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“Good to meet you again, Medic Everton,” she said, her ruby lips curling into a knowing smile. “This time, I will be more careful not to lose sight of you now that I’m aware of how…slipperyyou are.”
Well, I supposed I deserved that. I offered my hand to her. “Thank you for being willing to do this.”
“Of course. It’s not every day I get called onto a mission of such importance.”
I gave her a nod, then looked to Kai expectantly. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yes, we most certainly should before too many prying eyes spot us.”
With that, we set out. It probably would've been easier if we could all shift and run at top speeds, but Darla and Avantgard didn’t have that ability… and seemingly, neither did I.
Instead we mounted horses. I wasn’t exactly the best equestrian, but it wasn’t like I needed to worry about that for long. The horses were just meant to get us out and away from the fort as quickly as possible, where we could ditch them once we were in enemy territory and needed to move more covertly.
Still, my thighs were certainly going to be burning from riding properly. Next time I was asked to go on a top-secret mission, I'd maybe try a little harder to adjust to bouncing in a saddle for hours.
At least my mount was quite pleasant, following the pace of our leader’s horse. Naturally, Kai was effortlessly capable as a rider, just as he was with everything else. The guyreallywas doing unfair things with my competency kink.
I knew I should be on high alert, steeling myself to anything and everything having to do with Kai, but it was so nice just to watch him. He kept endlessly scanning the horizon, his jaw set in determination.
It really was like he was painstakingly created just for me. That was probably egotistical to think, but how could I not? The warm, lovely color of his eyes, to those chiseled cheekbones, to how he treated everyone around me. He was smart, poised, and one hell of a leader.
Sigh.
Any other wolf would be thrilled their fated mate was a dreamboat. But me? Well, I had a curse from an asshole, mega-powerful warlock that could kill Kai if we grew too close.
Yay me.
It was definitely easy to slip into melancholy thinking about it, but I was fortunate enough that Darla was in on my need to be apart. She rode just ahead of me, and anytime someone tried to engage me in conversation, she could find a place to add to whatever I said, then steer the conversation away from me in her effortless, bubbly manner.
I was grateful each time she did it, as it definitely helped settle my nerves. I hadn’t ever really thought about whether she’d come along on our little jaunt, but I was quite happy she was here now.
After all was said and done, if we survived, I needed to treat her to a nice dinner.
At least Kai was only polite on the very few occasions that he did address me. I was worried after the strange interaction we’d had the last time. One moment it felt like we were about to kiss, then he pulled away like I slapped him. Then I literally slammed a door in his face for the second time that day.
But no, he didn’t seem drawn to or repulsed by me, either. I was just blessedly neutral, which was what I wanted, even if it also hurt.
Still, sometimes if I turned my head quickly enough to catch him looking at me, he almost seemed… nervous?
But our captain didn’t getnervous.I must have been mistaken, and decided to concentrate on my form while riding so I could hopefully save my thighs for the next day. We had a week-long journey ahead of us, and I didn’t want to be chafed by week two.
By the time we set up camp for the night, I was utterly exhausted, and my brain hurt. At least being so tired meant it was difficult for me to get stuck in my head like I always did. I sleepily set up my sleeping pack far from where Kai was setting up his. Everyone else in our group was stationed between us.
Well, expect for Irina. Vampires didn’t sleep, so she happily volunteered for night’s watch and maybe a touch of hunting. That was always a blessing about having a child of the night in a group. They could catch and drain a deer or another large animal to satiate themselves, then prepare the meat for the rest of their companions. Talk about having a cake and eating it too.
“Medic Everton, can we speak a moment?”
I straightened up, nearly jumping out of my skin when I realized Kai was only a few paces away from me. How had he gotten so close? He certainly moved fast for such a large guy.
My eyes focused on Darla, but she looked just as mystified as me. Welp, so much for being a buffer — hard to do that when Kai was being so direct.
“Uh, sure,” I said uncertainly, crossing my arms.
“A bit farther away if you don’t mind. Not an unsafe distance, but I'd prefer for it to be… in private.”
Private? That only meant one of two things: either he was going to completely chew me out, or things were going to be weird like they’d been in my room. Neither of those were exactly attractive to me, but it wasn’t like I could just flat out refuse.
So I agreed. “Sure. Lead away.”
