Chapter 21: Guarded

Keenan's POV

The darkness settled around us like a blanket, wrapping us up in its tight embrace. I captured a nipple into my mouth that peeked out at me invitingly. Her hips rotated against mine in a circular motion, her face contoured, in what I assumed to be both pain and pleasure. She brought her lips down to cover my own luscious ones, while I grabbed her waist picking up speed. I rocked back and forth inside of her while she hissed calling out my name.

My name sounded like poetry rolling off of her lips. I thrust my hip forward, hitting her spot, producing another moan from her. Roughly, my hands reached up tugging and pulling at her small but perky breasts. "Oh, fuck," she cursed, "I think I'm gonna cum." She threw her hand back, her hands covering my own as she rode me into the oblivion of her ecstasy. "Oh, Khaos. I love you!" she cried out, drinking deeply from my mouth. She tasted like the expensive beer we had shared not too long ago. We reached our crescendo at the same time, I bit her lip as my thick juices coated her walls.

"I love you," she told me quietly, kissing my cheek and then my nose. She gazed into my eyes and it was astonishing how I could feel the magnitude of her affection pouring out of her. Tsuki was a giver. She rarely ever asked. She made it so easy to love her, at times I felt like I did. But when reality settled in, I knew I didn't. My heart belonged to someone else.

Without thinking I began stroking her hair. My fingers played with the tendrils at the nape of her neck, mulling over my next course of actions. The words Tsuki had told me earlier at the restaurant reverberated around in my mind like a broken scratch record. I was no dummy, her words only confirmed what I had suspected along. Which simply meant that Reid wasn't who he said he was. Businessman, my ass. I knew he was the link to solving this complicated puzzle. After twenty long years of sucking up to him, I was finally going to make things right with my people. I had a host of people to prove wrong, so many had lost all hope in me. I still had a far way to go, but this was the start I had always dreamt of.

The events leading up to now seemed surreal. Carefully, I had orchestrated every single step, granted I had had two decades to do so and with victory and enmity fueling my wrath, I was kept pragmatic. Reid might have fooled everyone about who he really was, but I was smarter than that. It took me a while to figure out that Reid and the child were somehow bonded together. I knew that once I found him, locating her would be easier. And here we were, only one bite away from achieving my goal. The same goal I had failed miserably at so long ago.

Tsuki's light snoring brought me back to the reality that I was somehow trapped in with her. She had her naked form buried in the crook of my arm. I sighed. She looked so peaceful. I eased out of her clasp and padded barefooted against the ceramic ground. I dragged on my pants and travelled to the living room. The TV roared to life and I mindlessly flipped through the channels, settling on some random football match. The sofa reeked of the perfume that Tsuki always wore. I cracked the cap off of my beer and guzzled the soothing liquid down my throat.

I was watching the game but I really wasn't following. There was so much still left to do. But unlike the last time, I had back up plans A through to Z in place, just in case. That child's death was the key to ending my exile. My people needed me, I had let them down and left their future uncertain in the process. I planned on returning home as the hero they would write about in the History books.

I was on my fourth beer when Tsuki joined me on the couch. She was silent for a hot minute but then she spoke up, "Sunn invited me to brunch tomorrow." I nodded my head, not really caring how she did the job, just as long as she completed it. I was stupid to influence her to seduce Reid in the hopes of activating Sunn's jealousy, but what a plot twist it was when Tsuki shared the secret of Sunn's sexuality with me. Hmm. This was even better than the original plan I had thought out. Tsuki possessed an aura that was sure to charm the pants off of anyone. Yes, the girl was that amazing.

Both of our heads snapped in the direction of the front door when we heard the knob twisting open. I jumped up from off the couch, no matter how I felt about Tsuki I would never allow anyone to hurt her. But Tsuki didn't need me protecting her. She made a move that would have warranted me cussing the hell out of her later on. I watched as she grabbed a gun from our secret stash and approached the door cautiously. What the hell? Did the girl have a death wish or something?

She peered through the peephole and before I could even process my thoughts, she unlatched the door and pulled it open. My mouth was left hanging open in shock. Not only from the stupid move that Tsuki had just made but also because standing in the door way was Nichi. Or better yet what was left of her. Instantly I rushed over to her, my anger threatening to boil over as I saw that she was covered in small abrasions and was barely able to even stand on her own feet. As soon as I touched her, her legs caved.

A single tear rolled down my cheek as I brought her over to the couch while Tsuki closed the door and bustled over to the kitchen. Both of Nichi's eyes were sealed shut with pus and bulging which indicated that someone must have taken her here. Which only meant one other thing. My secret location, was not so secret anymore. I was no longer safe here. They knew how to find me.

Nichi's grubby fingers came up to touch my face. "Khaos," she whispered through lips that had purple bruises all over them. I pressed a finger along her lips. I knew it was taking a lot out of her just to talk. There would be plenty of time for talking later on. She needed to get her strength up. I was joined once again by Tsuki on the couch. Her eyes were red and I could see the impression of the tears trailing down on her ashen white face.

She pressed a warm cloth along Nichi's forehead, rotating it in circles as a way of soothing the harsh cuts that were scattered all over Nichi's pretty face. Once she was through with the cleaning process, Tsuki pressed a green shake she had made earlier into Nichi's mouth.

We both watched as she made small gulps, struggling even to swallow. What animal would beat the girl so badly within inches of her life? Clearly they knew how much Nichi meant to me, well consider this a message received. She was half way done with the shake when she pulled Tsuki's hands away. "They have the boys."

That one sentence broke down Tsuki's strong barrier. Breathless with anger, she wailed and crumbled to the ground in a pile. "No," she whispered over and over again like she was in some sort of trance. I pulled Nichi up in a sitting position. "Who?" I barked, not caring that I was trembling on the brink of no return. The person who had done this was a dead man walking. "Gio."

I frowned. Wasn't it enough that he had forced me into this exile, taken everything that had mattered the most to me, turned my people against me? I pulled my phone out, dialing one of the few persons who had had my back since the beginning. "Yeah, it's me, Cattimus. Meet me at South Dale in ten minutes."