Chapter 26
The two of them are popular upon arrival, as the pack scrambles for food, which they lay out in the living room for everyone to eat.
Rather than sitting, though, Kira takes the special lunch boxes that Mrs Parker prepared and heads up the stairs to find Jayden, who didn’t immediately join them.
She finds him in one of the bedrooms, leaning against an unfinished wall, and Kira knows in a second that he’s asleep.
So he does rest?
His chest rises and falls steadily, but his brow is furrowed in a frown. His hair, sweaty from all the work, separates into individual strands where it falls across his eyes.
His head can’t be comfortably pressed against the hard wall, but Kira doesn’t want to wake him by trying to squeeze something soft in the gap, so she just sighs and sits back against the opposite wall to watch him.
Jayden looks smaller folded up, one leg against the floor, but the other tucked up to his chest, a loose arm holding it in place.
He must have fallen asleep after sitting down to rest for just a second.
Kira eats quietly, saving more than half of everything for Jayden.
Whatever dream is taking place makes Jayden’s eyes flit under his lids. His lips were parted and Kira could hear the slight hitch in his breath that might come from worry.
She wants to wake him, but she wants to let him rest too.
It is only when Jayden moves, either adjusting in his sleep or reacting to an external influence in his dream, does his head turn, and he slips against the wall, catching himself with a quick hand to the boards, and he jerks awake.
“Kira?” The first word he said.
Kira stands so that he’ll see her movement right away.
“I’m right here. You fell asleep.”
Jayden sits up, quickly pushing his hair back from his face. It’s obvious that he’s embarrassed.
“God, how long was I out for?”
“Just a few minutes. It’s good for you – I don’t think you sleep enough. I kept food aside for you if you want to eat.”
Jayden’s ears are once again red. “I’ll have plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead. I’ll rest then.”
Kira swats at him with a gentle hand.
“Don’t say that! You need to take care of yourself. Between patrolling the boundary at night and working on the house all day and taking me for cute dates, I’m not sure when you’re recharging! You need to take care of yourself, or you’ll burn out. Trust me, I’ve been there. When I was finishing my undergraduate degree, all I did was work all night and work all day, and it made me so sick that, in the end, I had to get an extension for my thesis anyway, because I was laid up in bed for weeks.”
“Do you think I can’t look after myself, Kira?” Jayden says with a small smile.
“I think you can, but you don’t, because you’re so busy trying to look after everyone else.”
Jayden must not have an answer for that, so he occupies himself with the food instead.
Jayden looks happiest when he’s eating. Kira gets the impression that he’s a man of simple pleasures: good food, walks in the light rain, friends to share beers with and the gratitude of the people he helps.
That’s all Jayden needs to be happy, and it’s attractive about him.
Kira feels like the breakneck pace of her life slows around him, and she learns to look around her and take in the beauty instead of focusing only on the goal ahead.
Kira feeds him rice, brushing a drop of sauce from his lip with his thumb, and then they both laugh.
“Too corny?” She says with a grimace.
“No, I like it. It feels romantic.”
“Do you like the idea of romance? Because I could do romance.”
“I’m not sure. It’s new to me.”
Deciding that kisses aren’t too cheesy, Kira touches her lips against his and pats his neck.
“Well, we can experiment.”
Jayden is about to kiss her back when they’re interrupted by the sound of some kind of scuffle downstairs.
Raised voices carry up from the hall, but they’re muffled by the freshly plastered walls.
A whistle of winter air travels up to them, suggesting that the front door is open, and Kira frowns. She doesn’t have to consider the voices on a human level to register the agitation, because she is so in sync with her pack that she’d sense their concern.
For Jayden, that instinct must be a hundred times stronger.
Kira stands, taking a step towards the door, but Jayden is in front of her in a second, moving like a lightning bolt searching for the earth.
It isn’t to race to the scene, but to first place himself squarely in front of her.
He holds his hand back to stop her from moving forwards. The protectiveness drips off him in waves of energy that Kira can almost taste.
Jayden is protective of all the pack, but she’s never seen him like this before.
The surrounding air seemed to vibrate.
“Wait here,” he tells her. “It might not be safe.”
“Don’t be silly,” Kira rolls her eyes, and Jayden bites back at an argument. He doesn’t try to stop her from following.
Jayden takes the steps downstairs so quickly that he almost glides.
Kira struggles to keep up with him. Chris and Ezra are in the doorway to the living room, but they part immediately to let Jayden through, even if Chris adopts a second defensive position behind Kira as soon as they pass.
When Kira discovers the source of the argument, though, she stares in astonishment.
There’s no threat here.
Will is squared up to Frank, and the collision of her two worlds makes Kira feel so dizzy that she is forced to keep a hand on the back of the couch to stay upright.
Jayden plants himself in front of her, he is so broad that Kira has to move to the side to see around him properly.
“Tell me where she is right now! They sent me up to this house saying that she’d be here.” Worry was heavy in Will’s voice.
“Tell me who you are, first,” Frank says, and Kira winces. This is her pack. Their first instinct, while less wild than Jayden, is still to protect her.
And she has a sneaking suspicion that they have all been briefed by Jayden to do so, because Chris is very close, and Noel closes in on her other side.
She ducks out from behind Jayden and trips in her haste to get between Will and Frank.
“It’s okay! I’m right here, Will.”