Chapter 360 Chapter 360
Terah sniffled quietly, then smiled at Kisa, “I’m sorry, I’m just so happy.” She looked over at Kole, then back to her, “I thought I was the only one left.”
Nakisa launched herself into Terah’s arms and hugged her. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Auburn looked at him again, the look said to intercede before they had more than one emotional female on their hands. Konner grinned; Auburn would go to any lengths to not see a woman’s tears.
The sound of boots clicking on the floor echoed in the silence of the moment. Konner turned to see Nolyn coming into the room. Her hair was even shorter than when he’d left, as it now stood straight on end only a few inches long. She was one of the few women that wore makeup, and the black of it made her blue eyes the focal point of her face.
“Terah,” he touched her shoulder, as Nakisa released her, “this is Nolyn, she teaches all the children.” A job Konner was thankful he didn’t have to do.
Terah turned and took in the black clothes she wore and then paused on the boots on Nolyn’s feet. “I like your boots.” She smiled at her, “you must help me to know how to wear shoes.” She made a point of looking down at her bare feet. “I never had shoes until I met Rayne.” She gave her a helpless look, “and I have trouble moving in them.” She glanced over her shoulder at him, “Konner had to help me a lot when we were running through the trees to get away from the men who broke the van.”
Terah’s bare feet were forgotten as all eyes in the room zeroed in on him. Konner hadn’t planned to tell anyone of their adventure getting here. He shrugged it off, “they tried to run us off the road.”
“Where?” Auburn moved to stand in front of his family.
“When we left the campground.” He held up his hand, “priority was to get the prince and princess out of there, so we went into the bush until the teams were called in.”
“That’s why you were late?”
He turned to see Reeves standing behind Nolyn now, his grey eyes giving him a hard look, “I thought you were sightseeing or showing her the outside world.”
“He did.” Terah’s posture stiffened. “Beautiful lakes and rivers.” She elaborated in his defense. Her gaze narrowed in on Reeves, and Konner recognized the cold look in them, it was the same one she’d had on her face when she’d held Tripp’s head in her hands.
“We were perfectly safe the whole time.” Konner put his hand on Terah’s shoulder, so he’d hopefully be able to stop her if she went for Reeves. “In fact, Terah got the jump on one of the Special ops guys when he came to pick us up.”
Reeves’s annoyed look changed to a wide-eyed one.
“I did not know if he was a friend or not.” Terah looked up at Konner, “I am not going back.”
Reeves smiled at her, “that is a story I want to hear sometime,” he jammed his hands in the pocket of his jeans, “how you got the jump on him.”
Terah’s expression changed to confusion, “I did not jump at all.” she shook her head, “I was behind him.”
Reeves laughed, “that’s still pretty amazing.”
Konner watched to see the cold look was gone in her eyes. Reeves had undug the deep hole he’d started. “Terah this is Reeves.”
Terah went over to him and held her hand out to him. He could see by her face that she didn’t understand why she was doing it, had seen the confused look on her face when Tripp had done it to her, but now she was copying it.
Reeves took her hand in his and shook it.
Konner held his breath waiting to see if she did the same thing to him as she had Malachi.
Terah didn’t release his hand, and from the look on Reeves’s face, she was gripping it hard. “You do not have a female.” Terah let go of his hand and motioned to his neck, “you have no scar.”
Reeves sent Konner a quick shocked look, then looked down at her, “uh, I’m not mated.”
Konner had to put his hand over his mouth so no one would see the grin. On the phone, Reeves had been so excited about another woman in the clan, he’d thought it had been for a chance to find a mate, then why did he now look like he wanted to throw up and the thought of having one? Konner was certain Reeves would avoid swimming with Terah at all costs.
Reeves backed up a step and jammed his hands into his pockets again, “when you get a second, boss, I have the plans for the Elden clan for you to check over before I send them.”
Konner nodded, “I’ll come to look later.”
Terah turned her back to Reeves and went back over toward Kole.
With long strides, Konner went over to him, “have you checked the records for those names?”
Reeves shook his head, “every time I start it, the phone rings.” He raised his eyebrows, “we have a lot of jobs to get done before the snow is ass deep.”
Konner rubbed the back of his neck and then turned to look at Terah, he wasn’t about to leave her here and go look right now. “Tread carefully around her.” He said in a hushed voice, hoping whatever Nolyn was saying to her she wouldn’t hear him. “She was ready to snap the ops guy’s neck before I got involved.”
Reeves’s expression sunk to one of shock. “Okay, I’ll make sure everyone treads carefully around her for now.”
Konner nodded, “no one swims with her for now either.”
Malachi walked in holding Lillee’s hand. Each time Konner saw her, he was shocked by how much she was changing. He knew children grew, but she was only thirteen and was looking more like she was twenty now. Her raven black hair was now down past her waist, and she had dark green eyes and he hoped they continued to hold that innocent look. He didn’t blame Malachi for being protective of her, if she were Konner’s daughter, he’d forbid her from ever leaving the house. He also admitted that would never work with Lillee, she had her own opinion on how things were going to be. He watched her tug her hand out of her father’s and go over to Terah, an animated look on her face.
“I was so worried you were going to be old,” she glanced over her shoulder at her father, “and all about rules and stuff, but you’re so young and pretty.”
Terah smiled immediately, her gaze assessing the young woman in front of her. “Thank you.” She reached and touched Lillee’s hair, “your hair would look good braided, with flowers in it.”
Lillee’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Yes.”
Malachi came over and stood beside Konner and Reeves. Auburn stayed over behind the women, ever watchful.
“Raelyn will be here shortly.”
“Is everything all right?” Konner worried about her pregnancy more than he admitted. There had been a lot of miscarriages and complications over the years. He wondered now that he’d met Shaelan if speaking to her would yield anything useful. She seemed eager to learn and thorough in her research.
“Yeah, she just doesn’t like any of her clothes right now,” he smirked, “or her shoes, or the weather,” he grinned at Konner, “all of which is a good sign that the baby is coming soon.”
Konner nodded. It should have been a joyous time and it would be, once the child was here and well. He watched Olanna laugh at something Nolyn said. “They’re going to have to help her a lot.” He said more to himself than the men.
“And be careful.” Malachi rubbed his hand over the side of his head. “When she grabbed me earlier, my heart stopped.”
Reeves looked from him to Konner, “she grabbed you?”
“Your mate is here,” Konner jerked his chin toward the door. He’d known Raelyn since she was born and knew every expression she had. Right now, her expression said she was excited to meet a new water clan member, but also that she was exhausted and could have an emotional eruption at any moment.