Page 83 of Bearing Secrets
The other shifter just nodded respectfully, then they both went their own ways. Kirell stretched his sore and healing muscles as he went, limbering up and getting loose. He didn’t expect to need it, but he would heal faster if he kept his body in motion.
After sleeping or eating most of the day, he was mostly healed, though not at one hundred percent. The beating had been pretty severe, and even his advanced healing only worked so fast. Another day or so would see him ready to take on the world again.
In the meantime, he only had to face Natalia, and that wasn’t something requiring his strength. Not physical strength, at least. Emotional strength was another matter entirely, and something Kirell suspected he would be lacking when he finally came face to face with her again.
It wasn’t until his mind had healed itself enough for coherent thoughts, that he’d come to the realization that the entire time he’d been unconscious, or conscious but not lucid, he’d been thinking of her. Not just sexually either. In fact, mostly non-sexual thoughts filled his head.
She’d stayed with him, stayed at his side for nearly a full day while he recovered. True, she’d been gone when he finally woke up, but a little investigation had shown that she’d left not long before that happened. Having her do that had been a key to unlocking his acceptance that he was excited she’d stayed. That he would have been devastated if she’d just left him completely alone.
That eventually gave way to the dawning understanding that Kirell didn’t just want her around. Heneededher around. He’d come to rely on her for strength when he didn’t have it, and for company he hadn’t been aware he craved. She was a shoulder to lean on and a soul to complete his own.
He cared for her, deeper than he’d ever cared for anyone before. That scared him. Terrified him, truthfully, and he suspected admitting it would do the same to her. But he had to; he couldn’t hide it any longer. What had started out as a match made for all the wrong reasons had morphed into something real, something he didn’t want to give up on.
Kirell was going to fight now, but this was a fight unlike any he’d ever been in before. It wasn’t fists and claws, but words and feelings, and this was a battleground on which he was a novice. But inexperienced or not, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Natalia was going to listen to what he had to say, no matter what.
After that, she was on her own; he wouldn’t force a thing from her, but she would let him speak. He knew he’d earned that much. The only question he didn’t have an answer to, was how didshefeel?
He strode into the security office, glancing at the clock. It was nine-thirty now. Nearly two and a half hours after she said she was sitting down to dinner with Loren. He knew women could talk endlessly, but he’d not had any message or communication with her since.
“Any arrivals?” he asked, plopping himself down into a spare chair. “In the last twenty minutes or so?”
Krave pushed a few buttons, then shook his head. “Nope, nothing, boss. No departures either.”
“Fine.” He started fiddling with the controls.
“What are you doing?”
He glanced at Krave. “Looking up my attack. I want to see if I can trace who it might have been.”
Krave frowned. “We tried already. There are no cameras anywhere near there. Nothing to pick up on who it might have been.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I have my own suspicions.”
The first thing he did was pull up the video of the storage area. From there, he started back-tracking the guard who had come to him. Everyone who’d arrived on the scene had seen the guard unconscious and proclaimed him innocent, but Kirell wondered otherwise.
The man’s story was flimsy. Apparently, he’d been going by the prison area when he heard noises. After investigating it a bit further, he’d come after Kirell to get his help. Reviewing the cameras, though, showed exactly that. He saw the guard creeping through the prison area, and then disappearing off camera. A few minutes later, he came charging back out, into the storage areas to find Kirell.
How did you know where I was?
He made a mental note to question the guard on that. Who had told him where to find Kirell? That was a big hole in his story that didn’t seem to have been addressed yet.
Setting that to the side, he started looking for Klebra and the two men he knew to be his cronies, trying to track them down as well. After much searching, however, he verified that all three of them had left the house about an hour before the attack.
Of course, there were ways to sneak back in unseen, but he couldn’t prove any of them had done that either. He was at a dead end, his anger growing.
“Has anyone come in through the garage yet?” he snapped.
“No boss,” Krave said politely. “I’ve been keeping an eye on it. Who are we waiting for?”
“Natalia,” he said slowly. “Fine. Where are Klebra and his posse at? I’ll question them until she shows up.”
“They headed out in one of the SUVs like an hour ago,” Krave informed him. He punched a few buttons. “That’s odd.”
“What?” Kirell turned to the screen.
“The GPS says they’re down the road from the main gates. But they left an hour ago. What the hell are they doing?”
A sinking feeling filled Kirell’s stomach. “Pull up the GPS on my Chiron.” He gave Krave the ID number.
