Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (28 page)

               
“I miss them.  I’ve never really been away from my parents, like I wasn’t
allowed to do sleepovers or go to camp.  Kind of makes sense now.  I
would have freaked out the kids if I had changed into something horrible and
tried to eat them.”

               
Damien bursts out laughing.  “You have a conscious mind when you shift, so
unless you wanted to eat your friends when you were normal, you wouldn’t have
wanted to eat them when you shifted.”

               
“Good to know.” Kayla giggles through her tears.  “Okay, I’m tired, so I’m
going to bed.”

               
“All right, come on,” Damien says, jumping off the bed.  Kayla follows
him.  “Sadly, the room is downstairs next to Jackson’s. 
Now
if you wake up in the middle of the night, I would prefer you crawl into my bed
instead of Jackson’s.”

               
Kayla snorts.  “Yeah, but I know Jackson wouldn’t touch me.  You on
the other hand…”

               
“Would let you sleep,” Damien finishes.  “Geez, Kayla, I do have some
redeeming qualities.”

               
“You have a lot of redeeming qualities.”

               
With a smile, Damien replies, “Thanks.”  He grabs her hand and leads her
out of his room.

               
“The alarm in your room goes off in his room if it’s tripped.  Those were
the wishes of both sets of parents.”

               
“I see,” Kayla says.  They enter the guest room and Kayla goes,
“Wow.”  The bed is heavy oak with a canopy top.  The remaining
furniture is a variety of beautiful antiques.  “I feel a little
overwhelmed in here.”

               
“Jackson’s parents wanted you to be as comfortable as possible.”

               
Kayla flops down on the bed.  “It’s a feather mattress.”

               
“It's a duvet cover that you can take off.  We weren’t sure if you would
like it,” Damien states, leaning against one of the posts.  He turns and
points to the white boxes on the window and door.  “If you open either of
those during the night, the alarm will go off in Jackson’s room.  I’ll sit
in there until he gets back.  You should go to sleep though, I know you’re
tired.”

               
“Yeah, I am.  I’ll see you in the morning?”

               
Damien smirks. “Of course, I’ll make you a breakfast to die for.”

               
“I’m looking forward to that.” Kayla giggles and walks over to Damien. 
“Sleep well.”  She stretches up on her toes and kisses him.

               
“Night, beautiful,” he replies.  “I’m going to set the alarm in Jackson’s
room.”

               
“So I don’t do a prison break?” Kayla asks with a laugh.

               
With a worried look, Damien says, “It’s not a prison.”

               
“I was joking.  I know you guys are only looking out for me.”

               
“Okay, good. I’ll see you in the morning.”

               
“Yeah, good night,” Kayla whispers somewhat bashfully.  Damien waves his
fingers and shuts the door.  Kayla walks over to the bed and pulls back
the covers.  Feeling the sheets, she whispers, “Wow, these are
soft.”  She crawls into bed, sighing. “Okay, now you need to fall asleep
in a strange house.  Good luck with that.”  She reaches over and
turns off the light.

               
The next thing she knows, someone is gently shaking her.  She blinks a few
times to clear sleep from her eyes only to see Jackson standing in front of
her.  “Kayla, babe, wake up.”

               
Kayla shakes her head.  “What...what’s going on?”

               
“You’re sleepwalking.  The alarm went off, but I caught you before you got
anywhere.”

               
Holding her head, Kayla asks, “Does this happen to everyone, or am I a freak?”

               
“No, it happens to some.  I think it’s worse because you’re older. 
Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”  He turns her by her shoulders and
gently pushes her down the hallway.  They pass his room and she can hear
the audible beep from the alarm.  “Hold on,” he says, darting into his
room.  The beeping stops and he comes back out.  “Okay, into your
room you go.”

               
She groggily walks to her room.  Jackson follows her in.  “So tired,”
Kayla mumbles, crawling into bed.     

               
“I bet.” Jackson laughs.  “It’s like four in the morning.”

               
“Mmmm, if you had it your way, we would be going out for breakfast.”

               
“I’ll wake you up in an hour for that,” Jackson replies, pulling the covers
over her.

               
Kayla opens one eye. “When did you sleep?”

               
With a confused look, Jackson says, “What?”

               
She opens both her eyes and looks at him.  “When you watched me, when did
you sleep?”

               
“I’ve never needed more than five hours of sleep,” Jackson answers
quietly.  “So I would sleep in the evening and then come to your
house.  Are you sure you aren’t mad about that?”

               
“No,” Kayla murmurs. “I’m not mad at all.  I appreciate it.”

               
He smiles. “I’m glad I’m not in trouble.”

               
“You should have just come into my room instead of standing outside.  The
neighbors may have called the cops on you.  Oh wait, you were a mastiff,
weren’t you?”

               
“Yup.” Jackson laughs.  “I did escort you back inside…that one time.”

               
Feeling a little more awake, Kayla sits up.  “Didn’t my parents wake up?”

               
“No, it was tricky, though.  I had to sit you down outside, scale your
house, unlock your door, and carry you upstairs.  I
was
pretty
proud of myself that the cops
weren’t
called.”

               
Kayla laughs.  “That is actually funny.”

               
“It was,” Jackson replies with a smile.  He stares at her for a few
seconds.  “You’re kind of cute when you’re all groggy.”

               
“Thanks,” Kayla mumbles.  “I’m not cute the rest of the time?”

               
Rolling his eyes, Jackson says, “Do I really need to answer that?”

               
“No, I guess not.” Kayla sighs, flopping down on the bed.  “How was your
date with Tracy?”

               
“It was not a date!”

               
Kayla snickers. “I know.  Did you have fun anyway?”

               
“Well…yes. I find her hilarious, and I got some good dirt on you.”

               
“Wonderful, I’m going to make sure to staple her mouth shut next time.”

               
Jackson sits down on the edge of the bed and looks at her.  “Listen, I am
sorry that I've been a douche since we met.  Tracy kind of pointed out
that you weren’t sure if you wanted to kiss me or deck me.”

               
“God!” Kayla groans.  “She doesn’t know when to shut up.”

               
“No, it’s fine.  I really would deserve it if you popped me in the face
sometime.”

               
Giving him a look, Kayla says, “What would be the point in that?  I hit
like a girl, remember?”

               
“Still, it would get the point across.” Jackson sighs.  “I’m in a quandary
with you.”

               
“How so?” Kayla asks, almost completely awake now.

               
With a mischievous smile on his face, Jackson replies, “I’m going to pretend
this is a dream tomorrow, even if you tackle me, so I’ll tell you now.  My
parents and your parents are trying,
desperately
, to force an arranged
marriage on us.”

               
Kayla shoots up in bed.  “What?  What are you talking
about!
”

               
“They want us to be together.  It’s not that I don’t like you Kayla and
it’s not that I’m not attracted to you, but they're trying to force us into a
relationship.  They are pissing me off, and I won’t let them decide my
future.”

               
“Oh
my gosh
,” Kayla whispers, covering her
mouth.  “You’re serious.”

               
“Very. My parents and your parents, your dad more specifically, had this great
idea that my family should move here.  They want our bloodlines to mix.”

               
She shakes her head in shock. “But…why?  That doesn’t sound like my
parents.”

               
“You’re something really special to our people, and if anyone except our
families find out you exist, you would easily have about a hundred guys after
you.”

               
With her jaw on the floor, Kayla retorts, “You aren’t kidding, are you?”

               
“No, I wish I were.”

               
“So that’s the reason?  You’ve been pushing me away because our parents
are practically forcing us on each other?”

               
Jackson gives her a hesitant look. “Aren’t you the slightest bit mad about
that?”

               
“Furious actually,” Kayla spits out, looking away.  “Well then, I guess
that seals our fate.”

               
“I wouldn’t say that.”

               
Kayla looks at him.  “Are you telling me there’s a slight chance in hell
that you would date me?”

               
He looks away.  “It would just be wrong.  It would make what they’re
doing okay.”

               
“What about Damien?  Why aren’t my parents elated that I’m dating the son
of the…king or whatever?”

               
Shrugging his shoulders, Jackson says, “I have no idea.”

               
“This is ridiculous,” Kayla growls.  “Our parents are stupid.”

               
“Yes, yes they are,” Jackson agrees.  “Now that you know, I’ll try to be
more civil.  I just felt like I needed to stop whatever was going to
happen because the moment I saw you…well, my perspective on everything
changed.  I pushed but you pushed back, and I grew to like
you.”     

               
She studies him carefully.  “There is nothing wrong with liking me, but if
we’re going to take this stand, then we need to do it together.”

               
“I agree,” Jackson replies.  He turns and looks into her eyes. 
“There is just one last thing I need to do.”

               
“What’s that?”

               
Jackson moves over on top of her.  Kayla looks up and gulps.  He
bends down and kisses her, and their chemistry instantly explodes.  They
kiss each other feverishly.  Kayla reaches down to pull his shirt up and
Jackson lets her take it off.  “Kayla,” he whispers.

               
“Shut up,” she replies, pulling him down to kiss her again.  They wrap
their arms around each other.

               
Jackson eventually pulls away. “We need to stop.  That’s it.  That’s
what I needed.  We can’t do it anymore.”

               
“Trying to get it out of your system?” Kayla asks, breathlessly.

               
“You could say that.”

               
Kayla takes her thumb and runs it across his lips.  Jackson closes his
eyes.  “Did it work?” she asks.

               
“I hope so,” he exhales.  “I wouldn’t tell Damien about this, though.”

               
Shaking her head, Kayla says, “I can’t lie to him.”

               
“Then pretend it’s a dream.  We can both pretend we’re dreaming and that
this never happened.”

               
“I won’t pretend.  This happened.  I won’t tell Damien, but I refuse
to tell myself that it didn’t happen.”

               
He pushes off the bed and stands.  “I need to leave.”

               
“That doesn’t surprise me.  Kiss me and run, isn’t that what you do?”

               
Jackson releases a heavy sigh. “That’s not what I’m doing.  I have to go
back to my room.  I'm tired and the only other option is that I sleep in
here, and that isn't happening.”

               
“Since you’ve now sworn to keep your hands off of me, then I don’t think that
would be a problem.”

               
Jackson laughs. “True, but Damien would probably kill me.  My parents
would probably be happy about it, though.”

               
“Seriously,” Kayla groans.  “We should totally shock them by telling them
I’m pregnant with your baby.”

               
“They would probably throw us a party.”

               
Giggling, Kayla says, “They would.  If Damien wasn’t in the picture, I
would totally do that.”

               
“Yeah, I really don’t think he would go along with it.” Jackson chuckles. 
“Let me ask you something.  Do you really like him?”

               
She nods. “Yeah, actually, I do.”