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Refuge(104)

By:Karen Lynch


I made a face and picked up my sketchbook again. “Last night wasn’t enough for you?”

Her face glowed. “That was the best party I’ve ever been to. You should have seen Terrence and Josh when they found out they missed all the action. They were so bummed.”

“I’m sure you gave them a complete play-by-play, didn’t you?”

“Of course.” She grinned and looked around. “You want to do something?”

“Like what?” I was surprised she hadn’t already brought up Nikolas, but I was in no hurry to discuss him if she wasn’t.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

I looked up from my drawing. “It’s too dark to go for a walk. And since when do you walk anyway?”

She snorted. “Since I met you I’ve killed demons in a movie theater and vampires at a party. Who knows what we’d run into out there in the woods.”

“I’ve seen the kind of creatures that hide in the woods at night; trust me, you don’t want to meet them.”

“Fine, then we’ll walk inside. God knows this place is big enough.”

No place was big enough when you were trying to avoid someone who lived under the same roof. “Or we could just stay here.”

“He’s not here, you know.”

I pretended to be interested in my drawing. “Who?”

“Olivia saw Nikolas and Tristan talking outside this afternoon, and she said Nikolas looked mad about something. Then Nikolas tore off on his motorcycle. Last I heard, he wasn’t back yet.”

“Oh.”

“So . . . you and Nikolas, huh?”

I laid my sketchbook on the bed. “It’s not like that. Not like you think anyway.”

Jordan let out a laugh. “Oh, I know exactly what it is. I just don’t get why you didn’t tell me about the bond. It’s not like I wouldn’t have found out soon.”

“I didn’t know about it until last night.”

She made a scoffing sound, but when my expression did not change, her eyes widened. “You’re serious?”

I nodded, and she frowned. “How is that possible? A blind person could tell there is something between you two. And last night . . . ” She let out a low whistle. “I’ve heard about bonding males going into a rage, but that was scary.”

“I’m sorry.” I wasn’t sure why I apologized because it wasn’t like I had caused it. Had I?

She leaned forward in the chair. “I’ll tell you something else; males don’t get worked up like that over a casual friendship.” Her eyes took on a knowing gleam. “Miss Grey, I do believe you’ve been keeping secrets. Those must be some training sessions.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I told you it’s not . . . we haven’t been . . . ”

She raised an eyebrow.

“One kiss, okay, we kissed one time.” I fell back on the bed and pulled a pillow over my face. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh, hell no!” Jordan pulled the pillow out of my hands and bounced on the bed beside me. “You do not get to say you kissed Nikolas Danshov and then leave me hanging. I want details.”

“What details? It wasn’t a date, Jordan. It was just one kiss.”

She huffed and lightly punched my shoulder. “You are a piece of work. It’s never just a kiss with a man like Nikolas. So tell me, when did it happen? What did he say? Was it as good as I think it was? Duh, never mind. Of course it was mind-blowing. Just tell me, was he wearing his sword?”

I opened an eye to stare at her. “Sword?”

“What? I have a thing for men with swords.” She wagged her eyebrows. “The bigger the sword, the better.”

I groaned and rolled away from her. There was no way I was going to tell her that Nikolas had been wearing his sword at the time. Thanks to her, I’d never look at it the same way again. Why had I ever thought it might be nice to have a girlfriend to share things with?

“Well, are you going to tell me about it?”

“Okay.” I heaved a sigh. “But don’t blame me if you’re disappointed.” I told her how Alex had burned me and Nikolas had followed me to the medical ward. “We had an argument and before I knew it, he kissed me. Then he stopped and said he didn’t mean to do it. He left and I didn’t see him again until last night.”

Jordan flopped down on her back beside me. “He kissed you in a fit of passion? That’s even better. Don’t you dare tell me you didn’t like it.”

The memory of Nikolas’s hands cradling my face as his mouth covered mine made my stomach do those funny little somersaults again. I’d never understood why other girls made such a big deal over kissing, but now I got it. Just thinking about it made my pulse jump and my breath catch in my throat. Were all kisses that amazing, or was that one special because of Nikolas?