Kalindra (GateKeepers) (12 page)

Then she was soaring, flying through the air and into a cloud of ecstasy. Vaguely, she felt him follow her, heard him shouting as he pumped his seed inside her.

He collapsed next to her and Kali turned into him. Arms surrounded her, pulling her against his chest. She smiled against his shoulder. Life was good today.

Chapter 9

“Who could I get to wash my back?” Cameron said when he heard someone enter the bathroom. Silence. He paused with his soapy hands tangled in his hair. “Kali?” Still nothing.

Starting to worry, he shoved his head under the spray and quickly washed the suds out of his hair. No one else could get in the castle, right? But if it was Kali, why wouldn’t she respond?

He whipped back the shower curtain, ready to take on whatever stood on the other side, no matter how naked and soapy he was. The fight went out of him when he saw her, but he stiffened when he saw what held her attention.

Stupid. He should have hidden it under a towel like he normally did. He hadn’t been thinking.

“This is it, isn’t it.” She hadn’t phrased it as a question. As if she already knew the answer. Strange. Most people overlooked the simple necklace. He’d always suspected there was some charm that caused people to look away.

“How did you know?” he asked. The awe on her face as she stared at the shard worried him. When she met his gaze, he wasn’t any more reassured. Some strange emotion he couldn’t name was in her eyes.

“I can feel it. In my gut. The same way I can sense the gate.” Her gaze moved back to the pendant as if she couldn’t pull herself away for long. Cameron stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist.

What would he do if she decided to take it? He cared for her. No denying that at this point. But the shard was still his responsibility. A duty he’d begun to not only care about, but to take pride in. Could he choose between them? Moreover, could he even take Kalindra in a fight if it came to that? They’d been training pretty hard, but…she was his teacher. Yoda to his Luke. She could take him down before he could move.

Which was crazy to begin with. He didn’t want to fight Kali, damn it. But he didn’t want to give up the shard, either. Indecision tore at him.

“What is it?” she asked, her gaze still rapt on the necklace she held.

“A shard. A piece of the gate.”

That got her attention. “Impossible.”

Bitterness infused his laughter. His present situation proved just how possible.

“I’m not lying.”

“Cameron, the gate isn’t a physical object. It’s more like an energy field. It can’t have a piece broken off.”

He shook his head before she’d even finished talking. He only knew what he’d been told. “I don’t know how it came to be. But that’s what it is.”

She still seemed skeptical.

“Look, you just said it feels the same as the gate.”

Her gaze returned to the shard. Maybe he should have lied, but he wasn’t sure it mattered. She obviously knew the shard as soon as she’d sensed it. Lying would have only created a wedge between them.

After what seemed like an hour but was probably only minutes, Kali handed him the necklace.

Without breaking eye contact, he took it and tied it around his neck. “Thank you.” Not just for handing him the necklace, but for not forcing him to fight her. For understanding that it was his to care for.

She nodded and turned away. “Get dressed. We have to train.” Then she was gone.

Cameron turned and shut off the water. He had a feeling today’s lesson would be a hard one. Oddly, he looked forward to it.

* * * *

Kali flipped the page of the cookbook. Dinner would be ready in another forty minutes, and now she needed to figure out a side dish. She’d found a duck wandering around outside earlier. What went well with duck?

She glanced up to find Cameron leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.

“What are you up to?” he asked her.

She held up the cookbook. Explanation enough.

“Should have known.” He chuckled.

Something about his tone had her pausing. Even his posture was charged with some strange energy.

“Bored?” she guessed.

“With you? Never.”

Warmth filled her at the speed of his answer. Good thing, because she wasn’t anywhere near done with him. All she had to do was look at him and she’d get this silly, happy feeling. She shook her head at the thought. She hadn’t meant to ask if he was bored with her, but his response still brightened her day.

“I didn’t mean with me. I meant in general.”

“Not really.”

But he didn’t move from the doorway. Just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. Okay…

“What are
you
up to, then?”

“Looking at you.” His gaze never wavered from her.

“Uh huh. You sure you’re not bored?” Watching her reading didn’t seem all that interesting. The man had to be ready to crawl the walls if that was how he passed his time.

“Why would I be bored?”

“Well, all we do is fight, eat, sleep, and fuck.”

They’d fallen into a daily routine. Sex first thing, then they hit the training room and fought each other with various weapons, then more sex, usually in the shower, then dinner, sex or more training, bed.

“And?”

“Well, uh…hmm.”

“Is there something more to life?”

Kali laughed at his response. “Okay. Not bored, then.”

“Are you?” he asked, crossing toward her. She loved the way the man moved with such lazy sensuality.

“Am I what?”

“Bored, honey.”

“Oh.” She shook herself out of her daze. “Not at all.”

Before Cameron had come along, her life had been eat, sleep, and fight. He added more than just another possible thing to do around here. He added companionship. Someone to talk to. After a couple hundred years alone, she couldn’t imagine getting bored with his company.

“So what’s for dinner?”

“Ready for the eating portion of your day, huh?” she asked with a laugh. Men. So predictable. If they weren’t looking for sex, they were looking for food.

“Well, I suppose we could move onto another portion of the day.” He pulled her out of the chair and against him, but she pushed out of his arms.

“Oh no, Casanova. Cool down. Dinner will be ready in half an hour.”

“Half an hour! What am I supposed to do until then?”

She smiled at the whine in his voice. Such a baby! “You just told me you weren’t bored.”

“I’m not. But I’m hungry.”

Oh, honestly. Kalindra grabbed a box of crackers and stuck it in front of him. “But don’t fill up. I am making a fabulous dinner tonight, and you better appreciate it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Kali spun around, knife in hand. “Do I look like a ma’am to you? Ma’am implies old maid. I am not a ma’am.”

A wicked gleam lightened his eyes. And that smile? Trouble with a capital T. “Aren’t you like three hundred years old?”

She pointed the knife at him. “Your point?”

He smiled, and popped another cracker into his mouth. His intent shone clear on his face. “No point. Just clarifying.”

“Clarifying what, exactly?” He opened his mouth, but Kali cut him off. “And let
me
clarify that any possibility of a sex portion of the day happening later on, might very well depend on your answer.”

His mouth closed, but the humor remained in the lines of his face and the light in his eyes.

“Clarifying how young and exuberant you look, of course. You don’t look a day over two hundred and ninety-nine.”

Kali struggled against a smile. With a small nod of acknowledgement, she turned back to the counter and let her smile bloom. Such a way with words.

“Can I ask you something that’s been bothering me?” she asked, pulling out ingredients for a salad.

“Ask away.”

“Why did you bring the shard into Outremer in the first place? When you first came here, you thought all creatures from Outremer monsters.” That was the part that didn’t make sense. Why use the shard at all?

“My grandfather took me the first time. Each Keeper of the shard is brought into Outremer once and taught about your world. They have to know what they’re guarding,” he said after a moment. “After that...” She turned in time to see his shrug. “I brought others into Outremer. To show them around. Your very own nightmare tour guide. I always told myself I was exploiting the shard to make money, but I think there was more to it. Outremer fascinated me. I always wanted to see the world, but then this whole other world opened up to me. All I wanted to do was explore it.”

His words hit her in the chest. He wanted to explore the world. Of course he would. It fit his personality perfectly. But that was the one thing Kali could never do. The gate had her chained to this one place. Sure, she could travel a bit. But as soon as someone crossed through the portal, she’d be right back where she started. Trapped with no end save death.

She’d just have to savor every second she had with him. Her memories of their time together would have to last her a lifetime. Because sooner or later, he would leave.

“So, how’re we looking for a little sexy time later?” The hopefulness in his voice made her smile. It looked pretty good, but she wouldn’t make things too easy for him.

“We’ll just have to see,” she teased.

His arms slipped around her, grabbing the counter on either side until she was hemmed in. His front pressed against her back, and it took all of Kali’s strength not to lean into his warmth.

His breath caressed her ear as he whispered. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you make a decision.”

Using every ounce of willpower she had left, she elbowed him out of the way and crossed to the oven to check on her duck. There’d be plenty of time to play later. Besides, waiting only made their encounters that much more intense. Not that there was anything wrong with their encounters when they didn’t spend time apart. The man was a beast in bed.

“I thought you were hungry?”

“I’m always hungry,” he replied.

The breath froze in her throat when she caught the look in his eyes. Pure heat. He was hungry for something, alright. But not food.

Turning around, Kali lowered the heat on the oven. Not ideal, but it would give them enough time for a quickie. Just as well. The heat of his embrace still lingered on her skin. She shivered as anticipation snaked up her spine.

“Alright. You have twenty minutes. Let’s do this.” A lot could be done with twenty minutes.

Chapter 10

Flying into the air as harpy, Kali soared over the fence surrounding her property and shifted in midair, landing nimbly on the other side. She stretched toward the heavens, her smile plastered on her face.

What a perfect way to start the day. Her blood was pumping, her muscles were pleasantly sore. Even the sun shone through the foliage. She closed her eyes and let the warm rays soak into her skin. Absolute perfection.

Her growling stomach interrupted her thoughts. Well, maybe not perfect yet. She was starving. Her breakfast probably still sat on the counter where she’d been preparing it before being ported away.

She remembered the milk with a grimace. They’d have to pick up some more. Warm milk? Eeew. She’d have to drink her coffee black today. The thought brought on a shudder. She liked her coffee sweet and light. But black coffee was better than no coffee.

So intent on getting to the coffee machine, Kalindra almost didn’t see him sitting at the table. But when she did, his glare froze her in place. Busted.

She’d hoped he hadn’t seen her little disappearing act. But the daggers shooting from his eyes said he had. Or at least had gone looking for her and discovered she’d placed him on lockdown.