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“Shit, hopefully not too long.” Kenji sighed, placing his hands inside his black and green Gucci sweatpants.

When Kenji said vampires wore designer clothes every day, I thought he was exaggerating, but I was wrong. Everything he owned had some kind of name brand on it. Kenji barely batted an eye at his expensive wardrobe. Kenji was dressed to impress in my eyes with his matching Gucci logo sweatsuit, but let him tell it, this was nothing. Which was why he was wearing it for whatever crazy stuff he and his brothers were about to get into. Kenji had asked me about where Dante lived at some point last night. My head was in the clouds. I didn’t think twice about telling Kenji everything I knew. Granted, it wasn’t much because I didn’t know as much as I should’ve about Dante. I knew more about Kenji over this last week than I did about Dante in the two years I’d known him. I never thought about what Kenji’s reasons for his question were. Dante was out of sight, out of mind for me. I’d halfway forgotten about him until Kenji stood in front of me fully dressed, telling me he and his brothers were going to Dante’s. That worried me. I didn’t give a flying fuck what happened to Dante. He could get run over by a train, and I wouldn’t have cared. It was Kenji’s safety that had me on high alert. From what Kenji had said, Dante was up to no good, and as sneaky as he’d shown himself to be, it didn’t seem like a good idea to pop up at his house. There was no telling what he had going on over there or who he’d been working with. I thought it would be better to check things out beforehand, but according to Kenji, that wasn’t how things worked with vampires. He assured me they could handle themselves. Kenji was a fighter for sure. I still wasn’t sold, but Kenji had his mind made up. He was determined to find out what Dante was up to.

I had no choice but to let Kenji take care of business, especially when he explained it was pertaining to my own safety. I finally understood the feelings of wanting to protect your soulmate because I felt them at this very moment.

“I’m going to miss you,” I sighed, not ready to see Kenji go.

“Not more than I miss you.” He smirked, sneaking a kiss on my cheek, then my neck, right on my mark, making me quiver.

“Can you stay with me?” I asked him batting my eyelashes.

“I would if I could, but I need to handle this. Say my name,” he said, throwing me off slightly.

“Kenji?” I was unsure why he wanted me to say his name.

He shook his head, then used his pointer finger to poke my forehead. “In here. Picture my face while you’re saying my name.” I frowned because I’d heard Kenji’s voice, but his lips didn’t move.

I paused. Instead of questioning him, I did what he asked. “Kenji,” I called out to him, and he smiled.

“Good girl. We’re speaking through our minds. If you need me for anything, do what I just showed you, and I’ll answer.”

“Okay,” I said, amazed that I was able to speak to Kenji through my mind.”

“Be a good girl while I’m gone, and I’ll teach you how to read my thoughts.” Kenji answered while talking this time.

“Really? I can read your mind?”

“Yeah, our bond is complete. There’s a lot of stuff we can do now.”

“You know you can just stay here with me and teach me all that stuff?” I purred, trying to entice Kenji and help change his mind.

“Later, baby. I gotta go,” he firmly said.

“Fine. Be safe and don’t do anything that will get you put in jail.” I pouted. I really didn’t want to be away from Kenji. He wasn’t even gone, and I already missed him like it had been days.

“Jail?” Kenji scoffed at me like I said something absurd. “That’s a human thing. They couldn’t keep me locked up if they tried.”

“I hear you, big dog,” I sarcastically replied, rolling my eyes at him. “If you go back past that farmhouse we were at, can you see if you can find my phone? I really need to get in contact with my cousin Emberly,” I asked. I prayed my phone was still out there. I was sure by now Emberly had the National Guard looking for me and Sutton.

“Emberly,” a voice said from behind, startling me. It was Tahji coming from the back of the house. “I like that name.” He smirked. Just like Kenji, he was dressed to impress. He wore a black Gucci logo hoodie, dark-wash denim jeans with a matching black Gucci belt.

“Where the fuck you coming from?” Kenji scowled at Tahji.

“Benji wanted to race me. He went from the front. I came through the back.” Tahji shrugged, grinning. “I beat his slow ass.”

“My soulmate lives here now. Make this the last time you come in our house unannounced.” There wasn’t any humor in Kenji’s tone.

“My bad. Don’t fuck me up.” Tahji chuckled. “My bad, sis. I didn’t mean to scare you.” You could tell Tahji was the charm of the three brothers. His boyish grin was enough to get his way with anything.

“You’re fine,” I reassured him with a friendly smile.

“You ready? I’m sure Benji’s fat ass is out here outta breath.” Tahji sniggered.

“Yeah,” Kenji said, looking at Tahji, then back down at me. He leaned forward, softly pressing his lips into mine.

We shared a light yet passionate kiss, our lips gently moving against each other. We got lost in the moment, our kiss taking us to another reality as our kiss deepened. If it weren’t for the hard knocks at the door, our kiss would have gone longer. Kenji let out a soft groan of annoyance before he pulled back. “I’ll be back,” he said, resting his forehead against mine. We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment.

“I’ll be here,” I said, smiling widely.