22. Twenty-two

twenty-two

I was not happy to put off the search for Kendal's pursuers, but I had to admit, it made sense. As the day waned into night, I could relax. Seeing her tapping away on one of the stolen laptops, smiling and joking with my brothers, gave me a sense of peace I'd never experienced before.

It felt late when she slammed the lid of the laptop. The others startled and she waved a hand. "Sorry, I'm just getting frustrated. My searches are going nowhere." She rubbed at her eyes. "I think I need to call it a night. We can start fresh in the morning."

"Yes, you should rest." I moved to her. I couldn't touch her enough. I needed to have physical contact with her as much as possible. I didn't understand this compulsion, but it was no hardship to indulge it.

As we walked to my nest, she sighed and leaned into my side. "I think we need to check my apartment, and if there's no note from Superhuman Security, we should reach out again."

I nodded. "Okay." I wasn't sure we could trust the shifters, but time was the only solution to my fears. The more interactions we had with them, the better I could judge them.

My focus had shifted since our escape. I had been determined to find and destroy those in charge of BioSynth, aligned with my brothers in that task. Now, that seemed a secondary priority. Still important, logically, but my heart concentrated on Kendal. Making sure she was safe was paramount.

Our post-lab education was swift but there was one thing we'd learned that seemed to underpin everything. You needed currency to acquire goods and services. Jobs provided that currency to normals, but that was beyond our capabilities. The shifters mentioned others who were unable to integrate with normals being taken care of by Society.

I wondered if that extended to such creature's mates.

If Kendal didn't have to work, then I could always be by her side. Nothing could harm her as long as I was there.

She was right. We needed more information from the shifters. If they hadn't reached out, we needed to seek them out again.

My curiosity had grown about supernatural Society as well. Surely they had some sort of information repository—some way of sharing knowledge through generations.

Lost in my thoughts, I'd missed Kendal getting ready for bed. I must have made a noise of disappointment, because she giggled and patted the nest next to her.

"Come lie down with me until I fall asleep. I know you won't stay, y'all seem to need very little sleep and you'll want to go back and help. But I'd like you to hold me for a bit."

"I would stay if you ask me."

She gave me a sleepy smile. "I won't. You should help."

I curled myself around her, tucking her against my chest. It was like a great cog shifting into place. Her scent in my nose, her skin touching mine. It was a panacea for my soul. The world was right with her in my arms.

It frightened me.

The power she had over me was absolute. The very idea of losing her caused great pain. I wasn't sure I'd survive it.

I was determined not to let that happen.

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the smell of her warm skin. Her breathing was even and steady, so I carefully covered her with a blanket and slid from my room.

I found my brothers arguing again. Kragen held up a hand as I entered.

"Let's get Drym's opinion."

The others nodded. None of them looked happy.

"We need more information," Kragen began. "We are out of our depth navigating the outside world. We thought it would be simple enough to track the remaining BioSynth employees, but they kept us in the dark on technology and navigating the wider world."

He sighed. "Kendal's help is invaluable, but her knowledge doesn't extend as far as we need."

I nodded. "We discussed this before she fell asleep. She wants to check her apartment. If the shifters have reached out, we can ask for further assistance. If they haven't, we need to contact them."

"That's the central issue." Kragen pointed at Cavi, Roul and Thurl. "They don't trust them, and think we should continue on our own."

"I'm not sure I trust them either, but the only way to resolve our fears is to interact with them more. If at any point we deem them a threat, or untrustworthy, then we can sever our relationship. I see no harm in giving them a chance, granted we keep as much as possible to ourselves." I scratched at my bicep. "It will be a tricky thing, revealing enough for them to help without giving them the means to entrap us, but I think we can do it."

We stood, each silently assessing our options for several minutes. Roul suddenly threw his hands in the air. "Fine! We move forward with the shifters. But at the first sign of trouble, we burn them all."

There were a few noises of agreement, but we weren't ready to condemn them without cause. That was good. It meant that even the more suspicious among us saw the value in getting the help we needed.

The only question that remained was whether they would share the level of information we sought.

We'd learn that answer soon enough.