“Kaiser, he…”
“No, don’t ‘Kaiser, you don’t understand what he did’. I understand that he didn’t claim you. Hell, he didn’t even acknowledge you. But he didn’t renounce you, and he didn’t cheat on you. He was involved with somebody else when the mate bond reared its ugly head. So, basically, he didn’t want tocheat on her either. He had to work shit out. Could he have handled it better? Absolutely. But he didn’t. Deal with it or don’t, but don’t make it something it’s not.”
“You’re really kind of pissing me off at the moment,” Cristie said.
“Somebody needs to,” Kaiser said, flopping back onto the bed and closing his eyes.
“What does that mean?” she asked angrily.
“It means any number of things. But basically, you got a mate. He thinks so highly of you even I can feel it when I’m around him. He’s a good guy, Cristie. He really is, and that’s not something to let slip away. Don’t take that for granted for so long that it’s no longer an option for you.”
Cristie sat down on the edge of the bed beside where Kaiser lay. “Why are you telling me all this. You were fine to help me keep him at arms’ length just a week ago.”
“Among other things, I hadn’t met him yet. Now I have, he’s a good male.”
Cristie turned to look at Kaiser who lay there with his arm thrown over his eyes. “What are the other things?”
“My head is pounding. You mind if I get some rest?” he asked.
“Want something for the headache?” she asked, standing up in preparation of leaving.
“No, I just want to lie here for a while.”
Cristie walked over to the door and paused to look back at him. “What’s going on with you? Something has drastically changed you, and quickly, too.”
Kaiser allowed his arm to fall away from his eyes and looked over at Cristie. “It’s been happening for a while; there’s nothing quick about it. I’m just losing my grip on my ability to ignore it.”
Her delicate brows furrowed as she took a few steps back toward his bed.
“No, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“But…”
“I can’t, Cristie. Do you understand? I can not discuss it. But let me tell you, my shit, what I’m dealing with — or trying to deal with — just makes me understand all the more what you’ll be giving up because you have your ass in a sling because he didn’t drop everything and rush right up to you. But let me ask you something… if he had, if he’d just run right to your side, dropping the girl he’d been seriously involved with in the process, would you want him? If he hurt her so callously, would you still want him or would it nibble at you every time you had a quiet minute to reflect? Is that the kind of mate you want? How about giving him a little credit for having some integrity.”
“What is happening in your life that has you such a changed male?” Cristie asked.
Kaiser shook his head and sat up. “Just figuring out the answer to my own problem. Turns out I need to think about my own integrity versus instincts.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.
Cristie watched as he shoved his feet into his shoes. “You’re fighting against your own instincts. You can’t have your mate and part of you wants to grab her and run.That’s it isn’t it?”
Kaiser raised his gaze to hers as he took a step or two, dragging his feet on the ground to shove his feet the rest of the way into his shoes. He walked over to where Cristie stood and hugged her, and kissed her temple. “Don’t let him go, Cristie. You’re one of the fortunate ones that gets the choice. He’s a good guy.”
He walked past her and out into the hallway.
Renata hurried back to the staircase, went quietly up the three or four steps, then took a heavy step down so Kaiser would know someone was on the steps and think they were coming down, not eavesdropping.
But Kaiser didn’t even look behind himself. He just walked straight past the stairs and out of the front door. He walked out to where Cristie had parked his car, keyed in the pass code on the security lock on the door and got in. He dug an extra key out of the concealed tray beneath the steering wheel and started it up. Seconds later he was gone.
Cristie hurried to the door in time to see his tail lights as he drove away. She turned around and was startled to see Renata on the steps. “Oh, hi,” she said, forcing a smile to the forefront.
“Hi, baby. You alright?” Renata asked.
“Sure. Are you?”
“Oh, yeah. I just went upstairs to check on Kaiser, but didn’t see him. But he did just run past me on his way out.”
“Yeah, I guess he did,” Cristie said.
