Page 41

––––––––

“I know your day is full. I appreciate you coming here, Tana.” Aodh began once the older woman had settled in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk.

Kai straightened up. She’d been leaning against Aodh’s shoulders, trying to get her bearings after the information he told her. One of Aodh’s hands still rested on her lower back while the other held the outside of one of her thighs.

“Mckenna, it’s not a problem.” Tana smiled at them both, garbed in a yellow tunic-style dress, her icy-white short hair held back with a black band. “How may I be of service?”

“Actually, it’s Kai who desired this meeting.” He glanced at her. “Little flame.”

Heat flooded her cheeks at his use of her nickname before someone else while she was in such an intimate position. “Yes, I—” Shifting, Kai started to rise. Aodh’s grip tightened on her thigh, holding her in place. She stared at him, silently urging him to release her.

He stared back.

Kai rolled her eyes. It was a fight she wasn’t willing to wage.

There were more important things. She met Tana’s gaze again.

The older woman did not appear fazed one bit about Kai’s seat.

“First, I’d like to thank you for cleaning and repairing my father’s military jacket.

The item holds fond memories for me.” Lifting a hand, Kai stroked along one sleeve.

“It wasn’t a bother. I figured as much, and I’m glad I got it back.”

“Got it back?” Kai tilted her head.

“Yes.” Tana glanced from her to Aodh, then back.

“I explained to the Mckenna I’d originally given it away for incineration like your other things.

” Tana shook her head. “They were in abysmal shape. I am sorry if one of those items was valuable to you.” She sighed.

“They couldn’t be repaired. So, burning was best.”

Kai wasn’t sure why they didn’t toss the clothes into a waste bin instead of going to such extremes. Waving a hand away, she continued, “Those things are of no consequence.”

Tana offered a short nod.

“However, there are some items I seem to be missing.” Kai leaned forward with her forearms on Aodh’s glass desktop the best she could with him holding her so tight.

“There are?” Tana’s brow furrowed. “What’s missing?”

Kai relaxed her features. She wasn’t trying to make the older woman who had tended to her and her sister so well feel like Kai was accusing her of anything. “A pair of rings.”

“Rings?” Tana tilted her head. A small, canary flame filled her irises and lit her markings. “What kind?”

“They were gold bands.”

“Gold.” The flame shifted to a pale tangerine as Tana glanced at Aodh. The stare seemed to communicate something.

Kai looked from the older woman to Aodh, who arched a single brow but remained silent. She gazed again at Tana. It was evident Tana knew something. Kai wouldn’t question why the woman had not returned them to her. She just wanted them back. “Do you have them?”

“No.” The fire was gone from her eyes. “However—”

“‘However...’” Kai waved her hand and encouraged the woman to continue.

“I believe I know who has them.”

“Who?” Kai flattened her palms on the glass for leverage, ready to race around the table to urge the woman to tell her quickly.

Aodh held fast.

She glanced over her shoulder, gritting her teeth at the insufferable man. Couldn’t he see how important her parents’ rings were to her?

“I believe Ninki has them.”

Tana’s words drew her back. She spoke through tight teeth. “How and why does she have them?”

She considered the possibility the beautiful, svelte Drahk stole them out of revenge.

Was Aodh’s ex-lover pissed that she was now in Aodh’s bed?

No matter what Aodh thought about Drahks being all right with noncommittal sex, Kai found it hard to believe the loss of Aodh didn’t cause Ninki’s feelings to become scorched .

“I encountered Ninki the day you arrived while I was coming from the suites. Ninki stopped me outside of the meal hall. We spoke briefly, and she asked where I was headed. I told her about it, and she stated she was on duty that evening and offered to take the bundle.”

“On duty?” Kai frowned.

“Ninki’s position is frame construction, welding, and such.” Aodh was the one who answered. “They handle incineration also.”

“Oh,” Kai said.

“I continued to the kitchen to assist with the evening meal prep. Discarding most of your tattered clothing was easy, but the jacket occupied my mind. Yes, it was worn, but I wondered about the story of it.”

Aodh tugged her back against his chest. “Tana was one of the thunder’s historians and taught it to the young at the learning center.”

Kai nodded. Being a person who enjoyed reading and seeing pictures about the world before mankind destroyed everything, Kai understood Tana’s fascination.

Her gaze flitted to the map of the continent for a moment.

Staring at the attendant, she confirmed, “The jacket does have a story. It was my father’s. ”

Tana’s eyes widened. “Tell me about him, please.”

“He was in the military and fought for our country in three separate conflicts. He had just returned from a mission when he met, fell in love, and married my mother.”

“I bet she was as beautiful as you.” Tana gave her a small smile.

Heat filled Kai’s cheeks as she lowered her head and took in the older woman’s words. “I do look like her. However, Morlie is more her size.”

“Still beautiful,” Aodh commented as he flexed his fingers into her fleshy, ample hips.

She ignored the hum in her blood at his touch and words and continued.

“My father got orders to Oregon shortly after that. When everything happened, he hadn’t been at his new duty station for over six months.

He and my mother loaded up the bed of his pickup with everything they could fit and drove to the coordinates the government broadcasted on all outlets.

” Kai sighed, feeling the weight of her father’s memories on her chest. She stared at the patch with his unit’s insignia over the top right pocket.

“In the military, he was a munitions man. Underground, my father’s skills weren’t needed.

So, he got a job as a mechanic in the boiler room.

” She met Tana’s soft gaze and smiled. “He wore his jacket every day when he went to work. I think it gave him hope to believe life would return to what it was once.”

“What were his thoughts when the humans moved above the surface?” Aodh asked.

“They never made it.” Her throat tightened with emotions.

Aodh’s strength enveloped her as he wrapped his thick arms around her.

“Thank you for sharing the jacket’s tale with me. I’m glad I got it back for you.” Tana spoke softly.

“So am I.” Kai inhaled and then exhaled, allowing her parents to rest in peace again. “I need to go see Ninki.”

“Tana can take you.” Aodh’s arms slackened.

Kai started to rise.

“Tomorrow.” He gripped her waist.

“I want them back.” The tension formed between her brows as she stared at him.

“You’ll get them. Ninki works the evening shift,” he announced. “Tomorrow before the midday meal, Tana will escort you to her residence.” His intense gaze fixed on hers.

Biting the side of her bottom lip, Kai held back her argument. Aodh’s voice held that Mckenna tone, which told her his words were a command.

“Fine.”

“Tana, you’re dismissed.” Aodh barely spared a glance at his attendant. “Escort Kai back with you. She needs her rest.”

“At your words, Mckenna.” Tana rose and walked away.

Kai could still feel the older woman’s presence and knew she had not left yet. She shifted, so she stared directly at him. “I am an adult, Aodh. I think I know when I am tired.”

He slipped his hands up her back and pulled her closer. “I am not sending you off to nap like a child, little flame.” He dragged his lips up along her cheek. At her ear, his voice rumbled as he said, “But to prepare yourself for what I have planned for you tonight.”

She gasped. Her heart pounded, and her core felt heavy and achy. Kai clenched the walls of her sex in anticipation of a night like last night and into the morning. Her sex became drenched at the memory.

Aodh growled. “Leave now, little flame, before I bend you over my desk and take you as I’ve thought of doing since we entered.”

Not wasting any time, she rose. She choked back the whimper, sure if she didn’t move fast, Aodh would act without first sending the older woman away. Needing him but not wanting to call his bluff, she stepped back.

“Good choice.” He smacked her ass.

Kai squealed. She glanced at the map on her way out and realized she’d missed something. “Aodh, what’s in the square between old Montana and Wyoming?”

“The human’s walled territory,” he declared.

Staring at it, Kai realized how small the human world had shrunk.

She also realized every entity but the Faes surrounded them—on all sides.

If she and her sister had driven southwest out of the gate instead of southeast, she would have gone into the wolves’ territory.

Kai couldn’t help but wonder what would have become of them there.

Silent, she turned to Tana, who stood patiently in the hall outside the door.

“Until tonight, little flame.” Aodh’s voice followed her out.

“If I’d known I’d be greeted by two lovely women, I would’ve come to the Mckenna’s office sooner.” Liekki bounded up the stairs with one of his usual wicked and flirtatious smiles.

“Hello, Liekki. Are you behaving this day?” Tana greeted him before she started down the stairs.

“Oh, Tana, you know better than to ask this.” He leaned down and wiggled his brows at the older woman.

Tana laughed and flapped her hand before her face as an exaggerated fan. “Oh... you have been a charmer since entering the school room.”

He winked at her. “I won’t stop until my scales are cold and white and the young Drahks have to burn me to ash.”

“Truer words have never been uttered.” The older woman continued down the stairs.

“Hello there, spitfire.” Liekki leaned against the half wall of the landing.