Chapter Four #2
But since he’d entered the human world, Kael had had to make many decisions.
He couldn’t live so close to Nymon anymore.
Nymon lived with his mate. Kael had to make his own decisions, be it what he wanted to eat for dinner, where he wanted to live, or what he might want to do for work.
Luckily for him, he hadn’t had to worry about that yet.
Gregory had confirmed that the council would be paying Kael well for what he was doing, and Kael had been relieved.
It felt like an easy job and easy money, and maybe it was.
It didn’t feel like a job, and he got to spend time in demon towns with other demons that he’d missed.
But he still had to choose his own apartment, his food, and whether or not he wanted a mate.
He didn’t know. He’d watched Nymon and Tex together, and they were clearly happy.
He wanted that for Nymon, but was it what he wanted for himself?
There had to be a reason he was Ridge’s mate, right?
Why would fate have chosen him for Ridge?
Nymon was perfect for Tex, but Kael couldn’t see how he would be perfect for Ridge, although of course, they barely knew each other.
Kael had made sure of that. He’d stayed away from Ridge as much as he could because he’d known there was something there and hadn’t been ready to face it.
He didn’t think he was ready even now, but he didn’t have a choice.
Part of him wanted to be angry because of that, but another part of him realized that Ridge had already given him a lot of grace.
Many shifters would’ve been blunt and told him that he was their mate and demanded to know what he wanted, even though he had no idea.
Ridge had given him space. He hadn’t even tried talking to him or telling him he was his mate until now. Even after Kael knew, he wasn’t pushing or demanding a decision. He was aware that Kael wanted to focus on the job, and Kael was glad for it, but he wasn’t sure he could focus even if he tried.
He had a mate. An unexpectedly handsome mate that he’d never expected. A mate who could turn into a cat that was beautiful and lethal at the same time.
He wanted to know more about Ridge. Was it because of the bond? Or was it because Ridge seemed genuinely interesting?
“You haven’t eaten much,” Ridge said, startling Kael out of his thoughts.
He blinked back to the present. He sat at the kitchen table with Ridge and Poppy. The two of them had been talking, but while Kael probably should’ve been participating in the conversation, he hadn’t been able to.
He realized he’d been staring at Ridge’s hands and felt his cheeks heat. He looked away, and Poppy caught his eye. She looked worried, and he didn’t want her to be. She didn’t have a reason to be. “I’m fine,” he reassured her.
“You sure? Maybe you don’t like what I cooked tonight? Because I can get something else.”
“There’s no need for that. The food is perfect. I was just distracted, thinking about this afternoon.”
She blinked. “What about this afternoon?”
Well, shit. Kael wasn’t about to tell her about Ridge and their bond when she thought they were already together.
They should’ve come clean about that in the beginning, but it was too late now.
Mentioning it would make them look like they couldn’t be trusted, which was the opposite of what they wanted.
“Kael was confronted by three demons,” Ridge said.
Kael glared at him. He didn’t want to scare Poppy, either.
“Oh,” she said. “What happened? Do you know who they were?”
“I have no idea,” Kael told her. “I don’t want you to worry.
It wasn’t pleasant, but they didn’t hurt me.
I think they were just trying to take their frustration out on someone, and I’m not one of you.
It’s easier to take it out on me than on someone they know.
” Especially someone like the town leaders.
Those demons had a lot of power, but Kael didn’t—not here, not in Starhaven, and not in the town he now called home.
“They were yellow, or at least the one I heard talking to Kael was,” Ridge interjected.
Kael glared at him again. “Like I said, I’m fine, and I don’t need you or anyone to worry about me,” he reassured Poppy. “They didn’t touch me, and I don’t think they were even trying to scare me. They just wanted me to listen to them.”
“But not everyone agrees with what’s happening. Some think that humans will invade our towns and push us out.”
“I have no doubt that some humans might want that,” Kael confirmed. “But most of them don’t, and that’s not what we’re trying to do anyway. We don’t need demons to open up their towns completely. We just need them to be receptive to small changes and better communication.”
Poppy still looked a little wary, but Kael quickly changed the topic of conversation after he shot one last glare at Ridge.
He understood where Ridge was coming from.
He wanted to protect Kael, and while Kael didn’t think those three demons had been dangerous, it couldn’t have been easy for Ridge to intervene the way he had.
He was being paid to protect Kael, and he’d almost failed because he’d let Kael wander away from him.
That would sit even worse with Ridge’s shifter side, though. Kael remembered the cat, and he would never forget the anger on the cat’s face. The cat didn’t look like Ridge when he was in his human form, but that didn’t make him unrecognizable.
Of course, that might be the bond between them, but Kael didn’t think so. He also didn’t think that Ridge would have hurt those three demons unless they’d hurt Kael first, and they hadn’t.
He stayed quiet until they reached their bedroom after they retired for the night.
He wanted to bring up what had happened at dinner as soon as they were in the room, but he paused when he saw Ridge pick up one of the pillows from the bed and the extra blanket.
When Ridge dropped the pillow on the floor, all thoughts of the conversation with Poppy fled his mind.
Could he really let Ridge sleep on the floor again? Part of him wanted to, but another part of him thought it wasn’t right. Ridge’s place was in the bed with him, even though Kael had no idea if he wanted that yet.
Would Ridge try something if Kael offered him a spot in the bed?
Kael didn’t think so, but he couldn’t be sure until he asked.
He had a choice to make, and he only had a few seconds to make it.
Once Ridge fell asleep, Kael would be left alone in the bed, and while that didn’t sound like a bad thing exactly, it also didn’t sound fair.
Ridge didn’t have a say in who his mate was. He’d already given Kael a lot of grace, and maybe Kael could give him some in return. If anything, he would save Ridge from another backache, which wasn’t a bad thing.
“You should sleep on the bed tonight,” he said.
Ridge turned to look at him. For a second, he didn’t say anything, but Kael could see that he wanted to. Maybe he was going to ask if Kael was sure. Kael wasn’t, and he didn’t know how he would’ve answered that question.
Ridge didn’t ask. He nodded and picked the pillow back up, putting it onto the mattress where it belonged.
Kael swallowed. It looked like they were going to spend the night together in the same bed.
He had no idea how he felt about that.
* * * *
RIDGE KNEW EXACTLY where he was when he woke up. He’d been trained to, and while that skill didn’t exactly apply here, he might have been confused for a moment if he hadn’t been trained—because there was someone in his arms.
There wasn’t supposed to be.
He looked down. It seemed that during the night, he and Kael had drifted together.
They hadn’t done it on purpose since they’d been sleeping, but the result was that Kael was snuggled against Ridge’s side, sleeping peacefully like he belonged there.
Ridge quite liked that. He wanted Kael to feel like he belonged, and maybe in some part of himself, he did—but it wasn’t his conscious part.
When he was awake, he made sure to stay away from Ridge, and Ridge didn’t want to push.
He didn’t know how Kael would react when he woke up, so he decided to try to sneak out of bed. He was a very light sleeper, but he expected Kael to sleep more deeply, considering how he’d slept yesterday morning.
But when Ridge tried to pull his arm from under Kael’s head, Kael snapped up into a sitting position, looking around frantically. Ridge blinked, not having expected that reaction. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he stayed still, letting Kael calm down instead of possibly freaking him out even more.
Kael turned and blinked at Ridge. It was obvious from where he was sitting that he’d been snuggled there, and Ridge wasn’t sure how he would take that. He didn’t say anything, just watched.
Kael blinked again, then, to Ridge’s surprise, stretched back out on the bed. He snuggled right back in, and Ridge felt something that was very much like relief.
Ridge didn’t know what was happening. This wasn’t like Kael, or at least, like the Kael he’d come to know.
He stayed tense, and he didn’t move. Neither did Kael. He stayed where he was, slowly tilting his head up to look at Ridge.
“It’s morning,” he said.
Ridge told himself not to laugh. “It is. It’s early, so you don’t have to worry about being late to the meeting.”
“You’re awake.”
“I very much am, yes. So are you.”
“I would say I didn’t mean to wake up in your arms, but I moved there on purpose last night after you fell asleep.”
Ridge hadn’t expected that, either, and he didn’t know how to answer. He wasn’t surprised because the bond would have a certain draw, even for Kael, but he hadn’t expected Kael to admit something like that. “It’s fine.”
“I know you said yesterday that you would give me time, and I want that time, but I also kind of don’t. Does that make sense?”
“It does. You feel the pull. It’s the bond, and while I understand it’s not easy to ignore, you can do it if you want to.”