Forbidden Lineage

Chapter 5

Kai:

They read through the journal once.  Kai questioned every entry made while Sofia did her best to explain, but before they could get any further than that, the door opened.  Reese arrived just after Shane finished the call, and they came in together.  From what he’d picked up on their conversation as they walked back to the cottage, she wasn’t one to pull any punches when it came to the safety of those she loved.  That included Sofia, who she had accepted as her little sister.  Reese was a pretty raven haired beauty who looked a lot like her mother.  The similarities were striking, from the small turned up nose and generous mouth to the clear gray eyes, and pointy chin.  She was slightly taller than Sofia, he noticed as she pulled her off the couch in a warm embrace.  Although she hid it well, he could still detect the subtle mistrust in her smile and in the tautness of her back when she turned to greet him.   Another hour passed slowly, with him repeating everything he’d told the others before.  After grilling him with a few more questions which earned him both a wince from Shane and a grimace from Sofia, she seemed to relax a bit, but then she saw the mark.   Kai couldn’t bring himself to be angry at her reaction.  He knew better than anyone that he shouldn’t be trusted. 

“Son of a gun, you marked her?”  She almost yelled.  His sensitive ears rang from the one question he was having a hard time answering, even to himself.  She wasn’t subtle.  He liked her already.

But he didn’t like the way that Sofia tucked her face into her knees.  She’d pulled them up to her chest protectively when Reese’s mood had changed.  He didn’t like the way the mark bonded them, making him feel her emotions like a punch to the gut.  And he most definitely didn’t like the feeling of embarrassment, pain and confusion she was feeling right then.  He knew that he was the cause of it, because he hadn’t yet explained to her why he couldn’t fully mate her.  He’d left her hurting, trying to deal with the fact that she could never feel for anyone else the way she would feel for him.  And have nothing come off it… 

To answer Reese, he sighed.

She didn’t accept it.  “That’s not the answer I was looking for.”  She glowered at him.

“We didn’t have any control over it Reece.  It kinda just happened.”  He told her, irritated.  As much as Sofia was her friend, she made it clear that he wasn’t, so he owed her nothing. 

“What do you mean ‘we’?”  She raised her eyebrow questioningly.  “Sofia?  Please tell me he didn’t say we!” 

Sofia raised her head slowly and shook it no.  Her face was flushed, but her eyes sparkled.  To him it looked almost mischief.  Reese just released a breath of relief, when she added, “He didn’t mean ‘you’.  He meant ‘us’.”  She half smiled showing off the dimple again when she winked at him. 

Irritation forgotten, he couldn’t help the grin that graced his face when Reese’s eyes bugged out of her head and Shane let out a bark of laughter.  Sofia linked her fingers with his squeezing reassuringly, as if to say it's okay.  

“Not funny!  You marked him too?”  She asked shocked.  “You know him what, a few hours?”

“It usually works both ways.  You and Shane are mated.  You should know how it goes.”  She rolled her eyes at Reese.   

“Yeah, well.”  She spluttered, not happy about the way Sofia was handling things.  “We still knew each other for years before the bonding happened.  And our mark does not look anything like that!  I was taking a wild guess, and you both just answered yes to it!”  She went on.