Chapter Thirty-Five
Oakley
For a good two hours, I thought I was going to have to either threaten my father—telling him I’d never speak to him again—or I’d have to sneak out in the middle of the night and fly to the Olkport Territory to take out the trafficking leader myself.
But then my dad spoke at the very end of the meeting.
“Fine. The five of you can go with Rome and Oak taking lead. But you’re taking the reinforcements we called in, okay? You also need to pick five more guards to take with you. Think about who else you want and ask them—this isn’t a demand. You need to ask for volunteers. Alright?”
I nodded vigorously, and Roman said, “Absolutely,” while the three vampires agreed as well.
Rome asked, “Who did you call in?”
My dad made a weird face, like sort of a grimace that also wanted to turn into a…
smile? Or something. Weirdo. “I called Ailin Ellwood. I believe he’s bringing his viramore and a couple of his kids, who all work for the BCA over there.
They’re coming as a favor to me, not any kind of international government deal or anything like that, so they said they’ll follow your lead. ”
Oh. Well, those were some good people to have as backup.
Dad continued, “Please remember that we’re keeping this quiet. I let the Olkport Territory leader know what was going on, but she doesn’t want this getting out. She doesn’t want her people knowing this trafficking operation was headed in her territory.”
“Got it,” Jed said while the others simply nodded like me.
After a moment, I asked, “Do you know who Ailin’s bringing?”
“Uh… I think he mentioned Basil and Thayer, perhaps? And I assume they’ll bring along their viramores as well.”
“Probably.” I grinned. I liked Basil, Thayer, Hiro, and Toby. A lot. They were good people. “That was a good call.”
My dad’s eyebrows rose like he was surprised I’d complimented his and Tan’s decision, but all he did was nod.
“Let’s get going,” Roman said, interrupting whatever weird staring thing my dad had going on. “We have a lot to do to prepare.”
Dad glanced at him, then met my gaze. “Please be careful.”
“I will, I promise.”
He blew out a breath, stood from the table, and walked over to me before tugging me into a big bear—dragon—hug. “I love you so much, Oak. I can’t lose you. Please. Please promise me you’ll be careful and come back home to me.”
“I will. I promise I will.” I cleared my throat, my eyes watering a little. Had I ever had someone care about my well-being this much before? “And I love you too.”
He let out a soft huff that might’ve been a laugh and squeezed me tighter.
I was ready to be done with the hug, but he wasn’t letting go, so I awkwardly patted his back, and after another minute, I said, “Dad? You can let go now.”
“Nope. Never.”
I snorted and gave him another firm back pat. “Come on. I’m not even leaving yet. We have until the morning, but I need to pack my bag and make sure my gear’s clean and ready to go and—arghhh.” I groaned when he squeezed harder. “Can’t… breathe.”
Finally, Tan came over and had to pry my dad off me, making me laugh even as my dad grumbled about not wanting to let me out of his sight or something.
It was… nice, actually. Weird, my dad was so fuckin’ weird, but it was nice.
Knowing I had him here, waiting for me to come home, waiting to give me another hug—hopefully not as long and awkward as this one—was oddly comforting.
“Promise you’ll let me hug you again before you leave in the morning?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Aren’t you seeing us off?”
“Of course.”
“Then you can hug me then.”
“Good.” He took a deep breath. “I should come with you. I can—”
“Nope,” Roman said, coming to stand beside me, shoulder to shoulder. “You have a meeting with the council in the morning, and tomorrow night, you have that dinner party—more like a ball—with the dignitaries from the other territories. You have to be here for that. You can’t miss it.”
My dad opened his mouth, looking like he was about to argue, but Roman kept talking, not giving him a chance to speak.
“And no, you cannot reschedule it. It took us months to get every single leader to agree to a date, and the meeting the next day is something we need. If you want to continue fighting for the fae people of Gauhala, you have to take this meeting and attend the fancy dinner party.”
My dad frowned, staring at Roman for a moment before he gave a terse nod. “Fine.”
Roman rolled his eyes. “You’re doing good for our entire country, Gar. This is just as important as catching the traffickers. You’re trying to make all people equal in all territories. This is a good thing.”
Dad huffed. “I know it is. But I want to keep you two safe.”
“We’ll keep each other safe.”
That made me grin, but I didn’t interrupt them.
Dad nodded. “I know. But maybe we could move the mission, wait a few days before we—”
I cut him off. “We can’t wait for the Emissaries of Gepisha’s Iron to move their operation. They’re clearly onto us, and waiting even one more day could be the difference between catching them and missing them entirely. We have to go as soon as possible and get eyes on these guys.”
Dad sighed. “I know. I just… I want to protect you.” He glanced at Roman and grumbled. “I want to protect you both.”
“Hey, Dad?” I waited until he looked at me. “Rome and I will protect each other, and so will Phae, Shiro, and Jed. We all have each other’s backs, yeah?”
He nodded with a sigh, then pulled me in for another hug, but this one was shorter and allowed me to breathe. “I know you do, I just worry.”
“We’ll check in often, yeah?”
He nodded. “Fine.” He clapped his hands together. “Okay, then. Go pack your bags and then come to my place for dinner.”
A huge part of me wanted to simply stay in with Roman, cuddled on the couch, for one more night, but I knew my dad needed this, and the truth was, I did miss him. I’d barely seen him since I’d been home, and before that, I hadn’t seen him in months.
“Yeah, Dad, we’ll be there. Both of us.” I raised a challenging eyebrow.
His lips twitched in amusement. “Yes, child of mine, I meant both of you.”
I snorted. “Good.” I sent him a smile, then nudged Roman. “Come on, you giant lug, let’s go pack.”
He sent me a fake salute, gave Dad and Tan a smile, and headed out the door.
Once we were out of earshot, I said, “That went… better than expected, I think.”
“Agreed. I knew he’d put up a fight, but we won him over pretty quickly, all things considered.” Roman smiled at me and lifted his arm up. “Can I?”
I nodded and scooted in, letting him drape his arm across my shoulders. I wrapped my arm around his waist and snuggled in a little. It made me sad to think that we’d be sleeping in different beds tonight, now that we were allowed back home without my dad acting like an ass.
I really, really didn’t want to sleep in my bed without Roman. Especially… especially when we were about to go back to the place where I grew up. I kinda had the feeling I’d be having nightmares tonight and for the foreseeable future.
Going back would be… difficult.
After what happened with Coral, I’d been terrified and hurting, so I’d put all my efforts into training until the grand master trusted me.
After that, I was allowed outside of our village when I went on missions or even just to go to the local shops or whatever.
I spent as much time outside the community as I could get away with without making the grand master suspicious.
So I really did know the entire territory well.
But that didn’t mean it’d be easy going back.
I glanced at Roman. I thought that maybe… maybe I’d need him tonight.
Biting my lip, I decided to go for it, even though I was nervous. “Um, Rome?”
“Yeah, babydoll?”
My belly flipped like it did every time he used an endearment on me. Before Roman, I hadn’t really thought about it much since babe and baby were thrown around so often and easily by even casual acquaintances, but with Roman, it felt different. It felt intimate.
And I liked it.
“Do you think… well, I don’t… I’m not sure…
Ugh!” I sighed and stopped walking, pinching the bridge of my nose.
I closed my eyes and spoke without opening them—maybe it’d be easier if I wasn’t staring at him.
As quickly as I could, I blurted, “I know neither of us has been home in forever, and I made you sleep on the couch a million times so you probably want your own bed, and I guess I kind of do too, but I don’t care that much because I just kinda only care about maybe having you there with me.
Like, I don’t really want to sleep by myself tonight, but I totally understand if you want to, so, like, only if you want, but maybe we could… share a bed again tonight?”
It took me a moment to open my eyes and actually look at him. His expression was somewhat surprised, laced with a good dose of amusement, probably because I just word vomited all over him.
“You want to sleep in the same bed tonight?” he finally asked.
“Uh… only if you want to, yes.”
His grin grew quickly and suddenly, and before I knew what was happening, his lips were on mine. I groaned and raised my fingertips to his face as my heart did somersaults in my chest.
The kiss was brief but full of passion, of affection, and I wanted to sink into it, sink into him.
But Roman pulled back and smiled down at me. “I definitely want to share a bed, babydoll. Yours or mine?”
“I don’t care. I’m fine with either.”
He stared at me for a long moment, then breathed out, “I really want to see you in my bed.”
I smiled, even as my stomach fluttered. “Yours it is, then.”
He gave a nod and another quick kiss, then grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together, and pulled me down the hall toward the elevator. “Let’s go pack your stuff, then we can go up to my room before we have to go to dinner.”
Keeping Roman with me for the rest of the night? I liked that plan. I liked it a lot.