—

Her eyes widened. “Oh shit. I was in an accident.”

“Yes.”

“I was injured.”

“Yes.”

“Badly.”

“Yes.”

She couldn’t seem to call forth a memory of the accident itself but remembered being pinned to her seat afterward. Police had spoken to her. EMTs. Firefighters. Asking her not to move. Promising to help her.

And there had been pain. So much pain. Her head. Her arm. Her leg. Her chest. “Oh shit. Something was sticking out of my chest.” She drew her left arm out from under the covers, intending to shove them down and inspect her body, but stopped and stared at her arm. A cast covered it from just beneath her elbow to just past her thumb.

Right. She’d broken her arm. And her leg. She shuddered at the memory of a jagged bone protruding from her thigh. When wiggling her fingers sparked no pain, she grabbed the covers and shoved them down to her knees.

No bulky cast graced her leg, just blue scrub pants.

Fear rose. Her leg had been broken. She had not imagined that. And broken bones usually took at least four weeks to heal. Didn’t they?

Her hands began to tremble. Drawing her blue scrub shirt away from her chest, she peered down through the V-shaped neckline.

Ice trickled down her spine. No wound marred her chest. Just pale skin and freckles.

Releasing her shirt, she stared at Nick in horror. “Have I been in a coma?” She must have been. There was no sign at all of the chest wound. There wasn’t even a scar!

“No.”

She shook her head, not understanding. “Why am I here?” Instead of in a hospital or a hospice or wherever coma victims were cared for. And if her other wounds had healed, why did she still wear a cast on her arm? She must have been out for months! “Where’s Becca?”

“She’s fine. She’s on her way. But I need to explain some things to you before she gets here.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know. That’s why I’m asking you to trust me that everything is okay and to please bear with me while I try to muddle my way through this.”

His calm demeanor helped soothe her nerves. A little.

Though Kayla wanted to continue peppering him with questions, she drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and nodded. “I trust you.” But her heart continued to race.

He squeezed her hand. “Thank you.” Nick hesitated so long she nearly went back on her word and started blurting out questions. Then he seemed to brace himself and began to speak. “I heard your dentist call and knew you had missed your appointment.”

She frowned. “You were in my house?”

“No.” A crinkle formed on his brow and he suddenly seemed nervous. Nick was so strong and confident. She didn’t think she had ever seen him ill at ease. “I’ll explain that in a moment,” he said finally. “When I heard the message your dentist’s office left, I got worried. I’ve lived next door to you and known you long enough to understand that punctuality is important to you. I’ve even heard you tell Becca that being on time was part of being a responsible adult. So I turned on the local news to see if you’d run into traffic along the way. They were covering an accident on a street I knew you’d probably taken and—”

“You know where my dentist is?”

He paused. “Yes. I heard you mention her to Becca.”

“Oh.”

“They showed what was left of a silver car that had been totaled. I wasn’t sure it was yours until Becca called me in a panic. The hospital had phoned her to let her know you had been in an accident and said you were in critical condition.”

“Shit.”

“I admit I panicked, too. I was worried you wouldn’t survive, so I called a friend.”

“Is your friend a doctor or something?” she asked in confusion.

“Or something,” he responded, his expression turning grim.

Frustration rose. “I don’t know what that means.”

He drew in a deep breath, then let it out in what seemed a resigned sigh. “I’m different, Kayla. It’s why I’ve kept my distance all these years despite being incredibly attracted to you.”

Her heart gave a surprised leap. Nick was attracted to her? Incredibly attracted?

“I wasn’t sure how you’d react and…” He dragged his free hand through hair. “Hell, it’s complicated. But my friend is different, too. Even more different than I am.”

“Different how? What does this have to do with my accident?”

“My friend can…” Frustration darkened his features. “Shit, there’s just no way to tell you this without sounding like I’m completely off my nut, but my friend and I were both born with advanced DNA. Eliana was, too. And we’re different in other ways. Seth—”

“Seth is your friend?” she asked, trying to figure out what the hell he meant about the DNA and where he was going with this.

“Yes. Seth is my friend. And he’s far more powerful than I am. He can teleport and—once I told him what happened—he teleported us to the hospital before your surgery began.”

Oh crap. It did sound like he was off his nut. Damn it. He was such a nice guy, too.

“Seth can also heal with his hands,” he went on. “Your injuries were extensive. Head trauma. Vision loss in your left eye. That jagged fucking piece of metal sticking out of your chest. A broken arm. A broken leg. And I don’t know what else. There might have been some organ damage, too, I guess. But Seth healed it all—your leg, your arm, your chest, your eye. Everything.”

She glanced at her cast.

“That’s just for appearances. Your arm is completely healed beneath it. And he left some bruising and a few scratches on your face to hide the fact that you had miraculously recovered from all but the most trivial of your wounds.” He shook his head. “An overwhelming majority of the population doesn’t know we exist, Kayla, and we need to keep it that way. Fortunately, we have mortal friends at the hospital who altered your medical records and helped us smooth things over.”

Her attention snagged on one word. “Mortal friends?”

He winced and shifted again. “Yeah. I’m, uh… I’m sort of immortal.”

She stared at him.

“I know it’s a lot to take in. I’m not supposed to interfere or risk discovery because more often than not, people who find out about us either try to kill us or capture us and turn us into lab rats. But you scared the hell out of me, Kayla.” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I was terrified you’d die. I didn’t want to lose you. And I wanted to take away your pain and… honestly, I just couldn’t think beyond that.”

She could find no response.

“And now I’m terrified you won’t believe me.”

A full minute ticked past while she tried to decide what to address first. “When was my accident?”

“Earlier today.” Picking up a remote on the bedside table, he aimed it at the television on the far wall. He punched in a three-digit number and the channel changed to a news program. The date and time appeared in the lower right corner.

She released his hand and extended hers. “May I?”

“Of course.” He placed the remote on her palm.

Kayla aimed it at the television and switched to another twenty-four-hour news channel, then another. Same date. Same time.

She handed the remote back. Her mind whirled as she watched Nick return it to the bedside table. “Heal me how?”

“With his hands. Seth can heal wounds with a touch.”

Another minute passed. “So you’re saying this Seth just… laid hands on me and my wounds healed?”

“Yes.”

“Because he’s different.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re different, too.”

“Yes. But I’m not nearly as powerful as he is and can’t heal with my hands, otherwise I would’ve done it myself.”

She stared at him. “How different are you?”

Again he hesitated.

“Nick?”

“I’m stronger than mortal men.”

There was that term again—mortal.

She studied the muscles outlined by his shirt. “I imagine you’re quite strong. You obviously work out.”

He shook his head. “I’m a lot stronger.” Rising, he rubbed his palms on his pants as though nervousness made them sweat. “Don’t be afraid, okay?”

“Okay.”

Leaning down, he slipped his arms beneath the enormous bed and lifted it as easily as he would a freaking pillow.

Kayla let out a squawk of surprise and gripped the covers as he raised the bed until the headboard nearly touched the high ceiling. Then he lowered it with as little effort.

She stared up at him. Okay. That was a lot of strength. She had been gardening in her front yard when this bedroom suite had been delivered a few years ago. The deliverymen had both been big, burly guys with even more muscle than Nick. And she’d watched them struggle to carry the heavy bed frame and headboard in before it had even been assembled. She’d seen how they’d huffed to get the huge mattress inside, then the box spring. And Nick had just lifted the whole lot of it with her on top as if he were lifting a frying pan. He wasn’t even sweating or winded!

He shifted uneasily. “I’d prove it by taking you downstairs and lifting my car over my head, but Eliana took it to pick up Becca, and Oliver’s is gone.”

“You can lift a car? Not just the trunk, but the whole thing?”

“Yes. Easily.”

She didn’t think even steroids could account for that. “How else are you different?”

He scrunched his face up in a way she ordinarily would’ve found cute. “I’m fast.”

“How fast?”

“The Flash kind of fast.”

Her heart sank. Nick thought he was a superhero?

She opened her mouth to reply and gasped instead when Nick suddenly disappeared.

“Hi.”

Yelping, she spun around and found him standing on the opposite side of the bed. Kayla gawked at him.

He disappeared again, but this time she caught a blur of motion.

She swung around again and found him standing where he had started.

Her heart began to pound.

“I’m going to ask you to do something,” he said softly.

Her eyes began to burn with the need to blink as she wondered if maybe her head injury had made something in her brain go haywire, something that might result in her shorting out on occasion and losing time so it would appear as though Nick had moved as fast as the Flash when he really hadn’t.

“I want you to go to the window and look outside,” he instructed. When she hesitated, he added, “Please.”

All the questions and concerns clamoring in her brain made it so difficult to think that Kayla went into autopilot. Slipping out of bed, she backed away until she reached one of the windows.

“What do you see?”

Prying her gaze away from him, she glanced outside. “My house.”

“What else?”

She glanced down. “A little bit of your yard, the fence that separates it from mine, and most of my yard.” Solar floodlights illuminated much of the latter.

“Keep your eyes on your yard.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to count to three.”

Why? What exactly did he want her to see?

“One. Two. Three.”

A thud sounded downstairs. A blur swept over the fence. Then Nick stood in the middle of her yard, staring up at her.

Kayla swung around to look behind her. Upon finding the room empty, she faced the window. Nick slipped his hands into his pockets. Kayla gripped the windowsill until her knuckles whitened. Her pulse raced as madly as it did when she worked out on her MaxiClimber.

That was impossible. What Nick had just done… It was impossible! No more than a second had passed! One second. And he had run downstairs, unlocked and opened his door, crossed his yard, jumped the fence, and landed in the middle of hers in that one second? It would take her longer than that just to race down the stairs!

“What the hell?” she whispered.

Nick removed his hand from his pocket and held up three fingers, then two, then one.

He disappeared in a blur. A thud sounded downstairs.

Kayla whipped around and found Nick standing a few feet behind her as if he had never left.

Gasping, she backed away without any thought and ended up tucked in a corner of the room.

Pain flashed across his handsome features. Then a stoic mask dropped over his face. Those beautiful dark brown eyes of his began to glow with amber light as though someone had lit a candle behind his irises.

Her heartbeat pounded like a drum in her ears. “Y-Your eyes are glowing.”

Swearing, he closed his eyes and reached up to rub them. “I’m sorry. It’s another way I’m different. Immortals’ eyes tend to glow anytime we experience strong emotion. It’s involuntary. And…” He released a resigned sigh and lowered his hand.

“And?” she asked hesitantly.

One broad shoulder lifted in a miserable shrug. “And the fear I see in your eyes cuts like a knife.”

Guilt trickled in. Nick had always been kind to her, had always been warm and friendly and funny. He’d never done anything to make her fear him in the past. “I’m sorry. I’m just…” She told her heart to settle down. “It just caught me off guard. With the accident and… waking up here and…” She shook her head, trying to force her tight muscles to relax. “This is sort of a lot to process all at once.”

“I know. But I needed you to understand what happened before Becca arrives.”

He and his friend had healed her and saved her life. That’s what had happened. They had saved her vision. Had probably saved her career since vision loss would have interfered with her editing. They had saved her weeks, if not months, of recovery time, of painful physical therapy, not to mention enormous medical bills.

This time she was the one who nervously rubbed her hands on her pants. “You said you’re sort of immortal. What does that mean exactly?”

“I heal very quickly.”

“How quickly?”

He turned and strode through a nearby doorway. A light came on, revealing a very nice bathroom. Far nicer than her own, which hadn’t been remodeled since the house was built in the eighties. The light flicked off as Nick returned.

Her gaze dropped to the items he now carried. His left hand clutched a towel. The other held a straight razor.

Fear made a quick comeback.

He stopped on the other side of the bed, his eyes still bearing an amber glow. “As I said, I heal incredibly fast. Don’t panic, okay?”

Trepidation rose. “Why? What are you going to do?”

In answer, he bent his left arm up as if he were doing a partial bicep curl so the hand clutching the towel faced the ceiling. Then he pierced the skin near his wrist with the razor and dragged the blade up his muscled forearm, carving a deep gash that must be a good seven or eight inches long.

“Are you fucking crazy?” Kayla shouted.

Nick tossed the crimson-stained razor onto the bedside table. Blood pooled in the gash he’d carved and slithered out like lava from a volcano.

Hurrying around the bed, she yanked the towel from his hand and pressed it to the ghastly wound. What the hell?

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “It’ll heal.”

Why was he so fucking calm? He could’ve hit an artery. Wouldn’t he bleed out if he severed an artery?

“Sit down,” she ordered, panic riding her hard.

Nick obediently sat on the edge of the bed.

She braced a foot on the big bed frame’s side rail, stepped up, and sat beside him, careful to place her body between Nick and the razor blade. Her hip pressed against his as she cradled his injured arm in her lap and applied pressure to the wound. “Do you think you hit an artery? Should I call 911?”

“No.” Why was his voice so relaxed and quiet when anxiety made hers overly loud and tight?

“Do you have butterfly closures or a pressure bandage or something I can use on it?”

“There’s no need.” He covered one of her hands with his. “Stop applying pressure and look at the wound.”

Brow furrowing, she glanced up and found his face close to hers. She swallowed hard. “What?”

“Check the wound.” He withdrew his touch.

Kayla dropped her gaze to the arm she’d wrapped the towel around. Carefully, she peeled the heavy cotton cloth away. The gush of blood had already reduced to a trickle that ceased even as she watched.

Impossible. A wound that bad would not stop bleeding so quickly. She had suffered much shallower cuts that had bled far longer.

Beneath her fascinated gaze, the smooth edges of the wound drew together at each end. The rest sealed as though an invisible zipper were being pulled. A long scar formed, dark pink at first. But as she watched, it faded as the thick ridge shrank, flattened, and transformed into new, unblemished skin.

Kayla wiped Nick’s arm clean with the towel.

It was gone. The gash was completely gone.

She drew the trembling fingers of one hand along the smooth tanned skin of his muscled forearm. When she reached his palm, his fingers curled around hers and clung.

She glanced up and admitted in a hoarse whisper, “I feel like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.”

“I know,” he said, his voice equally soft. “This is a lot to lay on you all at once.” The amber light in his eyes now fascinated her more than it scared her. “But I’m still Nick, Kayla.”

Swallowing, she nodded. “And you’re immortal.”

“Mostly,” he qualified. “Decapitation will kill me, but little else will.”

She scrambled for some explanation. “Are you like Thor or Superman? Are you an alien?”

His lips turned up slightly. “No. I was born here on Earth. I was just born with more advanced DNA than ordinary humans.”

He had mentioned advanced DNA earlier.

Her mind raced. “Were you created in a lab or something? Did someone conduct genetic experiments on you when you were in the womb?” She knew science had already developed methods of editing human genomes, altering DNA, and modifying gene function. Had they done that to Nick? He said he had been born this way. She’d thought scientists were still holding off on altering the DNA of a fetus because any such alterations they performed would be passed down to that fetus’s children and grandchildren and they worried over the repercussions.

“No.”

“Then why is your DNA more advanced?”

He combed his fingers through his hair, ruffling it a bit. “The short answer is: there have been men and women with advanced DNA on Earth for thousands of years. They’re just far fewer in number. And the more they mingled with and married ordinary humans over the millennia, the more that advanced DNA was diluted until today most gifted ones don’t even realize they’re different.”

“Gifted ones?”

“That’s what we call those of us who possess the advanced DNA, because it gives us special gifts that ordinary humans lack.”

“Like your friend Seth’s ability to heal with his hands.”

“Yes.”

“You can’t do that?”

“No. I was born with a different gift.”

“What’s yours?”

He stared at her for a long moment, unspeaking.

“What are you doing?” Dread pooled in her belly. “You aren’t reading my mind, are you?” Was he telepathic? Please don’t let him be telepathic! Because she had woven a hell of a lot of sexual fantasies around him over the years. And if he could read minds, then he knew—

“No. I don’t have that ability.” He smiled. “I was just procrastinating.”

“Why?”

He squeezed her hand. “Could I maybe share my gift with you another time? You already have a lot to process. And it’s been a long day.”

She also hadn’t reacted very well to his having superhuman speed and felt like crap for the hurt she’d seen flash in his amber gaze when she’d taken that fearful step back from him. “You think it’s going to freak me out, don’t you?”

“Yes.” The word emerged a resigned growl.

And Kayla realized his hold on her hand had tightened, as though he feared she would jerk hers away and make a run for it.

She studied his face. A lot of anxiety resided in his handsome features.

He was afraid she would turn away from him. The longer she held his hand, the more certain she became of it until she could almost feel his dread herself. I didn’t want to lose you, he’d admitted, implying he had feelings for her. And he seemed to fear he would lose her now if his gift—whatever it might be—scared the hell out of her.

“Okay,” she conceded, the need to make him feel better overpowering her curiosity.

“Okay what?” he asked.

“You can tell me another day.”

Relief softened his features and loosened his shoulders. “Thank you.”

Offering him a tentative smile, she shrugged. “It’s the least I can do. I’m still alive because you and your friends saved me.”

“You might have survived without our intervention.” Reaching up with his free hand, every movement slow as if he expected her to bolt, he brushed her hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear, the light touch leaving little tingles in its wake. He cupped her cheek in his big palm. “But I couldn’t take the chance you wouldn’t. And I couldn’t bear to see you in pain.”

This time her heart hammered against her ribs for a reason other than fear. “You risked a lot, saving me, didn’t you? You risked a lot just explaining all of this.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re trusting me not to tell anyone.”

“I am.”

Reaching up, she cupped his jaw, now stubbled with a five-o’clock shadow. “I won’t betray your trust, Nick. I promise.” Sudden impulse drove her to lean up and press a brief kiss to his lips. “Thank you for saving me.”

His eyes brightened. The hand on her cheek moved, sliding around to cup the back of her neck. His gaze dropped to her lips.

Her pulse quickened.

Drawing her toward him, he dipped his head and brushed his lips against hers.