Chapter 396 Chapter 396
Konner stepped into his house and closed the door; he didn’t even remember the walk from his office. His mind was moving faster than he could in water. More had been found, alive. He’d been so stunned he hadn’t even asked gender or approximate age. How could he tell the others with no details? None. Not even when they could be rescued.
The sound of laughter dragged his mind back to the here and now. Turning, he saw Terah’s bedroom door open, the sounds were coming from there. Going over, he looked into the room. Nakisa, Kole and Terah sat on the floor leaning over papers scattered in front of them.
“Konner,” Kole jumped up, “Terah wrote her name.” His smile was filled with so much excitement.
Terah and Kisa looked over at him. Terah held up a piece of paper and her name was there in purple crayon.
“We came to color and then helped her write her name.” Nakisa looked so pleased.
The expression on Terah’s face was pure pride.
Leaning against the doorframe, he smiled down at them. “I didn’t know you were back from the pond.”
She nodded, “I came to tell you, but Reeves said you were very busy with important phone calls.”
Nakisa got up, “we better go help with dinner, Kole.” She held out her hand.
He leaned over and hugged Terah. “You should put your name on the fridge, that’s what mom does with my work.”
Terah looked at the paper her name was on. “I will do that.”
Konner watched them race down the hall toward the community room, when he turned back Terah was putting crayons back in the box and picking up the scattered papers off the floor. “Most of the women sleep after they leave the pond.”
Getting up, she went over and set the papers on the dresser. “I am a little tired, but not too much.” She stood there, looking at him like she was memorizing his face. “You didn’t come back to see me.”
Guilt struck him. “I had a lot to do.”
“Yes. You do important work.”
“Two more of our kind have been found.” He blurted out like a kid that needed to distract someone from the topic.
Her eyes rounded, “you are going to get them?”
“Soon, it’s more complicated, so we have to come up with a plan to get them out.” He rubbed the back of his neck. He’d like to have already been on the way to get them.
“You will do it.” She nodded, “you and your team.” She smiled at him, one filled with confidence.
“We will.” He could only stand there and look at her like he hadn’t seen her in months, she was doing much the same to him. The silence grew awkward.
“I thought about what you said.” She nodded.
Pushing away from the door, he stepped into the room. “About?” He honestly couldn’t remember what he’d said that would require thought. When it came to her, he seemed to overthink everything or not be able to think with clarity at all.
“To see if I still wanted to kiss you after my cycle was gone.” She moved toward him slowly. “I still want to.” Placing her hand over her stomach, she gave him an anxious look, “When I think about it, I get this feeling inside me, it is strange but not bad.”
Konner forced air into his body, he searched for something to say, but couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Dinner in five.”
Konner jolted and spun to see Paxton standing behind him grinning.
“Oh good. I am hungry again.” Terah smiled up at Konner as she stopped in front of him. Placing her hand on his chest, she held his eyes with her own, “I want to finish talking to you after we eat.”
He watched her walk down the hall while holding his hand over where she had touched. There was so much to do in the next few weeks, and he had little time to decide what he was doing about her. Part of him wanted to take her out to the lake and dive in with her, get that out of the way. he forced his feet to move. What was he going to do when it became evident that they weren’t mates? More of theirs had been found, one of them could be her mate. It was going to be a very distracting two weeks.
He ate without tasting a single bite of the food the women had prepared. He couldn’t have made himself not look at Terah if it had been life and death. Everything she did intrigued him, beguiled him. The way she smiled at everyone, the way she ate, gracefully, if not a little awkward with the fork, the way she spoke...
“Konner, is that true?”
Someone kicked his leg under the table. He turned to see Auburn giving him a pointed look. He blinked, having no idea what had been said.
“Terah said there have been two more of ours found.”
Konner glanced to Terah; he’d forgotten to tell her not to tell anyone just yet. “Yes. I don’t have details yet, only that they’re in decent health and treated fairly.”
“Where are they? How soon can you get them out?” Reeves leaned on the table and looked down it at him.
“I don’t have specifics right now, one of the Alliance teams is monitoring the location.” He glanced to Malachi, “it’s hard to get into.”
“But you’ll get them out.” Raelyn stared at him.
Konner nodded, “we will.” He looked over at Calum. The big man returned his look and then slowly turned his head to look at Terah, silently telling him to get it together and deal with her. He turned his head and saw that his aunt was smirking at him from the head of the table.
“We’ll have to prepare more of the homes.” Olanna turned to Nolyn, “just in case they’d prefer privacy.”
Nolyn nodded, “I was thinking,” she waved her fork around, “that we should set up some kind of intercom system or something for the new ones,” she glanced at Terah and then down the table at him, “so they can reach out when they are in their houses.”
Reeves jerked his head from her to Konner, then back again, “or just give them a phone.”
She scrunched up her nose and then turned back to Konner, “then they’d have to call around to reach whoever isn’t busy, an intercom could be a general thing, so whoever is closest can answer.”
“Walkie-talkies.” Paxton blurted out, “like you make us carry when we go for hikes.” He shrugged, “signal is always good.” he turned to Lucus briefly, “or you could just give us phones.”
Konner held up his hand to slow the conversation, “we’ll assess what’s required once we know more.” He lifted his glass and then paused before taking a drink, “I don’t have gender, age, or any details right now.”
“When will you have them?”
“I’ll text Devin and see if he knows.” Calum offered.
Konner sent him a grateful look when the others nodded.
Calum turned to Shaelan, who smirked. “Go ahead.” She said in a soft tone.
He winked at Lillee, “it’s rude to use a phone during dinner.” Pulling it out, his fingers moved quickly to send the message.
All eyes around the table were on him, Konner couldn’t look away either. When Calum’s phone buzzed the room was silenced.
“He’s going to contact Uri and let me know.” Calum set the phone, face down beside his plate.
Konner looked down at his plate to see it was almost empty. He didn’t recall half of what he’d eaten. The conversation and motion around the table started again when everyone realized Devin wasn’t going to answer immediately. Looking up, his gaze connected with Terah’s, how long had she been watching him? She searched his face like she was going to be able to see what he was thinking about and then her expression changed to one of understanding. She gave him a brief smile before turning to see what Nakisa was saying to her.
Leaning back, he looked down the table, then to empty tables set up on the other side of the room. Some day, he’d see those chairs filled.