Page 10 of I Dated a Holiday Hero (Blind Date Corporation #19)

K eera watched Worro’s head slowly coming up. His gaze locked on her, sitting in her scrubs, and he said, “Kiki?”

“Yes.”

“Where have you been?”

“Here. They hid me. You took my loss badly.”

He swallowed. “You were covered in blood.”

“When? Then or now?”

“Now.”

“Yes, I was. A lot of people are dead.”

“Did they touch you?”

“Not in a sexual way. They died anyway.”

“You used the wolf?”

“It always wins for shock value, plus I can bite them.” She smiled slightly.

“You never told me you were alive.”

“I tried twice. You couldn’t see me. Then you started sleeping around, and I didn’t want to be close enough to see that.”

Worro froze. “You know about that?”

“Sure. I was at three of the parties where you picked up a girl to bang out some tension. Congratulations.” She smiled. “I hear you are applying to the BDC to be a patron. Congratulations again. Hever’s a solid choice.”

He looked ill. “I am not going to finish my application.”

“Why? She triggers your alpha reflexes and your protective nature.”

Sgoth came in and said, “Keera, your family is here to take you home. They were very worried.”

“So was I.” Keera smiled, and she got to her feet. “Glad you are back to yourself, Worro. Glad Krix was able to get you out on a mission. Have a nice life.”

* * * *

W orro watched her leave . Shy Kiki looked up at him. “Are you actually serious?”

“I am the most serious I have ever been. I am yours to the end of time, Kiki.” He smiled and brushed her hair off her shoulder.

“It’s okay if you don’t mean it. I know the defenders get around. All those fans and all.” She gave him an out.

He kissed her seriously. “It is only you from now until we both cock up our toes.”

She had smiled shyly and kissed him back. “That sounds really nice.”

Then the last memory he had of her. Triumphant from a successful mission, he sought her and found her in an alleyway.

She was carved up and covered with blood.

He got her to the hospital, and they struggled to stop the bleeding.

He moaned and struck the walls as no one could tell him who or what had done this.

His team found him rampaging in the hospital and brought him down. The next thing he knew, there were hands on his head, and his mind was cold. When he woke, she was gone, and he couldn’t remember or find her.

Worro touched her with his mind, and he exhaled. She was safe and heading home.

Sgoth sat with him. “She’s a little messed up. Did you know that she kills without remorse?”

Worro frowned. “Kiki? No. She’s the most sensitive of souls. She’s delicate and sweet.”

Hever barged in and looked at her with his new eyes. The fascination he had felt now filled him with shame.

“Where is she? Is she okay?”

Sgoth nodded. “She’s headed home with her family.”

Hever slumped. “Oh, good.”

“She was taken to blackmail you into something.”

“What?”

“She didn’t ask for many details. She just got slashing and biting.”

“Oh, the werewolf form. Got it. Yeah, that one isn’t chatty.”

Worro asked her, “Did you know?”

“What?”

“That she and I were lovers?”

Hever shook her head. “She’s not an omega.”

“Maybe not, but she could take the knot after very little practice.”

“Oh, so you can be one of her patrons. She is signing up for the BDC now that she’s free to get her own place again.”

“What?”

“While she had to use the image generator, her parents wanted to keep her close.”

He paused. “She’s not stationary. She’s heading for the coast. Fast.”

Hever looked at him. “You still care for her.”

“Of course. She is my one.” He swallowed. “But, when we were separated, she saw me with others, and I think it hurt her.”

“Wait, so she thought you two were exclusive, and she caught you catting around, but you couldn’t recognize it? Yeah, you are doomed.”

Worro wanted to wail in despair, but instead, he asked Sgoth, “Am I cleared to travel?”

Sgoth nodded. “I don’t see why not.”

Worro got up and was escorted out of the building. He caught a cab to his home, got his cycle, and drove it to her family’s cottage by the sea. She loved it. He was going to talk to her. He was hoping that she would listen.

* * * *

K eera was curled up on the swing with a cup of coffee and wrapped in her mother’s shawl. She looked out at the churning surf and debated how easy it would be to just dive beneath the waves, transform, and stay there.

She heard the cycle approaching and sighed.

He would still be scrabbling for balance.

She had lashed out at him with her hurt, and it wasn’t fair.

They had informed her that he had gone mad at her loss and that a minder had to step in, but it wasn’t until they had passed each other on the street that she realized that it meant their eighteen months together were gone.

She had been wearing the marks of the attack, and he had been able to have a new life without her.

It had hurt. Almost more than the wounds that she kept under control by constantly shifting her body to keep them from overwhelming her.

The stress on her mind and body had only left absolutes to comfort her.

Analytics and her family and, eventually, friends.

That was everything. No room for love or loss.

Now, she was healed, and love and loss were approaching at speed.

She remained curled up on her bench swing and sipped at her coffee as he stomped up the stairs.

“Kiki.”

She gestured to the other side of the swing, and it dipped as he sat down.

“You were hurt.”

“Oh, yes. Left in an alley until you found me after your mission. You carried me to a hospital, and they went to work. You started punching things, and your team had to tackle you.”

“I remember. What happened to you?”

“Ah, stitched, pinned, and taped together. I was given a projector, and it hid me from view. I lived that way until six months ago when the same man attacked Heraina, and Kritz and his team were able to make a cure for the nanites that kept tearing me apart.”

“How are you... as you were?”

“I am a shifter, you moron. My skin healed in, and the scars faded.”

He blushed. “Oh, right.”

She nodded. “So, it is all coming back to you?”

“Yes, and I am so sorry that my actions hurt you.”

“You literally didn’t know who I was, and the pain just blurred together.” She smiled and didn’t say what she wanted to. She had known he would leave her when she was out of sight but didn’t know why. Now it was obvious. His body took over.

He swallowed, his blood-red hair sliding over his shoulder. “I am so sorry that I hurt you.”

“You didn’t know what you were doing, or rather, you did, but this was what would have happened if I didn’t exist in your life. You are a tramp, Worro.”

He smiled sadly. “I was before we met, but when we shook hands, all other women ceased to matter to me. Apparently, I reverted rather quickly. I was trying to fill the hole in my life left by your absence.”

She nodded and sipped her coffee. “If you want something to drink, it’s in the house.”

He paused and then went to get a cup of black coffee.

When he came back, he settled. “So, what now?”

“There is no now. There is you living your life and me living mine. I can’t join the BDC. Not stable enough, and I try to conform to the men I am with.”

He jolted. “What men have you been with?”

“Fuck off. None of your business. You broke our pledge, and now that my physical pain is gone, I have needs. Zera’s done me a favour and has been making queries at a few embassies for me to find a mate so that I can take the edge off. I can’t be an escort, but I can take a knot, so there is that.”

He was scowling. “No.”

“You don’t have a vote. We haven’t been anything to each other for half a decade.” She set her cup down. “Why did you come?”

“I miss you. I want you.”

“You had me. I was gone. I disappeared. I died. And they brought me back over and over while you raged outside.”

“What kind of male are you looking for?”

“Breathing and present are the two criteria I am looking for. I don’t even need to keep him. I am just getting the urge to have a child, and I need one of them to accomplish it.”

“Them?”

“An alpha. I am an omega but a sleeper one because I have been able to hide my nature for my entire life. Now, I am done hiding. My mom would be so proud. She was kicked out of her home for getting pregnant, and we made our home in the deep ocean.” She set her cup down on a nearby table.

“What? Why didn’t I know that?”

“You never asked. You expected resistance, so I gave you resistance. I should have just taken all of you. You would have gotten bored and moved on.”

He stared at her. “How did I not know?”

“I think part of you did. That is why you hovered around me and were so sweet. An alpha taking care of their omega. All the cuddling and fussing were nice.”

He swallowed. “Let me do it again.”

Keera reached out and took his hand. “No. I learned exactly how vulnerable I was that last time. You left, and the monster dragged me into the shadows.”

He asked the question she was braced for. “You didn’t fight?”

“He stung me with a paralytic that nearly killed me. I was trying to heal, but everything moved so slowly.” She squeezed his hand. “Even the screaming turned into a single exhale.”

“I am so sorry to have asked. It was a reflex.”

“I know. Zera’s been asking around the reapers if they want to take care of a badly damaged omega but let her live and work in Aksalla. This isn’t what she normally does, so things are going slowly. Mistress and breeder contracts are more involved than escort contracts.”

Worro closed his fingers on her hand. “I would take care of you.”

“Would you? I tried that once before, and it didn’t work out so well.”

“We could have a little boy or girl. I would treasure all of you.”

She froze. “They didn’t tell you.”

“What?”

“I was pregnant.”

The slight, coaxing smile on his lips straightened. “What?”

“About six weeks. It stopped before it really started, but they told me during recovery. I had no idea. I thought they told you.”

Tears welled in his eyes, and she set his coffee aside and held him. His alpha nature had failed her at every important turn. He whispered, “I understand now. I failed you.”

“I loved you, Worro, but the trust is gone.”

He nodded and swallowed. “What is your scent?”

She chuckled. “Fresh coffee and ocean air. Not a very pretty scent.”

His eyes widened. “You couldn’t shift to get away because you were pregnant.”

“That’s the hypothesis.”

“I will find you a mate. Why are you looking at reapers?”

“I need someone who can be there in a moment if I need it.”

His arms wrapped around her, and she cried. They were both in love but horribly mismatched. She took from him what she could. She took comfort.

* * * *

Z era spoke to the minder , “Well, he came out of it pretty well.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“How long did it take you to get her out of her memory loss?”

The minder frowned. “What? She was never under my control.”

“Oh, so not only did she have to remember pain, but she had to remember that her partner never helped her recover, never helped her move through the pain, and didn’t give her any comfort when their child was lost?”

“She wasn’t a defender. I am only licensed to work on defenders. She was left to the public system. That wasn’t my business.”

Zera swallowed. “Get out.”

“What?”

“As a minder, you have the ability to require balance. You didn’t even request it. She lost everything, and her lover walked away from her. You don’t think she needed to know more than why?”

“We told her what was done.”

“And left her with the pain of being forgotten. Your Z-Corp contracts will not be renewed. We need someone who considers all parts of a trauma, not the ones that pay the best.”

Zera waved him off before she put him through the wall. Worro had been forcibly retired due to an escalating temper. She had been considering him for patronage at the BDC, but he was wild, and his temper was extreme. She wasn’t going to put any of the escorts up against that.

Zera rubbed her head. This was a fucking disaster. All they had to do was downgrade the lovers to friends and let them seek comfort from each other.

Now, there was one broken heart and one shattered one. Zera didn’t want to be down an analyst, but it was inevitable. She had already lost a mechanic.

If Worro went anywhere near Hever, things would hit the fan, and her entire R&D department would be out of practical application. That was missing what had been a strong financial arm.

Zera made a call, and she knew it was going to cost her.