Page 205 of The Queen’s Shadow

“She is here to save us all.” He said, and I felt the weight of his words like a tattoo on my heart.

Kasha

Koda had come for breakfast the next day, and the next, effectively making each morning a friendly and entertaining experience. I began looking forward to waking up and getting out of bed, so I could spend time with Rycon, Rhyalla and Koda before Rycon went out to train the K’aalpa-kah. Rycon typically cooked for us. Today he dropped large hearty omelettes in front of the bear shifter and Rhyalla, who tucked in enthusiastically. The large plates of food made my stomach churn. I was dreading the inevitable fight I was probably going to have with Rycon over eating my omelette when he surprised me by placing a small bowl of yogurt with honey and berries in front of me instead.

My eyes shot up in surprise and I looked up at him, but he was already back in the kitchen, plating an omelette for himself.

“Has K’yen eaten?” Rycon asked Rhyalla as he settled into the chair next to me before digging in.

He was once again shirtless, barefoot, and wearing those loose sweats that left almost nothing to the imagination. His mouth tilted up at the corner as he caught me staring.

He stuffed a giant bite of omelette into his mouth and raised an eyebrow at me. I quickly looked away, deciding to focus on my yogurt instead of the annoyingly delicious looking shifter sitting next to me.

“Yes, I made sure he was fed before he left this morning.” Rhyalla affirmed. I assumed K’yen was already out training with the K’aalpa-kah. Rycon nodded.

“There’s extra if you want to bring some out to him later. If not, see if there’s anyone else who’s interested.” Rycon said.

I liked that nothing here seemed to go to waste. If one family had too much they gave to another who didn’t have enough. I had also noticed that many of the evening meals were made as an entire community down at the pyre, where the whole settlement pitched in and everyone left with full stomachs.

“Are you going to accompany me today, Little Sprite?” Koda bellowed as he scraped the last couple bites off of his plate.

“Um…” I glanced up at him nervously, before shooting a look at Rycon, who seemed to be holding his breath. Every day, Koda asked me to keep him company for the day, and so far I had politely refused each time. However, today felt different. The thought of curling up alone in bed didn’t seem appealing to me at all. Maybe it would be nice to leave the house today and see the rest of Olkuyrbe.

Looking at the giant bear shifter, I mulled his invitation over.

“What… What did you want to do?” I asked and Koda beamed at me.

“Nothing exciting, I thought we could watch Rycon and K’yen whip those rascals into shape for a bit, then maybe explore the community. I haven’t been here for a visit in several years, so I thought it might be nice to go for a walk.”

That didn’t sound so bad. I poked a berry further down into my yogurt cup before nodding finally.

“I think that would be okay.” I said, and Koda beamed at me. Rycon’s entire body seemed to relax, as if someone had flipped a switch and released all the tension he had pent up within him. He reached over and tugged on a piece of my hair gently, giving me a roguish grin.

“Make sure you keep him out of trouble.” He said to me, dipping his head in Koda’s direction before standing up and stretching. He brought his dirty plate to the sink before disappearing into his room to get changed. I watched him go and pretended not to notice the way the lean muscles bunched and pulled beneath the bronzed skin of his back as he moved.

Shaking my head, I took a few quick bites of yogurt to give myself something else to do other than ogle the panther shifter like some sort of schoolgirl with a crush.

Moments later he re-emerged, now wearing his usual uniform of shredded jeans, motorcycle boots and a white, cotton t-shirt.

Strolling up to the table, he reached over my shoulder from behind to swipe an apple out of a bowl of fruit. He pressed the tip of his nose in the space just beneath my ear and placed a gentle kiss on the sensitive skin of my neck. I shivered as he inhaled deeply, once again making me feel as if he were trying to get high off my scent.

“I’ll see you out there.” He purred against me, his mouth so close to my earlobe I felt his lips move, causing me to shudder again. Before I had a chance to react, he was suddenly gone, taking a bite out of his apple on his way out the door.

My face grew hot, and I glanced up at Rhyalla and Koda, wondering if they were going to say anything about the intimate way Rycon had said goodbye to me, but they were both busying themselves with clearing the table and acting as if nothing had happened.

I had told Rycon I was okay with his strange new habit of kissing me on the head before he left the room, but somehow, where he had just kissed me now felt like a step towards something more than a friendly peck.

Frowning and unsure how I felt about what had just happened, I went to take another bite of my yogurt when I realized with a start, that I had already almost finished it, and it had barely been a struggle at all.

Koda and I helped Rhyalla finish with the dishes before heading out to the clearing that Rycon and K’yen had been using to train the K’aalpa-kah. We settled down onto some tree stumps on the edge of the clearing, and Rycon shot us both one of his cockiest smirks as we sat down.

His eyes were glinting as he paired the panther shifters before him into teams of two and ordered them to try their best to kill each other.

The rules were, there were no rules. If your opponent yielded, you could choose to let them live, or you could end them, the decision was up to the victor to make. It reminded me of the K’aalpa-Rhoan that K’yen and Rycon had engaged in last time we were here, and I wondered if there would be any casualties today.

“Who is that?” One of the shifters asked, pointing directly at me. His partner rolled his eyes at the question.

“When are you going to learn to keep your fucken mouth shut, Riko? We’re already stuck in last fucken place and everytime you ask another stupid question Rhoan keeps us from advancing.”