Free Web NovelChapter 31: THE FOLLOWING
KEISHA’S POV
Something felt off.
I slowed my pace slightly, pretending to adjust my bag strap and listened carefully.
Footsteps. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
They were still there, somewhere behind me and showed no signs of leaving.
My heart picked up immediately and I hated that it did. I hated that Orin had done that to me, made me someone who flinched at footsteps on a path I had walked a hundred times. I kept my face forward and my breathing even and took the left turn at the council building like always.
The footsteps followed.
Shit.
I kept walking, my fingers tight around my bag strap, and when the narrow gap between the storage buildings came up on my right, I turned into it sharply, pressed myself against the wall and waited.
The footsteps slowed down and I held my breath.
The figure came around the corner and I stepped out directly in front of them, bag raised, ready to— freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"You’d make a good cop."
I froze, bag raised and stared with my lips parted and heart pounding.
Callum looked at my raised bag with something like amusement pulling at the corner of his mouth.
You have to be kidding me. Was he out of his fucking mind? Did he seriously just stalk me half the way home, almost scare me to death and then have the guts to tell me I’d make a good cop?
I lowered my bag slowly. "Are you joking?" My voice came out completely flat.
"Your instincts are good." He said. "You felt me within thirty seconds."
"You were following me in the dark without saying a word." I pointed at him. "Don’t ever do that again."
"Noted." He nodded but didn’t look sorry at all.
I turned and kept walking while he fell into step beside me and I waited for my heart rate to return to the normal speed.
"How was your day?" He asked.
I looked at him sideways. "You just scared me half to death."
"Before that." He shrugged, hands clasped behind his back
I exhaled. "Busy. The office is drowning in correspondence logs for these visitors." I glanced at him. "Who are they?"
He was quiet for a beat too long which confirmed my worst fears.
"Inter-pack delegation like I said." He said. "Business matters."
"Right." I said.
He didn’t say anything for a second. "I’m really sorry about what I said the other night. This— it’s new to me and if I knew you wouldn’t be comfortable with that question, I wouldn’t have asked, I swear."
My fingers found the strap of my bag and I hoisted it higher on my shoulder. "Never mind. It was just unexpected."
He hummed under his breath. "I totally understand. You didn’t choose this and I understand how tasking it could be for you. We’re still looking into it."
A huff escaped me. "Are you?"
He turned to me. "Just because we’re giving in to the bond doesn’t mean we don’t understand the repercussions of what we’re doing. It’s hard to stay away, trust me. We just—" He paused and looked away, his jaw tight.
Right.
For the rest of the walk, we were silent and I kept thinking about the delegation coming to Ashveil.
Finally, we stopped at my door and I looked up at him, clearing my throat.
"Good night." I said.
"Good night." He nodded.
I went inside and he didn’t move from the path for a few minutes, I stared at him through my window, wondering if he would knock and come inside.
But he didn’t.
He left a bit later and I forced myself to clean up for the night.
****************
My phone buzzed at half past ten just as I was falling asleep.
I grabbed it without opening my eyes.
Lyra. My sister.
Shit.
I sat up immediately.
She never called this late. She barely called at all lately. What did she want this time? I immediately picked up the call, sleep leaving my eyes.
"Hey." Her voice sounded slightly tired and I immediately felt this tension leave my body at the familiar sound of her voice.
"Hey." I whispered. "It’s late."
"I know. I’m sorry." She paused. "I’ve been meaning to call for weeks and I kept not doing it and then it became this thing where the longer I left it the harder it felt to just pick up the phone and—" She stopped. "Anyway. I’m calling now."
"Indeed." I huffed a laugh.
"Are you okay? Nadia said something happened with a guy—"
"I’m fine." I cut her off. "It’s handled."
"Keisha."
"Lyra. I promise. It’s done." I pulled my knees up. "Tell me about you. Where have you been?"
She exhaled. "Work mostly. I had a conference up north for two weeks and when I came back everyone was talking about—" She paused. "I just got back to Coldridge."
"Okay." I said carefully, my chest tightening.
"Riven has another mate?" She said quietly. "I didn’t know. I mean I knew you two were together but I didn’t know it had— I came back and people were just talking about it like old news and I felt terrible that you’d been dealing with that while I was—"
"Lyra." I muttered. "I’m okay."
"Are you sure?"
"I’m sure." And the strange thing was— I mostly was. "I’m here, I have Nadia, I have work, I’m building something. I’m actually okay."
She was quiet for a moment. "Okay." She said. "I believe you." She paused again. "Tell me about the pack. Tell me everything."
For a long hour, we spoke about everything and I told her about my new pack. But I didn’t tell her about Dane nor Callum. Because how did I tell her I was sleeping with Nadia’s father and her ex.
That didn’t get any better.
I lay back in the dark after she hung up and thought about her back in Coldridge. Back in the same pack as Riven and his mate.
The interpack delegation would arrive soon and I would have to receive them again.
I would have to receive the man who broke my heart months ago.
