Chapter 13
Much later that night, Remi sat on his back porch looking out toward the back of the property where he knew all the shifting members of Riley’s Pride were enjoying a run under the cover of darkness.
The crunch of footsteps through the gravel let him know someone was approaching and they were making sure the sounds of their approach were clearly announcing their arrival.
But he didn’t look toward the sound. Instead he waited for his visitor to announce themselves verbally. It didn’t take long.
“Mind if I sit a minute?”
Remi turned to see Kaiser standing with his hands in his pockets, just a foot or two past the edge of his mobile home. “No, come on and have a seat.”
Kaiser walked up the steps and sat down next to Remi. “Didn’t feel like running with them?” Kaiser asked, referring to the sounds of their Pride members as they chased each other across the hundreds of acres that backed up to the rise at the back of the trailer park.
“I can’t shift and run around like that.”
Kaiser turned to him. “Why not? Riley’s got more land than any one of us could ever need over that rise.”
“I thought you knew I’m a Dragon shifter.”
“Well, I do, but, so?”
“Never actually seen a Dragon shift have you?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Kaiser said.
“I rival Riley’s house in size when fully shifted.”
“Holy shit! Okay, never mind,” Kaiser said.
Remi laughed. “Only way I can shift this close to a town is if it’s a very dark, moonless night. Rainy is even better. Distorts the focus if I happened to be seen.”
“Man, that sucks.”
“Sometimes it does, I’m not gonna lie. But then again, that’s the reason we sharpen all our other senses so much. We can’t easily shift and blend into our surroundings like some others can.”
“I’d like to see your beast sometime.”
“If you’re around and the conditions are right, you might.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Kaiser started talking again. “I just wanted to come by and say thank you.”
“For what?”
“For your generosity today. You didn’t have to offer me your house to escape to. I mean, I’ve been spending time with your mate, helping her torque you a little here and there, and the last thing I expected from you is kindness.”
Remi shrugged. “You’re her friend. I figure she needed your company as much as you needed hers.”
“And you weren’t the least little bit jealous?” Kaiser asked with a smirk.
“A little. My Dragon wanted me to kill you. He calls you Red Car,” Remi said wearing a smirk of his own as he glanced over at Kaiser.
Kaiser’s brows shot up in surprise. “Thank you for not?” he stated as more of a question.
Remi laughed. “Wasn’t easy at first, but once I figured it out I had no problem with it.
Took me a few days, though. But see the thing is, I don’t want to own her.
I just want to love her, protect her, make her feel safe and appreciated in all that she does.
I don’t want to lock her away, she needs her friends as much as she needs me. ”
Kaiser sighed as he ran his hand through his hair a time or two, before scrubbing it down his face. “Isn’t that what everybody hopes for?”
“I know I do,” Remi said.
“I hope it works out for you. I really do.”
“There have been a few promising signs. I guess we’ll see when we see.”
“You can’t really be that patient,” Kaiser said.
Remi laughed. “I’m more patient by nature than you’d think. But this particular situation is very stress inducing to say the least. I’m trying, though. Last thing I want is her to feel like she’s got no choice.”
“I really think that’s all she needs to find her way through… the freedom to choose,” Kaiser said.
Remi nodded, his gaze returning to the darkness out through the trailer park as he focused on the sounds in the distance, and some sounds a little closer in as well.
Kaiser sat calmly beside him.
After a few minutes more Remi turned to Kaiser. “So, are you okay?”
Kaiser laughed. “No, not even close, but I will be.”
“Does Keegan know anything at all?”
Kaiser’s smile fell away, and his jaws clamped.
“Or does either of her parents know?”
“What makes you think Keegan has anything to do with my situation?” Kaiser asked indignantly.
“Overheard a little conversation between Keegan, Tia, and Amanda. Tia wanted to go check on you because she says you like her. Keegan told her you were a grown male, and if she didn’t leave you alone, she’d kick her ass herself.
Amanda told Tia she was a little confused about where your focus was because it certainly wasn’t on her.
At least more or less that was the conversation.
Seemed obvious to me which female was more territorial over you than the other two. ”
“That doesn’t mean anything. There are more than those three females in our Pride,” Kaiser said.
“Yeah, there are. But those are the only three that I can see any problem with you claiming. I can’t believe it’s Tia, she’s Pride just like the other two, but she’s also just a fan girl.
Amanda isn’t affected one way or the other by your celebrity, just sees you as one of the Pride.
Keegan, though, I think there might be some electricity there between the two of you.
And I think Amanda has seen exactly where your attention lies when you’re all in the same room together.
Not to mention I thought Keegan might shift today and gut her own sister if she’d followed through on her plan to go make sure you were okay. ”
Kaiser quickly turned his head to look at Remi. “Really? She was possessive?”
“I don’t think I’d call it possessive, more like territorial. But yeah, there was definitely something to it. In my humble opinion anyway.”
Kaiser nodded to himself, slowly, almost imperceptibly as he looked out into the darkness. “Lucas would kill me if he knew my beast has focused on Keegan as my mate.”
“How long have you known?” Remi asked.
“I felt it the last time I was here. I left quickly. But dealing with this, and feeling the separation, and needing my best friend, who’s back here, and all the shit with paparazzi following me, just got too much.
I came back for a while thinking I could steer clear of the family Sundays.
Then you showed up and Maia and Riley put out a call for everybody to come meet you. ”
“Well, you were hanging with my mate and pretending you and she were a thing. I think it’s only fair you be a little uncomfortable, too.”
Kaiser chuckled.
“You know, I was hoping I was wrong and that when I saw her again, there would be nothing.”
“And?” Remi asked.
“I wasn’t wrong. It all came rushing back,” Kaiser said.
“Have you told her?”
“Nope. Not going to, either.”
“Why not?”
“She’s sixteen. I’m twenty-five.”
“I don’t mean claim her. I mean tell her. Or tell Lucas what you’ve noticed, but that you’re keeping your distance until she’s an adult herself.”
Kaiser shook his head. “No, I can’t do that. It’s like declaring my intentions before she’s old enough to reciprocate.”
“Let’s be clear here,” Remi said. “She’s sixteen, not twelve. She’ll be a legal adult in two years. If she wants you, she’ll let you know.”
“I didn’t know what I wanted at eighteen.
It’s not fair to take that time away from her.
She deserves the right to live her life any way she sees fit, chase her dreams,” he choked on his own words as he tried to say the next part, “maybe even fall in love with somebody she meets in college.” He clamped his teeth together and set his jaw again in an effort to get his emotions under control again.
“That’s very magnanimous of you,” Remi said.
“There’s nothing magnanimous about it, or me. I just want her to have every opportunity to go after what she wants. I want her to be happy, even if it’s not me that makes her happy.”
Remi burst out laughing, and sat up from his reclined position. He leaned his forearms on his thighs let his head hang enough so that he was looking at the wooden boards that made up his back porch.
“Why is that funny?”
“It’s not. It just shows how much of an idiot I’ve been.”
“Care to explain?” Kaiser asked.
“Suffice it to say that when I alienated my entire clan back home, the male who is actually mate to the girl I was seeing told me almost verbatim the same thing. He said I didn’t love her like a mate would, because if I was truly her mate, I’d want her happy, with whoever it was that gave her happiness, even if that person wasn’t me because her happiness would matter more than my own. And he was right.”
Kaiser sat back and ran his fingers through his hair, gripping the end of his hair with his fingertips instead of running them all the way through.
“So, you’re saying it’s not my imagination.
She’s definitely mine if I’m willing to suffer to give her a chance to explore her life even if I don’t wind up in it. ”
“I hadn’t quite thought of it like that. I was thinking more about myself and my own situation, but yeah, now that you’ve put it out there. Yes.”
“Do you think she knows I’m hers?” Kaiser asked quietly.
“I don’t know. But she was certainly threatening to her sister to convince her to back off.”
“This, along with the part we discussed earlier about having a choice, has made my decision for me.”
“Oh, yeah?” Remi asked.
“Yeah. I have to go back to Atlanta.”
“It’s not time yet for pre-season training is it?” Remi asked.
“No. This is all about Keegan. I have to get away from here. I don’t want her to plan her future around me until she’s had the chance to live and decide what she wants first. I don’t want to steal any time from her.”
“Kaiser, are you aware that Maia was seventeen when Riley saw her and knew she was his mate?”
Kaiser looked at Remi. “Seriously?”