Awakening Kiss (Watcher's Kiss Book 4) Read online

  A coo and a giggle broke through her haze of lust. “Hey, Watcher. Woo-hoo!”

  “Can we play too?”

  Rhys yanked her upright. Enza whirled to the female voices.

  Two short women, one blonde and one brunette, in teeny tiny tank-style dresses approached them on high heels, smiling from full, glossy lips. Long locks cascaded around their arms and both were model-gorgeous as they sauntered right up to Enza and Rhys. One laid a hand on Rhys’s arm, one on Enza’s.

  “Mmm, looks like that was quite a kiss. I want one too,” one pouted.

  “You’re such a pretty Desi!” the other said, petting Enza’s arm. “No wonder a Watcher is all over you.”

  “Excuse me?” Enza frowned at the women, then at Rhys. “Do you know them?”

  “No—”

  “Oh, but we could get to know each other. You can even show us your tail. We won’t be scared,” said the brunette touching Enza. She reached up toward Enza’s hair.

  Tail? Enza grabbed her hand and pushed it away. “Stop that. Who are you?”

  “Rain, and this is Cara,” the woman said. “You don’t have to be rude. We just want to have fun.”

  “Well, have fun somewhere else.” Enza scowled.

  “Uh, ladies, you’re very kind to say hello,” Rhys said. “But this is a party for two.” He draped a possessive arm around Enza’s shoulders.

  Thank god. And he had some explaining to do.

  “Okay,” Rain sighed. “We’ll be over there, if you change your mind.”

  “Have a good night,” Rhys said as the two walked away.

  “What the hell?” Enza ducked out from beneath his arm and glared at him. “Do you know them?”

  “No.” But he looked distinctly uncomfortable.

  “Why were they so touchy feely?” She shuddered. “Eew.”

  “Some people are just like that, I guess.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “They really seemed like they knew you. And you didn’t seem surprised. Wait.” She popped her hands on her hips. “Why did they call you Watcher?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a slow breath. “Watchers is the name of my group. The one I’m in with Brenin.”

  “The group that tracks creatures that aren’t human?” Unease crept up her spine.

  “Yep.”

  “Do those women help you?”

  “No.” His response was quick and emphatic.

  “But they know what you’re called…” She stared up at him as understanding dawned. “They…are they elves too?”

  “Not elves.” He set his hands on his hips. “Those are nymphs.”

  “Nymphs?” She repeated the word in disbelief. “Like, as in nymphomaniacs?”

  “Um…” He cleared his throat. “Yes and no. They’re overly friendly, and they love sex any way they can get it.”

  She shook her head and peered down the avenue after the two, who passed under the first string of colored lights. “They look human.”

  “They do—but if they’d had their hair pulled up, you would have seen they have pointed ears.”

  “Oh my god!” She shook her head as two men in the crowd swiveled to gawk at the nymphs. “And they’re going to run around the fest, having sex with whoever?”

  “Probably with some very happy guys,” Rhys muttered.

  “What? Gross.” She frowned. “You sure you’ve never seen them before?”

  “Never. And there are a lot of nymphs in the city.” He took a half step closer. “They’re not dangerous. They blend in and like to…socialize.”

  He said it so matter-of-factly. She heaved out a breath, suddenly feeling lightheaded. Portals, elves, nymphs—the magnitude of what she didn’t know pressed on her, made more world—spinning by the fact that he seemed to take it all in stride.

  As if he were used to seeing it, day after day, and had been for a long time.

  “I need to sit down.” She headed to an iron bench.

  He followed, sitting sideways to face her. “You okay?

  “No. Absolutely not.” With a deep breath, she forced down her unease.

  “Talk to me. Ask me anything.” Sincerity flowed through his voice.

  She picked at a loose thread on her pants. “You say there are elves in Chicago. And now nymphs. And you said yes when I asked about werewolves and vampires.” She shook her head. “It sounds crazy.”

  “I’m sorry you have to find out so abruptly.” His fingers settled at her shoulder. “But I don’t know if there’s any other way.”

  “What about you? Who told you all this stuff?”

  He got that uncomfortable look on his face again. “I’ve been…dealing with this all for a long time.”

  “Like, how? Did your parents do this tracking thing too?”

  “Yeah, actually.”

  “If you grew up around it, it would make sense, I guess.” She scooted closer. “I know there are things that can’t be explained by science.” Like me. “And anyway, I went into that stupid portal. I can’t deny that.”

  They sat in silence for a minute. Buses rumbled down Lincoln Avenue. Cars honked everywhere, adding to the usual cacophony of a city night. Above, thick clouds floated across a sky that never truly blackened.

  “Enza.” Rhys’s deep voice broke the stillness, the seemingly normal city night. ”I need to ask you something.”

  “What?” She turned to him, looking up into that handsome face, that sexy mouth she’d been enjoying kissing before being rudely interrupted.

  “Have you ever noticed any unusual traits or talents?”

  Suspicion slithered up her spine, killing the calm she’d almost grasped. “What do you mean?”

  “Things you could do that others couldn’t. Like how electricity gets inconsistent around you.”

  “Pfft.” She scowled. “I wouldn’t call that a talent. There’s nothing special about me. I’m like, totally average. Except for baking…and my electrical issues.” Nervous about where this might lead, she searched those dark eyes that seemed to miss nothing. “What are you getting at?”

  He pointed to a tree overhead. “Do you see that mockingbird?”

  “No, it’s dark out, and that’s a dark-colored bird.” Unintentional sarcasm laced her voice. “Why would I be able to see it?”

  “All right, no worries,” he said. “How about at school, when you were younger—did you get sick often?”

  At the end of her stay calm and let him explain rope, she opened her mouth to say what the hell—but stopped. She blinked, thinking back. “Actually, I had perfect attendance every year. My mom was so proud.” A cold sensation crept through her belly. “How did you know?”

  He didn’t respond, studying her with a breath-stealing intensity. “Anything else? Maybe not eyesight, but what about smell, hearing—better than your friends?”

  Air whooshed out of her lungs. “Oh my god…Yes. My sense of smell and hearing have always been really good. But don’t lots of people have that?”

  “Not necessarily, and not coupled with the ability to see a portal.”

  Choppy gasps were all she could manage as dread edged out curiosity. She didn’t want to keep asking, but couldn’t stop her question. “Wh-what does that mean?”

  “I think,” he took her hand, “it has to do with your father.”

  CHAPTER 10

  SILENCE STRETCHED BEWEEN THEM IN the balmy city night. Next to him on the park’s iron bench, Enza’s face reflected a panorama of emotion, from fear to revulsion to indignation. “My father? Why?”

  Shit. Rhys needed to tread carefully. But there was no good way to say I’m pretty sure your dad is a demon. Rhys’s logical mind reached for facts, anything to break this huge revelation down into manageable bits. “Some of the non-humans have those traits. Enhanced sensory ability, rapid healing, or not getting sick in the first place.”

  “You think my dad was one of these…creatures?” she said the last word in half-whisper, eyes wide.

  “Yo
u shouldn’t have been able to see that portal. Not even as a mirage, or however it looked to you. Humans can’t see them.” He rubbed a thumb over her knuckles. “That was my first clue that you were different.”

  “What?” Her voice spiked higher. “No. I’m totally normal. Nothing special. I’m just a baker, I—”

  “Shh, you’re not in trouble,” he said. “But I need to know if there’s anything else you can do. Anything at all.”

  She shook her head, then shifted close and rested it on his shoulder. He wrapped her in his arms. “There’s nothing else. I don’t want to be special or different.”

  Yet you are. He smoothed her hair and wisps of sugary fragrance drifted to his nose. So beautiful, so vulnerable. Smell, hearing, and spotting portals. That might be all she inherited from her dad, but her electrical quirk nagged him.

  The lightning ability was raw, unbridled, power. Forceful and dangerous. He had to know if, within her soft, sweet I’m just a baker curves, lurked something deadly.

  And soon, he’d have to tell her about his own lethal nature. Shit, he hoped she’d handle it as well as she handled everything else up to this point. “Does you mom ever talk about your dad?” he asked.

  “Not much. And when she does, it’s always happy.” Enza straightened, propping one of her legs on his. “She met him in Italy when she was twenty-two. She went there with my grandparents to visit family—my grandparents are off the boat. Literally. So my mom is first generation American. Anyway, they were there for a month or so, and my father was backpacking through Europe. He happened to be in the same village as my mom, and they, you know…” She shrugged.

  Backpacking through Europe. Rhys grunted an acknowledgement but resisted an eye roll. Of course a young human woman would believe that line.

  “She says he was funny and nice. She knew it was always going to be temporary…he said he lived in Europe. And she was coming back to the States with her parents. And this was before everyone had cell phones and email at home.” Enza traced a pattern on her pants leg. “Mom didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was back here, and she had no way to contact him.”

  Rhys gritted his teeth. That fucking Deserati knew exactly what he was doing.

  “My grandparents were mad at first. Their good Catholic daughter, pregnant and unmarried. My mom promised to name the baby after her dad, Vicente. She was sure it was a boy. Then, I came out. So I became Vincenza.”

  Rhys squeezed his arms around her shoulders. “Couldn’t have been easy for your mom.”

  “No. At least she was finishing up college, so she didn’t have to put school on hold. She was almost done with her nursing degree.”

  “When’s your birthday?”

  “December twenty-eighth.” She made a feminine snort. “Too close to Christmas. I got all my presents for the year in one week. But, oh well. That mattered more when I was a kid.”

  Rhys did the math in his head and fought down a growl. Deserati demons were fertile at the spring and fall equinoxes. And if she was born in December, then that asshole demon had been in full spring hormone overdrive when he’d met her mom. Like Miranda had said, since Deserati could blend in among humans, they didn’t discriminate and didn’t announce their non-human status. Especially if they needed to get laid.

  “So that’s my story.” She peeked up at him from beneath thick lashes. “I know nothing about him.”

  “What about his name?” Rhys asked.

  “Oh, right. Tony Conte.”

  Rhys filed that information away. “Ever thought about looking him up?”

  “No. I’m sure he doesn’t know I exist. And I don’t want to show up at his door saying, ‘Hi, I’m the love child you conceived in Italy twenty-some years ago, with a girl named Concetta De Luca, if you even remember her.’” She shook her head. “That would be weird. I never needed him before, and I don’t now. I’m happy with my little family.”

  “Good to hear.”

  “Yeah.” She tugged the tie out of her hair, freeing her dark waves. Rhys inhaled deeply. She smelled sweet, feminine, delicious, and she called to his protective instincts on a deep level. And all of that made his next words stick in his throat.

  But he was going to have to bring this up, and there was no smooth way to do it. He took her hand. “Enza…”

  Wary brown eyes watched him. “This isn’t going to be good, is it?”

  He frowned. “There’s no good way to say this. And shit, I’m not good with words anyway.” He paused. Above, mockingbirds sang quietly among the leaves. “You, ah…you’re not one hundred percent human.”

  “What?” Her voice was whispered, fearful and she yanked her hand away.

  “The thing is, I’m certain your father is a supernatural being, and specifically, one known as a Deserati demon.”

  Enza’s breath hitched and the streetlamp at the end of the block flickered. “A demon? Are you kidding me?” She pulled back, putting distance between them on the bench. “Wouldn’t they be scary and disgusting?”

  Shit. “Remember how I said that some creatures can look human? Well, some demons can. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.” A sudden need for honesty surged in his heart. He needed to be straight with her. She deserved to know his race.

  “You think I’m half demon.” She slid farther away and folded her arms. “Rhys, I don’t know. I mean, so what if I can smell and hear well, and—”

  “Enza, listen to me. There are good demons and bad ones. Good elves and dark ones. Different kinds of magic. It all hinges on a balance of power. That’s why I track, and Brenin too. We help things stay on an even keel. And there’s nothing wrong with being a halfling.”

  “Halfling.” She spoke the word slowly, sounding out each syllable. “You think that, because of a few things you know about me?”

  “Yeah.” He fought to give her space when that was the last thing he wanted. But he still needed to proceed with caution. “The clincher is your electrical thing.”

  She flicked a gaze to the street lamps, which dimmed as if in eerie acknowledgement. “Why?”

  He drew a breath. May as well get as much info out as possible. “Lightning is made of electricity. And in the species that I believe your father is, there’s a small percentage who can manipulate lightning. I think your technical challenges are an indicator that you might have this talent.”

  CHAPTER 11

  ENZA COULD ONLY STARE. LIGHTNING. How the hell could a person…wait, they weren’t talking about people here. “I don’t understand,” she mumbled. “I thought I just had really bad luck with computers.”

  “You may.” He tilted his head, voice gentle. “But this would be a damn good reason why.”

  Staring at him, so sincere and patient, something inside her softened. She was different. His words made sense and they would be easy to believe. It would be comforting to know there was a cause behind her issues.

  Though this was a confirmation she never thought she’d hear.

  “Like I said, I wish there was another way to tell you. Ease you into it. But sometimes you get thrown into the deep end.” The low pitch of his voice was magnified in the dark, sending tiny vibrations along her arm. Something about him called to her. He got her.

  Sensual voice. Sexy eyes. The way he’d kissed her seemed like it was absolutely supposed to happen. Stop fighting this.

  Music and laughter drifted on the warm air and the lights of the festival shone from the short distance away. How could the world seem so normal one day and completely upside down the next? Upside down—but maybe she was the one who’d been looking at it wrong. She dropped her gaze to Rhys’s strong shoulders and piercing eyes, feeling like she was on a tightrope and she had to either move forward or go back. And if he would be with her…

  She’d go forward. She could never do it alone, but with him, she’d find the determination to explore the unexpected world that had opened to her. “What happens now?”

  “There’s someone we can talk
to.” He reached for her hand, tucking it into his. “A woman. A female Deserati demon who has that lightning power I mentioned. She’s a friend. She can help figure out what you can do.”

  “How?” A sliver of uncertainity squesked into that one syllable. Enza had no desire to be examined or inspected.

  “Not sure. There may be some questions. But she’s cool. I wouldn’t even bring her up if I didn’t trust her.”

  Enza traced a pattern on his wrist. Trust. She could do this. “Then what?”

  “Then we see about getting you trained, so you don’t accidentally fry anything.”

  “Hey!” She frowned. “I’ve never accidentally fried anything. Stuff doesn’t burn around me, it just stops working completely.” She tried to glare at him, but met his brown eyes which twinkled with mirth.

  “Teasing,” he whispered.

  “Oh.” She paused, letting herself get lost in his eyes, taking a greedy second to be glad he’d found her. “I’ve really never fried anything.”

  “Good to know.” He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “So let me call her later and set something up. Not even sure where she would want to meet. A lot of lightning activity would attract the wrong kind of attention.”

  “From the weather forecasters?”

  “I was thinking, from the bad guys. But yeah, weather folks too.”

  “What does she look like?”

  “Miranda?” Rhys paused. “Tall, red hair. She looks human, as long as she’s magically hiding her horns and tail.”

  “What?” Enza’s voice rose. The bulbs in the building across the street dimmed for a split second as shock flared in her mind.

  He shook his head. “Look at you and these lights. Does it usually happen this often?”

  “No.”

  “In stressful times?”

  She contemplated the street lamps, thinking back. “Yes, but also emotional times in general. Or excitement. It took a while to pinpoint it. At first I thought it was random.”

  “And the other night when I dropped you off?” He slowly skated his hand up her arm and captured a lock of hair blowing in the night breeze.