Kyla was edgy when she came into the house. Matthew gave her a look from where he was eating a bowl of Cocoa Puffs at the kitchen counter.
“Have you gotten any dinner?” Kyla asked him.
He shrugged and kept munching on his Cocoa Puffs. Kyla sighed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you where I was going,” she apologized as she set the drawing pad she had pulled from behind the plant on the kitchen table.
Matthew eyed it for a second, then turned back to his cereal bowl.
“Caden thought he would be cute tonight and kidnap me and take me to band practice with him,” Kyla explained.
Matthew shrugged again, but he only put about half as much effort into it this time. “I knew where you were,” he said.
Kyla realized Alexa must have told him. She didn’t know why that made her uneasy.
“Do you want me to make you some real food?” she offered.
He shook his head and sipped the remainder of the now chocolate-flavored milk that was left in his bowl.
Kyla felt a little sad. She didn’t like it when her brother was closed off to her like this. She didn’t blame him for it; she just didn’t like it.
“I’m going to bed,” she told Matthew as he got down from his stool at the counter and put his dishes in the sink. She gave him a kiss on the back of his head and went up to her room with her drawing book, slipping it back in between her mattresses the second she shut the door behind her.
Kyla walked over to the window and looked out at the street for Nathaniel. Her heart sank when she didn’t see him, and then her mind started playing tricks on her, making her question if she really had seen him. Then she remembered what it felt like when he touched her and she knew she hadn’t hallucinated it. No hallucination could mimic that feeling.
She kept looking out the window anxiously, not sure if she was going to see him walking up the street or if he was out there watching her from the trees. Her heart was beating so hard in anticipation she felt like she was about to pass out from an unbalanced level of oxygen. Kyla waited there, paced around her room a little, then came back to the window and waited some more.
But Nathaniel didn’t show up.
She was crushed when she didn’t see him. She didn’t understand. She had thought surely he would be as eager to see her as she was to see him.
Kyla tried to sleep, but ended up staring at her ceiling instead for the majority of the night. She didn’t want to stay awake, but she couldn’t stop thinking about him. It wasn’t safe for her cardiac function; that was much obvious when the mere thought of Nathaniel touching her shot her blood pressure through the roof. But she just couldn’t help it. The intensity that had been there between them was so far heightened even from before, it consumed her every thought that night (as well as her heart and everything in between.)
Kyla knew if she didn’t see him soon, she might very well go out of her mind.
. . . . .
It was still up on the mountain. The heat that had beaten into it during the day dissipated that evening, making the temperature perfect and the calm night air rest coolly against Nathaniel’s skin. Not that a thing like that should matter to Nephilim like he and Caleb. They had been trained to stand watch under the harshest conditions imaginable, equipped for anything the elements could throw at them. But being up here now, Nathaniel couldn’t help but enjoy it.
The weather was just one of the many earthly things he had started to take more notice of.
After leaving Kyla on Winding Valley Road, Nathaniel and Caleb had taken up watch at the point Ethan had chosen on the mountain before he’d gone back to London and reported him to Seth. Nathaniel wasn’t going to think about that, though. Ethan’s past disloyalty was not his concern right now; watching over those who were below them on this mountain was.
“So help me understand this a little better,” Caleb said as he looked out over the valley and down at the Howell’s home. “Who exactly are the boy and his sister?”
Nathaniel resisted the urge to grimace. “Caden and Alexa Howell,” he answered. “Eli made specific mention of them in his notes; that Donovan is afraid of the boy and that the child is protected.”
Caleb nodded thoughtfully, keeping his eyes on the property. “I can see that,” he murmured, amazed at the level of angelic activity over the place. “They really don’t mess around where she’s concerned, do they?”
Nathaniel told him, “No, they don’t.”
“Do you know why?” Caleb asked him.
Nathaniel was thoughtful before he answered him. “She has extraordinary gifting. Possibly even more than we have seen.”
Caleb looked at him. “You think she might be more than a seer?”
“I’m not sure,” Nathaniel said. “But I can’t say I would be surprised to learn that she was more. It’s difficult to put into words, what it feels like to be near her. She is…exceptionally powerful.”
Caleb looked intrigued.
“As far as I can see it,” Nathaniel explained, “each of them has something we need; something in the way of the…abilities they carry. Not a single one of them is normal.”
“Okay,” Caleb said, analyzing the situation, “so we know the little girl is a seer. What’s the deal with this Caden guy?”
Nathaniel didn’t fight back his grimace this time. “I’m not sure,” he said flatly. “But if it’s enough to make Donovan afraid…”
Caleb finished the thought, “Then it’s gotta be important.”
Nathaniel nodded, agitated by the idea. He hated needing Caden Howell. He hated not knowing why they even did.
“And his relation to Kyla?” Caleb asked him.
Nathaniel flinched and Caleb knew he’d struck a nerve.
“He’s her best friend,” Nathaniel replied robotically. “They grew up together.”
Caleb analyzed his brother’s expression (or lack thereof) and a sly, curious smile started to rise on his face. He looked back at Caden’s bedroom, but he didn’t say another word about whatever he was thinking. It irritated Nathaniel a great deal, too. He would rather Caleb just come out with it than think things in his head without verbalizing them to him.
“So what’s the plan?” Caleb asked him.
Nathaniel re-emphasized, “We are here for two purposes; to protect Kyla and the Howell’s, (while gathering as much new information as we can about them) and to lay low and out of sight.”
That was what he told him, but in his mind, Nathaniel also remembered Aria’s key. He knew he had another purpose here that he hadn’t uncovered yet; he just didn’t know what it was or how to find it. And until he knew, he wasn’t going to bring Caleb into it. His purpose for bringing his brother to Woodland Park in the first place was to keep him from danger, not to throw him right back into it.
“I meant the plan about your uncle,” Caleb said.
Nathaniel sighed. He knew they would have to deal with Howard Blake in the morning, and he really wasn’t looking forward to that. “We’ll need to take care of that, too,” he said. “For tonight, we stay on watch.”
Caleb groaned dramatically. “I hate nightwatch.”
Nathaniel smirked at him a little. “I suppose I could have left you back in London to take your chances with the witches that are trying to kill you.”
“Point taken,” Caleb said. Then he settled himself in as best he could, putting his hands behind his head and fixing his sight below. “So when do I get to meet her?” he asked Nathaniel.
“Not yet,” Nathaniel told him. “I need to take it easy on her, try to gain her trust again. The last time we were together before tonight was slightly…traumatic.”
Caleb contemplated that for a moment and Nathaniel could tell there were wheels turning in his brain. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what his brother was thinking, so he didn’t ask. Nathaniel just stayed with him on watch and wondered, wishing he could go back to Kyla like he knew she expected him to, but knowing when he did that he would have to explain.
That was something Nathaniel just wasn’t ready for.
. . . . .
It was a slow afternoon in the coffee shop. The customers were in a bad mood because of the heat, Kyla’s manager, Morgan, was in a bad mood because Cody wasn’t proving to be as great of a hire as they’d hoped, and Kyla was in a bad mood because she hadn’t seen Nathaniel last night after their rendezvous on Winding Valley Road. Instead she was stuck here cleaning up after Cody and correcting him on everything he did wrong. Genius as the kid was at music, coffee was not his forte.
When Morgan got frustrated enough with him, she passed him off to Kyla, forcing her to drop whatever she was supposed to be doing and try and get across to him what her manager was unable to. Kyla wasn’t happy about the arrangement, but she did it because she wanted Cody to succeed at this. After all, she was the one who convinced Morgan he’d be able to pull it off. She also loved the kid…even if he did suck at pulling shots and steaming milk.
It was as Kyla was explaining to Cody for the third time how to correctly make a half-calf vanilla white mocha soy latte (which he’d just botched on their last customer) when the bell on the door chimed to announce the entrance of a new one. Two new ones actually; Melissa and Alexa Howell.
Kyla beamed when she saw them come in. Walking around the counter to greet them, she gave them each a hug, and as soon as Melissa spotted Cody behind her, she insisted that he do the same.
“Don’t you make me come back there, Cody Fletcher!” she threatened him in a completely unintimidating, motherly way. Melissa was good at that.
After giving Cody a huge bear hug and doting on him for longer than he was comfortable with, Melissa turned back to Kyla and told her how wonderful it was to have her over again last night. “I miss the days when all of you kids would live at our house during the summer.”
Kyla felt uneasy remembering last night, and also remembering last summer. She wasn’t sure which made her feel more nervous.
“My vote is for another one of those crazy band pool parties you always used to throw,” Melissa said.
Cody agreed with her readily, but Kyla forgot to. She was too distracted being pulled even deeper into her memory of last night, of splashing in the pool with Caden…of everything that happened after.
Alexa didn’t say a word, just stared at her. It made Kyla uncomfortable enough that she walked back behind the counter and asked them, “What can I get for you ladies?”
Melissa told her she wanted a non fat mocha latte with extra whipped cream and Kyla smiled to herself. She loved that woman so much.
“What do you want, honey?” Melissa asked her daughter.
Alexa pointed to a giant sugar cookie with pink frosting and white icing drizzle in the pastry case. They called them “Princess Cookies” and nine times out of ten, that was what little girls Alexa’s age would always order.
I guess she isn’t entirely abnormal, Kyla thought to herself as she pulled the most heavily frosted Princess Cookie she could find from the case.
She felt a little bad for thinking that and knew she really shouldn’t be. She loved Alexa…she really did. Kyla might not have understood her, but she loved her just the same. So what if the girl wasn’t normal. What was normal in Kyla’s life anymore?
“Do you have Melissa’s drink?” Kyla asked Cody.
He insisted he was on it, but when Kyla saw him making it wrong, she shot Melissa a worried look and rushed over to help him. Melissa just giggled and rummaged through her purse for her wallet. When Kyla saved the fat free mocha, Cody slunk dejectedly to the backroom to help Morgan stock the shelves. It was about the only thing he couldn’t mess up (though at that point Kyla wouldn’t have put it past him.)
Melissa talked in a hushed voice with her hand on Alexa’s head as she happily munched on her cookie (which had temporarily distracted her from giving Kyla unsettling looks.) “He looks miserable,” Melissa whispered.
Kyla sighed and dropped dramatically over the counter. “I need out of here!” she said in a voice muffled by the arm in front of her face.
Melissa laughed. “When are you off?” she asked her.
“Three hours and twenty-two minutes until I’m free to go run,” Kyla answered without even thinking about it.
“Not that you’re counting,” Melissa said sarcastically.
Kyla smiled at her. “No, never,” she said.
Melissa shook her head. “I don’t understand how anyone could be disciplined enough to run like you do.”
Kyla sighed. “Trust me,” she said, “it takes more discipline for me not to.”
Melissa shook her head at the thought. “So where are you running tonight?” she asked her.
Kyla leaned against the counter. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I’m kind of sick of all my usual places, so I was thinking of running the Red Rocks/Dakota Ridge loop.”
Alexa stopped nibbling on her cookie, looking thoughtful again for a moment, but she didn’t say anything.
“Haven’t been there in a while?” Melissa asked.
“No, not really,” Kyla admitted. She had spent the past year trying to stay away from the places that reminded her too much of Caden, but now that he was back, there wasn’t really a point to that anymore. She figured she may as well get back to running her favorite trails.
“You just be careful,” Melissa told her. “I still say you’re too pretty to run alone.”
Kyla tried to play the last comment off like it was no big deal, but there was too much truth to Melissa’s observation; at least the danger part of it. Not that her being intercepted and attacked but subhuman creatures with wings had anything to do with her being “pretty.”
Melissa called goodbye to Cody where he was still in the back room with Morgan, and they saw an arm reach out and wave.
Kyla smiled. “Hopefully I will see you soon?” she said before the two of them left.
“I insist on it,” Melissa told her.
As the Howell women walked out the front door with their goodies in hand, Kyla couldn’t help but question the peculiar look she had seen in Alexa’s eyes. She wrote it off once they were gone, concluding that as nice as she had tried to be about it earlier, she had been right in her first assumption: Nothing about Alexa Howell was normal.
. . . . .
The morning after their nightwatch on the mountain, Caleb and Nathaniel approached Howard Blake. Just as Nathaniel had suspected, his uncle was less than thrilled to see his distant nephew, which made the situation uncomfortable, but not impossible. They told Howard they were on summer break from school and passing through (though they failed to mention to or from where) and that they wanted to do some rock-climbing in the area. They asked Uncle Howard if they could crash at his place for a few nights, and though he was reluctant, the man agreed to it begrudgingly (which was the only way he ever agreed to anything.)
Caleb and Nathaniel gave each other a look when Howard left the room, the same idea striking them both, that they needed to scope the place out and discern if there were any Nephilim lurking around or keeping watch on the place that they would do well to avoid. Thus far, Nathaniel had no reason to believe that Donovan was privy to his location, but with that one, he knew he could never be too careful.
As soon as Howard retreated back to his study where he spent most of his days here, Nathaniel told Caleb under his breath, “You stay here. I’m running the perimeter.”
Caleb wanted to protest; that much was evident in his eyes, but Nathaniel gave him a warning glare and he shrunk back.
Making sure his uncle was safely in his study and that his groundskeeper, Miguel, was nowhere in sight, Nathaniel slipped out the window of his room completely undetected. Being that it was broad daylight, he didn’t expect to find anything, and he didn’t. As it appeared, no one had become aware of his hiding place here. It was actually a bit strange to him. He had hardly been as subtle about it as he knew he should have been, bringing Kyla back here with him on multiple occasions (be it for the purpose of bandaging her up when she was broken or just being as close to her as he could.) Nathaniel thought of the night Ethan told him Donovan and Balak were watching him with Kyla and he wondered how they could have missed where he had ended up since he had gone straight back to the estate.
Then he thought of Aria.
If she really was protecting him like she claimed, she could have shielded him from their sight at that point. Nathaniel reached into his pocket and pulled out the key she had given him in London. He had to know what this was about. Keeping Caleb safe was obviously his priority, (and Kyla after him) but still, he had to know what else he was doing here. He had to know how much truth there was to what Aria had told him.
Nathaniel made a bitter face at the thought. As if an angel would lie…
Then he thought of the Watchers, of his father, and he determined that they absolutely could.
But not an angel like Aria.
“What am I doing here?” Nathaniel said out loud. As he asked the question, Aria’s words came back to his memory.
To fight for the future, you must go back to your past. You cannot keep hiding from it and expect to stay alive. If you don’t stop running, you will never find the key that will win this battle, and then everything you have fought for, everything you have done will be completely in vain.
Nathaniel furrowed his brow, frustrated. As far as he knew, this was the only place he had that tied him to his past, and he had found nothing here so far. “What were you talking about?” he asked out loud again, feeling foolish directing the question at someone who wasn’t even there.
Nathaniel didn’t get an answer. He didn’t expect to, but for some reason he couldn’t get his mother’s face out of his mind. It irritated him, having to see it. He didn’t like remembering her face. Seeing it made him feel too many things he didn’t want to feel, so he shoved it away and went back to the estate where Caleb was waiting for him.
When Nathaniel got back to Falcon’s Rest, he found Caleb lying on his back on the bed he had claimed. Nathaniel came in through the window and Caleb spun around and stood to his feet. “Anything?” he asked anxiously.
Nathaniel told him, “We’re clear.”
“So what’s our next move?” Caleb asked.
“Your next move is to stay put,” Nathaniel said. “Mine is to find Kyla.”
Caleb wrinkled his nose and scowled. He wasn’t good at staying put.
. . . . .
Kyla drove out to the trail that ran through Red Rock Canyon, nostalgia sweeping over her the second she stepped out of the car. She didn’t know why she didn’t come here more often; it was so full of incredible memories for her. Mostly memories of running out here in the grueling heat with her Cross Country team, and quite a few of just her and Caden before everything had gotten so painful and complicated between them.
That was when Kyla remembered why she didn’t come here anymore. It hurt her to remember the happy things.
It wasn’t that she and Caden weren’t working everything out now and that she didn’t have him back; it just wasn’t the same. There was always that lingering fear that he would leave her again, or if he didn’t leave, that she would lose him in some way. But then, Kyla had that fear over everyone she loved. She had for two years.
Balancing precariously as she stretched her quads before she ran, Kyla was startled by a voice that she didn’t expect to hear, enough that she almost fell over.
“Hey,” the voice said from behind her.
She spun around quickly to see who it was; not that she needed visual confirmation to recognize that voice. “What are you doing here?” she asked Caden.
He was standing in front of her in his running clothes like the presumptuous little punk that he was. And he was smiling.
“What?” he asked her teasingly. “You really think I’d let you come to the Red Rocks without me?”
Kyla’s heart swelled at the sight of his smile. It was a real one; the kind she’d hardly seen since Caden had been home.
“Alexa told me you were coming here,” he said. “And given recent events, I thought you could use a bodyguard.”
So that explained the girl’s contemplative look in the coffee shop that afternoon. Kyla shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she muttered.
Caden didn’t respond to that, he just kept smiling. “So we doin’ the whole loop?” he asked her.
“You better believe it,” Kyla told him. “And you better start stretching now, ‘cause I’m not slowing down to wait for you!”
Caden laughed. “You sound mighty sure of yourself for someone who got beat last time she ran this trail with me.”
“I had a twisted ankle!” Kyla protested.
Caden rolled his eyes just to make her mad. “Sure, James, whatever you say.”
Kyla scowled and threw back at him, “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and show me what you got?” And the two of them took off running.
They both started out much too fast (like they usually did) and then about a half-mile into it, they settled into their pace. It was hot out; a whole lot hotter than most people knew Colorado could get. But being this high up in the mountains put them that much closer to the sun, which was absolutely brutal on their skin. Kyla had never been able to take the heat. That was why it didn’t surprise Caden when she ripped off her tank top and tucked it into the back of her running shorts. She had been doing that as long as they had been spending their summers running together.
Caden teased her by yanking her tank top out of the back of her shorts and she grabbed it back and swatted his legs with it. He didn’t fight back; he just laughed. It felt amazing being able to laugh with him again, just like it had last night in the pool. Kyla really couldn’t get over it.
They took a break amidst the oddly shaped rocks that had coined this place its name, stretching their legs as a happy nostalgic feeling swept them up in their memories of the past.
“Remember when we used to play hide and seek here?” Caden asked her.
Kyla gave him a look. “How could I ever forget that?” she asked. “I beat you every time.”
“Not every time,” he corrected her. “I believe there was a day in the summer before we started the fifth grade where I successfully threw a black mark on your record.”
“I totally let you win that day,” Kyla argued. “You had just had to put your dog down the night before and I felt bad for you.”
Caden frowned. “You did not. I won that fair and square.”
Kyla shoved him and he stumbled a step or two before he caught himself and pulled his leg back behind him to keep stretching. Caden laughed and then his smile faded a little as he contemplated something.
“I really miss that dog,” he said. “I miss all of it…what things used to be like.”
That hit her deeper than she wanted it to. “I miss it too,” she said softly.
Caden must have heard some kind of pain in her voice, because he quickly said, “Hey, none of that. We’re here now and that’s what matters.”
She tried to tell herself he was right, but she couldn’t feel the same way he did; not when she knew everything that had happened…all the things he didn’t know. Not when she knew how different everything was now.
The truth was, Kyla didn’t know if things could ever go back to the way they were, because it wouldn’t ever just be the two of them again. And as much as she had wanted that at one point, Kyla couldn’t bring herself to want that anymore.
Not when that would mean her not having Nathaniel.
She got up quickly, not wanting to continue this discussion or even those thoughts, and she started running back on the trail. Caden chased after her and they pushed themselves on the last few miles to the point that she almost collapsed when they got back to the cars. Then Kyla almost collapsed for an entirely different reason.
There, standing by the Civic waiting for her and looking more than surprised at the sight of the boy beside her, was Nathaniel.
. . . . . .
Caden could have killed him. He realized that when fury hit him at the sight of Nathaniel Blake; fury he wasn’t expecting to feel. But it came on him so fast he couldn’t even stop it. It was a reflex reaction, his stepping forward to confront him, but Kyla jerked him back quickly before he could take another. Caden’s eyes darted over to her fiercely, and when he saw her face he realized she already knew that Nathaniel was back. She had already seen him. Something about it made Caden feel betrayed. He wasn’t even sure if it was fair of him to feel that way, but he really didn’t care about fair right now.
“Caden, don’t,” Kyla said. She was afraid, no doubt remembering the last time he and Nathaniel had seen each other, but Caden’s adrenaline was so jacked up that he almost couldn’t care about that either.
Kyla turned to Nathaniel sharply and asked him, “What are you doing here?” It came out harsher than she seemed to mean for it to, and it surprised Nathaniel as well.
“I’m sorry,” he told her. “I thought you would be alone.”
Kyla looked panicked, and she wasn’t letting go of Caden (not that he couldn’t have broken out of her hold if he wanted to.) He figured he had better play along for the moment and restrain himself as much as he could if he wanted to find out what was really going on here. Throwing punches wasn’t going to get him answers, and in this instance there was a good chance it could get him killed. But he still couldn’t stop himself from throwing out, “Yeah, like I would ever let her be alone after…”
Kyla cut him off. “Caden! I mean it. Stop.”
Caden was burning. As much as his words should have provoked Nathaniel, he didn’t look provoked. He just kept his eyes fixed on Kyla. He seemed concerned and apologetic, and Caden couldn’t figure out why.
“I shouldn’t have come here,” he told her. “I’m sorry.”
Kyla’s eyes softened in a desperation Caden had seen in her before. She didn’t want him to leave, but she was holding back from saying it out loud, probably for his benefit. The thought infuriated him. She looked torn, but Caden didn’t care. He grabbed her and pulled her away from Nathaniel on protective instinct, and instead of reacting to the gesture violently like Caden expected him to, Nathaniel looked completely defeated. He didn’t take offense to Caden pulling her away from him; his strength just seemed to falter and he looked weakened by it instead. Nathaniel didn’t even say a word to him; he just dropped his head and turned away from them, getting back on the Ducati he had come here on (which only made Caden hate him that much more.)
That was confusing, but Caden didn’t waste his time questioning Nathaniel’s emotional state of being. He just waited until he was gone and then turned to Kyla and questioned her.
“How did he know you would be here?” he demanded.
Kyla looked frightened, but she didn’t answer him.
“Kyla, how did he know?”
Finally she blurted out, “I don’t know!”
Caden clenched his fists. “Great,” he said. “Now he’s stalking you?”
Kyla tried to defend him and Caden flashed her a look. “If I let you leave, you’ll go after him, won’t you?” he accused her.
She pressed her lips together, but she didn’t deny it. It felt about as good as a kidney punch. “Fine,” he said, giving into his anger. “Go.”
Kyla looked at him, confused. “Go after him!” he told her, waving his hand in the direction Nathaniel had left.
Kyla bit her lip and looked up the highway, then she turned back to Caden. He wouldn’t look at her; he couldn’t. He felt too betrayed.
Kyla didn’t say another word to him; she just got in the Civic and drove away. And once she was out of sight, Caden halfway collapsed, resting his hands on his legs and doubling over so he could breathe. But even then, he was hardly able to, and it wasn’t the six miles they had just run together. It was his best friend. It was Nathaniel Blake. It was the feeling he couldn’t shake that he was going to lose her.
. . . . .
Kyla couldn’t decide whether she had made the right decision to leave Caden back at the Red Rocks. It was stupid, and on a trust level it probably set her back miles with her best friend, but she was so out of her mind desperate to see Nathaniel that that logic couldn’t find her in the moment when Caden had told her to leave.
Now that she was driving back in the direction of Woodland Park (with the full intention of heading straight to the Blake Estate) Kyla rethought the move. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel nervously, unable to decide what to do. Then finally she turned onto Paradise Circle and headed back home, determining that she would make her decision there.
Just in case running back to Nathaniel right now proves to be a horrendous mistake, she thought. There was a good chance of that. And yet Kyla still had a difficult time convincing herself that this should dissuade her.
She played through both scenarios in her mind; driving up to Falcon’s Rest to see Nathaniel and calling Caden to apologize to him and ask him to come over. But when Kyla pulled onto Ponderosa, her decision was made for her when she saw the gorgeous blonde on the midnight black Ducati waiting for her up the road.
Her heart crashed into her chest at the sight of Nathaniel, and quicker than she saw him, any and all thoughts and concerns she had about Caden fled from her quickly along with it. She scrambled to get out of the car, knowing she looked anything but smooth doing it, but right now, Kyla couldn’t have cared less. She just had to get to him.
Nathaniel had parked the bike enough of a distance up the road that she would be able to see him, but so that Matthew and Loni wouldn’t. He was waiting for her, though; that much was obvious. It was also what had Kyla scrambling to reach him as fast as was humanly possible.
She ran at first, but the closer she got to him, the more she slowed down. She didn’t mean to; being near to him again was just so overwhelming that the awe of it hit her every time she ever was.
She was also afraid after their encounter at Red Rock Canyon.
The sky was dusked, making it difficult for her to see his eyes clearly, but that didn’t inhibit her ability to read him at all.
He looked easily as nervous as she was as he told her, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to show up like that. I didn’t know you were with him…” He sounded frustrated by his own stupidity and irritated on the last sentence.
“I didn’t know I would be,” Kyla said. “He just showed up.”
Nathaniel furrowed his brow. “I should have been more careful.”
Kyla stepped up to him and put a hand on his arm. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s better that he knows you’re here.”
Nathaniel looked at her. “How can that possibly be better?”
Kyla tilted her head a little. “Well for one,” she said, “it’s one less thing I have to lie to him about.”
She saw the tension come into his face and realized how selfish that was to their purpose. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know that’s petty.”
Nathaniel shook his head, cringing like he felt guilty. “No, it’s not,” he said. He looked tortured over something and Kyla wasn’t sure what it was. It took him a moment before he was able to look at her, much less speak again. “I’m sorry…” Nathaniel finally said.
“For what?” Kyla asked him.
He sneered at her in disgust even though she wasn’t the one he was disgusted with. “For this,” he said. “For everything. For ever putting you in this position in the first place.”
“It wasn’t like you tried to,” Kyla said. “It just happened. It’s not your fault that I’m in this, Nathaniel.”
“How do you know that?” he threw back at her. “What if there was something I could have done to stop it?”
“Cut it out,” she said firmly. “I don’t want to hear it anymore. We’ve already been over this. If I wanted out, I wouldn’t be here with you right now, and that is my decision to make.”
Her hand on his arm was burning from its contact with his skin. Nathaniel’s eyes darted down to it and she knew he could feel it too. “Kyla…” he started to say. He slid his other hand along her shoulders and slowly to the back of her head when his eyes darted up behind her and he dropped his hand quickly.
It was Matthew.
Kyla didn’t know how he had seen them, but somehow he had realized that she and Nathaniel were out here. She knew this because he was now making his way up the road toward them with an unhappy, very set look on his face.
That wasn’t like her brother.
Kyla stepped back from Nathaniel and swallowed nervously. “What are you doing out here?” she asked him.
Matthew didn’t look at her. He kept his gaze fixed on Nathaniel, but he didn’t say a word to him. Luckily Nathaniel broke the awkward silence by extending a hand to him.
“You must be Matthew,” he said. “I’m Nathaniel.”
Matthew reluctantly shook his hand, but he kept looking at him suspiciously. Then Kyla watched as something happened; something she didn’t understand. Matthew’s countenance started to change as he looked at Nathaniel, and where he had been angry before, he began to look confused. Whatever it was about, it upset him, and he pulled his hand back quickly. It surprised Kyla a little because the move was so abrupt. Clearly, something was really disturbing him, and for her life, Kyla couldn’t imagine what it was. Even Nathaniel didn’t seem to know.
Turning toward his sister, Matthew said, “I need your help inside.”
She didn’t know if it was just an excuse or if that would even matter at this point. Kyla had to do whatever she could to get Matthew away from Nathaniel. Bringing her little brother this close to her silver-winged hero was not something she was comfortable with, and it wasn’t even until that moment that she realized she felt that way. Her keeping them apart all this time was her way of unconsciously protecting Matthew, but now with the two of them face to face, Kyla was terrified. It wasn’t just about what Matthew might see in Nathaniel, either. It was also the thought of having that wall breached that she didn’t even realize she’d set up. Kyla knew that Nathaniel would never knowingly endanger Matthew or even let anything happen to him. But even in her knowing that, she couldn’t take the risk.
She would never risk her little brother. Not for anything.
“I’ll be right there,” she tried to tell Matthew, but he was forceful in his response.
“I’d rather you come with me now,” he said.
Nathaniel nodded to Kyla to let her know it was okay, and she looked at him apologetically before she turned to go back inside with Matthew.
Kyla was frustrated that they had been interrupted again. It was about to drive her mad, not being able to talk to Nathaniel…not being able to be close to him.
Soon, Kyla told herself as she walked away. You’ll be alone with him soon.
“Have you gotten any dinner?” Kyla asked him.
He shrugged and kept munching on his Cocoa Puffs. Kyla sighed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you where I was going,” she apologized as she set the drawing pad she had pulled from behind the plant on the kitchen table.
Matthew eyed it for a second, then turned back to his cereal bowl.
“Caden thought he would be cute tonight and kidnap me and take me to band practice with him,” Kyla explained.
Matthew shrugged again, but he only put about half as much effort into it this time. “I knew where you were,” he said.
Kyla realized Alexa must have told him. She didn’t know why that made her uneasy.
“Do you want me to make you some real food?” she offered.
He shook his head and sipped the remainder of the now chocolate-flavored milk that was left in his bowl.
Kyla felt a little sad. She didn’t like it when her brother was closed off to her like this. She didn’t blame him for it; she just didn’t like it.
“I’m going to bed,” she told Matthew as he got down from his stool at the counter and put his dishes in the sink. She gave him a kiss on the back of his head and went up to her room with her drawing book, slipping it back in between her mattresses the second she shut the door behind her.
Kyla walked over to the window and looked out at the street for Nathaniel. Her heart sank when she didn’t see him, and then her mind started playing tricks on her, making her question if she really had seen him. Then she remembered what it felt like when he touched her and she knew she hadn’t hallucinated it. No hallucination could mimic that feeling.
She kept looking out the window anxiously, not sure if she was going to see him walking up the street or if he was out there watching her from the trees. Her heart was beating so hard in anticipation she felt like she was about to pass out from an unbalanced level of oxygen. Kyla waited there, paced around her room a little, then came back to the window and waited some more.
But Nathaniel didn’t show up.
She was crushed when she didn’t see him. She didn’t understand. She had thought surely he would be as eager to see her as she was to see him.
Kyla tried to sleep, but ended up staring at her ceiling instead for the majority of the night. She didn’t want to stay awake, but she couldn’t stop thinking about him. It wasn’t safe for her cardiac function; that was much obvious when the mere thought of Nathaniel touching her shot her blood pressure through the roof. But she just couldn’t help it. The intensity that had been there between them was so far heightened even from before, it consumed her every thought that night (as well as her heart and everything in between.)
Kyla knew if she didn’t see him soon, she might very well go out of her mind.
. . . . .
It was still up on the mountain. The heat that had beaten into it during the day dissipated that evening, making the temperature perfect and the calm night air rest coolly against Nathaniel’s skin. Not that a thing like that should matter to Nephilim like he and Caleb. They had been trained to stand watch under the harshest conditions imaginable, equipped for anything the elements could throw at them. But being up here now, Nathaniel couldn’t help but enjoy it.
The weather was just one of the many earthly things he had started to take more notice of.
After leaving Kyla on Winding Valley Road, Nathaniel and Caleb had taken up watch at the point Ethan had chosen on the mountain before he’d gone back to London and reported him to Seth. Nathaniel wasn’t going to think about that, though. Ethan’s past disloyalty was not his concern right now; watching over those who were below them on this mountain was.
“So help me understand this a little better,” Caleb said as he looked out over the valley and down at the Howell’s home. “Who exactly are the boy and his sister?”
Nathaniel resisted the urge to grimace. “Caden and Alexa Howell,” he answered. “Eli made specific mention of them in his notes; that Donovan is afraid of the boy and that the child is protected.”
Caleb nodded thoughtfully, keeping his eyes on the property. “I can see that,” he murmured, amazed at the level of angelic activity over the place. “They really don’t mess around where she’s concerned, do they?”
Nathaniel told him, “No, they don’t.”
“Do you know why?” Caleb asked him.
Nathaniel was thoughtful before he answered him. “She has extraordinary gifting. Possibly even more than we have seen.”
Caleb looked at him. “You think she might be more than a seer?”
“I’m not sure,” Nathaniel said. “But I can’t say I would be surprised to learn that she was more. It’s difficult to put into words, what it feels like to be near her. She is…exceptionally powerful.”
Caleb looked intrigued.
“As far as I can see it,” Nathaniel explained, “each of them has something we need; something in the way of the…abilities they carry. Not a single one of them is normal.”
“Okay,” Caleb said, analyzing the situation, “so we know the little girl is a seer. What’s the deal with this Caden guy?”
Nathaniel didn’t fight back his grimace this time. “I’m not sure,” he said flatly. “But if it’s enough to make Donovan afraid…”
Caleb finished the thought, “Then it’s gotta be important.”
Nathaniel nodded, agitated by the idea. He hated needing Caden Howell. He hated not knowing why they even did.
“And his relation to Kyla?” Caleb asked him.
Nathaniel flinched and Caleb knew he’d struck a nerve.
“He’s her best friend,” Nathaniel replied robotically. “They grew up together.”
Caleb analyzed his brother’s expression (or lack thereof) and a sly, curious smile started to rise on his face. He looked back at Caden’s bedroom, but he didn’t say another word about whatever he was thinking. It irritated Nathaniel a great deal, too. He would rather Caleb just come out with it than think things in his head without verbalizing them to him.
“So what’s the plan?” Caleb asked him.
Nathaniel re-emphasized, “We are here for two purposes; to protect Kyla and the Howell’s, (while gathering as much new information as we can about them) and to lay low and out of sight.”
That was what he told him, but in his mind, Nathaniel also remembered Aria’s key. He knew he had another purpose here that he hadn’t uncovered yet; he just didn’t know what it was or how to find it. And until he knew, he wasn’t going to bring Caleb into it. His purpose for bringing his brother to Woodland Park in the first place was to keep him from danger, not to throw him right back into it.
“I meant the plan about your uncle,” Caleb said.
Nathaniel sighed. He knew they would have to deal with Howard Blake in the morning, and he really wasn’t looking forward to that. “We’ll need to take care of that, too,” he said. “For tonight, we stay on watch.”
Caleb groaned dramatically. “I hate nightwatch.”
Nathaniel smirked at him a little. “I suppose I could have left you back in London to take your chances with the witches that are trying to kill you.”
“Point taken,” Caleb said. Then he settled himself in as best he could, putting his hands behind his head and fixing his sight below. “So when do I get to meet her?” he asked Nathaniel.
“Not yet,” Nathaniel told him. “I need to take it easy on her, try to gain her trust again. The last time we were together before tonight was slightly…traumatic.”
Caleb contemplated that for a moment and Nathaniel could tell there were wheels turning in his brain. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what his brother was thinking, so he didn’t ask. Nathaniel just stayed with him on watch and wondered, wishing he could go back to Kyla like he knew she expected him to, but knowing when he did that he would have to explain.
That was something Nathaniel just wasn’t ready for.
. . . . .
It was a slow afternoon in the coffee shop. The customers were in a bad mood because of the heat, Kyla’s manager, Morgan, was in a bad mood because Cody wasn’t proving to be as great of a hire as they’d hoped, and Kyla was in a bad mood because she hadn’t seen Nathaniel last night after their rendezvous on Winding Valley Road. Instead she was stuck here cleaning up after Cody and correcting him on everything he did wrong. Genius as the kid was at music, coffee was not his forte.
When Morgan got frustrated enough with him, she passed him off to Kyla, forcing her to drop whatever she was supposed to be doing and try and get across to him what her manager was unable to. Kyla wasn’t happy about the arrangement, but she did it because she wanted Cody to succeed at this. After all, she was the one who convinced Morgan he’d be able to pull it off. She also loved the kid…even if he did suck at pulling shots and steaming milk.
It was as Kyla was explaining to Cody for the third time how to correctly make a half-calf vanilla white mocha soy latte (which he’d just botched on their last customer) when the bell on the door chimed to announce the entrance of a new one. Two new ones actually; Melissa and Alexa Howell.
Kyla beamed when she saw them come in. Walking around the counter to greet them, she gave them each a hug, and as soon as Melissa spotted Cody behind her, she insisted that he do the same.
“Don’t you make me come back there, Cody Fletcher!” she threatened him in a completely unintimidating, motherly way. Melissa was good at that.
After giving Cody a huge bear hug and doting on him for longer than he was comfortable with, Melissa turned back to Kyla and told her how wonderful it was to have her over again last night. “I miss the days when all of you kids would live at our house during the summer.”
Kyla felt uneasy remembering last night, and also remembering last summer. She wasn’t sure which made her feel more nervous.
“My vote is for another one of those crazy band pool parties you always used to throw,” Melissa said.
Cody agreed with her readily, but Kyla forgot to. She was too distracted being pulled even deeper into her memory of last night, of splashing in the pool with Caden…of everything that happened after.
Alexa didn’t say a word, just stared at her. It made Kyla uncomfortable enough that she walked back behind the counter and asked them, “What can I get for you ladies?”
Melissa told her she wanted a non fat mocha latte with extra whipped cream and Kyla smiled to herself. She loved that woman so much.
“What do you want, honey?” Melissa asked her daughter.
Alexa pointed to a giant sugar cookie with pink frosting and white icing drizzle in the pastry case. They called them “Princess Cookies” and nine times out of ten, that was what little girls Alexa’s age would always order.
I guess she isn’t entirely abnormal, Kyla thought to herself as she pulled the most heavily frosted Princess Cookie she could find from the case.
She felt a little bad for thinking that and knew she really shouldn’t be. She loved Alexa…she really did. Kyla might not have understood her, but she loved her just the same. So what if the girl wasn’t normal. What was normal in Kyla’s life anymore?
“Do you have Melissa’s drink?” Kyla asked Cody.
He insisted he was on it, but when Kyla saw him making it wrong, she shot Melissa a worried look and rushed over to help him. Melissa just giggled and rummaged through her purse for her wallet. When Kyla saved the fat free mocha, Cody slunk dejectedly to the backroom to help Morgan stock the shelves. It was about the only thing he couldn’t mess up (though at that point Kyla wouldn’t have put it past him.)
Melissa talked in a hushed voice with her hand on Alexa’s head as she happily munched on her cookie (which had temporarily distracted her from giving Kyla unsettling looks.) “He looks miserable,” Melissa whispered.
Kyla sighed and dropped dramatically over the counter. “I need out of here!” she said in a voice muffled by the arm in front of her face.
Melissa laughed. “When are you off?” she asked her.
“Three hours and twenty-two minutes until I’m free to go run,” Kyla answered without even thinking about it.
“Not that you’re counting,” Melissa said sarcastically.
Kyla smiled at her. “No, never,” she said.
Melissa shook her head. “I don’t understand how anyone could be disciplined enough to run like you do.”
Kyla sighed. “Trust me,” she said, “it takes more discipline for me not to.”
Melissa shook her head at the thought. “So where are you running tonight?” she asked her.
Kyla leaned against the counter. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I’m kind of sick of all my usual places, so I was thinking of running the Red Rocks/Dakota Ridge loop.”
Alexa stopped nibbling on her cookie, looking thoughtful again for a moment, but she didn’t say anything.
“Haven’t been there in a while?” Melissa asked.
“No, not really,” Kyla admitted. She had spent the past year trying to stay away from the places that reminded her too much of Caden, but now that he was back, there wasn’t really a point to that anymore. She figured she may as well get back to running her favorite trails.
“You just be careful,” Melissa told her. “I still say you’re too pretty to run alone.”
Kyla tried to play the last comment off like it was no big deal, but there was too much truth to Melissa’s observation; at least the danger part of it. Not that her being intercepted and attacked but subhuman creatures with wings had anything to do with her being “pretty.”
Melissa called goodbye to Cody where he was still in the back room with Morgan, and they saw an arm reach out and wave.
Kyla smiled. “Hopefully I will see you soon?” she said before the two of them left.
“I insist on it,” Melissa told her.
As the Howell women walked out the front door with their goodies in hand, Kyla couldn’t help but question the peculiar look she had seen in Alexa’s eyes. She wrote it off once they were gone, concluding that as nice as she had tried to be about it earlier, she had been right in her first assumption: Nothing about Alexa Howell was normal.
. . . . .
The morning after their nightwatch on the mountain, Caleb and Nathaniel approached Howard Blake. Just as Nathaniel had suspected, his uncle was less than thrilled to see his distant nephew, which made the situation uncomfortable, but not impossible. They told Howard they were on summer break from school and passing through (though they failed to mention to or from where) and that they wanted to do some rock-climbing in the area. They asked Uncle Howard if they could crash at his place for a few nights, and though he was reluctant, the man agreed to it begrudgingly (which was the only way he ever agreed to anything.)
Caleb and Nathaniel gave each other a look when Howard left the room, the same idea striking them both, that they needed to scope the place out and discern if there were any Nephilim lurking around or keeping watch on the place that they would do well to avoid. Thus far, Nathaniel had no reason to believe that Donovan was privy to his location, but with that one, he knew he could never be too careful.
As soon as Howard retreated back to his study where he spent most of his days here, Nathaniel told Caleb under his breath, “You stay here. I’m running the perimeter.”
Caleb wanted to protest; that much was evident in his eyes, but Nathaniel gave him a warning glare and he shrunk back.
Making sure his uncle was safely in his study and that his groundskeeper, Miguel, was nowhere in sight, Nathaniel slipped out the window of his room completely undetected. Being that it was broad daylight, he didn’t expect to find anything, and he didn’t. As it appeared, no one had become aware of his hiding place here. It was actually a bit strange to him. He had hardly been as subtle about it as he knew he should have been, bringing Kyla back here with him on multiple occasions (be it for the purpose of bandaging her up when she was broken or just being as close to her as he could.) Nathaniel thought of the night Ethan told him Donovan and Balak were watching him with Kyla and he wondered how they could have missed where he had ended up since he had gone straight back to the estate.
Then he thought of Aria.
If she really was protecting him like she claimed, she could have shielded him from their sight at that point. Nathaniel reached into his pocket and pulled out the key she had given him in London. He had to know what this was about. Keeping Caleb safe was obviously his priority, (and Kyla after him) but still, he had to know what else he was doing here. He had to know how much truth there was to what Aria had told him.
Nathaniel made a bitter face at the thought. As if an angel would lie…
Then he thought of the Watchers, of his father, and he determined that they absolutely could.
But not an angel like Aria.
“What am I doing here?” Nathaniel said out loud. As he asked the question, Aria’s words came back to his memory.
To fight for the future, you must go back to your past. You cannot keep hiding from it and expect to stay alive. If you don’t stop running, you will never find the key that will win this battle, and then everything you have fought for, everything you have done will be completely in vain.
Nathaniel furrowed his brow, frustrated. As far as he knew, this was the only place he had that tied him to his past, and he had found nothing here so far. “What were you talking about?” he asked out loud again, feeling foolish directing the question at someone who wasn’t even there.
Nathaniel didn’t get an answer. He didn’t expect to, but for some reason he couldn’t get his mother’s face out of his mind. It irritated him, having to see it. He didn’t like remembering her face. Seeing it made him feel too many things he didn’t want to feel, so he shoved it away and went back to the estate where Caleb was waiting for him.
When Nathaniel got back to Falcon’s Rest, he found Caleb lying on his back on the bed he had claimed. Nathaniel came in through the window and Caleb spun around and stood to his feet. “Anything?” he asked anxiously.
Nathaniel told him, “We’re clear.”
“So what’s our next move?” Caleb asked.
“Your next move is to stay put,” Nathaniel said. “Mine is to find Kyla.”
Caleb wrinkled his nose and scowled. He wasn’t good at staying put.
. . . . .
Kyla drove out to the trail that ran through Red Rock Canyon, nostalgia sweeping over her the second she stepped out of the car. She didn’t know why she didn’t come here more often; it was so full of incredible memories for her. Mostly memories of running out here in the grueling heat with her Cross Country team, and quite a few of just her and Caden before everything had gotten so painful and complicated between them.
That was when Kyla remembered why she didn’t come here anymore. It hurt her to remember the happy things.
It wasn’t that she and Caden weren’t working everything out now and that she didn’t have him back; it just wasn’t the same. There was always that lingering fear that he would leave her again, or if he didn’t leave, that she would lose him in some way. But then, Kyla had that fear over everyone she loved. She had for two years.
Balancing precariously as she stretched her quads before she ran, Kyla was startled by a voice that she didn’t expect to hear, enough that she almost fell over.
“Hey,” the voice said from behind her.
She spun around quickly to see who it was; not that she needed visual confirmation to recognize that voice. “What are you doing here?” she asked Caden.
He was standing in front of her in his running clothes like the presumptuous little punk that he was. And he was smiling.
“What?” he asked her teasingly. “You really think I’d let you come to the Red Rocks without me?”
Kyla’s heart swelled at the sight of his smile. It was a real one; the kind she’d hardly seen since Caden had been home.
“Alexa told me you were coming here,” he said. “And given recent events, I thought you could use a bodyguard.”
So that explained the girl’s contemplative look in the coffee shop that afternoon. Kyla shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she muttered.
Caden didn’t respond to that, he just kept smiling. “So we doin’ the whole loop?” he asked her.
“You better believe it,” Kyla told him. “And you better start stretching now, ‘cause I’m not slowing down to wait for you!”
Caden laughed. “You sound mighty sure of yourself for someone who got beat last time she ran this trail with me.”
“I had a twisted ankle!” Kyla protested.
Caden rolled his eyes just to make her mad. “Sure, James, whatever you say.”
Kyla scowled and threw back at him, “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and show me what you got?” And the two of them took off running.
They both started out much too fast (like they usually did) and then about a half-mile into it, they settled into their pace. It was hot out; a whole lot hotter than most people knew Colorado could get. But being this high up in the mountains put them that much closer to the sun, which was absolutely brutal on their skin. Kyla had never been able to take the heat. That was why it didn’t surprise Caden when she ripped off her tank top and tucked it into the back of her running shorts. She had been doing that as long as they had been spending their summers running together.
Caden teased her by yanking her tank top out of the back of her shorts and she grabbed it back and swatted his legs with it. He didn’t fight back; he just laughed. It felt amazing being able to laugh with him again, just like it had last night in the pool. Kyla really couldn’t get over it.
They took a break amidst the oddly shaped rocks that had coined this place its name, stretching their legs as a happy nostalgic feeling swept them up in their memories of the past.
“Remember when we used to play hide and seek here?” Caden asked her.
Kyla gave him a look. “How could I ever forget that?” she asked. “I beat you every time.”
“Not every time,” he corrected her. “I believe there was a day in the summer before we started the fifth grade where I successfully threw a black mark on your record.”
“I totally let you win that day,” Kyla argued. “You had just had to put your dog down the night before and I felt bad for you.”
Caden frowned. “You did not. I won that fair and square.”
Kyla shoved him and he stumbled a step or two before he caught himself and pulled his leg back behind him to keep stretching. Caden laughed and then his smile faded a little as he contemplated something.
“I really miss that dog,” he said. “I miss all of it…what things used to be like.”
That hit her deeper than she wanted it to. “I miss it too,” she said softly.
Caden must have heard some kind of pain in her voice, because he quickly said, “Hey, none of that. We’re here now and that’s what matters.”
She tried to tell herself he was right, but she couldn’t feel the same way he did; not when she knew everything that had happened…all the things he didn’t know. Not when she knew how different everything was now.
The truth was, Kyla didn’t know if things could ever go back to the way they were, because it wouldn’t ever just be the two of them again. And as much as she had wanted that at one point, Kyla couldn’t bring herself to want that anymore.
Not when that would mean her not having Nathaniel.
She got up quickly, not wanting to continue this discussion or even those thoughts, and she started running back on the trail. Caden chased after her and they pushed themselves on the last few miles to the point that she almost collapsed when they got back to the cars. Then Kyla almost collapsed for an entirely different reason.
There, standing by the Civic waiting for her and looking more than surprised at the sight of the boy beside her, was Nathaniel.
. . . . . .
Caden could have killed him. He realized that when fury hit him at the sight of Nathaniel Blake; fury he wasn’t expecting to feel. But it came on him so fast he couldn’t even stop it. It was a reflex reaction, his stepping forward to confront him, but Kyla jerked him back quickly before he could take another. Caden’s eyes darted over to her fiercely, and when he saw her face he realized she already knew that Nathaniel was back. She had already seen him. Something about it made Caden feel betrayed. He wasn’t even sure if it was fair of him to feel that way, but he really didn’t care about fair right now.
“Caden, don’t,” Kyla said. She was afraid, no doubt remembering the last time he and Nathaniel had seen each other, but Caden’s adrenaline was so jacked up that he almost couldn’t care about that either.
Kyla turned to Nathaniel sharply and asked him, “What are you doing here?” It came out harsher than she seemed to mean for it to, and it surprised Nathaniel as well.
“I’m sorry,” he told her. “I thought you would be alone.”
Kyla looked panicked, and she wasn’t letting go of Caden (not that he couldn’t have broken out of her hold if he wanted to.) He figured he had better play along for the moment and restrain himself as much as he could if he wanted to find out what was really going on here. Throwing punches wasn’t going to get him answers, and in this instance there was a good chance it could get him killed. But he still couldn’t stop himself from throwing out, “Yeah, like I would ever let her be alone after…”
Kyla cut him off. “Caden! I mean it. Stop.”
Caden was burning. As much as his words should have provoked Nathaniel, he didn’t look provoked. He just kept his eyes fixed on Kyla. He seemed concerned and apologetic, and Caden couldn’t figure out why.
“I shouldn’t have come here,” he told her. “I’m sorry.”
Kyla’s eyes softened in a desperation Caden had seen in her before. She didn’t want him to leave, but she was holding back from saying it out loud, probably for his benefit. The thought infuriated him. She looked torn, but Caden didn’t care. He grabbed her and pulled her away from Nathaniel on protective instinct, and instead of reacting to the gesture violently like Caden expected him to, Nathaniel looked completely defeated. He didn’t take offense to Caden pulling her away from him; his strength just seemed to falter and he looked weakened by it instead. Nathaniel didn’t even say a word to him; he just dropped his head and turned away from them, getting back on the Ducati he had come here on (which only made Caden hate him that much more.)
That was confusing, but Caden didn’t waste his time questioning Nathaniel’s emotional state of being. He just waited until he was gone and then turned to Kyla and questioned her.
“How did he know you would be here?” he demanded.
Kyla looked frightened, but she didn’t answer him.
“Kyla, how did he know?”
Finally she blurted out, “I don’t know!”
Caden clenched his fists. “Great,” he said. “Now he’s stalking you?”
Kyla tried to defend him and Caden flashed her a look. “If I let you leave, you’ll go after him, won’t you?” he accused her.
She pressed her lips together, but she didn’t deny it. It felt about as good as a kidney punch. “Fine,” he said, giving into his anger. “Go.”
Kyla looked at him, confused. “Go after him!” he told her, waving his hand in the direction Nathaniel had left.
Kyla bit her lip and looked up the highway, then she turned back to Caden. He wouldn’t look at her; he couldn’t. He felt too betrayed.
Kyla didn’t say another word to him; she just got in the Civic and drove away. And once she was out of sight, Caden halfway collapsed, resting his hands on his legs and doubling over so he could breathe. But even then, he was hardly able to, and it wasn’t the six miles they had just run together. It was his best friend. It was Nathaniel Blake. It was the feeling he couldn’t shake that he was going to lose her.
. . . . .
Kyla couldn’t decide whether she had made the right decision to leave Caden back at the Red Rocks. It was stupid, and on a trust level it probably set her back miles with her best friend, but she was so out of her mind desperate to see Nathaniel that that logic couldn’t find her in the moment when Caden had told her to leave.
Now that she was driving back in the direction of Woodland Park (with the full intention of heading straight to the Blake Estate) Kyla rethought the move. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel nervously, unable to decide what to do. Then finally she turned onto Paradise Circle and headed back home, determining that she would make her decision there.
Just in case running back to Nathaniel right now proves to be a horrendous mistake, she thought. There was a good chance of that. And yet Kyla still had a difficult time convincing herself that this should dissuade her.
She played through both scenarios in her mind; driving up to Falcon’s Rest to see Nathaniel and calling Caden to apologize to him and ask him to come over. But when Kyla pulled onto Ponderosa, her decision was made for her when she saw the gorgeous blonde on the midnight black Ducati waiting for her up the road.
Her heart crashed into her chest at the sight of Nathaniel, and quicker than she saw him, any and all thoughts and concerns she had about Caden fled from her quickly along with it. She scrambled to get out of the car, knowing she looked anything but smooth doing it, but right now, Kyla couldn’t have cared less. She just had to get to him.
Nathaniel had parked the bike enough of a distance up the road that she would be able to see him, but so that Matthew and Loni wouldn’t. He was waiting for her, though; that much was obvious. It was also what had Kyla scrambling to reach him as fast as was humanly possible.
She ran at first, but the closer she got to him, the more she slowed down. She didn’t mean to; being near to him again was just so overwhelming that the awe of it hit her every time she ever was.
She was also afraid after their encounter at Red Rock Canyon.
The sky was dusked, making it difficult for her to see his eyes clearly, but that didn’t inhibit her ability to read him at all.
He looked easily as nervous as she was as he told her, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to show up like that. I didn’t know you were with him…” He sounded frustrated by his own stupidity and irritated on the last sentence.
“I didn’t know I would be,” Kyla said. “He just showed up.”
Nathaniel furrowed his brow. “I should have been more careful.”
Kyla stepped up to him and put a hand on his arm. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s better that he knows you’re here.”
Nathaniel looked at her. “How can that possibly be better?”
Kyla tilted her head a little. “Well for one,” she said, “it’s one less thing I have to lie to him about.”
She saw the tension come into his face and realized how selfish that was to their purpose. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know that’s petty.”
Nathaniel shook his head, cringing like he felt guilty. “No, it’s not,” he said. He looked tortured over something and Kyla wasn’t sure what it was. It took him a moment before he was able to look at her, much less speak again. “I’m sorry…” Nathaniel finally said.
“For what?” Kyla asked him.
He sneered at her in disgust even though she wasn’t the one he was disgusted with. “For this,” he said. “For everything. For ever putting you in this position in the first place.”
“It wasn’t like you tried to,” Kyla said. “It just happened. It’s not your fault that I’m in this, Nathaniel.”
“How do you know that?” he threw back at her. “What if there was something I could have done to stop it?”
“Cut it out,” she said firmly. “I don’t want to hear it anymore. We’ve already been over this. If I wanted out, I wouldn’t be here with you right now, and that is my decision to make.”
Her hand on his arm was burning from its contact with his skin. Nathaniel’s eyes darted down to it and she knew he could feel it too. “Kyla…” he started to say. He slid his other hand along her shoulders and slowly to the back of her head when his eyes darted up behind her and he dropped his hand quickly.
It was Matthew.
Kyla didn’t know how he had seen them, but somehow he had realized that she and Nathaniel were out here. She knew this because he was now making his way up the road toward them with an unhappy, very set look on his face.
That wasn’t like her brother.
Kyla stepped back from Nathaniel and swallowed nervously. “What are you doing out here?” she asked him.
Matthew didn’t look at her. He kept his gaze fixed on Nathaniel, but he didn’t say a word to him. Luckily Nathaniel broke the awkward silence by extending a hand to him.
“You must be Matthew,” he said. “I’m Nathaniel.”
Matthew reluctantly shook his hand, but he kept looking at him suspiciously. Then Kyla watched as something happened; something she didn’t understand. Matthew’s countenance started to change as he looked at Nathaniel, and where he had been angry before, he began to look confused. Whatever it was about, it upset him, and he pulled his hand back quickly. It surprised Kyla a little because the move was so abrupt. Clearly, something was really disturbing him, and for her life, Kyla couldn’t imagine what it was. Even Nathaniel didn’t seem to know.
Turning toward his sister, Matthew said, “I need your help inside.”
She didn’t know if it was just an excuse or if that would even matter at this point. Kyla had to do whatever she could to get Matthew away from Nathaniel. Bringing her little brother this close to her silver-winged hero was not something she was comfortable with, and it wasn’t even until that moment that she realized she felt that way. Her keeping them apart all this time was her way of unconsciously protecting Matthew, but now with the two of them face to face, Kyla was terrified. It wasn’t just about what Matthew might see in Nathaniel, either. It was also the thought of having that wall breached that she didn’t even realize she’d set up. Kyla knew that Nathaniel would never knowingly endanger Matthew or even let anything happen to him. But even in her knowing that, she couldn’t take the risk.
She would never risk her little brother. Not for anything.
“I’ll be right there,” she tried to tell Matthew, but he was forceful in his response.
“I’d rather you come with me now,” he said.
Nathaniel nodded to Kyla to let her know it was okay, and she looked at him apologetically before she turned to go back inside with Matthew.
Kyla was frustrated that they had been interrupted again. It was about to drive her mad, not being able to talk to Nathaniel…not being able to be close to him.
Soon, Kyla told herself as she walked away. You’ll be alone with him soon.
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