Chapter 150 A Return Trip and Promising Futures

Chapter 150 A Return Trip and Promising Futures
KAOL -

Morning left the village wet, cold, and quiet.
Kaol had been outside before first light, checking straps and bundles he had already checked twice. The storm had passed before dawn, but mud still spread thick where snowmelt had broken through the frozen ground. The path South looked rough enough to slow them, but not rough enough to justify staying another night.
Waiting any longer would only be an excuse.
He tested the weight of the side bag and made sure it had food, medicine, blankets, and tools. Enough for the road and enough for his mother if she changed her mind. Although he knew she wouldn't.
"Mother," he said, turning from the horse. "You should be inside."
"And miss ya fussin like an old hen over leather and buckles?" Her voice was rough from sleep, but her eyes were clear. "I'll not be robbed of such entertainment."
Kaol reached for the basket. "You're still recovering."
"And ya still be repeatin yourself."
She let him take it but held on long enough that he had to meet her eyes. "I'm not goin, Kaol."
His jaw tightened. "The roads are passable. If we travel slowly, you can ride in the cart until the main road firms."
"I said no." Her hand settled against his chest, small and warm through his coat. "Your Pa built that house. You built that greenhouse. I'll not be leavin it because the sky made noise and my boy's got fear in his bones."
"It isn't fear."
"Aye," she said softly. "It is. And it's love too, but it still don't change my answer."
Kaol wanted to argue. He wanted to drag her South where he could keep her safe. Instead, he took the basket from her hands. This fight had been lost long before Mystal arrived.
Movement near Jax pulled his attention. Mystal stood beside her horse, securing a bundle with practiced hands. Her cloak was pulled close, her curls tied back, and the pendant his father had kept rested against her chest. She looked like a guard again. She looked calm and controlled, like nothing in the yard could reach her, but he had seen her breath catch when hhe told her what his father believed yesterday on the ridge.
Gina followed his gaze, then lifted a wrapped packet from beneath her shawl and walked over to Mystal. "For the road, Mysty."
Mystal's fingers paused on the strap. Kaol waited for the correction, but it didn't come. Instead, she accepted the packet with a slight bow of her head. "Thank you."
Gina smiled. "Keep him from doin somethin foolish, if ya can."
Mystal glanced at him once. "I will do my best."
"That's likely all anyone can ask." Gina patted Mystal's forearm, then turned back toward the house. She made it three steps before pausing. "I forgot the road bread. Don't leave before I bring it."
Kaol watched his mother disappear inside, then turned back to the horses. The air changed as soon as the door closed. Nothing in the yard had moved except the wind, but the space beside Jax felt quieter now. Mystal's fingers returned to the strap with too much focus.
Kaol crossed to her before he could talk himself out of it. "The leather should be tighter."
Mystal looked down at the strap, then lifted her eyes to him. "Should it?"
Kaol reached past her for the leather, and his hand covered hers before he meant for it to. Her fingers stilled beneath his. She could have moved away. Instead, she remained where she was, close enough that he could see morning dew on her cloak.
He tightened the strap once, though it hardly needed it. "It will shift on the road otherwise."
"Of course," she said, quieter now.
Jax shifted his weight, and Mystal turned slightly to settle him. Her boot slid in the damp earth, and Kaol's hand went to her waist before thought could catch him. His fingers closed through the thickness of her cloak, and she went still. She tried to hide it, but she drew in a quick breath and held it.
His other hand had landed on her forearm, just above the old scar.
His thumb moved once along the edge of the scar before he stopped himself, and Mystal looked up at him.
He should have released her, but he didn't. The words were out of his mouth before he knew it. "The memory of you never left me," he said, his voice was low enough that the yard almost swallowed it, "and I have no idea what to do with that."
Mystal’s breath slipped from her all at once as her eyes searched his face with something careful and unguarded.
"Kaol," she said.
His name on her mouth did not sound like a warning. It sat somewhere between refusal and permission, and that was worse because it made him want to find out which way it would break. His gaze dropped to her mouth.
Her fingers tightened against his sleeve where she had reached up without him realizing it, and the pressure of her touch sent the same strange current through his arm that had haunted him and his wolf since yesterday. He leaned closer, not fast, but enough that the air between them thinned and the sound of his pulse drowned out the yard around them.
The house door opened.
"Forgot the road bread," Gina called.
Kaol and Mystal separated, but it was slow and lingering. He dropped his hands first, and she turned back to the saddle as if the strap required all her attention. The space between them felt too large and not large enough.
Gina came down the steps with another bundle in hand. If she'd noticed anything, and of course she had, she kept it behind a look that made Kaol feel ten years old. "Ya won't make it two hills without this." She pushed the bread into his hands, then looked from him to Mystal and shook her head. "Road's waitin."
Kaol nodded because words had become harder than they should have been. He secured the food, then helped Mystal mount with his hands at her waist. He let go before she fully settled because he didn't trust himself to wait any longer.
Then he turned to his mother. She touched his cheek. "Go where ya needed, boy. Just like ya Pa. And come back when ya can."
"I will," he said, forcing the promise past the tightness in his throat.
A few minutes later, he mounted his horse and turned toward the road. Mystal waited beside him on Jax, her face forward and her posture ready. Only her hand betrayed her, resting briefly near the forearm where he had touched the scar.
He said nothing. He knew the road South stretched out before them.
Kaol kept his eyes on it, because looking at Mystal again would only remind him of the line he had almost crossed. And how badly he still wanted to cross it.