Page 49 of Homecoming

“No, I was just checking on you. You seemed a little tense back there, andI was worried.” She brushes her fingers down his arm. “Darius, are you okay? You seem really distracted.”

“I’m good. I just have some things I’m trying to figure out.”

“What things? Something you want to share?”

“I can’t, not yet. Really, it’s nothing. I’ll let you in on it when I have more information.” He leans inandbrushing her hair from her shoulder, drops a kiss.

“What are you up to? Is it something I should know about?” She frowns, watching the distant look on his face.

“No, nothing. Like I said, I don’t want you to worry. Look... if you really must know, I put out some feelers out about findinghim.”

“Byhim, you mean Auriel? You can say his name. Have you been trying to find him?”

“I’ve just been asking around—making tentative inquiries. He seems to have gone toground,but I will find him. Kat, don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything stupid. I just have a few connections asking questions, that's all.” He gently strokes her cheek with his thumb, watching as she toys with the plans and drawings laid on the table.

“What are these plans for?” she hitches her brow. “Is this the house—our house?” She looks at him and, placing her hands on the desk, she looks at the sketches on the paper.

“Uh-huh,” he nods. “It’s just some rough ideas. I have an architect coming Saturday to go over the details and talk through the plans.” He grins and brushing another kiss on her cheek, his hand smooths slowly up the back of her neck and slides around her throat. Gripping it firmly, he growls teasingly against her ear.

Kat smiles but doesn’t move as he snarls again. “Oh, you do. Wait… Saturday? But that’s Riley’s engagement party. Are you not coming?”

“I’ll see. Kat, you know family gatherings are not really my scene.” He glides his free hand over the curve of her butt and slaps hard against the firmness squeezed into small black running shorts. Kat squeals with a loud yelp as Darius now presses his body against hers and curling his hand around her waist, he slides it up to her breast as his other hand continues to clutch dominantly at her throat.

“Darius, stop. I need to go take a shower and you need to make your calls.”

He nods and takes a breath. “So have you and Digby made up now?”

“Uh-huh… I guess we did.”

“I thought so…” he gestures at the blood on her shirt. “And wasthathis idea? Did he come up with the idea—for you to mark him?”

“I guess it was.” She swallows nervously. “Darius, he… he just wanted to show that… I don’t know…” she bites at her lip and shrugs. “Are you angry about it?”

“Angry? No, why should I be angry? It’s up to him if he wants to do something stupid. But seriously, I think he’s going to get ridiculed for it.”

“Really? Well, I guess we’ll soon find out… Darius, can I talk to you for a minute? I need to ask you something important.”

“I thought we were talking.”

“Not about Digby, but I do want to talk about my place on the team—I want it back. I want to earn back my place as team medic.”

“Kat, I don’t think you’re up to that right now. Do you?”

“Right now? No, but I can be. Please, I need it. I need to do this for me. I can’t just sit here in this house all day doing nothing. I need something to focus on.”

“Right... And you really think you can get your fitness back to the level required? Be strong enough even after all this time out?”

“I do. And the pups, I’ve already put arrangements in place, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“I’m not worried. Being worried is Digby’s department now. It’s up to you how you raise your pups.”

“Darius, why are you being like this? What’s wrong with you? And why won’t you talk to me about Evelyn—you haven’t mentioned her at all.”

“Kat… you don’t even know if she really is mine, so I don’t see we have anything to discuss. Just because you have some wildhunchthat because she can’t shift, you think she must bemypup? That’s bullshit. Kat, I can’t get invested in something that I don’t know is true.”

“You were excited when I told you. You wanted this—you wanted her to be yours and what? Now you don’t?”

“Kat, it’s not that, but I think it's more that you want it to be true. I think like that mark on Digby’s neck—on your neck—you want this to connect us, but you don’t really know if it’s true.”

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