Chapter 4
Kodiak
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Sitting on the rooftop, legs dangling over the ledge, I rotate my attention between my book and the woman that gave it to me. No way in hell someone as jumpy as her wouldn’t notice me if I got close, so I've been reduced to setting up shop on the highest building in whatever vicinity she parks herself for the night, watching from a distance. While I’d prefer to be close enough to intervene within moments if there were an issue, it offers the advantage of also studying her surroundings, ensuring that nobodyelseis watching my legion brother’s mate.
Before the first vibration ends, I slide my phone free of my back pocket, answering the second Stone’s name flashes across the screen. Poor bastard has been checking in like clockwork, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find him three blocks over banging his head against the nearest brick wall.
“Evening, doc. Manage to find your balls, yet?”
“Any updates?” Hearing the strained desperation in Stone's voice as he ignores my jabs is something I doubt I’ll ever get used to. The guy is the poster child for self-sacrifice with a tranquility about him that transcends even his countless years, perfectly in tune with his natural affinity. Now? He may as well be a fledgling with his first crush, a far cry from the man that saved me from the hellhole I was dumped in and gave me a purpose.
“Yeah, actually.” Glancing down at the book in my hand, I exhale an amused breath from my nose. “Not sure what changed, but she seemed... happier, today. Came out of her shell a bit.”
A small sigh of relief. “Maybe I was wrong, blew the whole situation out of proportion.”
Sucking on my lip ring, I swap out the book for my binoculars, setting my sights on Amara’s rusted-out sedan, both appreciating and hating the fact she has tinted windows. “Nah, I don’t think so.Maybeshe’s wanted for some sort of offense against a pack of whatever jerkoff shifters she had a run in with, or some other crazy asshole, but if she really is a dragon, she could’ve handled herself. Carina’s proof enough that people underestimate what our women are capable of. But as paranoid as Amara is about touching people, and those scars you described, she was obviously horribly abused by someone. My bet’s still on the theory that her fathers sold her off to some entitled assholes and those bastards weren’t willing to suffer the embarrassment of her running off on them.”
The grinding of his teeth across the line has me silently gagging, holding the phone away from my ear. “We ended that archaic bullshit ages ago.”
My snort of derision has him immediately falling silent. “Look man, I love everything Khalida stands for or I wouldn’t have helped build it, but it’sonesafe haven in an entire country. The wolves run almost exclusively on arranged marriages for pack alliances, thanks to fucking Wilder keeping them on the fringes of society, and the backwater territories aren’t much better. It’s just easier to pretend the practice has gone by the wayside now that people are more discreet about it since we made our stance on the subject clear. We’ve made a hell of a difference, doc, just... not enough of one. Yet. You know better than anyone that people fight against change tooth and nail. Give it time.”
Sighing in defeat, he circles back to the same question he’s been asking since the moment his mark appeared. “How can she act like it doesn’t matter?”
Swallowing, guilt is a bitter tang on my tongue. “Is it possible that you’re wrong? This can’t be her first rodeo, Stone. If she’s a dragon, she’d have checked for a mark as soon as she left the hospital; especially if she reacted as defensively as you claimed. Either it's tiny and in a weird spot, or it... isn’t there. Maybe you brushed up against someone else. You know you’re always pushing yourself to the point of collapse and could have been distracted with as busy as the hospital is.”
Please be wrong. Don’t let her be his.
Scanning the area around Amara’s car, I search every shadow, my glare lingering on the small group of drunk frat boys that stumble out of a bar a block away and head down the street in her direction, tracking their every step to the point of obsession.
“I’m sure, Kodi.” Three words, but they’re like nails being hammered into my flesh. “Thank you for doing this,bràthair, for keeping my mate safe until I can figure out the best way to approach her.”
I sympathize with his situation, even if I don’t agree with his hesitancy and secretly resent him for it. If the shoe were on the other foot, neither of them would have been able to keep me away from my soulmate. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I reluctantly admit to myself that I’m being a jealous bastard, and a shitty brother-in-arms. If it weren’t for the pictures and updates I’ve been sending Stone to back up my claims that Amara was on the mend, I highly doubt he’d be taking the time to come up with a plan before approaching her.
The stark reality is that, if even Raiden hasn’t been able to dig anything up about her by now? The fact we only have her damn name because I overheard her muttering to herself? There’s a very real possibility that if Stone spooks her and Amara runs, we won’t be able to track her down again.Thatthreat is the only thing keeping Stone on the sidelines, not that he isn’t willing to do whatever’s necessary to protect her. If anything, it shows the depths of his devotion that he’s willing to stay away in order to make her comfortable, putting her needs before his own desires already.
And his complete trust in me, the asshole that’s even more obsessed with his mate than he is.
“You’ve got to tell her, sooner rather than later, or this will blow up in your face. Nothing good comes from someone that’s already got trust issues feeling like they were lied to or tricked. Even if she wants nothing to do with us, she needs to be made aware that she’s marked so the two of you can figure out how you want to handle this situation.”
“I know.” A low, distressed sound escapes him that I do him the courtesy of pretending I didn’t notice. “But you didn’t see those scars, Kodi. Whatever hell she went through, she’s skittish for a damn good reason. I have one shot at this, and if I fuck it up, we might never be able to find her again. Even Raiden’s patience is running thin; she may as well be a ghost.”
The grinding of his teeth over the line has me pulling the phone away from my ear with another silent gag, rubbing my ear to dispel the crawling sensation as he continues. “I doubt she’ll want to move in with us just because a tattoo told her she should, but she’s not safe living in a damn car, either. Fuck, she was nearly killed in a gas station less than two weeks ago, and if she was sick, it’s definitely from all of the stress and how little you said she eats-”
“Stone.” At my harsh command, his rambling cuts off abruptly. “This is literally within my job description; I’ve got this. I promise, I’m keeping a good eye on Amara. Might not be able to take care of her the way she deserves yet, but I’m not going to let anyone hurt her, okay?”
Stone audibly swallows. “I don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore, Kodi. Every scenario I’m coming up with either ends with one of us miserable, or both of us six feet under.”
“The truth is that thereisn’ta right answer, so take a second to breathe. One step at a time,bràthair. You found your mate. That’s cause for celebration no matter how complicated things currently appear.” A fluttering of wings in my periphery draws my eye, and I flinch back out of habit from the devil incarnate. “Avery just showed up, so at least you don’t need to worry about her starving to death anymore.”
