Page 106 of I Replaced His Husband
"Well, if it weren’t for you, Kay, I would’ve been stabbed by their leader. You gave me back my six-pack ‘shield’. We were a team." I smiled softly.
His eyes were wide, he swallowed hard, and lowered his head.
Mr. Miller raised an eyebrow. "Well, the important thing is that it all ended well."
Kay nodded and sighed with visible relief. I was just glad that he wasn’t as on edge anymore as before, more like resigned and tired.
Half an hour later, after giving statements and enduring some nasty looks from the local cops, we were finally free to go.
While we stood there, Kay’s wave passed, and his scent stabilized. I knew that if the craving is not satiated, it can go for two hours and then it calms down, but not for long. In a few hours it would return with vengeance…
We said goodbye to Mr. Miller, who handed us a hotline number for True Mates and recommended we get our official status confirmed with a chip card. He even gave us the website link and everything.
When he drove off, we turned back to the car.
Kay opened the back door of the van, which surprised me a little. He took a first aid kit from the trunk compartment, then got inside and sat back on his bent knees. I followed and sat across from him the same way. He also had a small bottle of mineral water in one hand, and his face looked focused.
Without a word, he gently cleaned my forehead and the scratches on my hand with a tissue and some antiseptic.
Then he looked at me and said, his voice shaky, "Rain, I’m so… grateful for what you did. You saved me. Thank you so much—"
"It’s my duty, Kay, as your protector."
"Well, yes. But still, it was… wonderful, brave, and just incredible. And I feel like I’m not reciprocating what you’re sending in my direction, your goodness. I just…"
He closed his eyes, his hands falling to his sides like he suddenly felt drained and weak.
But I knew. I could feel that he didn’t want my touch right now, so I just said,
"Kay, you have all the time you need to make peace with your past. I promised I wouldn’t rush you, and I intend to keep that promise. Small steps."
"I don’t want you to feel—"
"However I feel doesn’t matter; it’s not me whose loved one died. You may need your space after this… test result. I’ll respect it."
"This is such huge news, Rain. I feel like I should—"
"No. You don’t have to do anything about it. Just let it sink in. The wave’s passed, right? So let it… settle for a bit. Then we’ll figure out what’s ahead."
Kay observed my face with great attention for a while, but I made sure to keep an open and accepting expression, fighting hard every sign of hurt, almost brutally pushing it down.
Finally, he nodded and sniffled a little.
"Okay," he whispered.
We moved to the front seats, and the rest of the drive passed in relative silence.
Kay started reading about the Tall Omega Syndrome and, every now and then, shared little bits of what he found in the articles.
And I was just… barely listening, feeling immensely exhausted. The adrenaline rush hadn’t been as intense as during fighting mode, but it was still there, and all I wanted was to rest my head on a pillow.
I silently prayed for it to be tomorrow already.
I’d deal with everything else, but tomorrow… please. Let this day end…
???
We didn’t call Adam or Marco during the drive back to let them know what had happened at the grocery.
