Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

CALVIN

"I'm bored!" I complained to the room at large.

Kiara had been gone for days now, and I was bored out of my skull. Other than Talia coming back with her son and mate, nothing interesting was happening here. Not even video games could keep my attention anymore. I thought it'd be over quickly, but she got there and hit the ground running, and Aiden followed after her after the sun went down that same night. Since then, she rarely picked up when I called her. She sent one message saying she was busy, and that was that. I couldn't even hold it against her, because she was working hard to get the guy who wanted to kill me. I'd be an asshole if I got mad at her for not letting me distract her when she was doing that.

"Go play a game," Christian suggested.

"I don't want to. I've been inside for over a week. I'm a social person. I need to get out of here."

"What are we? Chopped liver?"

Peeking over the back of the sofa in Aiden's office, I glared at him. "You two are not good company. You work too much. It's literally dinner time and you're still working. And my beautiful goddess is ignoring me. I need something to do that isn't sitting around here."

"Go talk to Runa," Andrew suggested. "She hasn't forgiven either of us yet. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did when I apologized to her."

My brows furrowed. "You apologized?"

Looking up from the paperwork on his desk, he raised an eyebrow at me. "You didn't?"

"Well, no… She was screaming too loud at me the first day, and I haven't seen her since. When did you see her?"

"I asked Aiden to bring me close enough to her cottage that she'd know I was there. She came to me."

Not really helpful. Aiden wasn't here, and I was too afraid of getting close to the wards and accidentally killing myself, especially with the sun going down. Kiara would be so pissed if I wandered the forest alone after dark.

"If you go to the stream, she will meet you there," Christian said offhandedly. "That's where I meet her when I check in with her. It's far enough away from her cottage that you won't risk running into the wards."

"Okay, but the closest I usually get to hiking is in video games. And it's getting dark. I could get turned around and end up at her front door by accident. Got any other ideas?"

Andrew chuckled, giving his attention back to his paperwork. "You might as well take him, Christian. He won't leave us alone until he finds something to do."

Christian's head dropped forward, and he sighed heavily in defeat. "I just got started on this."

"Great. Finish it when you get back," I replied, popping to my feet. "Kiara says Runa knows things. What are the chances she'll know how I can get my goddess to marry me?"

Christian snorted and pushed to his feet, shaking his head. "Poor Kiara. I don't know how she has the energy to deal with you."

Following him out of the office and outside, I grinned. "She's got excellent stamina."

"I really don't want to know. If you want to visit Runa, you take this path here. It's easy enough to follow. When we get to the stream, there's a big rock there. Have a seat and wait. It doesn't usually take her that long, but I've waited twenty minutes before. If she's busy with something, she doesn't drop what she's doing for visitors. I know it's hard for you, but if you want to talk to her, you'll have to be patient. Got it?"

"Ugh. Fine. It's better than sitting in the office listening to the two of you work. Your job sounds really boring."

He flashed me a flat look. "Thanks. What do you do again?"

I winced. "Low blow, man. I'm currently between jobs thanks to my boss being friends with a crazy dragon."

He didn't look the least bit guilty for bringing it up, but he was nice enough not to judge. "So while you're waiting for Runa, why don't you think about what you want to do next? You're not going back to that job when you get back, right?"

"Not a chance. I'm not an idiot. I mean, I had a job interview right before Kiara kidnapped me,"– he snorted at my obvious lie–"but it wasn't like a dream job or anything. It was just what was available."

"So what's your dream job, then?"

I shrugged, kicking leaves as we walked. "I don't have one. I never dreamed about working, you know? I like playing games, hanging out with my friends, worshiping my goddess. I don't want to waste my time dreaming about a job that takes me away from all that."

Even in the failing light, Christian found the stream easily enough. We stopped beside a stream with a big rock, just like he said. I probably should've paid better attention to how we got here, but it was kind of his fault for talking about something so heavy.

"Okay, so not a dream job then. Think about a job that you wouldn't hate doing every day. Something you might actually enjoy. I enjoy my job. I like taking care of Aiden and Andrew. It makes me feel important. Jack works with Liv because he's good at what he does and he likes the environment. And he doesn't have to contend with copy machines." He snickered, but I didn't know what he was getting at, so I just raised an eyebrow at him. He waved a hand dismissively. "I'll tell you about it later. For now, I've gotta get back to work. Think about what you might want to do that you'd enjoy. Go from there. And don't wander off. If she doesn't come out to meet you in an hour, call me and I'll make sure you get back safely. I never thought I'd meet someone with a worse sense of direction than me."

I made a face at him, but he walked away before I could comment. I grumbled it under my breath anyway.

"I don't have a bad sense of direction. I just don't like nature that isn't on a screen. There are bugs out here."

"You're bigger than the bugs! You'll be fine!" he called over his shoulder as he disappeared through the trees. My mouth fell open. How the hell did he hear that?

Disgruntled, I plopped myself onto the rock and looked around. All I could see in every direction was trees. It was darker in here than under the open sky. I really hoped there weren't some wild animals out here that were going to sneak up on me in the dark. Christian was an owl shifter. He could just fly away if he was in danger. The only fighting I ever did, besides in video games, was hitting Jasper with that Green Lantern statue. I didn't have any nerd gear out here to protect me.

When nothing happened after a few minutes, I huffed out a breath and leaned back on my palms. My mind went back to the conversation from before. I never understood people who said they had dream jobs. Who dreams about working? I dream about finding the perfect woman and maybe going on my own adventures one day. If I thought she'd let me, I'd follow Kiara around like a puppy and help her find bad guys, but I doubted that'd ever happen. She considered me a hazard to myself. Which, in all fairness, wasn't totally off. Since we met, I have gotten into trouble a lot more than usual.

So what else would I do? What would keep me with Kiara without putting me in harm's way?

"Why is this so freaking hard?" I mumbled to myself.

"What's hard?"

"AHHH!" I yelped and fell off the rock in my scramble to get away. Runa came out of nowhere, making no sounds to announce her arrival until she was standing right next to me. I put a hand to my chest, my heart beating so fast, I was a little worried I'd have a heart attack. "What the hell? Why would you sneak up on me like that?"

She raised an eyebrow at me, pointing at the rock. "Aren't you here waiting for me?"

I looked between the rock and her and scowled. "Yes. Do you fly or something? Why didn't I hear you coming?"

Amusement flitted across her face, but mostly she wore a mask of indifference. "What do you want, Calvin?"

Shaking off the surprise, I pushed to my feet and dusted the leaves and dirt off my jeans. "I, uh, came to apologize for the other day. I didn't realize it was that dangerous. I thought it was like video games, you know? If I ran into it, I'd bounce off or maybe it'd be like running into a wall, that kind of thing. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Her expression softened a little, and she gestured to the rock again, sitting next to me with a sigh. "I don't mean for the wards to be dangerous. Shielding isn't my strong suit. I've tried balancing it a little more, making it less violent when something crosses the ward, but then it doesn't work as well and it fades faster. I've warned everyone to stay away from my cottage, and the people who actually wish to visit with me know to come here and wait. I should have warned you myself. That was my mistake."

I nodded, and we fell into a companionable silence for a minute before the boredom crept back in. I wasn't the sit around quietly type of person.

"So what went boom anyway? It was so loud, it shook the windows."

"I was working on a spell and it backfired. It happens. I was warded against it. It wouldn't have hurt me."

That was both interesting and really vague, but when I opened my mouth to ask her what kind of spell, she pushed to her feet. "I accept your apology. From now on, if you want to speak with me, come here instead. Don't go near my cottage. As much as the beast protests, I'm not taking down the wards. I–"

The ground shook in three sequential booms, making me and Runa stumble a little. Her eyes went wide, and she whipped her head around to me. "Stay here. Don't move."

She didn't give me a chance to ask why before she disappeared through the trees like she was being chased. I waited a little while, but I felt uneasy about it, like a sense of foreboding rattling the air. Then I heard a shout coming from the compound and my feet started moving without my permission. I started slow, hesitant, but picked up the pace the farther down the path I got until it spit me out right next to the compound. The glass walls barely blocked me from being seen, and the scene in front of me made my heart race. I pulled out my phone blindly and pressed the call button.

"Cal, I said I'm busy. I–"

"Jasper's here."