The Sixteenth Moon: A Rejected Mates Romance

Chapter 20: Revelations

Kana blinked. Then blinked again. Her hands were shaking...but her mind was sluggish.

Had she been drugged? No...more than likely her brain just clapped the fuck out.

Where had the cup of tea come from? The blanket around her shoulders?

She blinked again, lifting her head.

She was in a room. That wasn't hers. It also wasn't the room where she'd been fucked then nearly murdered.

That hadn't been a dream, right? That had really happened. She'd been seduced by the human, drawn into a trap, and then ambushed by Human First assholes...and then--

"You seem to be coming out of it...good," said a voice she couldn't quite remember, but she knew she'd never forget. It was his voice.

The man from the shadows who'd cut through the mercs like a hot knife through butter.

Except he used a fancy sword...and cut through people.

So why wasn't she terrified?

Slowing turning toward the voice, she saw a man sitting in a chair, one leg crossed over the other. He was dressed in black, from head to toe. His hair was short, glossy black, and his eyes were a striking, penetrating, too sharp, too intense brown. It was like he was seeing into her soul, peeling it apart, piece by piece, and examining it for her mistakes.

Clearing her throat, she asked, "How did I get here?" The better question was, "Where is here?" And the question even better than that was, "Who are you?"

The man, whose face was smooth around the cheeks but with deep lines etched on his forehead and around his eyes, as though he spent a lot of time in contemplation with furrowed brows. From the look of him, he was Japanese, like her father, but he seemed younger, much younger than her father had been when he'd died.

A flash of memory from the night intruded--

"You called me 'niece'", she accused. "I don't have an uncle."

He smiled softly, those lines around his eyes crinkling.

"Let me answer your questions in order, that will make things easier on you. You've had a hell of a night, I think some clarity will help things along, however."

He was right. She'd had a hell of a night-losing her virginity to a traitor, nearly dying, and then blacking out and then coming to in a totally different place....

She nodded. "Okay."

"Okay," he smiled again, leaning back in the chair, and settling his gaze on her face. There was a warmth in his gaze now that did little to alleviate the tension roiling through her. Somehow, she knew his answers would only lead to more questions.

"To answer your question about how you got here...I brought you here. This is my rental, about ten miles outside of town. It allows for privacy. After those men were dispatched, you were a little...overwhelmed, so it is no surprise you don't remember me picking you up, tucking you into my truck, and driving you here."

She snorted. That was an understatement--she'd freaking gone completely catatonic!

Reaching toward the table beside him, he gently picked up a small teacup, the kind her father had used. She and her mother preferred a little more oomph with their caffeine, so anything smaller than 15oz didn't cut it. Her father, however, preferred smaller portions of tea. He'd said it was the way his mother had done it, the way it had been done in his family for generations. Kana felt only slightly guilty about breaking the generational tradition, but...caffeine.