Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

CALVIN

We broke the kiss, both of us panting for breath. The speakers were two little boys, both with their faces screwed up, like they were seriously grossed out by two adults kissing. Kiara wasn't happy about the interruption, glaring at the two of them.

"What are you doing here?"

The boy with blonde hair shrugged. "Mom said she was waiting for you. I thought maybe you'd forgotten."

Making an irritated sound, Kiara attempted to get up, but I snatched her by her hips and shook my head wildly.

"Maybe give me a minute."

She frowned until I lifted my hips slightly to remind her of what we'd been doing. I was still hard and the two kids didn't need to see that. She snickered, but said nothing while I closed my eyes, thinking of anything other than the goddess on top of me. I only released her when I was certain I wouldn't be scarring little kids.

Following the kids to the kitchen, we found Talia and another woman talking to each other. Talia winced ever so slightly when I came into the room, but she was getting better. Once she knew it was me, she relaxed a bit. If she knew she was safe around a guy, she didn't tremble so much.

"Did you seriously send rug rats to get me?" Kiara complained. "They didn't even knock."

Talia frowned, and the other woman rolled her eyes heavily. "No. We told them to wait for you to join us. Javi…"

The boy with the dark brown hair looked up with big, innocent eyes. "Yeah?"

The woman sighed, closing her eyes like she was trying to summon her patience. "Why didn't you at least knock?"

He shrugged. "At home, if the door is unlocked, you're allowed to go in. I didn't know we'd walk into them kissing up on each other on the floor."

Aside from me flirting with her, Kiara didn't blush often. Apparently, being called out by a few kids was enough to embarrass her. She growled, her face turning bright pink, and stormed off, shouting over her shoulder, "Are we going or what?"

I wasn't going to be embarrassed about it. I was still giddy that I landed a woman as perfect as Kiara. I smirked to myself, heading for the fridge to get a snack. Kiara would be gone for at least a few hours, so I might as well get back to my game. It took an hour to get to town, so travel alone would take a minute.

"Where's Runa? I thought she was going to watch the boys?" the woman with the long blonde ponytail asked.

"I'm not sure," Talia murmured in reply. "She's usually never late…"

Looking over my shoulder, I studied them. "Can't you call her?"

Talia shook her head. "She doesn't have a phone. She said electronics don't like her."

Odd, but okay. At this point, I was learning to just roll with the punches. If I questioned everything that was different about this place and the people who lived here, I'd never get to relax.

"Maybe bring them to her place?" I suggested.

They both shook their heads again. "You're not allowed near Runa's cottage without permission. She has wards up."

"Wards? Like magic?"

The taller blonde nodded. "Yes. It's dangerous to approach her cottage without her permission or invitation. You should steer clear of it."

Well, that was good to know. I hadn't wandered much outside, still overcautious about Jasper, but Kiara conveniently forgot to warn me about magic wards. I'd have to grill her about that later.

Kiara came back in with a scowl, tossing her hands up in a ‘what are we waiting for' gesture, and the blonde shot her a dry look.

"Unless you want to bring the cubs, we need to wait for Runa. She should've been here already."

All eyes swung to the wall of windows facing the forest. This place was basically a glass house. The walls were mostly windows from floor to ceiling, with the ability to tint them in the bedrooms for privacy. You could see the surrounding forest from most angles, no matter what room you were in. I asked Aiden if that was a dragon thing, and his mate started laughing. Apparently, Aiden didn't care about how the house looked as long as it was functional and safe. He left the design up to the architect, who was in a modern build kind of mood that day.

When Runa didn't automatically appear, I closed the fridge and considered the situation. It bugged me sometimes that there was nothing I could do but sit around. I wanted to help. Getting Talia into town was important to Kiara. Watching a few kids shouldn't be that hard.

"Uh, I can watch them until she gets here, if you want."

"A-Are you sure?" Talia asked nervously.

I shrugged. "Not like I'm doing anything important. I was just playing video games. Someone won't let me help find the bad guy," I said, with a pointed look at Kiara.

She rolled her eyes, smirking at me. "Last time you tried to help, you got put on a dragon's hit list. Forgive me for wanting to keep you alive."

"You're forgiven," I replied seriously. I only broke out in a grin when she snorted. Messing with her was now my favorite pastime.

The blonde woman shook her head with a smile. "I always wondered what kind of guy would win you over. I should've known he'd have to be a goofball to soften your edges."

Like every time someone mentioned me being Kiara's mate, she made a disgruntled sound and crossed her arms defiantly. I didn't let it get to me. She could complain all she wanted, but she was the one who dragged me to her room every night. There were a few things that kept her coming back for more, at least.

"Shut up, Rhea. Are we going or not?"

Rhea looked back at me and shrugged. "I don't mind. You aren't allowed to leave the compound anyway, right?"

"Nope. I mean, I could probably go outside for a little bit, but the video games are in here, so…" I trailed off, like that explained everything. From the looks on the women's faces, it didn't. Whatever. Not everyone could be as awesome as me. At least the kids got it. The brown-haired boy's face lit up in excitement, and the blonde considered his friend's reaction before studying me curiously.

"What kind of games?"

I pointed at them, giving Kiara a significant look. "They get it. Unless you want to be less cool than a couple kids, you should up your game, gorgeous."

Kiara rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. I still won.

Talia twisted her fingers, looking down at the blonde boy. "Leo? Are you okay waiting with Cal? Runa should be here soon…"

He glanced over his shoulder at her and a flash of what looked like trepidation crossed his face before he masked it, stubbornly lifting his chin. "I'm good… How long will you be gone?"

"About four hours," Kiara answered for her sister. "If you need something, Andrew should be around. He can call us. Cal isn't allowed to have a phone."

"Way to make me sound like a kid," I griped. She ignored me, raising an eyebrow at Leo. They all seemed to wait for him to make the final decision. I didn't know a lot about him, Kiara said they didn't get along and this was the first time I was meeting him. But I could tell she was trying to be patient, and he was putting in a lot of effort to be brave. His eyes kept darting to his mom, and he looked uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her, but when Javi nudged him, he blinked and finally nodded.

"Okay."

Talia's smile was proud, and she gave him a big hug before she left with Rhea and Kiara. The boys turned to me expectantly, and I realized too late that I volunteered to babysit for who knows how long. I wasn't sure if or when Runa would show up. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder toward the fridge.

"Let's grab some snacks first. Eating junk food while playing video games is half the fun."

Once they got the hang of it, playing with the boys was actually a lot of fun. It was a lot like playing with my friends. Which meant we probably had the maturity of a bunch of little kids, but whatever. It was still a blast. We were headed back to the kitchen for more drinks when a loud bang made us all jump. I whipped my head around, gaping at the smoke billowing from the forest to our right. Oh, crap. Please tell me I wasn't going to be confronted by Jasper with two little kids standing beside me.

"What was that?" Andrew came out of his room down the hall, frowning at us. Leo pointed toward the windows with a dark frown.

"That's where Runa's house is."

I shot a worried glance at Andrew. The smoke was dark, and it wasn't like we could call the fire department for help. Andrew locked eyes with me, and it was like we had a silent conversation before we burst into action.

"Javi, Leo, go to my office and call Christian. Tell him we have an emergency. We'll be right back."

The boys didn't argue, and Andrew and I raced through the front door toward the smoke billowing out of the forest. It was hard to see through the black smoke, and my eyes burned. I was worried about what we'd find when we got there, but Runa appeared out of nowhere, nearly colliding into Andrew as she coughed and stumbled away from her home.

"Runa! Are you okay?"

She grimaced, waving her hand. "Experiment went wrong. Why–" She frowned, coughing into her arm before she asked, "Why the hell are two humans coming out to help me? Do you have a death wish?"