KACELA
I woke up to the noise of something beeping. The smell of rubbing alcohol hit my nostrils and I hurt. I hurt all over.
I opened my eyes and looked for the source of the beeping so that I could stop it. It was a monitor, hooked beeping with my heartbeats. I could stop that. I reached down, my arms feeling extraordinarily heavy, and pulled the pads that were attached to my chest off. The beeping changed to a shrill constant noise.
“Dammit,” I muttered, trying to sit up. I heard another noise to my blind side and I tried to turn my head but before I could muster up the strength, I was enveloped in a hug. I reached up my arms and hugged Wyatt back.
“Kacela, we almost lost you,” he said, his voice husky.
“Aww, a little beating never killed anyone,” I said, smiling. He shook his head with a smile, and then reached over the top of me to the monitor, flipping a switch. The incess
WYATT Three days later I had Kacela back to the castle where she belonged. I knew that the doctors and nurses at the clinic were taking wonderful care of her, but I wanted her home where I could protect her. She had told me the whole story, including the part about her brother. I could tell she was hurt. I suggested that she call her mom and ask her if she had any information, but she didn’t want to until she knew the whole story. “It’s not fair to her,” Kacela argued with me. “She just lost her husband, however much of one he was to her. And now she’s going to lose her son.” “Not necessarily,” I said, trying to reason with her. I thought her mom might have more information about who Charlie was working with. “You know I’m right,” Kacela said sadly. “He will fight me, and I will have to kill him.” “What if he’s not involved?” I argued. She just looked at me and shook her
KACELAI took Wyatt’s hand and led him into the bedroom. I could hear his heart beating at the same rhythm as mine and I was getting hot and wet just thinking about him. I licked my lips and heard his quiet groan.“I need a shower,” he said, pulling away from me when we got into the bedroom.“No, after,” I whined, not wanting to wait.“I’ll be fast,” he promised, disappearing. I stamped my foot with frustration. That man was infuriating.I disappeared into my closet and started going through some of the clothing that Nellie had ordered for me. I remembered that there was an entire section with slinky negligee type nighties and I was pleased to see that I had the choice of several really good ones. I picked out a blood red top with a matching thong and garters that hung to my thighs. This was perfect.I slipped off my clothing and began buckling my
KACELAI rolled off the bed and slipped into sweats, after taking off the scratchy negligee. It was fun but impractical, I thought ruefully.I grabbed my laptop and sat on the bed, cross legged, while Wyatt sat behind me and idly drew circles on my back with his fingertip. He leaned over and watched me power up the app.“I don’t even know how to navigate that app,” he said, watching me.“It’s because you’re old and not cool,” I teased. “It’s only for young kids like me.”He playfully pinched me, and I giggled, pulling up Chad’s profile. I wasn’t interested in past posts and only pulled up the most recent.“Hmm,” I said, clicking on a selfie in front of the ocean. “Looks like he’s on a beach somewhere.”Wyatt sat up. “Can you tell where?” he asked. I shook my head.
WYATTWe all followed Kacela into the office.“I would bet that the videos are here, somewhere,” she said. “He would want to have a hard copy of them. Someone with a ton of money could pay a good hacker to come in and find the files if there wasn’t a hard copy. I would guess it would be on individual jump drives, though he might be old school and have them all on disc.” She looked around the room. “And it would be hidden. He seems like the kind of guy who would want them close. If we don’t find anything, we can go down a floor and search there.” She went over to the desk and started opening up drawers.I just looked at her with admiration and confusion. She was so calm. My insides were jumping around, just waiting for someone to rush in and demand an explanation. I didn’t understand how she wasn’t feeling some panic and I was.
WYATTKacela was all business. Nellie had found us a great suite at a hotel we don’t usually stay at and she put it under Earl’s name, thinking that his name would be the least likely to spark recognition if we were still being watched. When we arrived, Kacela took the offered key card and let herself in, going straight to the table in the little common area. She dumped out her bag and began making stacks.“How can I help?” Earl asked, observing her for a moment.“I’m dividing them into names,” she answered. Nellie dropped her bag on the floor and came over to help, also. Within a few minutes we had all of the DVDs divided. Kacela was looking at them with a frown on her face.“How many do you think are here?” she asked, beginning to count. After a moment, Earl answered.“Eighty-four.”She picked up a random DVD and looked a
KACELANellie’s excitement was contagious. Even Earl seemed to be getting into it, commenting that he needed a whole new summer wardrobe. I rolled my eyes. Clothing was never anything that got me excited, partly because nothing ever fit right. I’m just too tall.We piled back into the car, this time Earl driving. He drove over to the mall, a massive two-story affair. I got out of the car and sighed. Wyatt grinned, squeezing my hand. He knew I hated shopping.“Let’s grab suitcases, first,” I suggested. Earl shook his head.“How will we know what size to buy if we don’t buy the clothes first?” he said, reasonably. I rolled my eyes. Wyatt chuckled out loud.Earl left us to go check out the Tommy Bahama store and Nellie took charge of me. “They have an American Tall store on the second floor. We’ll be abl
KACELAEarl and I were on an early flight, so we left our luggage in the common area and we all went into our bedrooms. I slipped into the bathroom to wash my hands; the chocolate and caramel were sticky and had gotten all over.I was brushing my teeth when Wyatt came in and gave me a hug from behind. I paused with the toothbrush to squeeze him back and then continued my ministrations to my teeth. He began kissing me on the side of my neck, sending tingles all the way down to my feet. He started kissing my mark and I turned around, dropping the toothbrush into the sink. I faced him and put my butt against the counter, wrapping my legs around him.He kept kissing me and then dipped his head lower, sinking his teeth into my neck, remarking me. I arched my back, my mouth open in a silent scream as the mate bond flowed through me. I felt rejuvenated and even stronger than before. Wyatt kissed the mark he had left
KACELAI fell asleep in the plane. I had booked coach seats, something I was used to flying despite my height. Earl pursed his lips as we walked past the first class seats and had a long talk with the flight attendant. It was to no avail. They were booked solid and we stayed in the coach seats.I was also used to putting in headphones and sleeping. My last vision was of Earl looking at me with frustration as I drifted off. I slept with my head on the window, waking up when we started descending. I felt great. Earl looked tired.The bright sun hit us as we got off the plane. It was always dreary in Seattle. The sun was out a lot where the Packlands were located, but mountain sun is different from ocean sun, for some reason. The heat felt different, too, and I immediately took off my cardigan and disappeared into the bathroom to change into something more summery. I met up with Earl and we dra