Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm so glad you guys are still enjoying this convoluted little story of mine. I'm trying to decide when (and how) to end this one and move on to the last installment. Let me know what you think of this chapter. It's crazy, I know, but it'll be worth it in the end. I promise!
"Damn it, Kenzi!" Dyson was kneeling over the small woman's prone figure on the ground. "Wake up!" He was gently slapping her cheek trying to startle her back to consciousness. What the hell happened in there after I left?
He had only just stepped out into the sunlight when the door slammed behind him. Whirling around, he tried the knob; when that didn't work he'd pounded on the metal, shouting Kenzi's name. Then, just a few minutes (it felt like a lifetime to him) later the door had been wrenched open and Kenzi had been practically tossed out of the darkness and into his waiting arms. She'd stumbled, eyes looking glazed over. Just before she fell, she looked up at him with a small smile and whispered his name.
Now she was on the ground, totally unconscious, and Dyson had no idea what had happened or how to help her. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, the desperate man scooped her up into his arms and made his way as quickly as possible to his car. Trick will know what to do.
"She was alone with the Wise Woman?" Trick looked at him with incredulity and no small amount of resentment. "How could you be so thoughtless? Who knows what she's done to Kenzi!" He threw his arms up in the air and took off into one of the side passages of his rooms below the Dal Riata. Dyson knew the Blood King had every right to be angry with him. In his frustration with the hag, Dyson had foolishly left the most precious person in the world to him alone with the dangerous old woman.
He sat down next to Kenzi, who was laid out on the couch with a blanket covering her. Picking up her hand, he used the fore finger on his opposite hand to follow the lines of her palm. "Kenzi," he whispered to her, not even able to look up at her beautiful face. "Please, please wake up. I'm so sorry." He felt the wetness in the corners of his eyes and dashed them away with the sleeve of his jacket.
A movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention; Kenzi had shifted her head to the side. That's a good sign. "Trick!" he called out. Her brows knit together at the noise and he said her name again. Just as the older man was reentering the room, hands full of different bottles and books, Kenzi's eyes opened. Dyson had never been happier to see those piercing eyes glaring at him.
"Damn, D!" she grumbled. "What's the commotion?" She stretched and looked around, confusion evident on her face.
In his relief, Dyson grabbed her up and crushed her to him. "Thank God!" Trick came over to have a look at their patient, smiling to himself at the wolf shifter's display. Dyson was not a tender man; kind, fair, even compassionate, but not emotional.
By this time, Kenzi had extricated herself from the large man's grasp and was asking what she was doing there.
"I'm so sorry Kenzi. I thought you were right behind me. What did she do to you?" Dyson barraged her with questions and was shocked by her bewildered expression. "What do you mean?" She asked. "I walked out right behind you."
Trick and Dyson shared a concerned look. "What's the last thing you remember?" Trick asked.
"The crazy lady had pissed off D because she said he had to choose again. Whatever that means." Kenzi made a shrugging gesture as if it really didn't matter. "I got up to follow him out and now, here I am."
"You fell out of the door and then fainted." Dyson explained. "It's been over an hour. I was starting to get worried she'd done something to you." He gathered Kenzi's hands into his and looked her in the eyes. "How are you feeling now?"
Kenzi blushed a little and then very resolutely looked over to the other man in the room, removing her hands from Dyson's. "I'm good D-man. Hey Trickster! Does this entitle me to a couple of free top shelf drinks tonight?" She was up, moving towards the staircase that led to the Dal. "I gotta jet, but I'll see you guys later. Maybe do some training on controlling the whole fire thing." Within moments Kenzi was completely gone from sight. What just happened?
Dyson was up, going after her in a heartbeat. When he emerged in the bar, he could neither hear nor smell her. Damn! Where is she? He walked briskly outdoors, shoving another Fae out of his way in his hurry. Outside, the wolf took a deep sniff and caught Kenzi'a lovely scent. Taking off, he ran in her direction.
Kenzi was nearly back to the crack shack when Dyson caught up to her. Panting just a bit, he asked, "Where are you going?" He was surprised she'd taken off. The last few days they had spent almost entirely together.
"Back home." She replied as though it should have been obvious to him. "You know, where I live and sleep and all my stuff is." She kept walking. Something was up.
"I thought you'd come back to my place again tonight."
Kenzi stopped in her tracks and stared at him. "Ok, I know I have a few missing memories, but what aren't you telling me?"
"Kenz, I don't know what you mean?" He was getting more and more confused.
"Why would I be going back to your place? Don't tell me the club house burned down?" She looked so sincere and Dyson knew realized that it hadn't only been the last few minutes of her time with the Sorceress that had been erased from her mind. Testing his hypothesis he took her hand in his and said. "You don't remember what's happened between us, do you?"
She looked down at her hand in his, then up at his eyes. Dawning showed in her expression and then she snatched her hand away. "What the hell are you talking about Dyson?"
"Think back to after we were ambushed while searching for the oracle in Dark Territory. What happened later that night?" He was prodding her. Hoping she might remember anything; even a glimmer of what they had shared over the last few days.
"I cleaned up your neck…" she paused, her eyebrows pushed together in thought. "Ugh…I don't remember." Her hand was on her forehead. "Do I want to know?"
He pulled her arm down, away from her face and putting his other hand on her hip, brought her body flush with his own. He poured all of the love and passion he felt for her into his gaze as he stared down into her wide eyes. Then slowly, so as not to startle her, he brought his lips down barely grazing her mouth. Kenzi's body tensed and he heard her breath hitch. Maybe she didn't remember, but he could tell by her response that she still felt the same way about him. The memories might be gone, but the Witch couldn't take her desire for him away.
When he pulled back to look down at her again, she blinked. "Why do I feel like that isn't the first time you've kissed me?"
"Because it isn't." He couldn't help the sly smile that sprung to his face. "I've kissed every inch of your perfect body." Perhaps that was a little too much information.
She looked stunned, and more than a little embarrassed. "But…? How?" Gaining a little bit of confidence, she demanded. "And what about Bo?"
Damn it! He did not want to have this same conversation. Dyson knew deep down that even before she'd lost her memory, Kenzi still wasn't convinced that he had picked her over Bo. She wasn't really sure she believed that he could. "I've told you before." He started, trying not to get frustrated. "Didn't you hear the Seer? I may have chosen to love Bo, but she didn't or couldn't choose me." He tried not to show the wince that he felt. It wasn't that he still loved the Succubus, but he remembered loving her and losing her. It still stung. "The bond didn't stick. I was the only one who held onto it, believing in something that didn't exist." Putting his hands on either side of her face, he tried to make his meaning as clear as possible. "The Seer said I was free to love again. I haven't given away my heart to you completely yet, Kenzi. I'm not sure you're ready for that and I won't make the same mistake I made with Bo. But whenever you want me, I'm yours."
Kenzi was speechless for possibly the first time in her life. It was clear that she didn't know what to say or do. Dyson wasn't going to be pushed away; he would do anything necessary to recover her memories and to make her understand just how much he really loved her.
"I don't know how or why that bitch stole your memories of us, but we're going to get them back." He promised.
