Kylo’s hand stroked over the back of his neck, then squeezed, helping to stop him from diving into things that they could not alter. “What was that?”
Conrad focused on Kylo. It helped remind him that life was different now. Those who murdered indiscriminately in the name of training, who tormented him, could no longer do that. His hands formed into fists on his thighs to stop them from doing something that he’d regret later.
He released a shuddery breath. “There’s a mass gravesite somewhere out here. Close by. We need to go on foot now.”
The hand tightened. “Stop that,” Kylo snapped, then sighed. “Tell me what that was? I could see…”
“Me, watching what those fuckheads did to the nameless boy…”
Kylo pressed his forehead to Conrad’s. “What they did to you, too.”
“No! I survived when many didn’t.” He drew in another breath, hating how it tasted. “I didn’t mean to share shit that has no place—”
“No, you don’t get to pass off the horrors in your past like it’s nothing. It has a place because it made you the man you are. You don’t have to be the brave one every time. I have broad shoulders that can carry whatever you place there.”
Conrad shivered from the gentle kiss Kylo pressed to his lips, and his eyes ached for reasons he couldn’t comprehend.
“If I could, I’d teach those fuckheads a few life lessons that my boss wouldn’t be best impressed with,” Kylo murmured against his mouth.
A chuckle bubbled up as Kylo envisioned doing all manner of things to faceless men. “Mon Bebe, you are…”
“Perfect?” Kylo’s lips tilted up at the edges. “I know. You don’t need to tell me.”
Seeing Kylo was working to lighten the tension riding them both, Conrad grinned back. “Then it’s a good job the Fates recognized your perfection required my flawlessness.”
He snorted out a laugh, his hand remaining on the back of his neck in a possessive hold Conrad found he liked. “Flawless…” his gaze dropped down Conrad’s chest, a twinkle in his eyes that warmed Conrad in a way that was nothing like the heat coming through the window. “I’m sure that will require further investigation on my part…”
He came closer once more, his lips close enough that Conrad felt his breath touching his. “You’ll find—if you stop tying me up—I’m very thorough in my investigations. Diligent, and I leave no stone unturned in pursuing the… truth.”
Conrad groaned at the kiss that had nothing to do with passion, regardless of Kylo’s teasing. The brush of lips, a caress, giving him something he’d never had: tenderness. It cupped his soul and gave it a protective shield he’d never have figured he’d needed—until he did.
All Conrad could scent was his mate. In the pit of his stomach, the roiling mess that came with the present and the past colliding turned to butterflies of hope.
When Kylo sat back and released his neck, Conrad had no words. There was no funny comeback, just an enhanced conviction he’d use everything to protect the man sitting in front of him. “I won’t let her take this from us.”
“I know,” replied Kylo in a serious tone. “Do you want me to send a team out there,” he nodded to the jungle, “to search the area?”
That he’d offered without making a fuss helped Conrad pull back the protective layers he used to enable him to do his job and shake his head. “No. Not yet. We are what’s needed to give these children, boys, or men, peace.”
Kylo wordlessly got out of the jeep. Walking to the back he took out a pack and slung it over his shoulder.
“What’s in there?” questioned Conrad as he joined him.
“Water, snacks, foldaway shovels, ground sheets, stuff like that.” A moment later, Kylo pulled out a matching pack and offered it to him.
“Handy, a boy scout.”
His chuckle rumbled out, and several creatures scurried off. “Could be, if we’d had them here.”
They trekked away from the jeep, Kylo allowing Conrad to take the lead. He didn’t ask what Conrad could smell. The jungle became quiet around them.
Sweat trickled unpleasantly down the center of Conrad’s back as he moved with stealth through the trees and undergrowth, stopping occasionally to let his animals keep him on the right track.
It was the old scent of charred wood that stopped him, and he crouched to push a hand into the damp earth, lifting a handful to his nose. Kylo remained watchful, keeping his distance as Conrad moved around an area that held little in the way of jungle vegetation. There was no growth, not with the kind of death that was buried there.
He plotted out the area in his head. Seeing where things would have been, he projected those thoughts to Kylo as he worked silently.
At the far section, his nose wrinkled, all his animals surging up at once. “They buried the dead here.” It took effort to sift through all the unfamiliar scents and distinguish Selina’s.
