Blossom and the Beast (The Alder Tales Book 1) Read online

  Blossom let her mouth fall open at the burst of emotion from the usually calm Vice Syndicate, until she realized why. She’d hurt him. Even before she left, just the idea that she would eventually leave had cut him—was still cutting him. Kaide lashed out because he was afraid of what another night together would mean after she left.

  Blossom pushed out of her chair, in disbelief over what she was about to do. She rounded the small table and arrived at his side, his eyes on her the whole time. When she pulled on the arm of his chair, he spun it out and away from the table so he sat facing her.

  Her heart was a relentless drum in her chest, thumping so loud she was certain he could hear. Still, she’d gotten this far. Blossom was no coward. Not usually, anyway. She lifted her leg, bent at the knee, and slid into his lap, her other leg quick to follow. In a matter of seconds, she found herself sitting on his thighs and saying, “I want to read your books.”

  He placed his hands on her waist, so gentle but still strong enough to keep her from falling. He gazed up at her in awe, as if he, too, couldn’t believe she was doing this.

  “I want to see your totem,” she continued. With her thumb, she traced the scratch along his neck, the one that he’d earned at the warehouse. Channeling that serious, intense voice he used, she whispered, “And I was serious when I said I would stay.”

  After that, it was easier to melt against him, to wrap her arms around his neck and feel the strength of his hands on her back. With her chest pressed to his, she could feel his every desperate, grateful breath as the rhythm of his own heartbeat meshed with hers.

  Blossom only pulled away when she heard Norsa arrive and start clearing the plates from the table, the woman’s eyes taking in the sight of Blossom draped across Kaide’s lap. Seconds later, she was gone.

  Kaide was the first to laugh. Blossom put a hand over her face and joined him. “Think she’ll tell the others?”

  “I have no doubt of it.” He reached up and tucked a curl behind her ear, his eyes bright and vibrant. “And, I was serious. I don’t want you to tell me you’ll stay only to have you leave.”

  “I know. I’ll probably not listen and run off and do all sorts of things I’m not supposed to, but as long as you don’t try to keep me locked up in here, then I’ll stay.” After giving her a day in the city, he’d more than proved he was willing to let her have her freedom.

  “I suppose that’s the best I can hope for.” His smile faded a little, but Blossom couldn’t decide why. She’d told him what he wanted to hear. She was going to stay. It was by far the most freedom she could hope to have, and he was better company than Norin or any other man who might trade for her.

  “Blossom, being with me means you’ll have to pretend to be someone else sometimes. Can you do that?” Concern glowed in his eyes.

  “What do you mean?”

  “That you’ll have to be nice to people you hate, and you’ll have to wear clothes you don’t like and say things you don’t mean, because being with me means looking and acting a part, even if that part isn’t you.”

  Blossom smiled. “Are you trying to dissuade me from staying?”

  “Not in the least. But I won’t have you here without knowing what you’re getting into.”

  “I understand. I can do it. But no more secrets. You came to the Alderwood and brought me here, so the least you can do is be honest and answer my questions.” Blossom shot him a victorious smirk.

  Kaide chuckled and nodded, all his earlier anger gone, replaced with a tepid smile. “Fair enough. But if you ask to see my totem tonight, I’ll still say no.”

  Blossom shook her head. “No, but I want to see your tattoos.”

  With deft fingers, Kaide reached for the collar of his shirt and tugged it down far enough to reveal the red and black animal tattooed there. As she’d seen before, it had wings, but its body was a lion and its tail, a snake’s head.

  Blossom ran a fingertip across it, feeling the tendons in his neck move under the pressure of her touch while he explained, “It’s a griffin. A mythological creature to mark unnatural totems. It’s meant to warn others that I’m no longer one of them.”

  “But—you’re the Vice Syndicate,” she stammered, shocked that anyone could put such a mark on such a man.

  “Yes, despite their best attempts.” Kaide tugged his collar back over his tattoo and returned his hand to her hip.

  Blossom fumbled her injured hand up to his collar and slid it down again. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to the tattoo, planting a tiny kiss.

  Kaide froze beneath her like a solid block of ice but for the audible pounding in his chest. At least he hadn’t lied about being nervous. Blossom smiled and relished that she could make him lock up for once. “You don’t need to hide this from me. And that wasn’t the one I meant.”

  Kaide frowned.

  “What?” Could they really be worse than the one on his neck that marked his unnatural totem?

  “It’s just—you’ll have to get up so I can show you, but I’m rather enjoying you here.”

  Heat surged into her cheeks with newfound speed. What had gotten into her? She knew exactly, of course. It was those sapphire eyes and the unapologetic way he spoke to her.

  Blossom slid back and planted both feet on the floor, though less relaxed now that he’d put words to what she’d done. Da would be ashamed of her.

  Kaide pushed up from his chair and stood tall in front of her, working at the buttons along the front of his shirt. She could see his warm, brown skin peaking between the black fabric, but it wasn’t until he opened it wide and slid it off his shoulders that she realized the extent of his markings.

  In the center of his chest, an alder tree, its branches and roots reaching out, rounding into a perfect circle. On one side, the branches became birds that flocked up toward his shoulder and down onto his muscular arm. His right shoulder was covered in thick black bands that swirled and circled around in some sort of ancient pattern. Between them, a complex array of dots and lines so perfectly spaced and balanced they looked like art. His stomach was bare but for the pointed tips from the tattoos on his back that wrapped around his sides.

  Blossom put a hand over her mouth and tried not to stare. She’d never seen anything like it. She’d never seen a person so covered in ink but at the same time so bare in front of her. Terras were notoriously conservative, always fully clothed. Such a display, a bare-chested man standing before a woman, would have caused quite the racket.

  But as the woman standing before him, she found it hard to breathe as her eyes took in every swirl and line, the intricate branches of the tree and the whimsical birds that flew away.

  “Why birds?” Blossom kept her eyes trained on his markings, refusing to look him in the eye.

  “I’ve always liked them. Maybe it’s the cat in me. What do you think?”

  Kaide held out his arms and waited for her response, but she only asked, “Can I touch them?”

  He laughed. “Of course.”

  Blossom reached out and traced the swirling lines across his shoulder, feeling the muscle under the skin dyed black. She’d known he was strong—he’d carried her up the mountain, after all—but unable to hide his frame under his formal attire, she realized she hadn’t really known what he looked like.

  When her fingers reached the top of his shoulder, she rounded behind him to see his fully-covered back, a continuation of the swirls along his shoulder blade and across to the nape of his neck. On the other side, the birds flew down and emerged in a mountain scene, complete with alder trees and volcanic plumes. At the bottom, just above the waistline of his pants, a rippling lake extended around to the front on either side.

  “This is amazing,” she whispered. “The four branches.” Terra’s trees, Pyro’s mountains, Hydra’s lake, and Aero’s sky. All beautifully interlocked in one image.

  Blossom ran her fingertips across his skin as if she could somehow soak up its beauty by touching it. Kaide stood, still on display for h
er, until she walked back around to face him. She found his features drawn and his eyes searching. “You like it?”

  She tried not to look too enthusiastic as she nodded.

  “Good. I very much want you to like it,” Kaide whispered just above her ear. “Would you like me to put my shirt back on now?”

  Again, she nodded.

  Kaide broke into a series of hearty laughs as he pushed his arms into his shirt and started buttoning.

  “What’s so funny?” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

  “There’s a little Terra in you after all.”

  “Says the guy with the Alder Mother tattooed on his chest. I didn’t take you for a believer.” The shirt perfectly hid every bit of his tattoos save for the totem mark on his neck. Otherwise, it was possible to believe he didn’t have any. Now she knew better.

  With his fingers lingering on the top button, he lifted his chin as he answered. “I don’t have to believe in the Alder Mother to respect her.” Finished with his shirt, he smoothed his hands over the front and plucked his wine glass from the table. “What about you? Are you a believer?”

  Blossom shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”

  “You have your whole life to figure it out.” Kaide slipped his hand in hers and pulled her toward his office. She had only a half-second to reach back and grab her wine glass. When he stepped into the room, it erupted in low light from a dozen fixtures along the walls. Blossom watched them come to life in unison.

  “They’re motion-detected,” he explained. “They’re programmed to turn on when I enter the room. I’ll have them reset so they’ll detect you as well.” Kaide collapsed onto the wide black couch and pulled her down beside him.

  Blossom sat with her hip pressed to his leg, trying to act like she didn’t notice, when in reality she noticed nothing else.

  An awkward silence filled the room, suffocating her as the seconds passed. Why wouldn’t her brain function when he was near? She desperately tried to think of something to talk about, anything so she didn’t have to be nervous anymore.

  “Did you always want to be the Vice Syndicate?” She blurted the words out like a drunkard, but at least it wasn’t quiet anymore.

  Kaide rubbed a hand across his bearded chin. “No, I didn’t.”

  “Then how’d you get it? Norsa said something about you being selected at fourteen.”

  “Norsa’s telling you stories about me?” he said with a laugh. “She’s known me a very long time. Since I was a boy. I’m sure she could think of a hundred stories to tell you.” But as he continued, his humor faded. “Every year, branches are open to receive applications for Vice Syndicate, usually from youths, but sometimes people who have already undergone transformation apply as well. My father submitted my name, but it wasn’t until I was selected that I found out he’d done it. Like all selected youths, I was appointed a Vice Syndicate Apprentice until after my transformation.”

  “That’s pretty impressive,” Blossom admitted.

  “Not really. They only selected me after they looked at my family history. My parents were both wealthy Pyros with political connections, and they thought my totem would be a tiger. I was the easy choice.”

  “But you didn’t want it. Couldn’t you have declined the position?” Blossom took a tiny sip of wine and noticed she was almost out, but she didn’t want to leave before she’d heard this story.

  “Technically, no. Once selected, fulfilling the position is mandatory. Those that deny service are executed as criminals. However, because of my totem, I could have declared myself unfit. I didn’t want the position but I prepared myself to accept the offer when I went in for my transformation. When I found out what I was, I accepted gladly.” Kaide shot back the last of his wine.

  “What does your totem have to do with the Vice Syndicate position?”

  Kaide sighed. “Because Aero administers transformations. They altered my totem to get me out. They knew if I accepted, I could lead Pyro to power. With my parents’ connections and a strong totem, I would put them at risk. So they interfered with my transformation. They made me into this beast because they thought it would get me to quit.”

  “But now you’ll do it just to prove them wrong.” Blossom knew she would have reacted the same way.

  “Exactly. More wine?”

  Blossom handed him her glass and watched him cross the room to fetch a fresh bottle from behind his desk. “And do you pose a threat to them, whoever they are?”

  Kaide turned and nodded with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Oh yes. I’m their nightmares realized. Before I’m done, I will have crushed Aero under my boot.”

  Blossom accepted her refilled wine glass and wondered what other sides to him had she not yet seen. This one, this vindictive side, wasn’t her favorite, but she could at least understand it. If she had to guess, she thought his totem was much more a part of who he was than he realized.

  No wonder he didn’t like to talk about it.

  When he returned to his seat on the couch, she lay against his side and rested her head on his shoulder. “Is that why you wanted your niece to go to the Alderwood?”

  “That’s a large part of it. If she’s promised to a clan, they’ll have no reason to interfere with her totem. She’ll get to be a tiger like she wants.” Kaide leaned his cheek against the side of her head and squeezed her against his ribs.

  “What about me? Will they interfere with mine?” Blossom spoke the words aloud as fear settled into her gut.

  “I don’t know,” he whispered. “Look here.”

  Lifting her head from his shoulder, Blossom sat up to face him and found his eyes intense and dark as usual. “You have nothing to worry about. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you.”

  Blossom winced. “Are you always going to say things like that?”

  “Yes, I am. Why?” Of course, he said it in that same unapologetic tone, that unashamed way of speaking about her. She wondered if he even knew what he was doing.

  “Because you make it very hard to—”

  “To what?” His mouth upturned in a sly smile.

  “Everything. You make it hard to everything.”

  Kaide’s hand landed low on the back of her head. Somehow both fast and slow, he pulled her close to him. His lips were gentle, but only for a moment. As soon as she kissed him back, his mouth opened and his tongue roved. She tasted the sweet strawberry wine on his breath and felt the eagerness in his hands as they climbed across her back.

  Blossom thought her chest might explode, but that didn’t stop her. Instead, she pulled back just long enough to set her wine glass on the floor before she crawled up into his lap again.

  After the brief reprieve, his lips were ravenous and warm, pulling her in, his hands on either side of her waist.

  Then he stopped. His hands froze alongside her hips and his eyes opened wide, searching her face—for what, she didn’t know. “You’re really going to stay?”

  “Yes, I told you I would.” She smacked his shoulder for effect. “Do you take me for a liar?”

  He shook his head. “And I don’t suppose that means you’ll marry me after all?”

  Blossom sank back onto his legs and cringed. “Undecided,” she admitted. She knew it was all kinds of unfair. Had it been anyone else who traded for her, she’d have been married already. Even still, she couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear. “Is that all right? I know living here sort of comes with that eventually, but—”

  Kaide sat up and pressed his lips to hers, silencing the words right out of her. His hands moved to her thighs, and before she knew it, they were moving. He was carrying her somewhere, but Blossom couldn’t manage to care. She only wanted to feel that jolt of energy she felt every time his lips touched hers.

  Is that what she’d been missing these last few years in the Alderwood? This was why Parson was stuck on a girl he couldn’t marry. This was why Gemini entertained the whims of every boy in the clan. This was why Da wanted to wait to trade
her to the right man. Because connections like this were possible, and everyone knew it but her.

  Blossom was only vaguely aware of how they ascended the stairs to his bedroom. She pushed her fingers into the thick tangle of his dark waves as his legs worked beneath her. It was only when he set her on her feet did she realize where they had arrived.

  Kaide moved behind her and began untying the strips that held her shirt against her figure. Blossom’s ragged breath struggled when she realized what he was doing.

  “Kaide?” She half-turned to look at him but the strips in his hands prevented her the full rotation.

  “We’ll go slow. I promise.” She could hear the laugh on his voice.

  When the first two straps were let loose, his lips kissed her shoulder, and just as before, her heart hammered at the sensation. His touch was slow and careful, intimate yet she was covered. Blossom couldn’t help but tilt her head to give him full access to that little slice of skin at the nape of her neck, eager to feel his lips as long as possible.

  “We’ll go as slow as you like,” he whispered, his breath skating across her shoulder. “We’ll go out and explore.” A kiss brushed her skin. “Or we’ll stay in and read books.” His lips suckled along her neck. “But no matter what.” He kissed the corner of her jaw. “I will always cherish this moment.”

  Blossom’s knees went weak as his hand wrapped around her waist. She spun to face him. She couldn’t hear those words and miss the sight of his eyes as he said them. Shimmering bright blue and overflowing with intensity that matched his words, his eyes swallowed her up entirely.

  Summoning what little tenacity she could, Blossom reached up for the top button of his shirt. He swallowed hard and his heart thudded even faster than before. And then, when the button was freed, she pulled at the collar of his shirt and reached for his neck. Only then did she remember he was too tall.