As she worked, she thought of Tor’s huge kitchen and his chef-quality stove. She might not cook as well as he did, but she wasn’t awful by any means. Maybe he’d let her make their dinner tonight and she could try out his fancy things.
She ran through menu ideas as she chopped some of the vegetables. Her mind really not on the work at hand, Kenna ended up cutting herself. She sucked in a sharp breath and lifted her finger closer to her face to see what kind of damage she’d done. She blinked, not sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not. Had the cut just instantly healed? She ran water over her finger in the sink. Her skin bore no slice mark.
Kenna dried her hand, giving the digit she knew for a fact she’d cut with the knife a closer inspection. Yup, it looked exactly the same. She knew that wasn’t possible. She had cut herself. She’d felt the sting of it. Maybe she was losing her mind and only thought she had hurt herself.
Deciding she’d better not go there, Kenna went back to preparing her breakfast. She’d almost convinced herself the knife incident really hadn’t happened when she touched the hot frying pan with the side of her hand. Her first instinct was to hold it under cold water in the sink, but as she turned toward it the pain ebbed away to nothing. Almost afraid to look, she flipped her hand. No burn mark.
She let out a small whimper. Kenna had never healed this fast. Before she completely wigged out, she forced herself to continue on with what she was doing. Once her omelet was cooked, she slipped it onto a plate and sat at the table to eat. With each mouthful, her thoughts became more chaotic, grasping at ludicrous possibilities as to why she’d healed in a matter of seconds.
By the time she’d finished her breakfast, Kenna had worked herself up into quite a state. She also entertained the notion of cutting herself to see if she’d still heal at a rapid rate.
Calling herself stupid for even thinking of doing it, Kenna got up from the table and grabbed her sharpest knife out of the block sitting on top of the counter. She sat back down, her hands shaking. Should she? Shouldn’t she? What if she cut herself and she didn’t heal and it was bad enough that she’d need stitches? How the hell would she explain why she’d done it without the doctor wanting her to go see a shrink?
Then her thoughts strayed to what she would do if she did heal. It wasn’t fricking normal. Not by a long shot. And it was something new for her. Before today, she had to wait like everyone else in the world to have a cut disappear. She couldn’t think of anything she’d recently done that would be so off the wall as to change her in such a way. The only thing new in her life was Tor and he sure as shit hadn’t made her like this.
If she kept this up too much longer they would have to take her away in a straitjacket and lock her up in the nuthouse. Before she could talk herself out of it, Kenna ran the knife she held across her left palm. It hurt more than when she’d accidently done it since she made sure she went deep enough to make herself bleed more than a little.
She did, but only for a few seconds. The wound healed, not even leaving a scar. The blood that had been spilled absorbed back into her skin. No trace of it remained. Kenna laughed, on the verge of being hysterical, then cried. Then cried and laughed at the same time. She barely managed to pull herself together before she totally lost it.
Kenna dropped the knife on the table as if it were a poisonous snake. She took deep, even breaths. She looked at the clock on the stove. There was a little less than an hour before she had to leave to go to Tor’s place. She could not show up at his door looking like an absolute mess. For one thing, she didn’t know if she’d be able to tell him why she was so upset. It was bad enough she thought she was crazy, but it would be even worse if he did too. And she sure as hell didn’t want whatever this was to push him away from her.
She stood and went to the sink to do the washing up as she would any other Saturday morning. That finished, she left the kitchen to head for her bedroom. Dressing helped her get more on an even keel. Kenna would not think about anything that would be considered off in woo-woo land. She’d be herself, not give Tor any reason to think something was wrong.
By the time Kenna had collected the bag she’d packed and headed out of her apartment, she’d collected herself to the point no one would be able to know she’d somehow acquired a freaky ability. At least in her mind she pulled it off.
Chapter Six
Tor resisted the urge to open the front door and look outside to see if Kenna had arrived. Instead he went to the living room and turned on the TV. He’d missed her, had even found himself reaching for her while in bed, wanting to have her in his arms.
Since he’d already made them mates, he planned to tell her everything once she’d had a chance to settle in, and after they’d made love once, maybe twice. The sooner he got it over with the better it would be for both of them. As Anubis had said the night before, sooner or later Kenna was going to notice something was different about her. She needed to understand why before that happened. He could see it freaking her out if she happened to hurt herself and then healed in seconds.
Tor also didn’t want to risk the demon that had him in his sights finding out what Kenna was to him while she was on her own. Without being under Tor’s protection, the demon could hurt her. And if the creature ever found out Tor’s and Kenna’s life forces were joined, the demon would try to take Kenna out, knowing full well Tor would die right along with her.
Having not spent the night and into the early hours of the morning hunting, Tor’d had the chance to go to the grocery store earlier and stock up on what he hoped Kenna would like to eat. Now being immortal, she would be able to eat as much as she wanted, food that was good or bad for her, and not have to worry about gaining a pound. She’d always stay the same. She’d also be able to drink alcohol and never get drunk.
Ten minutes later, Tor heard the sound of a car pulling up his long driveway. He smiled as he hurried out of the living room and walked through the foyer to the front door. He opened it and stepped out in time to see Kenna park in front of the garage. He smiled as he headed in her direction. She didn’t see him at first, but once she did, she gave him a small wave before taking an athletic bag out of the backseat.
Once he closed the distance between them, Tor cupped her face and kissed her as he’d ached to do since he’d dropped her off at her place the night before. He then put his arm around her shoulders and guided her toward the door.
“I missed you,” he said as they walked.
She smiled as she angled her head to look at him, her arm snaking around his waist. “I missed you too.”
Inside the house, he shut the door behind them. Tor took her bag and placed it on the bottom step of one of the staircases to bring up to his bedroom later. He turned back to her.
“Would you like something to drink or eat?”
Kenna shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Thanks.”
Tor looked down and saw she wrung her hands. Gazing at her more closely, he saw her expression was a little on the pinched side, almost as if she appeared anxious about something. He hoped he wasn’t the cause of it.
“Are you okay, Kenna?” he asked.
“Of course I am.” She wrung her hands harder and spoke faster. “Why wouldn’t I be? Everything is perfect. I have nothing to worry about.”
“Well, for one thing, you’re babbling.”