The Kindred and The Breed
Cupcakes and Destiny
V. C. Turner
Bonnie tried to calm her nerves, but Kai continued to kiss her neck and trace circles on her thighs as she sat atop the counter considering their next move. The sudden realization that she faced danger again wasn't lost on her. She'd fought countless battles against powerful, immortal enemies. The Breed were different. She'd heard whispers about them from her grandmother and even from Abbie from time to time, but she didn't have much detail to go on. For that, she needed Kai.
"Kai," his name came out of her mouth in a breathy moan rather than a declaration for him to stop for a few minutes so she could concentrate.
Damn, she thought, he's too good at this. Her body responded to his touch as she arched into him, tunneling her fingers into his soft black hair and giving him greater access to her neck.
Kai grabbed her waist in response, pulling away from her neck for a moment. Before she could speak again, he gently stroked her left cheek, and possessively kissed her lips again.
Bonnie groaned. She reached beneath his shirt and touched his warm skin, running her fingers along his toned stomach and letting the hairs of his happy trail tickle her palms.
He finally released her lips long enough to speak her name.
"Bonnie," he whispered, nuzzling her cheek.
It gave her the break she needed.
"Kai," she managed to choke out, "We – um. We can't. I mean, I guess we can, but I just don't think we should. At least not yet. It's just God, I want to and I really shouldn't want to because we just met…"
Kai chuckled sweetly as she rambled. He nodded, held up his hands and stepped back.
"I know. I understand. You're right. You're right," he said.
He backed up until he was about six feet from her. He then stuffed his hands in his pockets.
Bonnie tried to ignore the fact that when he made this simple motion, it tightened the fabric around his crotch area. She could see just how affected he was by their impromptu make-out session.
Kai smirked as he noticed where her gaze was leading.
"Bad girl!" he said with a smile.
She noticed that he briefly glanced down at her chest, then back up at her eyes.
Her nipples stood at attention, pointing directly at Kai as if calling to him. He quickly looked down, and back up again. He started to take a step toward her when she held up her hand.
"Bad boy!" she chided.
He stopped his advance while looking her up and down and biting his lip.
"Well, I can be," he said with a wink that made her panties suddenly turn wet. Bonnie inadvertently licked her lips, which only served as an invitation to kiss her again.
He crossed the six foot space between them in less than a second, landing his lips on hers with expert precision. His talented hands found their way up her thighs and he hooked his fingers around the sides of her panties.
Bonnie told herself that she'd intended to scoot away from him so they could start talking again, but her slight hopping movement only allowed him to pull the fabric away from her aching core and drag them down her bare legs.
She shivered even though the cold counter had turned incredibly hot over the past several minutes.
Kai dragged a kitchen chair over to the counter, placing it on front of where Bonnie was sitting.
"Wha – What are you doing," she asked, turned on and a little exposed because of how high he had hiked her dress.
"I want another cupcake," he said, grabbing one from the tray next to her.
He took his right pointer finger and swirled a small dab of frosting on the tip before smearing it on Bonnie's lips.
She opened her mouth to taste it.
"Don't you dare lick that off," he said, pulling her close to him, "That's my job.
Kai slowly licked the icing off Bonnie's mouth. He licked her top lip, then sucked it into his mouth to savor the taste. He then did the same to the bottom lip, taking his time to remove all the sweetness there. He delved his tongue into her mouth, kissing her more deeply than before.
He set the cupcake down and used the back of his hands to brush against her hardened nipples. She moaned into his mouth. The sensation was overwhelming.
"Kai, we should stop," she told him. She didn't mean it but she felt obligated to say something since they were misbehaving.
"When?" he asked.
"Um….," she moaned again, "Maybe in five minutes, or so."
Kai smiled back at her.
"Oh Bonnie," he said, running his fingers up to her shoulders and slowly dragging the elastic fabric of her dress and bra down so her nipples were exposed, "Do you know how much cupcake I can eat in five minutes?"
She shuddered at his words. The little voice in her head that piped up whenever she was about to do something she'd regret fell silent.
"God, you are beautiful," he told her.
Kai placed one knee on chair in front of her. He took another cupcake and dabbed the top of it on each of Bonnie's erect nipples, leaving a heap of frosting on each. He leaned in and just before taking her right nipple into his mouth, he looked into her hooded eyes.
Kai dove into her with his mouth, gently taking the nipple between his teeth and flicking his tongue over the bud. He sucked and licked at the flesh until the frosting was gone. He then turned his attention to his second treat of Bonnie's eager flesh. He lapped at the bud until it too was free of frosting.
Bonnie cried out as Kai started kissing up her chest, to her neck and back to her lips again. She hands found their way to his shirt and she pulled it from him, barely breaking their kiss. She tossed it aside and continued to kiss him harder, trying not to dig too deeply into his bare back.
She'd never gone so far – she'd never done so much with one man so soon after meeting him. This was supposed to be "wrong" yet every fiber in her being continued to tell her right it was.
Fuck reason, she thought to herself.
Overcome with passion, she tilted her head back, allowing Kai better access to her.
Bonnie didn't realize how close she was to the top of the cabinet. She conked the top of her head into the cabinet door, a slight pain spreading across her noggin.
"Ouch – Damn it," she growled.
Kai pulled her toward him and examined where she'd bumped herself. He kissed the top of her head and laughed a little.
"I guess that's the universe telling us we should stop," she giggled.
"Or the universe is insisting we need to take this into the bedroom," he flirted.
The break in their passion gave Bonnie the clarity she needed to refocus on finding out what was going on. They were about to be hunted and she needed to understand their situation fully.
She sat up, pulling her dress back into position and sitting straight up. Kai was still standing between her legs, grumbling slightly about the fact that the fun was over.
"Come on, we need to talk," she said, as Kai leaned in placed his forehead against hers.
"Okay," he relented, still gently holding onto her waist.
Bonnie looked down at his hands.
"Can you help me down?" she asked, batting her eyes sweetly at him.
"For a kiss," he insisted.
"Chicken peck only," she added.
He nodded his head, then crossed his heart. Bonnie tried not to be distracted by the motion since he was still half naked. She could feel his warmth as well as his erection pressing against her.
She leaned in to peck him on the lips. To her surprise, he didn't push the issue. He just gave her a peck back as he picked her up and set her down on the floor.
Bonnie padded to the living room and Kai followed. She flopped on his sofa and Kai sat himself on the coffee table in front of her.
"Tell me everything," she said.
"Everything is a lot to take in. How about you just ask the questions and I'll answer them?" he added.
"Ok," she started, "Let's talk about The Breed."
Kai forced himself to sit on the cold coffee table hoping it would dampen his sexual need. It barely worked.
"The Breed are an ancient faction of witches that have lived for thousands of years," Kai began.
"How is that possible? Witches aren't immortal," Bonnie interrupted.
"Technically no, they're not. At least their bodies aren't immortal. Their spirits are. They can jump into another willing witch and take over them as well as combine their abilities with their host witch. They are powerful and deadly," Kai said.
"They view themselves as the supernatural judges in the witch world. They take their role seriously. They kill witches for breaking nature's laws, coven laws, 'whatever the hell they want laws' … You name it. They don't just punish for things like practicing black magic or killing another witch without cause. They hunt down those that pose a threat to their power. It's why they sometimes hunt Kindreds," he said.
"What's wrong with," Bonnie gulped before saying it, "True love?"
Kai smiled, but explained regardless of the unnerving warm and fuzzing feeling he was getting at hearing her utter those words.
"As cheesy as it sounds, - and according to my father - there is nothing more powerful than true love. Kindreds represent a force of nature that could potentially threaten the balance of power in the Witch World. Kindreds are rare, so they don't pose that much of a threat until…"
He stopped speaking for a moment, as Bonnie's eyes widened.
"Until what!" she asked. The suspense was apparently killing her.
"The Breed don't go after all Kindreds only special pairs. My – my parents, they are kindred spirits. Growing up, I thought it was weird how they couldn't seem to keep their hands off one another. They were always holding hands, cuddling on the couch, sneaking off and pawning us kids off on our grandparents so they could have alone time. God, even now, I don't know how they keep it up after more than 30 years," an unexpected feeling of pride swelled in him as he spoke.
He continued.
"When Kindreds have children who end up finding their own Kindred, well, generation builds on generation – they could grow to be unstoppable with their powers. The Breed considers that an abomination of nature. They feel it's their duty to break the line," Kai said.
"So we're destined to be in love and in danger for the rest of our lives?" Bonnie questioned.
"Sort of," he said, "When we get back to Portland with the rest of my coven, we can cloak ourselves."
"Portland? We have to leave?"
"We can't make a stand here. I'm not strong enough to protect you, especially since we're not officially merged to one another yet."
Bonnie gulped at the word "merged."
"What does that mean?"
Kai blushed before explaining his not-so-accidental slip.
"Um, to complete the bond between Kindreds, we have to merge our souls, our minds, our magic and … our bodies," he said.
"And that entails…" she started to blush this time.
"In summary, a few candles, one spell, a little blood and a lot of sex," Kai said bluntly.
"I see," she said.
"When you're ready," he added.
Kai placed her small hand in his and caressed it.
She smiled up at him.
"This is so incredible. I feel like we've known each other long enough for this," she stroked his palm, "To feel like home."
"My dad told me about it, I just didn't believe him," he said.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Your Kindred spirit has power over you. They can make you both strong and weak. Focused and distracted…self-controlled and – ahem, a little bit wild," Kai told her.
"I see. So how do we get a handle on it?" she asked, "Just so we're not ripping each other's clothes off in public."
They laughed in unison.
Kai bit his bottom lip.
"Well, if we ignore it and try to stay away from each other, it's only going to get worse. My father says Kindreds can actually get sick from fighting the pull toward each other. Ignoring it isn't going to be possible," he told her.
"I see. So the alternative is – to give in," she asked.
"So to speak," he stated.
"I understand. I think I just need a little bit of time to wrap my brain around this. You can understand, can't you?" she looked up at him with the most soulfully innocent eyes he'd ever seen.
He wanted to dive into those pools of emerald green and stay there forever. She was ripping at his insides and she probably didn't even realize it. He was falling for her. HARD. He wanted to resent the sensation. He didn't want the universe to choose the love of his life, but the truth was, he could never have made a better decision on his own. She was perfect. Beautiful. Powerful. Strong. Smart. Driven. Sexy as hell.
There was no doubt about it: He belonged to Bonnie Bennett.
"Why don't you stay here tonight?" he asked.
"Is that wise?" she responded.
"I don't know, but I don't want to let you out of my sight. I'll sleep on the couch if necessary," he added, hoping the gesture would make her feel comfortable.
Bonnie stood up, facing the small hallway that led to his bedroom. She nodded, and started to walk down the hallway, then stopped, turned around, and smiled at him.
"So, are you coming to bed or what?"
Kai leapt from the coffee table, nearly running to follow her to his room. He pulled back the covers for her. She scooted under the sheets and patted the mattress for him to lie down next to her.
"Just hold me, okay," she asked,
"As long as you want," he answered, stroking her cheek.
Bonnie grabbed his hand and wrapped it around her waist. The turned and he snuggled up to her in the spoon position.
Kai used magic to turn off the lights as he held her.
"Good night, Kai," she whispered.
"Good night, Bonnie," he whispered, kissing the back of her neck.
She giggled a little, but soon fell asleep in his arms.
Okay Universe, Kai thought, I guess we both win.
"Dad, I found her," Kai said in a soft voice. Although he'd left the room, he still didn't want Bonnie to hear him speaking to his father. She was sleeping so soundly and he refused to disturb her.
He could hear his father stifle a knowing chuckle, then clear his throat and pretend to be serious.
"Found who, son?" Joshua said, barely restraining himself.
"Dad, you know damned well who," Kai said, knowing he'd never hear the end of it once he returned to Portland.
"Ahem, I see," Joshua added, then he called to his wife, "Hey, Maggie, you owe me 20 bucks."
Kai heard his mother laughing on the other end of the line. She mumbled something back that he couldn't hear, but he did understand the word "sweetheart," coming from her in the background. They were gushing. If he didn't find it so incredibly sweet, he'd almost be sickened by it.
"So what's her name, son?" Joshua asked.
"Bonnie Bennett," Kai said, waiting for his father to be shocked.
"Bennett… you mean The Bennetts," Joshua asked.
"Yeah, she is," Kai answered.
"You both need to find the artifact and get back here now!" Joshua's tone was serious and panicked, "I can't protect you kids from here –"
"I know. I know," insisted Kai, "I'm going back out to look for it tomorrow."
"You only have a couple of days. They'll be able to sense that the two of you are together now," Joshua told his son.
"I understand," Kai told his father. He didn't want the man to worry, but that was his nature.
"You know, you might be safer if the two of you, well, you know," Joshua's smile could almost be seen over the phone.
"Dad, she's not ready for that," Kai added, running his hands through his hair. He wanted to make love to Bonnie more than he needed his next breath, but he just didn't want to scare her off.
"She's a Bennett, so she's got to be beautiful, right?" Joshua said.
"Yes, dad. She's gorgeous. But she's a Bennett, so she's also fucking stubborn, but I think I'm probably going end up loving that about her," Kai reasoned.
"I am happy for you son. You have no idea how much. But, Kai, you have a day to merge with her, otherwise neither of you are going to be strong enough for what's coming," Joshua said.
"I understand," Kai added, knowing what his father meant.
"You remembered what I taught you, right?" Joshua asked.
"I remember it, dad," Kai said.
"Repeat it for your old man, okay."
Kai pulled the phone from his ear to look at his father's photo, the placed it back to his ear.
Family meant everything, and now so did Bonnie.
He refused to lose any of them because of The Breed.
Kai answered his father's request.
"Together as one,
Conquered by none
Yet, should the Kindred fall
So perish us all."