Page 17 of Of Daggers and Deceit

“Long. Hot,” he began, and I rolled my eyes.

Quickly, he grabbed my hand to kiss it before letting it fall to my side. I barely contained my shock, instead choosing to go the usual pathway of ignoring it. That option was far safer for me, though something wonderful bubbled in my gut when he did things like that.

“The days feel like they are getting shorter and harder the closer it gets. The new recruits are terrified, as they should be, but I’m not convinced they are going to do well. I’m worried for them and their families.”

I frowned and looked over at his expression. “Because they are not good fighters?”

He winced. “Yes. This new batch has hardly had time to train, and they’ve barely come into their Alpha abilities.”

“Hey Bo,” a voice called out, and we both whipped our heads towards a female Alpha I’d seen often in our ring. When I looked at Alphas in the defence, I often wondered about what they could shift into. Only others on the team knew of that, and none of them ever spoke of it. Well, at least Bodhi never did. Nobody else outside of them shifted, ever. Shifting was primitive according to our goddess Omni, as enforced by our Supreme. Therefore, it was punishable. Not shifting kept them safe, just the same as not displaying my power had kept me safe. Until now. I’d blown it.

But still, it didn’t stop me from wondering when I looked upon Alphas like her, with her cropped blonde hair, sharp green eyes, and angular face.

Her body was lean. Hmm, maybe some sort of bird?

“Klarissa,” he replied, and my eye twitched that he allowed her to call him Bo just as I so often did.

That name was mine.

“You left so quickly, I thought you were staying tonight for dinner with the team?”

I stared at her; she didn’t even bother to acknowledge me, which I’d decided was more irritating today than it had ever been before. Like a typical Alpha, she was strong, fit, and naturally commanded your attention, suddenly making me feel slightly inadequate in my dirtied clothes and sweaty, messy hair.

“I was thinking about it but decided against it for tonight. I’ve got some stuff I want to do tonight at home.”

She ever so briefly glanced towards me, though she didn’t smile.

“Oh,” she said, her face falling, which seemed to satisfy me until she brightened and spoke again. “I’m heading home too, just to grab some things before I head back. I’ll walk with you.”

Bodhi glanced across at me before smiling at her, that same warm smile that sucked you right in.

Not for the first time, I rolled my eyes and began to walk away.

I couldn’t watch whatever this was between the two of them. It wasn’t any of my business anyway. It couldn’t be. Better to walk away now.

So, I did swiftly, managing to get a few paces ahead so I could breathe again. Until Bodhi quickly caught up again, with her clinging to his arm beside him.

Clinging to his arm?

I cast a furtive glance across to them, which she saw as she shot me an oily grin. Damn it.

Her hands were in fact wrapped around his arm, her body tucked in close to his as my eyes quickly flicked up to his contented face. My chest burned at the sight of them.

He didn’t shake her off either, merely walked alongside me in silence, though I could hear her efforts to engage him in conversation, all about how sorry she was about Tia, my mother, and what they could do to protect her.

I blinked rapidly, my throat thickening.

I dipped my head to the floor as I walked, desperate to get away from them. I would have to learn to tolerate this if I wanted to keep him as my friend. Maybe in the future, I might have more than just him, if only I tried.

Eventually, he would partner with someone. I would simply have to learn to accept them, and maybe, another shifter in this community might also learn to accept me in return.

That prospect alone kept me walking, kept me listening and nodding in engagement, though nothing they said fully registered.

But beneath all that, a niggling awareness had become more apparent as I realised how vastly different Bodhi and I were and how well he connected with another Alpha.

Logically, they made sense.

Because at the end of the day, Alphas would always connect with Alphas through shared experiences of life. So too would Omegas.

---