Chapter Six
~Kalo~
Morning came far too soon.
I woke with a start, my heart hammering against my ribs and the last scraps of my nightmare still clinging to my thoughts. The same shadowy figure from the night before had returned, reaching for me through a curtain of darkness, its whisper drifting through my mind as hard to pin down as smoke.
You’ll never be free.
Slowly, I sat up, dragging a hand down my face.
My bones felt stiff and my head heavy. Footsteps approached from down the hall and my pulse spiked again, but a moment later, the sound faded.
Whoever the footsteps belonged to carried on down the hall, past my door, and I pushed myself out of bed, trying to shake the uneasiness the dream had left behind.
Last night, Evalina returned as she’d promised, letting me know the siren had been a false alarm. She offered to continue our conversation, but I told her I was tired. The long day of travelling had caught up with me, and I went to sleep almost immediately.
Sleep just hadn’t been kind enough to give me rest.
After splashing cool water on my face in the bathroom, I took a moment to study my reflection in the mirror.
The image hadn’t changed in three thousand years; the same golden-brown skin, amber eyes and white hair looked back at me that used to stare up at me from the reflecting pool in my grandfather’s house, but the darker circles under my eyes from a second night of poor sleep made me look older.
I felt older.
I also felt dirty. With no belongings of my own, I’d slept in the clothes the Ravenstone pack had let me borrow. Now, they were wrinkled and far from fresh. Perhaps I could find Evalina and ask for her help in locating some new ones or getting these washed?
Before I could make up my mind to look for her, a gentle knock sounded on the door.
“Kalo? It’s me.”
Not Evalina’s voice but Leo’s drifted through the door, and something inside my chest tightened at the sound, urging me to go to the door and see him.
The mate bond, I supposed. Nothing else explained it.
When I opened the door, the werewolf stood there with a large cardboard box in his arms and dark circles smudged beneath his blue eyes that made a perfect match to the ones under mine.
“I brought you some things,” he hurried to say, holding up the box as if I needed the visual backup.
“Clothes, toiletries, a spare phone and charger; a few basics. The house manager is gathering a few more things, but this should get you started. I’m sorry I couldn’t get it to you last night. I got held up.”
The sentences tumbled from his lips, building faster and faster until he reached the end, at which point he pressed his lips together as if to stop himself from saying anything further.
“Thank you.” I held out my arms for the box, and his lips pulled downwards into a frown.
“Let me put it somewhere for you. It’s a little heavy.”
If I had more energy, I could have taken that as an insult, but truthfully, there was no comparison between our physiques. He had the large, solid build of all the ranked werewolves I’d met, and although I almost matched him in height, my arms were probably half the size of his.
So instead of arguing, I stepped aside silently, standing by the door while he placed the box carefully on the foot of the bed.
Turning back to face me, he spoke again, this time in less of a rush. “If you’re missing anything, just tell me. I’ll make sure you have it.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
He nodded once, stepping back towards the door, but he stopped when he drew level with me. “When you’re ready, I can take you downstairs. Breakfast will be served soon.”
My stomach grumbled at the mention of food, but after my poor night’s sleep, dining with a roomful of strangers appealed to me about as much as having another of those haunting dreams.
“Would it be possible for me to eat here? Just this morning?”
Leo’s slow blink suggested he hadn’t anticipated the request, but he soon nodded again. “Of course. I’ll take care of it.”
He left before I could say more, and I closed the door behind him, trying not to notice the way his scent lingered in the air. He smelled of pomegranate, funnily enough. It had always been my favourite fruit as a child.
With no one there to watch, I attempted to pick up the box Leo had left behind, and could barely raise it off the mattress. Calling it heavy had been an understatement, and I appreciated that he hadn’t let me embarrass myself by trying to take it from him.
Inside, I found an array of neatly folded clothes.
There were warm sweaters and soft shirts in muted colours that matched the leathers and wools of my native clothing.
There were multiple pairs of pants in several sizes; apparently, he hadn’t been sure which size I needed.
The modern toiletries I recognized thanks to the knowledge I’d received as a genie, including a shaving kit, deodorant, shampoo and a toothbrush.
The phone and charger, I set to the side.
Although I understood their purpose, I had no idea how to use them.
When I finally pulled the last thing from the box, the dresser and closet of my room were nearly full and the bathroom cabinet had been stocked. Leo had certainly been thorough.
I’d only just finished getting dressed when another knock at the door came, and this time Leo held a large tray covered with enough plates of food to feed a small family: eggs, bacon, sausages, fruit, pastries, porridge, yogurt, toast, muffins, and three different types of juice.
My eyebrows rose as my gaze lifted back to the man holding it all, and he gave me an awkward shrug.
“I wasn’t sure what you’d want, and I didn’t want to choose for you, so I brought a bit of everything.”
The words pierced my heart with an unexpected stab of pain, so strong that I stumbled back half a step. I didn’t want to choose for you. And yet, he had, when it mattered the most. The mark on my neck burned with the memory.
He heard the echo too, wincing as his eyes closed for a moment, his handsome features bathed in regret. “I’m sorry, I… I’ll just leave this here.”
Shoulders tight, he walked in and placed the tray down on the desk by the window, and he turned back to leave, his head down to avoid my gaze.
But the unhappy set of his jaw and those lines I’d seen under his eyes softened the sting of the words, and suddenly, I didn’t want him to leave on that note.
“You look tired,” I offered quietly, and Leo almost tripped over his feet before coming to a stop in front of me. His blue eyes met mine tentatively, his shoulders relaxing a little at whatever he saw in my gaze.
“I didn’t sleep much,” he admitted. “It doesn’t look like you did either.”
He could see it in my face too, then.
I didn’t want to talk about the dream, so I gestured towards the food instead as a peace offering. “That’s much more than I need. You could stay and share it with me, if you haven’t eaten already.”
He studied me for a long moment, as if there might be a catch to my invitation, but when he was satisfied I meant it sincerely, he bowed his head in acceptance and pivoted once more, heading back to the desk.
I closed the door while Leo pulled the armchair over to sit in, leaving the desk chair for me.
For a couple of minutes, we ate in silence.
Whoever cooked for the pack knew what they were doing.
Although Ravenstone had treated me well, many of my former masters had not.
Some hadn’t considered feeding me necessary, though I still required food and drink even as a genie.
It would take some time before good food felt routine and not like a privilege.
Leo ate as well, though not as much or as quickly as I did. His eyes rarely strayed from me, though he tried his best to cover it up. Finally, I couldn’t help teasing him about it. “Is there something unusual about the way I eat? No one has ever paid so much attention before.”
His neck immediately flushed red. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to stare. I just… I need to know that you’re eating well, especially if you’re having trouble sleeping.”
“You need to?” I repeated. “That sounds quite dramatic.”
Leo nodded, however. “The mate bond is more demanding than I expected. I didn’t know I would feel this anxious about your well-being, but I’ll try to be more discreet about it.”
“I don’t want you suffering on my account,” I told him honestly. “Is it really that much more intense than a normal relationship?”
His gaze dropped to the apple in his hand. “I wouldn’t know about that. This is… well, this is my first anything, really. Relationship, bond… whatever this is.”
It took a moment for me to process what he was saying. “But… why? You’re a very attractive man.”
The words slipped out without much thought behind them, and the flush in his neck crept up a little higher. “What about you? Have you been in a lot of relationships?”
He didn’t answer my question, I noticed, but I let it go for now.
His question sent my thoughts spinning in a completely different direction, one I rarely let myself linger in.
“Not as a genie, but when I was human, I was deeply in love with someone. I suppose I felt anxious about him too, but it was a long time ago now. The memories aren’t as strong as they once were. ”
Leo’s gaze was so intense, it felt as if he were trying to commit every word I spoke to memory. “You were in love with a man? Was that normal in your time?”
“Normal is a difficult word to define.” Over the thousands of years I’d flitted in and out of time, attitudes had shifted back and forth.
Culture, politics and religion shaped people’s views.
Even in this time, three thousand years after my own, it could be tricky, but I tried my best to explain the situation to Leo in a way that didn’t get too personal for me.
“Men were expected to marry women and produce children for their families, but affairs with other men were tolerated so long as one of them was of a lower status than the other. However, two men of equal standing being together was forbidden.”
“That’s fascinating,” he breathed, and I believed he truly meant it.
“Just so you know, because I’ve never been in a relationship with anyone before, man or woman, there will probably be some gossip in the pack when it comes out that you’re my mate.
It won’t be mean-spirited, I don’t think, but people will talk. ”
“As a genie, I got very used to being the subject of conversation,” I pointed out drily, and a brief smile flashed across Leo’s face. It looked good on him. “People can say what they like, it doesn’t bother me.”
He exhaled deeply. “It calms my wolf a little to hear you say that.”
Although I knew that Leo was a werewolf, I’d almost forgotten there was a completely separate, sentient being inside him, listening to every word we said. “How does he…”
Another knock on the door cut me off, this one much stronger than Leo’s gentle rapping earlier, and I caught the look of disappointment in his eyes before he covered it up.
Duty calls, he’d said the day before, and it seemed like our quiet breakfast together was another casualty of it.