Chapter 4 - Kaius

"You can be such an ass sometimes, Kai," Milo says to me with a wince as Julie rushes off toward her car. He gives his long hair a dramatic toss out of his face, and I feel like I'm being judged by a member of a boy band. Milo has this whole pretty boy thing going for him. I don't think he'll ever understand where I'm coming from. Women fall all over themselves around him.

"Picking on the bookworm? He's not wrong," Orion agrees as he leans against a tree, his green eyes glowing in the firelight. He always has a look like he knows more than he's letting on. It verges on unsettling.

"I'm not picking on anyone. I'm an equal opportunist. I give Rufus and Cyrus as hard a time as anyone," I mutter at them, crossing my arms and kicking roughly at a rock in the dirt. They don't get it. If I'm not the funny guy, I don't really have anywhere I fit in. Nothing I've said is that bad, either. I'm just teasing her. Joking. How's it my fault she can't take a joke?

Cyrus approaches and slides his phone into his back pocket with a frown. Evander, his second, and Rufus are trailing right behind him. Cyrus nods toward the trees, and we all fall in behind him, following him out of earshot of the remaining ladies toward the targets. He waits for us to circle up around him as I'm bringing up the rear. Each step feels like being pulled along against my will. I'd prefer to be anywhere else other than around Orion and Milo right now.

"That was Ryker," Cyrus explains as he leans against a fence post, "He just had to sedate his sister. They were eating dinner and, mid-meal, she sneezed and opened a time loop. It seemed to only extend to their two cabins, but he couldn't get out of it any other way. He'll be working with her tomorrow to try and control it."

"I didn't think Suze had any powers, let alone time weaving," Evander says with a rather bewildered look.

"That's the fourth instance we've had in a week of someone having either a power awaken or reawaken. It makes no sense. We lost the overwhelming majority of our relics in the raid before we brought everyone here. We should be losing power, not gaining it," Cyrus muses.

"Do we really want to look a gift horse in the mouth?" I ask honestly. Why worry about where or why these powers are coming? At least we're gaining strength and not losing it like we feared. They should be more eager about the prospect.

"While I won't argue that we need all the help we can get right now," Cyrus cautions, "Eclipse is assuming we're coming into this council meeting significantly weakened. They're probably banking on it. Even with their upheaval, they're going to plan to challenge me. They'd have to be stupid not to. If they find we're stronger, it's going to raise more questions."

"So, what's the plan? Head out for the council meeting tonight?" Milo asks, eyeballing his brother warily.

"Orion and Rufus, I think we need you two to try one more time to run down that key that slipped away from us up the canyon. Using the council meeting as a distraction may be our opportunity to find it or find where else Eclipse is hiding up the canyon. Head back up and see if you can pick up any trails, O. Rufus, keep him covered. We have to find it. I think the sooner we find and restore the protections on this relic, the safer we'll all be."

Rufus and Orion give him solemn nods as he gives them a few more instructions that he thinks may help them with where the trail may have been heading. He turns back to me, Evander, and Milo with a deep sigh.

"Ev, you're with me at the council meeting. I'll need you there as my second, just in case something ridiculous happens. I don't think I'll lose to anyone who's currently able to challenge me, but I would rather not risk it," Cyrus continues, but the words give me pause.

Surely, he's not suggesting that Milo and I stay here and twiddle our thumbs, right?

"Milo and Kai, you two will stay here to hold things down. You're the most powerful magically, second to me Milo. Kai, you're the strongest besides me. You two will be best equipped to handle shit if it goes sideways here until we get back."

His compliment falls short. Why the hell does he want to leave me here? I would think going along with Rufus and Orion would make more sense. If they're heading into a fight with Eclipse, I should be there. Or be there to back him and Evander if something goes wrong.

A dark idea slips into the back of my mind. Whispers of my old insecurities that are so much worse after my last clan, the Kostos, brushed me aside.

"I want you two to split up the patrols, though. Peyton's house, Merl's, the school, and that old cave halfway up the canyon seem to be their focus lately. Keep on those four between the two of you and have Amelie and her team patrol around here between your runs. I want one of you on duty at all times, understood?" Cyrus's voice pulls me out of my dwelling. His amber eyes have an intensity to them, but I see nothing there but his usual steady presence.

Maybe it's all in my head.

"Yes, Sir. Understood," I answer with a nod before inspecting the toes of my boots with far more attention than they need. I hear the team split off for their various assignments, and I see the rubber toes of Milo's sneakers peek into my field of vision just before I feel a fist jab me lightly in the arm.

"Hey, at least we're not stuck tracking with O this time getting nagged for breathing too loud," Milo says as I look up to meet his eyes. In the dark, the difference in his eye colors isn't as noticeable. His medium-length hair just looks dark and highlighted. He looks like any other hipster in their mid-twenties. It's a key part of his cover working at the school. He blends in well enough to check things there during the day as a teaching assistant.

I force myself to hear the positive in Cyrus's words. Second to him in strength. That isn't a small thing to have an Alpha say. It's an open acknowledgment of my realistic ability to challenge him if I had a mind to. I don't want to. I don't think I could be the Alpha a clan really deserves, especially this one that's dealt with the things we've been through in the last six months. That dark self-doubt is still swirling in my mind, souring my mood further.

"Right, I'm going to call him Granny O at this point. Remind me to tell you my idea about putting firecrackers in the heel of his boots. Obviously not tonight, but some other time." I'm rambling, trying to deflect my mood with pranks and humor. Best coping mechanism I know.

When all else fails, fake it until you make it.

"So, how do you want to split patrols?" Milo asks, easing back to our usual level of relaxed conversation. I'm impressed that he asks my opinion. In my current mood, I expect him to just tell me what he wants me to do.

"Want to just split them up two and two and swing back here between? We could alternate by an hour each. That way, one of us is always here with the team. Seems the fastest way to keep coverage between the four. Cy and Ev will be gone at least a day, so it'll be a long haul, but if Lena keeps giving us coffee, it's doable."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Want to take Peyton's and Merl's? Then you'll have more tree cover than having to hit the town and the highway. You can run it shifted once it's dark. I can at least cover myself if needed by the school." Milo's ability to manipulate the weather is a definite advantage for him in patrols. I have to either stay in my human form or risk exposing us to humans if I'm seen.

"Sound. Let's run it by Amelie and Ryker and get to it then. I'll swing out to Peyton's so I can run our north perimeter for them on my way out and east on the way back in from Merl's. Will keep some of it off their case, too." Settling into the task at hand is the best way to get my head out of my ass.

Just focus on the mission.

I let Milo explain the plan to Amelie, Ryker, and Lena. The book club group has cleared out for the night. Amelie seems tense about being left behind while we patrol, but we have little choice. Worst case, they should only have a couple hours between our patrols. Milo agrees to sleep while I'm on this first run, and I set off.

I take off down the trail, shifting once I break the tree line. I make it out to Peyton's house and hug the trees, my eyes scanning the area around her house as I circle out toward the mine entrance. Moonlight filters through the trees and gives my shifted eyes enough light to see the path I'm running well enough that I can really open up and run.

I push myself, using the exercise to help get my mind off the self-doubt, which helps, but as much as I want it to get Julie out of my head, that familiar set of green eyes keeps flashing in my mind. I'm finally rounding the corner of the canyon that leads to Merl's property and slow my steps. I hug the trees again, using them for cover. It's easier for me to blend here in the mountains. My scales are blues, greens, and browns, and in the dark, I'm just part of the forest. Most of the time, Merl just thinks we're bears.

I stop dead in my tracks as I see bodies on the porch. I inhale deeply, and two familiar scents float to me on the breeze. Merl and my new personal ghost who haunts me. I conceptually know that Julie is Merl's niece so it's natural that she is here. I am not in any kind of mental state to see her right now—adrenaline pumping, shifted, and keyed up. Nothing good will come of this.

Fuck. Of course she is here tonight.

I shift back into my human form. My scales ripple back into skin, and my wings collapse back into my shoulder blades. The slight ripple of energy rolling off my body flutters the last stray brown aspen leaves trying to cling to the surrounding trees. I search for the crate that we keep out here at Merl's. We keep them strategically in the woods on our usual patrol paths so that none of us have to figure out where to carry clothes. I pull on some sweatpants, a hoodie, and some sneakers.

It's frigid, and these layers do little to help, but it's so much better than being naked or scaring the crap out of them as a ten-foot-tall dragon. I make my way back toward the edge of the trees carefully to avoid making noise. I can hear their voices, softly talking about their day. I should move, but I can't seem to tear myself away from a glimpse into what her nights are really like.

She reminds me so much of my ex, Kelsie. She'd seemed so sweet like this, too. Kelsie had wormed her way past all my walls, and that was the first step on my path out of the Kostos clan. Kelsie had sucked me in with that feeling of family and belonging. That she could turn her back on me still stings.

Julie hops up from the swing and rips me out of my thoughts. She helps pull Merl to his feet, gives him a quick hug, leaves him at the door, and turns for her car. My eyes are trained on each feature of her body in the soft moonlight and the glow of Merl's single yardlight. I don't know who I think I'm kidding. She's got more than enough to make any man stare.

I'll just stay and make sure she makes it to the car. That's all.