Immortal Craving: Immortal Heart (8 page)

Kat and
Izzy sat in silence for a brief, uncomfortable minute.

“So,”
Izzy began, “I didn’t know what you might need, but I brought you a few changes of clothing and some toiletries.”

“Thank you. Any ideas on how long the brothers plan on keeping me here?” Kat asked.

“I suspect that has everything to do with you,” Izzy said, handing over the bag she had brought for Kat.

Kat took the bag and peeked inside, her eyebrows pinching. “These are my things.”

Izzy nodded. “Yes, they searched your place.”

Kat narrowed her eyes, anger sparking in their green depths. “What are they looking for? What the hell do they want from me now?”

Izzy shrugged slightly. “I don’t know all the details, but from what I gather, they wanted to see if there was anything that linked you to the humans who have been found dead at the hands of a Succubus.”

“And they didn’t find anything because I haven’t killed anybody. If they had asked me that, I would have told them.”

“But you know something about it… don’t you?” Izzy asked.

Kat’s eyes drifted from
Izzy. She didn’t want to answer that question. She wasn’t going to serve up one of her
Succubi
sisters for them to send her back to Darion.

“How’d they find my home?”

“That I don’t know,” Izzy answered honestly. “Bain and I met Uriah at your apartment and I gathered a few of your things.”

Kat smiled. “I always liked Uriah. I suppose if anyone was going to completely invade my privacy, he would have been my choice. So, you wouldn’t know anything about my friend Jake then would you?”

Izzy shook her head. “I didn’t see him or talk to him if that’s what you’re asking me, but I trust the brothers when they say he’s fine, but very worried about you.”

Kat glared at
Izzy. “I have little reason to trust them.”

Izzy
glared back at her. “From what I understand, they have little reason to trust
you
.”

Kat shot up from her seat on the couch to lean over
Izzy, her finger pointing inches from Izzy’s face. “You know nothing of what hell I went through or what your precious Kale did to me.”

Izzy
stood up, not one to take shit from anyone—even if Kat did stand a few inches taller than her. Izzy wasn’t going to let anyone, especially this Succubus, intimidate her.

“I know that there are times I see the flashes of pain in his eyes and I know what Rowan went through to get him back. So while I may not know details, I know that whatever happened… hurt him. And that’s all I care about. You hurt someone I’ve come to care very much for.”

“They’ve blinded you,” Kat said, glowering at Izzy.

“No, my eyes are very clear and I see that you’re masking, what I’m guessing, is pain with anger. Take advantage of this situation and see if you both can’t find some closure… but let me make one thing very clear. I may be smaller than you and I may not have a whole lot of strength in me, but I do have Latino blood coursing through my veins and if you hurt him again, I’ll find a way to bring a world of pain down on you.”

Kat stepped back and smiled. No wonder this feisty little woman had tied Bain down—she had enough fire in her to keep that bastard on his toes.

“
Izzy?
Do we have a problem here?” Bain asked as he stepped into the living room.

Izzy
smiled and shook her head. “No… we have an understanding.”

Bain and Kale exchanged uncertain glances with one another then looked between
Izzy and Kat.

“
Oookay,” Kale dragged out the word. “I’ll see you two later,” he said, looking at Bain.

“Yep, I’ll call you when I know something,” Bain said as he gestured for
Izzy to come to him.

Izzy
smiled, grabbing a small duffle bag that she’d set next to the couch. She handed it to Kale and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I snuck a bottle of Patron in with some clothes for you,” she whispered and smiled widely at him.

Kale chuckled and whispered back, “Thank you,
Iz. You are a goddess among us.”

Bain cleared his throat as he pulled
Izzy against his chest. “Quit flirting with her, Kale—she’s
my
goddess.”

Kale laughed. “You’ve always sucked at sharing.”

“Let’s go, Bain,” Izzy said, pushing him towards the door. “We’re staying at my place. Call us if you need anything.” She then looked to Kat. “It was nice talking with you.”

Kat arched a brow. “And you,” she smirked.

Kat waited until she’d seen Bain and Izzy lift off the ground before she turned to Kale. “I like her.”

Kale nodded. “She’s impossible not to like. Bain’s a lucky man.”

Kat nodded. “She certainly has her opinion of me nailed down.”

Kale narrowed his eyes on her.
Where was she going with this?

“
Izzy’s the sister I’ve never had. She’s the one I talk to and she has taken a very protective role in my life. Family is the most important thing to her.”

“And you’re her family,” Kat said.

“We all are,” Kale said proudly.

“And thus, she see’s everything one-
sided, I’m the bad guy… Will you ever give her all the details of what happened to us? Or will you let me take the blame for all of it?”

Kale snorted. “What version would you have me tell?”

“The truth, Kale… The truth would be the best place to start.”

“You and I must have a differing view of the truth in this situation, because in no way would the truth as I know it make you any less guilty.”

Kat was fuming as she stomped towards Kale, one elegant finger poking into his chest.

“You are a grade
A
bastard. You left me at the mercy of Darion! I wish he would have killed me. I would have gladly accepted death over what he did to me.”

“Perhaps you should have considered what would come of you when you decided to screw me over,” Kale shot back.

Kat’s palm flew at Kale’s face. He caught her wrist before it made contact and pulled her to him.

“Be careful,
kitten
.” Kale dropped his nose to her neck, taking a deep breath and pulling her scent deep into his lungs. “I’ve been dreaming of the things I would do to you once I found out you were still alive. Don’t. Tempt. Me.”

Kat shivered, her libido flaring to life at his words, but her brain wasn’t so sure those words were speaking of any kind of pleasure. There was a cold
detachment swirling beneath the surface of his softly spoken words.

“Let me go,” she whispered softly.

Kale stepped back, releasing her wrist with a smirk that had her wanting to attempt the slap once more.

Kale sat alone in the living room, the bottle
Izzy had brought him on the coffee table. He leaned back, lounging in the large leather chair, the finger of his one hand tapping against the arm of the chair, while his other hand manipulated a ball of fire. His gaze was glued to the dancing blue, orange, and yellow—the flames calmed his edgy nerves.

But still something was off. He felt it bone deep. Whatever had happened in the last fifteen years had changed Kat. Hell, the last fifteen years had changed both of them, but what killed him… What he had a hard time figuring out, was why she blamed him. She had gone to
Darion—she had sent that Pixie to set him up, to get him to cross into the Dark’s land. She had done all of that. Everything that steamed from that afternoon had been consequences of her own actions.

So why the hell was she so angry with him?

He really did want to try and have an actual conversation with her. Maybe it was a little masochistic, but he wanted to know why she had felt the need to end what they had in the way she did. He still wanted answers.

“This is a familiar sight, though I never thought I’d see it again,” Kat said, leaning against the wall between the hall and the living room.

Kale lifted his gaze from the flames to Kat. Her hair was still damp from the shower he’d heard her taking—her second one since they’d arrived. She leaned so nonchalantly in her red silk robe. She was as he always loved seeing her; no makeup, her hair wild and free, and her body barely covered. Her long legs were crossed, calling to him to spread them—Kale shook his head and focused back on her face.

“Be careful with that small blaze, Kale. One of us can’t escape this house.”

Kale smirked, tossing the ball of flames in the air and then flicking his hand towards the fireplace. The ball exploded against the brick of the hearth; the lightly charred logs lighting in a display of heat and licking flames.

“You forget
, fire is the one thing I always have complete control over.”

Kat’s eyes moved from the now roaring fire to the bottle of alcohol on the table. Kale followed her gaze and smiled.

“You want some?” he asked, pouring a shot and holding it out towards her. “If I remember right, you once shared my love of Patron.”

Kat nodded. “I still do,” she said, pushing off the wall and moving to take the shot glass from him.

Kale studied her face as she took the shot. She looked ashen, with pale purple circles under her eyes. The makeup she’d worn earlier had hid the fact that she was either sick—which rarely happened to any Fae creature—or she needed to feed.

“When was your last feed, Kat?” Kale asked as she handed him back the shot glass.

She arched a brow at him. “It’s been a few days.”

“I’d say by looking at you that it’s been more than a few days,” Kale said, pinning her with his gaze.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I feed differently these days… and not as often.”

“Define differently,” Kale pushed.

Kat glowered at him. “I feed off Jake at least once a month, and I supplement those feedings with human lovers twice a month.”

Kale couldn’t help it… he didn’t like hearing her refer to the humans she slept with as lovers.

“You don’t have sex with your
Trow
?”

“No,” she said quietly.

Kat lowered her gaze to the floor. She didn’t like talking to Kale about the men she invited into her bed. It shouldn’t matter, but it hurt her heart to tell him… not that he cared.

“You can’t sustain on sex with humans… not only twice a month.”

“I do just fine. I’ve survived this long.” She found the courage she needed to lift her gaze to at least look at his face, though she avoided eye contact. She was strong. She had to be, but something about this infuriating Immortal… something she couldn’t explain about him, called to her. Made her feel vulnerable and weak. His presence clenched at her heart and if she stared into those espresso orbs, the pressure would threaten her very existence.

“And let me guess, you were out looking for your next human tonight.”

Kat steeled herself as she answered, finding a little attitude to support her answer. “I’m due for a good romp in the sack, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Kale nodded. “Then you can feed from
me
,” he said flatly.

Kat stared at him, dumbfounded and a little scared at the thought. She couldn’t… she just couldn’t.

“No,” she answered, trying for the same flatness he’d had in his voice upon the offer.

“You don’t have many options right now and I can see how hungry you are.”

Kat’s nostrils flared… She really was hungry. She was moving towards him before she could think better of it. Her eyes remained like hard emeralds as she came within his reach. Kale moved quickly, pulling her into his lap.

“What are you doing?” she shrieked as she squirmed and attempted to get up.

He was too close—his body and scent too familiar.

Kale wrapped an arm around her waist as he answered, “We’re going to do this my way.”

It wasn’t right, he knew it, but he wanted to feel her against him. He’d longed for her and even if things weren’t the same, he wanted to do this for her. Part of him, the part he hated, wanted to remind her how well they had once fit. That at one time he was all she needed to be strong.

Fear and longing spiked in Kat as she asked him, “And what’s your way, Kale?”

He ran a finger down her cheek and clasped the back of her neck. “You need a real feeding. We were always good at this part… I think we can at least agree on that.”

Anticipation ran rampant through Kat’s body as Kale pulled her face to his. Their lips met in a stiff kiss before the familiarity of everything Kale wrapped around her. His lips parted and she melted into him; her tongue dancing at a
frantic rhythm as need and hunger bit at the edges of her sanity.

This was different then all the feeds before… even different than the heat and need that had burned between them all those years ago. It was stronger—binding and heady. He tasted like heaven, sin, and pure pleasurable ecstasy. Satisfaction and a need for more of him hammered at her as she took in the power of his
chi.

“Kale.”
She groaned his name as she pulled her lips from his and dropped her head.

“What the fuck was that?” Kale muttered against her hair.

So he had felt too. The strength and need of something she couldn’t explain tying them together with a nearly tangible force.

Kat shook her head, lifting her face back to his. “I don’t
kno—”

Kale didn’t let her finish as he crushed his lips back against hers. Kat ran her fingers through his onyx hair, pulling him closer while shifting her position to straddle him.

Kale ran a hand between them and pulled free the silk tie around her waist. The fabric fell open, revealing the flat, yet toned, planes of her stomach. The red silk caught only on the round mounds of her perfect breasts.

Kale slid a hand between her legs to cup her ass, lifting her and breaking the contact between their lips. With his free hand, he caressed her leg and pulled it over his shoulder.

“Kale,” she moaned, making him move fast to lift her other leg over his shoulder.

“My way,” he reminded her.

He wanted his lips between her legs. He wanted to taste her… he
needed
to taste her. His tongue needed to feel her soft skin, to caress her bundle of nerves as he drank in her sweet scent with each stroke of his tongue.

Cupping her ass with both hands, he lifted her to him, his tongue snaking out to circle her hypersensitive bud of nerves. He slid his hands further up her backside, catching Kats’ weight as she arched back. Her hands fell to the arms of the chair to help support her weight; though she knew full well she was in very capable hands. Kale could support her weight without breaking a sweat.

He was more talented then she had remembered, his piercing adding a level of pleasure she wasn’t quite prepared for. Each lave of his tongue was like fire over every fold of her most intimate parts. Kat lost control of her better judgment and simply fell into the searing pleasure each stroke spurred in her.

A long, low moan of his name pushed Kale to move his tongue faster over her clit, slipping his hand down her back to slip two fingers deep inside of her, letting her pleasure coat his fingers. Her climax shoved her into a dizzying orgasm prolonged by his persistent strokes against her seared flesh.

Not fully in control yet, Kat slipped her legs from Kale’s shoulders as he lowered her back down to his lap, his thumb taking over where his mouth had just been.

Kat grabbed his face, crushing her swollen lips to his, taking in his chi, tasting herself on his lips as she rode out the remaining spasms of her orgasm.
The orgasm that had just wreaked havoc on her heart, body, and soul. She was sated, but wanted more. Yet her heart was going to get tangled and shredded in thorns of what could have been, what never truly was, and what it was now feeling.

She still loved Kale.

Pressing one last, lingering kiss to his lips, she pulled her robe tightly closed, pushed off him, and disappeared down the hall.