I shook my head. “I don’t know, but I can certainly find out.” I glanced from Qwill to Kroven. “If that’ll help?”
Giving me a wide, warm smile, Kroven reached over and rubbed my shoulder. “Bas, that would be very helpful.”
“Consider it done.” I grinned back.
“What ausefuldistraction you have there, Kroven.” Qwill chuckled. “I’ll have to find me a human to play with if they’re half as fun as this one.”
Kroven rolled his eyes. “I do soenjoyour visits, Qwill. But—”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” He laughed. He tilted his head toward me. “It was nice meeting you, Bas.”
“Thanks, you too.” I gave him a genuine smile before he saluted Kroven and left around the backside of the house, clearly the way he had come.
Once Qwill was gone, Kroven stood in front of me and comfortingly placed his hands on my shoulders. Gazing into his eyes, there was nothing more I wanted in that moment than to kiss him. But I could see the seriousness in his red eyes, and the sentiment was practically radiating off of him.
“Are you sure about asking questions around the blood center? I wouldn’t want you to put your job at risk.”
“Kroven, it’s fine.” I shook my head, reaching up and placing my hands over his on my shoulders. “I want to help, even without what’s going on here between us to sway me. These protestors are affecting my job, I’m not just going to stand by and let them do whatever the hell they want.”
“As long as you’re sure.” He leaned in and kissed me, his lips lingering against mine.
I wasn’t opposed to sucking him off out here in the open, to be honest.
Breaking the kiss, I said, “I’m sure. I’ll let you know as soon as I go back into work what I can find out. It might not be for a couple days though, because of how they’re having to do our shifts. Is that okay?”
“That’s perfect.” He affirmed.
He walked over to a bench, sighing as he cradled his head in his hands. I waited a few beats before joining him. Placing a hand on his thigh, I waited until he unfolded from within himself and gave me another gander into those beautiful scarlet eyes.
“How bad is it, really?”
“Bad enough to warrant a reaction from Exo,” Kroven sighed. “Accordingly to Qwill, this isn’t just happening here in the blood centers around Piper. It’s happening up and down the east coast. These protestors are claiming that it’s unnatural for the blood centers to be serving the sangamar, that it’s basically serving an unholy practice through a modern lens.”
“That’s ridiculous.” I scoffed.
“If they start making enough noise, there’s a chance that the blood centers could shut down.” Kroven went on. “And if that happens, hunting will be our only choice. Which will affect the animal population if we don’t go straight for human blood, that is.”
“The blood centers were decided upon for both human and Orb benefit. We’ll make sure that nothing happens to them.”
I felt it, sitting there with Kroven, that I would do absolutely anything to make sure that I kept my promise. Not only because I wanted the best for Kroven, but also because I wanted the best for all sangamar and all humans that relied on the blood centers.
We just had to hope that the blood center representative was either Kroven’s contact or was actually serious about protecting the Orbs’ rights.
Chapter 12
As much asI wanted to get down on my knees for Kroven, I knew the moment was gone. The heavy subject of Orbs being pestered by protestors outside of multiple blood centers up and down the eastern seaboard waskind ofa boner killer.
I was dedicated to helping him and the rest of the sangamar by gaining whatever intel I could by figuring out if the blood center representative was the same person that Kroven and Qwill knew through their Orb connections. No one deserved to be denied access to something they needed simply because other people didn't like that they had the option.
The next morning, I'd gotten a text from Babs that said I was still in the off-rotation for work, so there was no chance of me getting any information about the representative. Which meant I had an absolute free day all to myself.
Which was how I found myself cuddled up under my favorite blanket with my iPad reading my smut books. I was reading my book with my iced coffee in one hand and my iPad in the other when Thayer came bounding into the living room from his bedroom.
“Please tell me this isn't the only thing you're going to do on your day off.” Thayer said rolling his eyes with a playful laugh.
“Says the guy who just woke up at one-thirty in the afternoon.” I smirked.
He knew I was just teasing, considering his line of work made him have an abnormal sleep schedule. But he still mocked me as he sauntered into the kitchen and started making himself a sandwich.
