Henchgirl (Dakota Kekoa Book 1) (36 page)

His hand was suddenly on my cheek. “I do not pity you,” His voice was very serious.

I looked up to find his gaze drilling into mine.

“I do not pity you. I’m not doing this out of pity. Tell me you understand that,” he said, sounding almost angry.

I swallowed.

“Tell me,” he insisted.

“I understand,” I said.

His hand stayed on my face for a second, his thumb brushed my cheek, then he dropped his hand and said, “Eat.”

I did, but because I was starving and not because he told me to. Shoveling food into my mouth, the silence dragged on between us.

When I had finished every last bite of the food and drank every sip of the coffee, Wyvern took the tray and placed it on my desk. He turned back to me and leaned in toward me. He said, “We need to have a conversation about Keanu Hale.”

I swallowed.

Oh, joy.

He continued, “Your sister let slip that your assignment is to stalk Senator Hale, that’s why you’ve been impersonating a human for years. The second time I saw you, you were with both of Senator Hale’s children at the beach. Keanu Hale kissed you and you defended him when I tested him. You also made it part of our agreement that I did not hurt or kill him for as long as I would agree to. I thought it was because you two were dating or heading there.” Wyvern pinned me with his stare. “What I need to know is if you’re protecting him because you have feelings for him, or if it’s because he’s your chance to get to Senator Hale.”

“What difference does it make?” I asked.

“All the difference,” he said. “From what I’ve heard, it still sounds to me like he’s responsible for Honua’s disappearance. He invited her to his house and he was one of three people who were there when she supposedly vanished. From what I’ve heard of his actions, he doesn’t seem like he’s trying to find her, even after he failed to protect her. The only thing that’s stopping me from seeking him out and making him give me answers is my promise to you. Now I think that you have been avoiding considering him as responsible for her disappearance as well as protecting him. I need to know why.”

“You want honesty? All of it?”

“Yes. From what I’ve learned about you, Dakota, I don’t think you would defend Keanu if he was guilty because you had feelings for him; but I am not certain if you would defend him if he was guilty, if he was your only chance to avenge your father’s death. I need to know where your head is at.”

I sighed. “I guess there was a little of both in my defending him. I’ve been pretending to have a crush on Keanu for years, telling everyone how great I thought he was, spending my afternoons trying to find new ways to flirt with him but not be obvious. But he is by far the most popular boy in our school and my assignment to infiltrate his or his sister’s life was way harder than everyone who planned it thought it should be. I guess I felt complimented and relieved when his attention turned to me. Also, he’s funny and charming and nice; I thought I might be developing real feelings for him.”

But strangely, I did not think that anymore. Sure, kissing and touching Keanu was really nice, but nice in the way that a good night’s sleep was nice. Touching Wyvern was like sky diving.

I continued, “And yes, he might be my only chance to get to Senator Hale. Everyone that my grandfather sent against Senator Hale either ultimately failed to get to him or died. My grandfather has been planning this assassination for five years and all I’m supposed to do is take photos of Senator Hale’s daily planner, but he keeps it on him at all times.”

It was so strange to be talking about this out loud. Even though it was what I lived my entire life around, I never talked about it.

“But the real reason I’ve been protecting him, is because I’ve been watching Keanu Hale for years and I don’t think he did it. If I thought he did, I wouldn’t protect him.”

He smiled. “You
thought
you might be developing feelings for him?”

“Don’t read too much into it,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Yes,” he said. “I trust you.”

I looked up sharply. Just like that, he trusted me? I was the great-granddaughter of the king of trickery. I just told him that I had been living a lie for five years. He had known me for a couple of days. And he trusted me?

“You know that what Lorelei said last night wasn’t true,” I said, “I’m not some victim with everyone using me. Actually, up until recently, I was managing things. You’ve just come in right as everything has been falling apart.”

“Came in while everything was falling apart or caused everything to fall apart?” he asked.

“You, disrupt my life? No, not at all…well, maybe a little bit,” I said, smiling and holding my thumb and pointer finger an inch apart in front of me. I held up a finger and said, “First, I was on this assignment, you see, to punish this psycho-killer vampire and you told the bouncer to kick me out.”

He grabbed the finger I was pointing at him. “I recognized you from the pictures Honua showed me; I heard the club was dangerous for under-aged girls. I was trying to protect you while not calling any more attention to you. You looked so…fragile.”

“You got me suspended,” I said.

“I’m sure it wasn’t all my doing,” Wyvern said with a smirk.

“You jerk,” I said while smiling and attempting to smack his shoulder but he caught my hand.

Now, he held both my arms and he did not let go of them either when I pulled. He just gave me a wicked grin.

“Second,” I said, “You show up at another assignment and ruined my chances of going back to Keanu’s house with him.”

“I don’t feel bad at all about that one,” he said, still smiling, roguishly.

“You should,” I said, pulling hard to free my arms, but he only moved out of the chair, leaning forward with one leg on the bed.

“Third,” I said, “You tricked me into a contract with you.”

“I definitely don’t feel bad about that one,” he said as he climbed entirely on the bed still restraining my hands between us. “Anything else?”

“You keep trying to push me around,” I said, my voice unsteady as he leaned closer to me.

“I only do it because you make it so much fun,” he said.

“You’re a bit of a jerk,” I said.

“You like it,” he said, he leaned in so close his lips brushed mine ever so gently.

“You’re going to kiss me,” I whispered.

“Yes,” he whispered back and then he closed that little bit of distance and his lips pushed into mine.

The tingle I had felt push through me before was nothing to the explosion of sensation that melted through my body as his lips met mine. The feeling was so overwhelming for a second, I stayed completely still, and then his lips moved against mine. Our lips were wet, soft and gentle as they moved over each others’, memorizing the feel of each other.

The moment my tongue slipped into his mouth our kiss turned from something gentle and tentative to something much deeper.

His hands let go of my arms to cup the back of my head instead.

I was so absorbed in kissing him, that I leaned so far back that I fell backward. He moved forward with me, still kissing me. We did not separate for a second. His body covered mine, pressed into mine. His fingers tangled in my hair. My fingers dug into his back. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. We tangled together, limbs intertwining as our lips did.

I had never felt a kiss like this before, a kiss that was not just in my mouth but shot through my entire body. I was quivering and shaking and wanting more, wanting him closer. Never wanting to stop kissing him…

When the doorbell rang, I faintly acknowledged it in my mind, but it was far from important. What was important was Wyvern’s lips and his hands and his body and what those things were doing with my lips and my body.

His lips moved to my neck gently kissing just below my jaw line, then kissing harder, deeper just a little further down.

Someone knocked on my door. “Dakota?” Clara’s voice.

“One second,” I said, dazedly as Wyvern kissed my neck even more deeply just an inch lower. “Give me…five minutes?”

“Your friend from school is here, she says she only has a moment,” Clara said.

“Fine,” I said, groaning, “Give me a second?”

Wyvern groaned too, and then raised his head back up to give me a disappointed smile, almost bashful; he gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I leaned forward when he pulled away, making him chuckle while he crawled off me.

I climbed off the bed after him. Looking down I realized I was wearing yesterday’s clothes. Not only that, I had a hard cry last night and I more than likely had morning breath. None of that seemed to bother Wyvern though.

Not ready to see what I looked like, I grabbed a hair-band from my table and tied up my hair.

Wyvern stepped up and took my hand just like it was our routine to walk hand in hand.

I closed my eyes. “We just kissed,” I said, reflecting how freaked out that made me feel.

“We just had our first kiss,” he said, his free hand caressing my face. “Come on; let’s go take care of what we have to today so we can come back here.”

That sounded way too inviting.

As we exited my room, I said, “So this cook you hired…you might want to warn them…”

“Warn him of what?” Wyvern said.

“Well,” I said, “My mom can be, demanding. Most of the people hired to work here quit pretty quickly because of how much my mom would ask them to do even if she paid them, which she often did not.”

“I think he’ll manage,” Wyvern said.

“If you say so,” I said, shrugging.

We walked down the stairs and through the house to the front door, holding hands. The front door was open, and through it I saw Mele standing across from a very unhappy looking Auli.

Her soul—

My heart pumped faster and faster. Invisible cotton filled my mouth and throat.

Auli was wearing her school uniform; she looked so small as she was stick thin. She glanced around at anywhere but at Mele, staring at my house, then my driveway, then behind her, until her gaze landed on me. Her gaze darted over to Wyvern, then to our joined hands. “Good,” she said, “Maybe you’ll leave my brother alone now.”

My heart… it was beating too fast. I stumbled back. I could not breathe, my airways had been clogged and I wasn’t getting air.

“Auli,” Mele said, sounding annoyed, “You asked for me to come out here, but now you won’t talk to me?”

“I was waiting for both of you to get here,” she said. “Stay away from my family, both of you.”

“Are you serious? Your family is staying at my house with my mother, Auli!” Mele yelled.

“Yeah, stay away from your mother too,” Auli said. “You need to start a new life away from us.”

“She wants me home! She’s texted me like fifty times!” Mele’s voice was as emotional as I had ever heard it. But I could not focus on her pain.

I was going to die. I was dying, this time, I would die. All I could feel was my heart fighting to break free of my chest. All I could see was Auli’s soul.

I gasped in a breath and turned to stumble inside. Wyvern had been growling something at Auli —I did not know what – but he turned as I stumbled away. He wrapped me in his arms, while I started gasping heavy breaths.

“What’s wrong with her?” Auli asked.

“Dakota? She has panic attacks…” Clara called from somewhere behind us, I had not even known she had followed us outside. Suddenly, she was beside me and opened my ring. “Momma could you go get Dakota’s bracelet?” Clara whispered.

My mother, who I also had not realized had followed us out, rushed back inside.

Clara rubbed my back. “It’s okay Dakota, everyone is safe.”

“I—”Auli started to say, “I just want—”

“We got it!” Mele yelled, “Just get out of here.”

“Her soul is a waterfall,” I gasped. “It’s just like her father’s!”

“What did you say?” Auli said.

“Nothing,” Wyvern growled, “Leave, now.”

“She knows about-”

“Leave!” Wyvern shouted.

Auli stood one more second, her gaze darting between us, and then she took off running to her car. She jumped in the driver seat and the engine started up, but she let the car sit for a minute before driving off.

The moment Auli left I could concentrate on feeding the panic into my ring, funneling it down, down, down. By the time my mother came back with my dampener I felt weak and nauseous, but no longer panicked.

My mother touched my clammy face. Her breath smelled only of vodka, no orange juice or spicy tomato mix. “Oh, sweetheart,” she said.

“I’m sorry about what I said yesterday,” I told her, because at that moment it seemed very important to say it.

“Honey, I knew you didn’t mean it,” she said, “What matters is that you feel okay.”

“I’m okay; it wasn’t that bad,” I said. “I just need to go sit down.”

She nodded. “If you need me, I’ll be in my room.”

When I nodded, she shuffled off.

Clara, Mele, Wyvern and I all stood in the driveway for a moment before we turned to the house. When I tried to pull out of Wyvern’s embrace, he held onto me, insisting on keeping his arm around me until I sat down at our dining room table.

I sure was freaking out left and right around Wyvern, wasn’t I? To top it all off, I knew I smelled like sweat and panic.

Clara unplugged my phone from the wall and handed it to me five seconds before it rang.

“I’m fine,” I said hoarsely into the phone.

“You don’t sound fine,” my grandfather said.

“Panic attack,” I said.

“That’s two in less than a week,” he said.

“Yeah,” I said.

“I’m going to double my efforts to break the contract, be ready,” he said.

It was an order.

I met Wyvern’s gaze, knowing that he could hear both sides of the conversation.

“Neither panic attack actually had anything to do with
him
. They happened both times when I was with Auli Hale,” I said, “She reminds me of
someone
in a lot of ways, I think being around her triggered both of them.” Was I actually trying to convince my grandfather not to break my contract with Wyvern? It would be inconvenient for my search for Honua to be delayed for even the six hours it would take to break the contract.