“I want to talk to her.”
“She’s asleep. I’ll tell her you came by.”
His jaw ticks with frustration. “I want to talk to my sister now.”
I’m tempted to use my vampire power to mystify him. Then, he won’t bother me or my mate anymore, but I know Nariko would never forgive me if I messed with her brother’s mind.
I hear her before we can see her. She walks light on her feet; the pad of her steps ease my frustrations. Nariko sighs, a light, airy exhale that I wish I could inhale for myself.
“You aren’t going to invite me in? Pretty rude, don’t you think?” Ruka asks, crossing his arms as if he could ever intimidate me.
A vampire.
I can kill him before he has the option to string together another thought.
“Nope.” I open the screen door for Nariko, and she has our blanket wrapped around her, her hair tangled and messy from the last few nights we’ve had together.
She smells so good. Of us. Marked and claimed for all to see.
Nariko tightens the blanket around her and yawns, scrubbing her eyes. “What is the fuss about you two? It’s early. The sun is barely up.”
I bend down and kiss her cheek, wrapping my arms around her from the back. “I’m sorry, Sugar. Ruka wanted to talk to you, and I told him you were asleep. He didn’t seem to care about that.” I bend down and whisper in her ear, so low only she can hear me. “And I know how much you need your rest.”
“Oklahoma,” she giggles, leaning her back against me. “Not now.”
Ruka groans, disgusted. “Okay, can I talk to my sister, please?”
“Whatever you need to say, you can say in front of Oklahoma, Ruka. We are together now, so he is part of the team.”
A sourness turns my stomach at the thought of being on a storm chaser’s team. I’m not interested in learning about the weather. I know what it can do. I refuse to let Nariko chase alone. She needs to be protected, and I don’t trust Ruka to do it. He can’t save her like I can.
I can’t lose her.
I can’t lose someone else to the wickedness of a vortex.
“I would like to talk to you in private.” Ruka shuffles his feet. “Please,” he adds, his tone becoming solemn.
“Go on, Sugar. I’ll stay right here.” Thunder fusses in the distance, and the leaves rustle together as the wind picks up strength, the warm air perfect for tornadoes.
I grab the post to the porch and swing out, peering up at the sky to see the clouds forming fast, building quicker than I’ve ever seen. An uneasy sensation stirs in my chest, an electricity in the air that I’ve never felt before.
This storm isn’t normal. Living in Tornado Alley, bad weather is part of life here. Being in a place like this, one has to accept the possibility they could die.
This spurt of storms over the last few days has been unusual. Every supercell has formed quickly, stronger with every day that passes. Ruka and Nariko are human. They can’t sense what I can.
Settling into a rocking chair, I eavesdrop, not giving Ruka any privacy when it comes to my mate.
I watch her, every moment recorded in my memory so it lasts forever. The way she moves, so elegantly, so softly, like she’safraid to hurt the ground she’s walking on. The way her hair blows when the wind wants to brush it, the strands dancing in the gusts. The way her lips move when she speaks or how her lips pout while she’s in thought.
Secretly, I love annoying her. She’s so fucking beautiful when she gets worked up. Her fire, her tenacity for never backing down, is the biggest aphrodisiac I have ever encountered.
I smile, rocking in the chair when her new scent blows over to me, the usual potent aroma of rain mixed with another scent I know all too well.
Me.
I lean forward, focusing on my mate and her brother arguing in Japanese. I can’t understand what they are saying, and I get irked with myself for not knowing how to speak her language.
My top priority is learning Japanese so we can have conversations too.
