Grave Sight | A Reverse Harem Romance

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔽𝕚𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟

I did not like shopping. Something about it always had a way of making me uncomfortable, because I never liked how anything fit. Which was probably why I was drawn to leggings and shirts too large for my body.

I wasn't overweight by any stretch of the imagination. But my hips were too wide for my taste, and my breasts were about two cup sizes over what I would have liked them to be. Naomi called it exotic. I called it something to be hidden.

She handed me a shirt that was actually my size and pointed me to the changing rooms. I couldn't say no to her if I tried, so I went and put the shirt on, curling my lip at how it looked paired with my leggings.

"Let me see," Naomi called.

I grunted and opened the changing room door, stepping out. Naomi clapped like it was the greatest thing in the world, then walked around me like the fit of it near my ass was important also.

"You really need to start wearing more form-fitting clothes." She grinned when she stepped back in front of me. "I know you're not comfortable in it, but your body is amazing. I think wearing something smaller than your normal would do good to help your self esteem."

My self esteem wasn't the highest, but I doubted my wearing clothes I didn't like would make it any better. I didn't say I had a low self esteem, because I didn't fish for compliments. Which was also another reason why I wore what I did, because compliments made me uncomfortable.

I shrugged. "Maybe one day."

"I think it looks good on you."

My head whipped in the direction of the voice, and against my better judgment, I smiled when I saw Kyler.

He nodded a hello to Naomi, then walked to me. He touched the hem of the shirt, feeling the material between his fingers.

Naomi stared at him, then at me, and mouthed Lucian's name as a question.

I shook my head. "Naomi, this is Kyler. Kyler, this is my best friend Naomi."

Kyler smiled at her, and I swear if it weren't for the fact that we were in the middle of a store with multiple people around, she would have jumped him. She didn't try to hide it either, and that fact made Kyler's smile grow into a feral grin.

He knew exactly what he did to women, it seemed.

"I don't mind your normal attire," he said, his eyes moving to meet mine, "but this definitely suits you more."

"At least try wearing something like this once a week," Naomi prodded. "You don't even have to leave your house. Just once a week."

Kyler remained silent, watching me with a small smile on his face. Like the whole ordeal was funny to him, but he didn't want to outwardly laugh.

"Let me get changed," I motioned towards the changing room, "and we'll chat for a second."

He nodded once, and I turned and went back into the changing room. When I exited, Naomi was nowhere to be seen.

"She's giving us time to talk," Kyler said. "I told her it was business oriented."

Right.

I put the shirt on the return shelf, and he eyed it before following me out of the store into the mall.

"How's the search for Jason going," I asked.

He hummed, watching our surroundings like he was searching for someone. He didn't speak for a while, and we walked in silence throughout the mall, his eyes never once stopping their scanning.

"It's difficult to get close to the vampires we need to get close to in order to find out if they know anything." He stopped in front of a bookstore and turned to me. "So far, we've only been able to ask a few people. But it's coming along."

I sighed. I barely helped them and yet I felt compelled to continue, even though I said I refused. Why should I take it out on Jason - who could be in serious danger - because a few people were assholes? I could work with them without dealing with them.

I rested my back against the wall and crossed my arms. "If I continue to help, do I have to deal with the pack?"

"No," he answered. "That was a mistake anyway, which I apologize for. It was my idea. Lucian was going to tell everyone, besides the people already helping, in the end. I said it would be better to let them get to know who was helping before we got too far into the investigation. I didn't realize it would turn into what it did."

"Do they talk to you like that normally?" I really didn't understand pack law or their hierarchy, but I knew for a fact there had to be some respect within the pack for it to work. What I saw wasn't respect. They didn't really disobey what Lucian said about disrespecting me, but they turned it around and threw it at one of their pack mates who was higher up in rank.

Kyler shook his head. "Not normally, no. They're all pretty riled up. I've had to stay away since this whole thing started because everyone's emotions are out of control. I can't imagine how Lucian feels."

If Kyler felt it, Lucian definitely did as the alpha. I tried to put myself in his shoes, and realized I couldn't. I never had a lot of people counting on me, and never in that aspect.

Then I tried to put myself in the pack's shoes. Where someone close to me was taken and I had to rely on someone I didn't know and who was a completely different race than me. A race that was rumored to have taken the person I was close to.

"Son of a bitch," I mumbled.

Since when did I give a shit?

Kyler tilted his head in confusion.

"Do you still need me?" I had to say it before I stopped myself. Because any longer, and I would have.

He blinked, like he wasn't sure he heard me right. "Yes. We do."

"Then I'll help," I said, then raised a hand when he opened his mouth to speak. "But I don't want anything to do with the rest of Lucian's pack unless they're needed."

Kyler grinned, and if I hadn't been leaning against the wall, I probably would have stumbled back. His face was normally boyish, but the grin made him look that much younger. Like life hadn't hit him yet.

Oh, boy. He was dangerous.