Chapter 36
Oaklyn looked around the restaurant there were so many people dressed in fancy clothes there was no way she could be like them. How someone could behave that way was beyond her. Zain looked uncomfortable, very handsome but uncomfortable. She smiled at him. “You need to relax, Hun. We’re supposed to be having fun. This is something we’re supposed to be used to doing.”
“I know. I’m trying.” He turned the glass by the stem in a circle.
“What’s eatin’ at you?” She kept her pleasant smile pasted on her face.
His mouth quirked for a second. “You mean besides the obvious?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, all of that aside.”
He started to fidget with his napkin and cutlery. “Just conversations playing on a loop in my head.”
“Oh. Are they good ones or the type you wished you could scrub from your brain?” She smiled at the server as they walked toward them.
Zain managed to nod and offer a brief thank you to them after the meal was set on the table. What could be bothering him this much? Despite how many times she told herself not to get too involved with him, she still did. She was invested in the success of what they were doing. Part of that was him getting his answers. After what he’d been through, he deserved it, and she wanted that for him. Her animal stirred and she wanted it to be from the smell of the food in front of her, but knew it was because of concern for their mate. She’d spent the last week pretending he wasn’t. Faking her way through the truth of it. She knew where he lived was in a city. Once Zain had his answers and the king was back, he’d go back there. Oaklyn wasn’t really big on cities. Sure, they were fun to visit from time to time as she was passing through, but every day didn’t seem like something for her. It was one more thing on her list to remind herself why it was a bad idea. No cities. She watched him take a small bite. “Feel like sharing some of these conversations?” She picked up the butter and then paused. “It might help.”
He looked at her for a moment and then back at his plate. He was shoving the food around. It looked like he was organizing it on the plate. “I don’t think you’ll like them.”
“The conversations?” She quirked a brow at him. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Setting his fork down, he picked up his glass of water and took a sip. “They’re about us.” He set the glass down. “About mates.” He whispered the last word and then looked around.
Oaklyn leaned back. “I see.” He’d been talking to others about them being mates? She recalled a few odd looks when they’d been at the factory. That might explain them, or it was because of who she was. “A drifter with no clan not good enough for you?”
He startled. “No. Nothing like that.”
“Oh.” She stabbed something on the plate without looking to see what it was. “Well then, it can’t be bad, right?” Why did it matter to him so much?
He picked up his fork again but just held it and leaned his forearms on the table. His dark eyes connected with hers, and the expression in them was so intense it made her heart stutter. “I told Webb that our lives weren’t without complication, and with my history, anyone close to me is in danger.”
She nodded. She understood his point.
“He said we all are in danger. Everyone from our world is—or something close to that. He thinks waiting for the right time is a mistake.”
“Does he have a mate?” Setting down her fork, she clasped her hands in her lap and watched him, trying to figure out his opinion of his friend’s words.
“No, but he can’t wait to find one.” His lips twitched like he wanted to smile. “He says just as long as they’re into each other, nothing else matters.”
She cleared her throat and nodded slowly. “It sounds like his life is without complication.” She had been living through various forms of hell since she left, just so she had a say in her own life. Others wouldn’t understand that. “You say conversations. Plural. Who else did you talk to?”
Zain glanced across the room. She turned and looked to see Bear sitting at the bar, looking around the room. Had Bear been looking at her differently? She couldn’t be sure. Turning back, she picked up her fork. “And what are his thoughts?”
“Mostly the same as Webb. That there is no perfect timing, and he also can’t wait for the day he finds his.”
She picked up her cutlery and focused on the food in front of her. “I wish them all the luck in the world. I hope they find the happiness they seek.” She lifted just her eyes to look at him. “And that it is everything they hoped for.”
“Me too.”
“Was that all he said?” She stabbed a piece of the meat and then looked at him.
“He reminded me of a few recent mating details.” He did smile this time. “He made a very good point.”
“Do share.” She put the food in her mouth so she wouldn’t blurt anything out. Others didn’t understand.
He picked up his drink. “Well, Blaise, for one. Her mate is the half-brother of the man we’re after.” He looked around like he didn’t dare say Aiden Tomas out loud.
She finished chewing and then picked up her water. “I see his point with that one.” Imagine finding your mate was related to the man who had ruined so many lives in your world.
“Devin and Rayne’s too.” He shook his head. “For—” He looked around. “Someone of his standing to be the other half of a woman that was the girlfriend of that same man we’re after.”
Oaklyn set the glass down without taking a drink. “Excuse me?” She couldn’t have hidden her surprise if she’d tried. She leaned closer to the table. “How in the world did that happen? She’s a...”
Zain grinned. “I don’t know the details, but someday I hope someone tells me.”
“My goodness.” She sat back and blew out a breath. “That one tops the other as far as I’m concerned. I mean—” She waved a hand around. “How did that come to be?”
“The gossip chain says she didn’t know what she was.”
That shocked her more than the other detail. “How?”
“Apparently, it’s more common than you’d think. Rayne.” He snorted. “Shaelan’s entire clan, the adults hid it from the kids until right before their first—” He glanced around. “—time.”
Oaklyn sat there looking at him. He was serious. “Well, I honestly thought there was no clan out there more screwed up than mine—” She smiled slowly. “I was wrong.”
Zain nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know. It made me feel like my reasons for not wanting—” His brows creased. “A soul mate right now seem silly.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it and debated how she felt. “Once I digest all of that, I may have something to say about it.” She leaned closer to the table. “But as the other half of that scenario, I can only say thank you for not forcing the issue.”
He gave her an odd look, and she couldn’t figure out why. “That’s against Alliance laws, Oaklyn.”
“What is?”
“Forcing the issue.” He looked around and then shrugged. “The choice is the woman’s, and the man can do nothing about it if she doesn’t want it.”
She was glad she wasn’t in the middle of swallowing anything because she may have choked on it. “Are you serious?” She tilted his head and studied every nuance of his expression. “You’re serious.” Sitting back, she exhaled a short breath. “I’m just—” She held up her hand. “I need a moment to digest that one.” She looked down at the napkin lying across her lap. Did her clan know this? Was that why they had nothing to do with the Alliance?
“Oaklyn? Are you okay?”
She lifted just her eyes and met his concerned gaze. “I’m having a moment.” She flashed him a brief fake smile. “I’m trying not to do something very unlady-like.”
One brow rose. “I’m not sure…”
She clicked her teeth together and then leaned forward and whispered. “I’m so mad right now I could spit.” She nodded. “My clan knows nothing of this, and it’s all kinds of wrong.” Her animal was closer, and she knew she had to calm herself down, or else things were going to get messy. “I will tell you one thing. When this—the reason we’re here is resolved, and Mister Addison is back in his office, I’m going to go settle a few things with my clan.” Straightening, she inhaled a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
Zain sat across from her, watching her, and she couldn’t find the focus to puzzle out what the changing looks meant. “I’ll go with you.” He gave an abrupt nod of his head. “Maybe we’ll get Amari and Deva to come with us.”
She was speechless. He would do that for her. He would ask his friends to do that for her.
“Excuse me, Mister Jeggins.” Bear stood beside the table. He gave Oaklyn a quick nod before turning back to Zain. “We’re going to be late for your other engagement.”
Zain set his napkin on the table and looked up at him. “We are?”
Bear nodded and then turned his head slowly and looked across the room.
Oaklyn smiled and looked in the same direction. “Oh, my stars. He’s right, Hun.” She’d studied about fifty pictures of the man and would have recognized him from any angle possible. It was him. Aiden Tomas was being seated on the other side of the dining room. With him were two large men and a cute little woman. Someone needed to tell her that gold was not her color, she thought for a quick second.
Zain stood up and walked around the table to her stand beside her. “I thought we had more time.” He held out his hand to her.
She looked up at him and could tell by the look he was giving her that he had seen him too. “Yes. We don’t want to rush things and ruin chances for later events.” She placed her hand in his.
“I’ll settle the bill for you, sir.” Bear nodded.
He stood with his back to Aiden Tomas and didn’t move until they did. The last thing they needed was to be seen before it was time to be.
“I’ll meet you at the coat check.” He held a ticket out to Zain.
Zain took it without a word, placed his hand on the small of her back, and walked them out of the dining area.
Neither of them looked anywhere but in front of them until they reached the cheery-looking woman who had taken their coats.
“That was…”
She nodded. “Yes, it was. I was torn between stabbing him with my steak knife or running out the door.”
“Let’s get back and get changed. Eaton should be calling soon.”
Oaklyn put her arms into her coat when he held it out. She looked back toward the room Mister Aiden Tomas was in. He didn’t look like an evil man. He’d seemed almost normal, but then again, she knew that evil was better at hiding than any creature on Earth. His terror reign was coming to an end very soon. That was the only thought that was allowing her to walk away. Her animal wasn’t in agreement, but she was going to have to trust that Oaklyn knew best at this moment.