Page 40 of Little Wing (Shades of Fairhaven #1)

M y conflicted frustrations took me straight from Little Wing to The Royal Nomad where the music was already boisterous for a weekday. I didn’t need to check my phone to know who I would find serving drinks on the other side of the bar.

I took a seat and watched as Kait worked on mixing drinks and pouring pints for her patrons. Despite keeping her focus on her orders, I knew she noticed me from the corner of her eye.

“I’ll be right with you,” she announced, as if I was any other person.

I pulled a bill from my pocket and held it out between two fingers. “AB negative on the rocks. Thanks.”

Kait reached to pluck the bill from my fingers, but I held on tightly. This forced her eyes to mine. Hers were a dark brown, but I could still see her pupils darting back and forth. “This is for a few minutes of your time, too. Right now.”

She swallowed hard and her heartbeat drummed in my ears. Yet even sensing this part of her, she kept her expression stoic. After she poured my drink, Kait asked another one of her coworkers to cover the bar.

Sticking her rag into the back pocket of her jeans, Kait led me outside of the Nomad to an alley in between the bar and the adjacent business. It was full of empty crates that were stacked beside a dumpster. It wasn’t ideal, but it provided enough distance and privacy from any nosy customers.

“Silas…” Kait started.

“Where is she?” I demanded. I realized how harsh I must have sounded, but I couldn’t hold back. “You two have been dodging my calls and texts and shit is out of control. I know she must have reached out to you. Please tell me she’s okay.”

Kait pulled her phone out. I watched her fumble with it before she quickly tapped the screen.

This was getting ridiculous. I reached to tug Kait by the wrist gently, but she quickly recoiled.

“Relax,” I sighed. “I’m not here to hurt you.

I need to know where Lotus is because her brother came looking for her at Little Wing.

If he found a trace of her there, it won’t be long before he finds her.

And if she’s with you—” I let go of her wrist and bent forward, pressing my hands flat against my thighs.

“You’re used to vampires who follow the rules.

We like the treaty, okay? But this guy was the reason it almost didn’t happen. ”

Kait stepped back and leaned against the stacked crates. “Lotus told us.”

“Us?”

“Reina knows too. We know who Luca is and what he did.”

“Lotus told you,” I repeated. The matter-of-fact way that Kait revealed what she knew threw me off. Why couldn’t she come to me with this? Why did she run?

She nodded. “She came to me a week ago, Silas.” She crossed her arms and looked down. “She’s been asking about you every day, but every time I ask her if she wants to talk to you or see you, she changes the subject. I'm sorry. "

The anger I felt before arriving at the bar dissolved when I saw Kait’s pained expression. “Is she okay?” I asked.

Kait shrugged. “Would you be if you had to reveal to your closest friends, your family, that your name and blood is tied to a murderer? I mean, she barely changed her name. She’s tired of hiding, Silas, but with that guy at Little Wing…

” Kait exhaled slowly and rubbed her eyes.

“She came over covered in bruises and barely able to speak.”

“Can you please let her know I’d like to speak to her?

I’ll be home for the next few days and I’ll stop by her apartment after sundown each day.

” I figured giving Lotus a few options would allow her to pick what she was most comfortable with.

I had to try anything at this point. At least I knew she wasn’t alone.

I couldn’t bear thinking she didn’t have any kind of support.

And I knew Kait could see it in my eyes—the disappointment that Lotus couldn’t confide in me.

“I can do that,” Kait agreed. She glanced back towards the bar and bit down on her bottom lip.

Outside of her work and even away from her friends, the tough front that she maintained softened for me.

Before she ended our conversation, she placed a hand on my shoulder, just as Quinn did and gave it a quick squeeze.

“She wanted to come to you, but in this situation, she feared running to her own kind was like jumping into a pit of sharks, okay?”

My gaze lowered to the concrete and I swallowed hard until I felt Kait squeeze my shoulder again.

I could feel her eyes on me, urging me to look up.

Maybe she was right. Maybe what Lotus feared most, especially after the scene that unfolded at Little Wing, was putting her trust, her vulnerability, in another vampire.

Kait offered one of her rare soft smiles as I nodded. I understood completely. Had it been me, I didn’t think I’d turn to our own kind either .

“When you do see her, Silas, please listen to her,” she urged me before she let go and stepped back to return to work.

I’d listen to Lotus. Her truth deserved not to be overshadowed by the mania that surrounded that entire situation. And while I wanted to understand it all, Luca’s mention of Wesley invaded my mind. Would she have something to say about him?