Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Oh, shut up," Zeph groaned as he hit his alarm. He rolled over in bed. He didn't want to go to work, it sucked. He whined as he kicked the covers off. "Why couldn't I just have inherited a lot of money?" Life wouldn't have been so bad. He sat up in bed, sliding his shoes on and headed over to his closet. Same uniform every day. Ugh.
He heard the usual knocking on the door. Those idiots. He groaned again as he stumbled over to it and unlocked it. "I told you, I have to work tonight."
"Skip it," they insisted. Yeah, that would be nice, but how would he pay his rent?
"Sure, if you pay for the rent this month. Cough it up." Zeph smiled and reached out his hand. "No? Then bug off." He closed the door again, and put on his uniform. His friends were a bunch of idiots sometimes, they just did that to annoy him. He left and went on guard duty for two hours. He had to make up his extra hours since he went out last week.
After his shift was over, he was tired. He went down to the local pub for a drink. He signaled the waitress. She had a nice little butt that shook just right as she came over.
"Hello, sir, I will be your waitress for this evening," she said to him. "May I get you something?"
"Yeah, your number?" Zeph wasn't surprised when he groaned. "No? Okay, two sours and some mnui." He watched her walk away again, sliding out of his seat some. Oh, if only he had the money to woo something like that. Look at those curves. Some guys had all the luck.
"Hey." A guy strolled over to him. "Stay in your seat."
Another waiter guy. "Why, jealous?" Zeph stuck his tongue out at him. "Eh, go ahead, she's not my type."
"What?" He fidgeted. "I don't like her."
"Sure you do, you're the only guy in here not looking at her butt." Zeph shouldered him. "You know the old saying. If a woman passes and you are looking at her and not her butt, you're in trouble. Good luck." He watched the waiter walk away, miffed. Yeah, he had that effect on some people. Zeph was often too blunt.
"Your sours and mnui, sir."
Zeph looked up. That voice. It was sweet, not the regular voices of females he was used to hearing. Definitely not the same waitress. "Hey." He held out his hand to her.
She looked at him oddly a second, before shaking his hand. "Sir."
He looked at the name tag on her. "Kyrella Saga. Funny name, new in town?"
"No, I've been here a little while." She ripped off a ticket for him. "Pay when you are ready."
"Okay." He sat there, eating his food but looking at her. She wasn't half as gorgeous as the other waitress but she looked sweet and tempting He felt himself getting shouldered and saw his sister. "What?"
"Need a favor." Muin winked at him.
Zeph groaned and rolled his eyes. He knew what always followed after that. "I don't have time to play chauffeur for your date, Muin, I'm busy. I've got duty tonight. Make Xiam do it, or convince dad."
"Liar, you're not busy." Muin bopped him on the ear. "Not that busy from the look of things." She took one of his sours.
"Easy with that, those drinks aren't made for little girls," Zeph teased her. Still, while he was doing that he watched the waitress Kyrella cleaning glassware in the back.
"Interesting." Muin shouldered him. "Usually you're staring at the butt. You like that one."
///"What, me?" Zeph took a bite of his mnui. "I'm just a stupid guard, what would she like about me?" Still, she was cute. Her beautiful colored tail curled just so, and there was something open and warmly in her eyes. "Then again, what have I got to lose?" He drummed his seat and went over to the counter. "You busy later?"
She was startled by his presence. "What?"
"Busy?" Zeph gestured to the time on the wall. "I've got duty tonight, but I'll blow it off if you want to get out." He winked at her. "Get to know each other."
"Uh." She shifted uncomfortably. "Well?"///
Was that scene real? He was still sitting, why did he just fantasize about her? What was it about her? Something. He'd never met her, yet she seemed so familiar. A strange image of her covering her gorgeous hair and tail all in black came to his mind. Why would he imagine that? No one should cover up that creature, it would be a crime. Her beauty was a gift to the world.
Zeph made his way up there, his little sister tagging along. "Excuse me, miss? Do I know you?"
"It's a line, a corny line. He's good for it though," Muin said to the woman. "My brother's been staring at your face, not your butt. You know the old saying, so that's a good sign."
"Muin," Zeph warned her. He looked back toward Kyrella. "Well?"
///"I have a no date policy," Kyra shrugged. "Sorry, Zeph."///
"I don't know, Zeph, maybe?" she answered back.
"What?" Zeph blinked. "You knew my name?"
"No. Well, I don't know. You looked like a Zeph." She picked up a glass and started to clean it.
"Eh, better luck next time." Muin patted his shoulder and left, whistling a jaunty tune since neither of them would get a date tonight.
This was the point where he usually gave up on a woman, but Kyrella called to him, tingling his senses. "Why do you have a no date policy?" He laid his hands on hers. Presumptuous, he couldn't believe he was doing it.
She didn't back his hand away either. "I didn't tell you about that." She glanced towards him. Her eyes shone something familiar. A sparkle that he couldn't place. She turned back to cleaning glasses. "Mister Zeph, I have a father who is very cautious."
"I'll deal to talk to you," he said. "It's a good sign that he's tough, someone like you should have some protection." Well, that was weird wording. He'd be fairly surprised if that didn't scare her off.
"He's put guys in the hospital for asking for dates," she said. "I doubt he'd be any more lenient about just talking. I'm just . . . I'm very important to him. I'm sorry, but father would never allow it."
"Okay." Zeph may look like an average joe, but he was cunning. "I think I'm gonna stick around here tonight. For awhile. When do you get off?"
"I can't date," Kyrella reminded him. "You know that."
"I know, and I haven't asked that. It's not against the law to stay in a restaurant. I'll keep the ordering steady," Zeph promised. She gave him a funny look, and he took back off to his space.
He sat for hours, watching her. There was no time he could recall meeting her, but it felt like he hadn't just met her. So that he could stay, he kept ordering drinks or appetizers. She didn't fail either. Whenever he finished his drink or appetizer, she was right there, asking him if he needed more.
Towards closing, he saw her starting to close up. He stood up and approached her. "Where do you live?"
"You don't want to know." Kyra kept cleaning the glasses. "Are you coming back tomorrow?"
Zeph grinned. "Eh, probably. I'll have to work though, I kind of put it off tonight for you." Maybe that would help her be merciful. "It's better if I walk you home."
"I live a block away."
"Never know who's out there." He looked at her up and down, before catching her eyes. "Please? I'd feel better."
"I'm not glass," she said, "but, okay."
I'm not glass. That sounded like something he'd heard before. Huh.
"Just, a walk, and not to my front door," she warned him. "My dad would be furious."
If Zeph had to take some pummels, he would. Every father had to let go one day. At least he knew with a 'no date policy', Kyra had never had any boyfriends. No one would want to throw a fight against whoever her father had been. Maybe he should consider it? She was bright, sweet, and sexy. A little shy, but just enough to hold his interest. Those scenes though, in his head. He wanted to know more about them.
As they began to walk out, that feeling came back. "Do you ever get the feeling we've met before?"
She didn't look toward him. "It's a strange sense. I know what you mean."
"Did we know each other as kids?" It was bugging the heck out of Zeph. "Was your family uhhh . . ." He snapped his fingers, something was on the tip of his tongue. "In some kind of war?"
"No. No war that I know of." She looked him up and down as he did to her before. "There hasn't been any war, but maybe we did meet as very young children. Have you always been around here?"
"Oh yeah, always. You?" Zeph asked.
"No, I grew up far away." Kyra scratched her head. "Zeph, I'm scared."
Zeph looked around. "Scared of what, Kyra?" Were guys actually around, trying to get at her? "I would fight if I had to."
"No, I mean, these feelings." Kyra stopped. "I want to run away from you and kiss you at the same time." She looked at him. "Your eyes, they seem so familiar. But they don't . . . have something. I don't know." She grabbed her head.
"Hey." Zeph touched her arms, helping to bring them from her head. The action had pulled him closer. "It's okay, Kyra."
"Kyra. How do I know that?" Kyra tried to move away. "Why did you call me that?"
"I don't know." Zeph tried to pull her back. "Don't go. I'm not trying to scare you, I swear, Kyra. This stuff between us, I'm not causing it." The draw between them, it was so intense. "Just, don't run. I'd never hurt you."
"I know. Somehow." Her face showed such confusion as she raised her eyebrow. "I don't get it, I don't, but I know that. You would give your life to protect me." She touched his face softly. She took her hand away and looked at a house on the right. "That's it, right there. We better part ways. I don't want my father to see you."
Zeph wouldn't allow that though. "I'm a proper guy. I need to walk you up to your own door." He grabbed her hand. "Don't be afraid."
"You have no idea what you are getting into," Kyra warned him. "Please, Zeph, I don't want to see you hurt."
"I'm not glass either." Zeph walked up the path and knocked on the door.
A woman answered the door with a smile on her face, until she saw them holding hands. "Kyrella. No."
Kyrella held his hand tighter. "This is Zephyr, mother."
"Come in. You, stay there." Her mother glared at him while she pulled in her daughter. In her place, stood a hulking man.
Her father. Zeph smiled and stayed strong. "Sir, a fine day to you. I walked your daughter home."
No words of thanks, of course. Instead, he heard a different tone. "Don't walk her home again."
"I don't think I could keep that promise." Zeph continued to smile even though he could hear the growling, rumbling from her father. "I would like to date your daughter. I have no money amount to offer, but I am good for it."
"I don't care about money, get out." Her father slammed the door. "Stay away from my daughter!"
----
"Nope, no can do tonight," Zeph said through the phone as he fixed his hair. "Watch your own kids, I've got plans. Yes, I'm trying to see her again." He slid the comb through his hair again.
He headed toward Kyrella's, softly. He watched the first window. Her dad was the most possessive he had ever tangled with. Even in his youth when he was the most rambunctious with women, he'd never met one like him.
Kyrella was worth the effort though. That time after her shift that he got to know her, she was so different. Everything inside him said she should be with him. It wasn't just her looks, which was odd to him. It wasn't her voice either, it was something else. A combination of pieces that made him feel the best when he had been around her.
He slid a comb through his hair again as he approached the sidewalk. He knocked on the door bravely. He held his ground as the giant that was her father answered the door. "Hello, sir, fine night tonight, isn't it? I was wondering if you could allow me the honor of your daughter having a conversation with me?"
Knocked to the ground, again, Zeph stood up and looked at her father. "Is that a no?"
"You are a persistent little bug," he growled at him. "Kyrella is not in the market for finding men. This is the fourth time you've walked up to this house!"
And he'd keep doing it. Her father was right, he was persistent. Seeing Kyra looking from behind her father, Zeph waved to her. "Ky, hey! I was just asking your dad about a chance to talk again soon."
"An official date will never take place." Her father glared at him before paying attention to his daughter again. "Go."
"With me?" Zeph asked hopefully before getting pushed down again. "How about now?"
Kyra chuckled. "You just keep bouncing right back up unphased, Zephyr."
"Kyrella, get back inside," her father warned her. "Go."
"With me?"
"Did you just come back with the same pathetic joke?" Her father grabbed him by the collar. "Listen, you silly boy, Kyrella is not your typical little girl. Don't give me this friend excuse, you are never dating her."
"I am not a little boy, and Kyrella is not a little girl," Zeph said. "Which means you should let her have time with whomever she sees fit."
Zeph felt his face meet the cement again. His body was starting to really hurt. "Okay, I give up for the night." He dusted himself off. Her father had no qualms about violence. "I will see you again tomorrow, Mister Saga." He waved back at Kyrella. "See you tomorrow?" Seeing her father was stepping out of the house, he turned and headed out.
Zeph kept his promise though. He went back for more punishment the next night. Every night, it became a ritual to get beaten up for just another chance to talk to Kyra. He watched her at the restaurant window, but her family owned it. He had his name and face on the 'keep out on all accounts' sign. The window was the closest he could get. Still, he used it. He put his hand on the glass. She was like some mystery to his mind, hauntingly beautiful.
If she didn't feel the same way, she would have called enforcement after him by now. So far, the only response he got was a look his way and a quick smile before she went back to her work.
But, there was only one way to get close to her.
Kyra turned off the light, walking out quickly. She missed the night Zeph walked her home, but it just couldn't happen. Not as long as her father scared everyone away. He kept coming back for more punishment too. He just had the strange draw to her that she did to him. As she was walking home though, she felt someone grab her. She almost screamed, as a hand covered her mouth! Her heart beat, not knowing what would happen next.
"It's okay, Ky."
She knew that voice. Even though her heart was still beating fast, it was for another reason. It was Zeph. "What are you doing?"
"Stealing a couple of minutes? Your dad won't lay off even two seconds." Zeph wrapped his arm around her back. "What is it going to take for him to let me even talk to you?"
"Nothing." Kyra said, knowing what he meant. "There's nothing. No money, no honorable meetings, he never lets me go. I wasn't even allowed to be raised in a Den."
"No Den years at all? He's obsessed, you would have been too small for anyone to attempt anything," Zeph said. "I am trying so hard here." He pressed his hand against the wall behind her. "You drive my mind crazy."
"It's not pheromones." Kyra's cheeks blushed. "I can't believe I said that. Sorry, it just felt natural. That makes no sense."
"Nothing does." Zeph leaned his head against hers. "When I'm with you, I feel complete, but not. Like there's . . .I get weird visions. Especially of your hair all covered in black."
"I remember a ring. A strange ring." Kyra looked toward him. "Several other things, I've tried writing them down. Past life?"
"No one remembers those though. If it is."
"How could it not be?" Kyra asked. She looked around, knowing time was running out. "They'll come searching if I don't show up, Zeph."
"Just a few more minutes." Zeph brought her closer to him. She inhaled his scent, enjoying his embrace and wishing it would never end. "I need to tell you something, and I don't want you to be scared." She felt his hands raise her face to his. "I've got an insatiable need to be with you, in every way."
Those words didn't scare her. Not one bit.
"Something forbidden and tempting." He ran his hand through her hair, watching it fall against her skin. Kyra snuggled as close as she could. "Talking isn't enough."
Without any warning, his lips fell on hers hungrily. She should be considering him a predator with such a move, but she could never think of him like that. She opened her mouth and joined him, moving her hands behind his head.
She didn't need money or prestige from Zeph, just someone who understood her. He'd radiated that feeling since they met. "I love you." Oh no. Oh no! What had she said? She couldn't backtrack the comment now. Saying that to someone she just met not long ago. They had never even had an official date, and she had to blurt that out?
Zeph hadn't stopped kissing her though as he pressed her body more to the wall behind them. She wondered if he heard her, or had ignored her mistake.
She knew the answer though as she felt a new sensation that made her tail tremble. His tail was wrapping around hers. Fur against fur, it felt nice, but she knew what that meant. "No, I can't. I have to go."
"Sorry, I'm sorry," Zeph apologized as she moved away. "It just happened."
"I know." Kyra straightened her clothes back out. "I just, I have to go." She walked off quickly, knowing she had lost more than enough time. Touching tails? There was only step left after that, but why was it so hard to stop herself?
Zeph banged on his brother's dormitory door so hard. "Come on, open up, I seriously need to talk!"
"Okay, okay." He heard the door unlock and saw Xiam. "Zeph, what is it? Do you know what time it is?"
"I need help." Zeph went right past him, holding out his hands. "I met a girl and I want her. I don't mean just date her or kiss her. I want her. I want her body, I want her hand in marriage and I-I just met her!" He turned around. "I can't get her out of my head. I stand out beside her window all day. I keep going to her house, and her father beats the hell out of me every day, and I can't stop." His breath and voice was so fast, he was losing it. "She doesn't help, she feels just the same. And tonight? We never even had an approved date and I-I . . .I touched her tail with mine. What do I do, Xiam?!"
Xiam looked at him, his mouth dropped. "Come on in?" He sighed and closed the door. "Zeph, it's just hormones or something. I get that too. My study partner, Iri, I get strange feelings around her. I know that things get out of hand sometimes, and that's all it is. You aren't ready for anything. Trust me, I'm an expert." He held out his name tag. "Ceremony conductor assistant! Two more years and I will be out of here."
"Yeah, I know you made assistant, why did you think I chose you? We'll celebrate later, but this is serious." Zeph sat on the bed, wringing his hands. "When I'm around her, I get these visions, of like other lives or something. She said the same. We're both writing stuff down, but I want to compare with her."
"Past lives?" Xiam scratched his head. "I've never heard that one. Anyhow, females are look don't touch. It's good to see you found someone that you'd get beaten up for, but you need to keep your mind straight. Forget all this past life nonsense." Xiam pulled up a chair beside him. "Ask for a date. Afterwards when you can spend some decent time with her, these feelings will probably even themselves out." Xiam patted his leg. "Everything will be okay, brother, but no more touching tails. That is a big no-no."
"I know." Still, it felt right. Somehow, he'd just have to get her father's approval. Somehow.
The next night, Zeph presented himself as professionally as possible as he knocked on the door. "A fine day to you, sir. I would like to try and have a conversation without hitting."
"Go away," her father answered. "Do you have any brains at all? You are not talking to my daughter."
Zeph squeezed his hands together. "I love your daughter, sir. I'll never hurt her, but I need to be with her." It didn't matter what the request was, how he conducted it, or what he wore.
He found his face on the cement again, but he wasn't done yet. He had hired a Guard for a Guard's Oath. One that had researched him, tested him for compatibility, the works. It was expensive and worth two paychecks, but if it worked, it was worth it.
"Don't you even dare!" He roared at him. "Kyrella will never, will not ever become yours."
Zeph knew it wouldn't be easy. He stood up and faced her father again. "I belong with her. I don't care how many times you pound me in the ground. I've even hired a Guard for a Guard's Oath."
"You've got guts, you have always had them." Her father crossed his arms. "I met the Guard, and I have your papers. It's not enough."
"Then I'll get an even more advanced Oath, just tell me what you want, sir!"
Even by a Guard's Oath, Kyra's father would still not give him a chance. "Mister Saga, please." The door got slammed in his face. He stood there, knocking every few minutes, hoping her mother would answer. She was easier to get along with, but even she seemed to know better than to answer the door.
Could his life be any harder?
"I wish you'd just leave him be!" Kyra yelled at her father before she turned around, her dress whipping across her legs. "Every other woman my age, their fathers have long since lost interest. I am perfectly capable of deciding who I want to be with. Zephyr Cattral is special to me."
Her father continued to sit in his chair, his arms folded. "No. Never. A thousand times no. I will watch over you for as long as I can. When I can't, I will appoint a trusted Guard to do so."
"Just stop. Why can't you just stop?" Kyra swallowed. "You know he'll be showing up here again and again."
"Probably, but I don't care. I will turn him away. You need someone special, not a stupid bumbling guard."
"He's not bumbling." Kyra humphed and snuck out the back door. She would at least catch a glimpse of him on the side of the house.
"He is a tough act," The Guard that Zeph had hired for his Oath said on the phone. "I gave him everything I had. From your birth records, your biological family, your biological father's Guard record, and your criminal record. I even handed him the likes and dislike surveys."
"Yeah, yeah." Zeph knocked on the dreaded door of Kyra's house again. "She's not someone I can forget, I've got to get her. I don't care how much it costs."
"Look, kid, I really don't see the way," the Guard said. "Most any father would lay down arms after a Guard talked to them. That man, he seemed to become even angrier that you hired me for your Guard's Oath. Look, I don't understand the situation. I truly believe that she is stuck. Anything else you hire me for, it doesn't matter. Maybe Guard Level W doesn't impress him."
"Fine, I'll try a higher class if I have to."
"Higher classes are always busy protecting females 24/7, boy. I think you need to back off and let her go. There are other women you could achieve with this level of responsibility."
Zeph didn't want another woman, he wanted his Ky. "I'll keep it in mind, thanks." Zeph hung up the phone, just in time to smile at Kyra's mother who answered the door. "Mrs. Saga, how are you today? My, that's a lovely dress you are wearing."
The response was mixed as they both heard Kyra's scream on the side of the house. Zeph and her mother both ran off the porch to see her. Reaching her first, Zeph tried to comfort her.
She was vomiting on the side of the tree, her face looked like it was in torture. As he whispered to her, she looked like he was pure evil. "No, stay away, stay away! We'll ruin everything!"
Stay away? "Ky, what's wrong?" Zeph asked, trying to touch her back in comfort. She moved so fast away from him that she stumbled to the ground. Her mother tried to help, but she pushed her away. Nearby was her mother's planting shovel for the flowers on the side of the house. Kyra had grabbed it and started to dig it into the dirt.
Her father came out after hearing the commotion, and grabbed Zeph. "Get away from my daughter!"
"I was only trying to help," Zeph said, "she's sick. Something's wrong, sir." Zeph was dragged out to the front yard. He waited there, watching Kyra's parents gently take her inside. He ran toward the door. "Mrs. Saga, wait, I want to know if she's okay."
"She will never go to you. She is too special, you'll never understand. Please stop this pursuit, all you're doing is angering my husband and breaking Kyrella's heart." Her mother sighed exhaustively. "She is probably sick because of you. Just go."
"I can't, I love-" The door slammed in his face. "your daughter." Zeph made his hands into fists. They would turn him down thousands of times. They were as solid as a brick wall. He walked to the side of the house to see what she had carved into the ground.
LOVE KILLS
"Love kills?" Zeph walked away from the house, remembering that statement. She had remembered something big that had affected her health. There was only one thing to do.