Page 79 of Hidden

Chapter Twenty-three

Calai

I’m exhausted. I kind of just want to crawl in bed and crash, but I don’t know where that is right now. I feel sort of guilty for jumping into August’s life and disrupting it all, turning it inside out; but then I look down at the photo he sent to me while I was out with James, and I know that those fears are unfounded.

“I can’t believe they took him to get a tattoo,” I admonish James as we finally move towards his car to head home. Then I give myself a secret little smile, because after all the sweet things the guys have done it actually feels like home.

“He’s ours now,” he says, as if that explains everything. To be fair though, his face looks so damn happy in this picture that I keep looking down at. Even if his side is a little bit bloody and a whole lot red and irritated, the fact that he has a pack mark on his side now seems to fix something inside him. I haven’t seen his smile quite that whole in the short time that I've known him. I think he’s been worried about how my guys would really accept him. He’s so used to rejection, that I’m sure he was thinking that might be a possibility with my pack, too. I’m still wary of the situation, but I might be inclined to trust the earnestness of my mates if they keep doing stuff like this for both of us.

When I asked James earlier to take me to do something normal, he delivered big time. Our breakfast somehow ended up lasting the entire day, which was a nice change of events from spending my days sad inside August's apartment.

We went to a movie, got some fried chicken and went to the park for a picnic, and I finally got to go to a bookstore. He had fun trying to pick the raunchiest romances he could find and reading them out loud to me; of course, that made me buy them just so he would stop. It’s sort of liberating to be able to own things like this.

We've walked almost everywhere since this town is pretty compact, but at least I was able to talk James into not being stubborn about using his crutches. I might have bribed him with a sexual favor to get him to agree to use them, though.

I scratch the back of my neck, feeling like somebody’s watching me. I always thought it was an expression when people said they could feel eyes on them, but that’s exactly what this is.

I stop where I am and tense, pretending to adjust my shoe while looking around. I can’t see anything out of the ordinary, but there’s something warning me that there is trouble hiding nearby.

“What’s wrong?” James asks immediately.

I look behind me one more time, discreetly, and maybe I catch a glimpse of something or someone disappearing behind an alleyway, but I have no desire to chase that lead down. Good and freaked out, I just want to get in the car and drive away. “Nothing, I guess,” I say as I stand up and pull him along.

“Please don’t lie, Calai. Whatever it is you’re probably not crazy. What is it?”

“It just felt like somebody was watching me,” I tell him. His whole demeanor changes, the easygoing guy I’ve spent the day with disappearing in a flash. He’s all alpha now, ready to stake his claim on his territory.

“Take the keys and get into the car. Lock the doors,” he tells me. “I’m just going to take a look around and see if I can find anyone out of place.”

I’m grateful that he takes my concerns seriously, and I do as he says. With the car only a few spaces up from us now, it’s easy to get into quickly. Once the doors lock, I lean the seat back to try and get out of view. I don’t want anybody seeing me more than they already have.

I wait, and every minute that goes by without James returning has my heart pounding. I know that this has been a lot for him to use his foot for, even with his crutches, and his leg must be hurting him; and yet, he’s still out there, trying to keep me safe.

An abrupt knock on the window makes me stifle a scream, until I see a familiar head of close clipped brown hair and the jawline that follows me into my dreams. I’m quick to lean my seat back up and unlock the doors for him. Sliding into the car silently, he re-locks the doors and peals out of the parking spot with anger on his face. He hands me his phone. “Call Kit for me Calai,” he asks.

Matching my actions to his serious tone, I do as he says and put it on speaker so he can concentrate on driving this confusing looking vehicle.

“James? How’d it go? How is she?”

A smile breaks on my face when those are the first things out of his mouth. He has no way of knowing I’m listening in, so this must be a genuine reflection of his state of mind.

“We can get to that in a minute,” James says. “I think we have a situation.”

“What happened?” Kit’s voice immediately goes raspy and on edge, and I can almost picture him clenching his jaw as he tries to reign in his anger.

“When we were walking back to the car, Calai felt eyes on her, so once I made sure she was safe, I went to investigate.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Unfortunately. Some sniveling beta with a smartphone. There were too many people around so I couldn’t do what I really wanted to do, but I got a few hits in before I stole his phone. It was definitely the right guy because he sprinted the second he realized I saw him.”

Kit lets out some cusses, then I hear Colter in the background as well, joining in on the conversation. It sounds like he’s talking to August right now and for some reason it makes me happy to know that they’re together.

“Are you OK Calai?” Kit asks in a softer tone.

“It was strange, but nothing happened. You actually found somebody though, James?”

“Yes,” he growls. “Don’t you worry, we’re going to take care of you.”

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