Corral stepped back. Did Kai want to save her or hurt her? She’d watched him rip off a car door and get shot, and neither had seemed to faze him.

Speaking of getting shot.

It hadn’t hurt in the beginning, but now the pain started to kick in. It wasn’t a light tap. It was like getting hit with a sledgehammer.

Coral clenched her teeth and grabbed her forearm with her other hand, as if that would help alleviate her pain somehow. She kept moving away from Kai, terrified of what he might do to her.

Kai’s own flesh was marred with bullet holes. She looked down for half a second. By the time she looked back up, the holes were much smaller. He was healing. That, of course, or she was going insane. Either option was completely viable to her. Everything that had just transpired seemed impossible.

“Easy.” Kai’s voice was soft as he raised his hands, almost as if she were the one who posed a threat to him. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Coral stopped retreating from him, and soon enough, he was standing right in front of her. He gently laid his hand on the one she was using to cover the wound in her forearm. “Let me see.”

She wasn’t willing to do that quite yet. It hurt like crazy. Allowing someone to touch it sounded about as pleasant as sticking her hand directly into a fire.

“I know what I’m doing,” Kai told her. “Let me see it.”

She hesitated before finally sliding her hand away. Her palm was covered in blood. She was bleeding intensely. The holes in Kai’s chest were somehow gone. His chest was completely unmarred, like he had not been shot at all. He didn’t touch where she had been shot, but instead looked at it and ran his fingers nearby. He seemed pleased with what he saw.

“It’s not bad,” he said reassuringly.

“It stings.”

He grinned. “Trust me, I know.”

The storm outside had slowed down and was now only a light drizzle.

Kai glanced back at the street. “They’re gone for now, but they’ll be back. Their kind always comes back with backup.”

Their kind? What did Kai mean by that?

“Let’s not worry about them right now, though. Let’s go inside and tend to your arm.”

He motioned for Coral to follow him. She did, reluctantly. Coral had no brilliant plan to get herself out of the mess she was in. It was great that Kai seemed to be helping her, but what would happen when she went back home? Josh and Earl would eventually come for her and seek their revenge.

“Are you okay?” She asked. “Weren’t you shot?”

“Just a flesh wound,” he told her with an impish grin. But Coral had seen the bullet holes on his chest and she had seen them shrink as if by magic. Had she been hallucinating? Had the adrenaline and the stress and her guilt and her fear been too much for her brain to handle?

Kai held the door to an office open for her like a gentleman. He had to be faking all of this kindness. She had drugged him and stolen from him. Why was he helping her? Maybe in a minute, she’d wake up and find that she’d had entirely too much to drink back at the bar and that none of this was real.

It had to be real. The pain from the gunshot wound proved that.

Kai shut the door behind her.

“Don’t think I’m not appreciative,” she told Kai. “But that was not a good idea. You don’t know who they are.”

He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “What would you suggest? That I let someone rob me and hurt you?”

Coral marveled at him. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, couldn’t believe what she had seen. “What…are you?”

It wasn’t what she had meant to ask, but now there was no way to take it back. She didn’t know what she expected him to answer.

Kai took a deep breath.

“So,” he said, completely ignoring her question, “what’s your real name?”

Coral tensed. “What do you mean?”

“There’s no way you told me your real name. You already drugged me and tried to rob me. It can’t get much worse.”

She sighed. After everything that had happened, and after the mess she had involved him in, she owed him that much. “Coral.”

“Beautiful name,” he said with a smile.

Coral blushed. “You didn’t answer me before,” she said. “What are you? Some kind of superhuman?”

She let out a wry chuckle, and she half-expected him to do the same, to show her that he hadn’t been as hurt as he had appeared to be.

Instead, Kai was completely serious when he answered, “Something like that.”

“I…” Coral swallowed. “I was kidding.”

“I’m not,” he said. “Something is going to happen and I need you to stay calm.”

Coral wasn’t terribly excited about the sound of that. “Wow, can you be a little vaguer?”

“I just need you to trust me. You’re not crazy.”

He walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a book. Her eyes caught his back. He was not wet. After that wicked storm, he should still be wet. It had been mere moments since he’d been in the rain. His pants were still soaked. His skin should be the same way, but everything about him seemed to ignore every aspect of reality.

As she watched Kai, she noticed that a scanning device appeared from the thick wood of the bookshelf. Kai allowed the device to scan his eyes.

Without warning, the bookshelves moved and shifted until an enormous steel door was revealed. It was clearly reinforced and it was incredible. Coral had never seen a door like that before. Kai placed his index finger on a second scanning device. The door whirred as the mechanisms inside unlocked and opened.

A fresh burst of air hit Coral directly. It felt like a bout of joy, like the air was charged with pure, positive energy. Her forearm tingled strangely. Golden air leaked from the slit between the door and the wall. It was warm, almost like sunlight, despite it being dark outside.

Kai gave the door a second push, and finally, it was open wide so Coral could see what secrets the door kept safe. In front of them, in the center of a very large, tall room, was an enormous tree that loomed high into the air like a mountain. It appeared to be an old oak tree with knots in the bark and branches filled with leaves. The leaves themselves were golden, and an inexplicable wind moved around it with a life of its own. Darting grey shapes made of steam zoomed through the air like birds with glowing auras.

“What is this?” Coral asked. “How is it possible that this is inside your house?”

“It’s called the Tree of Life,” he said. “It was a gift from my mother. I made this home here to protect it. Actually, you’re the first mortal human to see it in…” He paused as he mulled a thought around in his head around. “Thousands of years.”

She gave him a sideways glance. She kept walking forward towards the tree, slowly, like she was approaching a sacred area. “But you’ve seen it,” she said.

“I’m not human.”

Coral thought he was going to laugh at that. After all, it had to be a joke, right?

But Kai didn’t laugh.

She looked over to see his facial expression. He seemed totally honest, like no part of his statement was ridiculous.

“You can’t be serious,” she said, doubt laced through her voice. After everything she’d seen, was he telling the truth?

He ignored her statement. “Step closer to the tree. It’ll heal you.”

If it had been any other day, Coral would’ve argued that trees couldn’t possibly heal people, much less heal bullet wounds, but she didn’t argue then. Logic seemed to be taking a day off. Maybe the tree could somehow heal her. At the very least, she got a better look at the magnificent plant. She stepped towards it and felt something in her arm, in the spot where she’d been shot. She scrambled back and stumbled against Kai, who caught her.

“Easy,” he said. His broad chest was against her exposed upper back. “Trust me.”

“Trust you?” she asked, resisting the urge to push herself away from him. “I still don’t know if you want to kill me.”

“Well, I did save you. If I wanted you dead, don’t you think I would have done so by now?”

She couldn’t exactly argue with that. “I guess so…”

“Just step closer to the tree.”

Coral looked at the tree, and inhaled deeply. It almost felt like the tree had a soul, like it was beckoning her to come closer. Coral moved her right leg forward. The moment her foot touched the ground, a sense of calm washed through her. She forced herself to keep moving.

The grey floating shapes registered her presence and swarmed to her. They spiraled around her arm, making an unusual hum. Her entire forearm vibrated wildly. The grey shapes kept swarming around, so fast that she could barely see her skin. Something was happening under there, and it felt good, like a warm tickle with a tinge of euphoria.

She paused and looked over at Kai. The obvious questions she had were about the tree, but instead she asked, “Why are you being so nice to me? All I’ve done is lie to you, drug you, and steal from you.”

“You make an excellent point,” he told her with a wink.

She met his eyes. “You can’t trust me. I’ve proven that.”

Kai walked over to Coral and took her hands in his. He gazed deep into her eyes.

“Maybe I shouldn’t trust you,” he told her. “But, I’m looking for a challenge.”

Coral was a strong woman. Not physically strong, but mentally she was made of steel. She had put up walls so high around her that she didn’t believe anybody could break down her barriers. With Kai, it was different. She wanted to let him in, but she was afraid of getting hurt.

He slid a hand behind her lower back and firmly pulled her up against his body. He leaned down, maintaining eye contact the entire time.

Their lips met.

She felt his brawny right arm around her body. He was hot, and his muscle grazed her breasts through her dress. Even the slightest touch made her go wild with passion. She went deeper with the kiss, relishing every precious moment of contact she had with his lips.

After several blissful moments, Kai released her from his grip. He gave her a confident look, like he knew he had won her over.

She felt exposed, like he saw directly through her façade and recognized who she was deep down. She was someone who had been let down her entire life and was deeply hurt. Behind her veil of self-assurance was someone who longed to be loved and who had a lot of love to give in return.

Kai continued to look at her, and it seemed like he read every emotion, thought, and feeling that went through her mind. Without words, Kai told her that he would protect her and wouldn’t hurt her. He wasn’t like the others. He wouldn’t betray her. She allowed herself to give in to him, to let herself be taken in.

He gently traced her jawline with his finger before kissing her again, this time with such passion that she believed her heart might burst through her chest.

After pulling back, he ran a hand along her shoulders. “The Tree of Life has done its job. It’s time we leave it alone. Besides, those men will be back, but don’t worry. I have a plan.”

A plan? I just want to stay here, kiss you, and find out what you’ll feel like when you’re inside of me, she thought. Coral decided to keep that to herself, and instead nodded her head in agreement.

He looked at her with longing and a peculiar expression before leading her out of the room. “Let’s go. I want to get you to where you’ll be safe and sound.”

He started walking away from the Tree of Life. As he shut the door behind them, it gave off a pneumatic hiss.

Coral looked down at her arm. It was spotless, and she didn’t feel like she’d just been shot. A vague feeling of cramping was spiraling through her body, but it was a ghost sensation. She was willing to bet she had gone crazy. She watched her savior move about quickly, making sure the large steel door was once again covered by the bookshelves. If this was being off the deep end, she liked being crazy.