My eyes focus, and I squint them as they flicker. The image is getting sharper and sharper, and soon my heart leaps from my chest. I pry myself away from Sebastian’s grasp and throw the door open, then stumble out onto the steps.
It’s Kyle.
Oh, my gosh, Kyle’s here.
I push everyone off to the side as I call out his name. But he looks at me as if he doesn’t recognize me. But I recognize him. Every swollen muscle and every throbbing vein and every puckering piece of skin.
Tears rise to my eyes as I stumble out in front of the crowd.
“Kyle!”
He takes off running toward me, and I open my arms for him. He’s moving at lightning speed, but his scent is overpowering. I stumble backward as my nausea wafts over my system. Kyle stops in front of me, his arms falling to his sides as I fall back into Joel.
“It’s okay. Come here. It’s fine. I’ve got you,” he says.
“Clarissa?” Kyle asks. “What’s wrong?”
I put my arm over my nose as I furrow my brow. I want to go to him. I want to wrap my arms around him. I feel my men approaching my sides as I push deeper into Joel. It’s like my body won’t listen. My body won’t follow what my heart wants. My feet are pushing me backward and everything inside of me is screaming to get away. The growing child in my stomach is doing backflips and kicking at my spine, and it sends me into a tailspin and forces me to turn around in Joel’s arms.
He strokes my hair and I push him away, then backtrack through the crowd.
“Clarissa, it’s okay. I’m here now,” Kyle says.
“Just give her a second,” Toshi says.
I draw in another breath, and it causes bile to rise up my throat. His scent is physically sickening. I turn to look at Kyle. I see Toshi, his body stopping Kyle from moving forward. I see the desperation in Kyle’s eyes. The hurt. The caged fear. Whatever they’ve done to him, my body can’t tolerate him.
My body can’t handle my husband anymore.
“If Clarissa won’t talk to me, then I have to talk to someone,” Kyle says.
“Just take some breaths,” Toshi says. “We’re all a little shocked right now.”
“Shocked? Really? That’s what you call it? Sebastian’s practically hovering over my wife, and I know why he is. Did you finally swoop in and take what you wanted? Huh? Did you forget I married her?”
I look up at Kyle and sees his eyes flickering between colors. Red and purple and yellow and green. It’s mesmerizing. I can see claws protruding from his hands as the crowd begins to back away from him. His teeth are gnashing, and his body is posturing for a fight.
They’ve turned him.
Kyle’s like me.
Why can’t I tolerate him if he’s like me?
“You’re scaring her,” Sebastian says.
“He’s not scaring me. My body just can’t be near him.”
I stand to my feet and shrug Sebastian’s presence off my back.
“I don’t understand why,” I say.
“Does anyone here know Lord Wesley?” Kyle asks.
“He’s my father,” Vlad says. “Why?”
“I freed him. From his cell. Dropped him off in an abandoned house where he told me to leave him so he could get back to his village?”
“You freed my father? Is he okay?”