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That was definitely the challenge.
“What’s standing in your way?”
I appreciated how completely professional Oren’s tone was. It didn’t feel like he was challenging me, or condescending, he was just trying to make sure we were all on the same page toensure the survival of the fort. No wonder Kai liked him so much.
“It’s not that anything is expressly standing in my way. It’s more that I’ll need the help of several different magic classes to properly tie it to the ley lines of this area and make sure the enchantments are enmeshed correctly.” I was making it sound simpler than it was, as there was certainly plenty of skill and knowledge involved in making sure the spells would protect our own and differentiate our forces from the enemy it was supposed to protect against, but the other magic users would get it.
“Does that answer your question to your satisfaction, Officer Fielding?” Oren said, looking back to the original questioner.
“I will give a cautious yes.”
“Thank you, Officer. If you can solidify any other questions you have and submit them to my desk, I’ll make sure they’re addressed directly. For the moment, however, I am moving on.”
He did just that, explaining the layout of our forces and then the training schedules for our newest recruits. The meeting lasted maybe another half hour before we were finally all dismissed to get things going, and I tried to hurry out.
I knew Kai was going to try and catch up to me. Although we’d only been mates for a short while, I felt like I'd a pretty solid handle on his modus operandi. I was pretty speedy on my retreat, yet he still caught up with me, because of course he did.
Ignoring how much my body wanted to fling itself into his arms, I kept walking, my face straight ahead. But Kai read all of my “fuck off’ body language like a blindfolded kid in a library and tried to reach for my hand, anyway.
I yanked it away, wishing foroncethat he wouldn’t make it so gods dammed difficult for me, and fixed him with a glare. It was hard to be mad at him sometimes, with his chiseled chin, kind eyes, and the thoughtfulness he always treated me with, but it was easier now to channel all my frustrations.
“What?” I hissed, trying to keep my volume down. A fruitless effort considering how many shifters there were around us with enhanced hearing.
“I just wanted to check in.”
“You don’t need to check in on me. I’m fine, and I already told you I don’t want people knowing about our…situation.”
“Ayla, they’re gonna find out, and I’m not exactly keen on pretending that you’re not my mate.”
I was getting tired of being told it was an inevitability people would find out about my personal life, even if it was true. “Nothing good will come from that being common knowledge.”
I continued to march along, hoping, praying Kai would take a fucking hint. Already, I could feel more eyes on us, which wasn’t surprising considering the important figure he was within Canid. Already, I could hear the rumors starting, little whispers crawling around the edges of the fort.
“Ayla, come on. Let’s not fight.” It was hard to ignore his gentle tone. When he sounded so honeyed, so concerned like that, it made me want to melt. “I’m just worried about you setting up this relic, all right? I wanna make sure you don’t push yourself too hard.”
“It’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m going to be doing it on my own. So, please, you have your own duties to attend to, and I’d like my space to focus on what I have to do. We’re not a thing, remember? Just two soldiers.”
“Ayla—”
“It’s for the good of Canid and everyone in here that you let me do my job. You know that.”
I thought maybe that would knock sense into him, but no. Suddenly he was pulling me into a small, secluded spot between doorways, the pillars largely blocking us from the sightlines of oncoming soldiers.
“Ayla, I respect you, and I’m not going to get in the way of whatever it is you need to do. But I don’t believe for a second that you really want space from me, so can we stop with all this pretending?”
I opened my mouth to protest, to tell him that he knew exactlywhyI was doing this, but he kept on going.
“I know you’re protecting me, and I know that your curse is real, but I’m not going to let that stop me from loving you how I was meant to.”
Love?
Love?
The word ricocheted around my heart, maybe even my soul, and I felt like a cartoon character about to float away on a cloud of harp music.
Kai loved me?
I knew we were fated mates, but that was different from confessing outrightlove.Yet with the way Kai was looking at me, the dark chocolate of his eyes so open, so honest, I knew he was telling the truth.
