Gathering Clouds
2183 Words
Kai walked to the edge of the terrace. The wind coming in from the cliffs carrying the scent of salt and rain. From up here, he could see Adalyn and Tsuna crossing the garden paths below. The fading sunlight slipping through restless clouds.
Then his phone buzzed in his pocket. Arrow.
He answered before the second ring. “Talk to me.”
Arrow didn’t waste time. “Alright. I’ve got something, but don’t get your hopes up.”
The wind howled softly through Kai’s earpiece as he waited.
“The guy you left me with broke. He said they were hired through a third party. No names. No faces. Just a job. They were given her photo and told to hold her until somebody came to pick her up."
Kai stilled.
“They had a photo of her?”
“Yeah,” Arrow confirmed.
A sharp breath hissed between Kai’s teeth. “Fuck.” He ran a hand down his face, pacing a few slow steps along the terrace. “That means they’ve been watching her. For days. Maybe weeks.”
“Looks that way.” Arrow’s voice had lost its usual edge of humour. “And if they’ve got a photo, they’ve probably had eyes on you too.”
Kai’s jaw tightened. How? He’d felt nothing. No scent, no trace of another presence when he’d shadowed Adalyn through the city. He prided himself on noticing everything. But maybe that was the problem. Maybe he’d been so swept up in her to notice that he’d let his guard slip.
He would’ve known if someone had been tailing him. He should’ve known.
His hand closed around the terrace railing. The marble groaned under his grip as he let some of his dominant energy leak out. He didn’t notice until a small crack split down its edge.
He had told himself that keeping his distance from her was safer. But each time he caught the scent of her on the wind or a glimpse of her in the distance, it was never enough. He found himself trailing her on numerous occasions, giving in to the wolf side of him that craved getting closer to her. He told himself he was watching over her, guarding her. Truth was, he’d been haunting her life like a ghost and all it had done was lead them right to her.
This was on him.
Kai’s voice was low and steady. “Who was supposed to collect her?"
“He didn’t know. Claimed someone else was coming to settle the rest of the money.” Arrow hesitated, his tone dropping. “Whoever’s pulling strings isn’t some street level operator, Kai. These guys were small time muscle. Disposable.”
Kai stopped walking. The gravel crunched under his boots as he looked out toward the cliffs. “So, another dead end.”
“Not entirely.” Arrow’s tone shifted, a trace of energy returning. “There were some old cameras around that building. Might be able to recover some footage if they still record. If this was a setup to see whether you’d come for her, whoever planned it would’ve been nearby. Most likely watching and waiting”
“Pull whatever you can,” Kai said quietly.
“Already on it.” A heavy silence followed afterward. “You alright?”
Kai breathed out slowly. “Define alright.”
Arrow made a low sound. “You sound like someone carrying more than one problem.”
“The stakes just got a lot bigger.” Kai started walking again; the gravel whispered under his boots. “This isn’t just about me anymore. Whoever’s behind this knows what she means to me. That puts a target on her back.”
“I hear you” Arrow said. "We’ll figure this out"
There was another long pause before Arrow spoke again. “Is she holding up okay?”
Kai’s eyes flicked down to the garden where Adalyn stood with Tsuna. The last shards of daylight broke through the clouds, casting her face in soft gold.
“She’s managing,” he said. “She's tough.”
"Oh, I know,” Arrow replied, tone lifting just slightly. “I saw how she put you on your ass.”
Kai couldn’t help the faint smile that tugged at his mouth. His fierce, defiant mate.
“Have you decided what you’re going to do yet?” Arrow asked, alluding to Kai claiming her.
“She only just found out,” Kai responded. “She doesn’t trust me yet. I won’t force it. Not with her.”
There was was silence on the line before he heard Arrow’s dry chuckle. “You’re an i***t for waiting. But I get it.”
Kai let the corner of his mouth lift. “Thanks.”
“And Kai?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t hide from it forever. Your wolf will eat you alive if you keep denying him.”
Kai closed his eyes for a long second, the sea and rain and the whole horizon pressing in. When he opened them he sounded steadier. “I know.”
With that, Kai ended the call.
He stood there a moment longer, gaze locked on the garden below. Adalyn tilted her head slightly, as if sensing the weight of his stare, or maybe the echo of his thoughts brushing against hers. The bond between them, still raw and unclaimed, pulsed faintly in the air like static before a storm.
Her eyes flicked up toward the terrace, confusion crossing her face. But by the time she looked, he was already gone. Turning back toward the house just as the first low rumble of thunder rolled over the cliffs.
-----
Later that evening the house had gone quiet.
Adalyn had played her part well the remainder of the evening. She had dinner declined. Thrown in a few heavy yawns and fluttered her eyes with feigned exhaustion. She’d told Kai she was turning in early. And he seemed to believe her.
Now, alone in the bedroom, she shed the calm act like a skin. Every nerve in her body hummed with anticipation of her next move.
In theory, she hadn’t lied when she told Kai that she needed rest. She just hadn’t said from what. And in truth it was from him and from the suffocating calm of this place.
Kai said she wasn’t a prisoner here, but it didn’t feel that way. Every polished corridor and locked gaze made her chest tighten, like the air itself belonged to him. And maybe it did. Every time he looked at her, she felt that pull. The bond sliding beneath her skin, threading through her pulse. It was all still so new, so consuming. Too consuming.
She needed space to think, to breathe, to figure out who she was beneath the weight of fate.
So she was leaving. She wasn't saying no to this forever, but at least for now. Just long enough for her to remember what freedom felt like.
Her plan was simple. Stupid probably, but it was all she had. Slip out across the rooftop, shimmy down the piping onto the green, cut through the forest to the guest houses by the coast. From there, climb the outer wall and descend the cliffs to the shoreline. Freedom, if she didn’t break her neck first.
“Perfect,” she whispered to herself.
Step one. Get out of this room unnoticed.
Behind the bed, white shutters framed the window. She tried forcing one off the frame, but it wouldn’t budge without enough noise to wake the entire estate. Her palms stung from the effort.
“Think,” she muttered. She scanned the room quickly for an alternative.
Her eyes landed on the letter opener she’d found earlier on the desk. Thin and sharp enough to pry.
This could work.
She wedged it into the hinge, twisting until the first screw came loose with a faint squeak. The next two followed easily. The fourth, rusted from the salty sea air refused to move.
“Come on!” she hissed as she used her whole body as leverage. The screw itself suddenly cracked and Adalyn had to catch the edge of the whole shutter to stop it from crashing down on to the floor.
Suddenly there was a knock.
She froze. The letter opener slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor, echoing far too loud in the quiet.
Shit! s**t! s**t!
“Hey Adalyn” Kai’s voice, calm through the door. “It's me. Can I come in for a sec?”
Her heart lurched as she went in to semi-panic mode. “One second!”
Moving quickly she shoved the shutter panel back against the frame, angling it just enough to allow itself to prop itself up in place. Then she dove for the bed, wrapping herself in the sheet. Her pulse was hammering.
“Come in!”
Kai stepped inside. His gaze swept the room. Adalyn caught the letter opener still half-visible on the floor. She swung her legs out from under the cover and slid her foot over it, slow and casual.
“Everything okay?” he asked. His tone was light, but there was an edge to it. He could smell the adrenaline rolling off her.
“Yeah. All fine. Was just a bit tired,” Adalyn said with a bit of hesitancy in her voice.
Kai’s brow twitched, he could tell something was off but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.
“I noticed you didn’t eat much earlier,” he said, his eyes still on her. “Want me to have something brought up?”
“No," she replied quickly.
Kai couldn't help but feel disappointed. After their talk this morning he thought that had made some leeway in getting to understand each other, but right now, it felt like they were back at square one, with her guard being right back up.
As his gaze drifted back towards the window, Adalyn seized her moment and flicked the letter opener back under the bed with her heel.
“If that's all, I’m pretty tired,” she said, quieter now. “If you don’t mind…”
Kai reluctantly caught the hint and nodded once. “Alright. Well iffyou change your mind, Tsuna’s down the hall.”
He lingered for half a second longer than he should have, like he wanted to say something else. But he held his tongue and then left.
Adalyn released the breath she didn't realise she was holding as she heard the sound of his footsteps faded down the corridor.
She moved immediately. She lifted the shutter again, this time faster. Her adrenaline sharpening her strength. The breeze rushed through the open window, cool and wild. Outside, the wind had picked up as the dark clouds moved in to smother the moonlight.
“It’s now or never,” she whispered.
And with one last glance toward the door, she climbed through the window and disappeared into the night.
----
Fifteen minutes later, Adalyn crouched on the slate roof of one of the guest houses that perched along the cliff’s edge. Her palms burned from the climb, her heart still racing from every near slip and scramble. Below her, the coastline stretched out in shades of silver and shadow. The sea breathed against the rocks, each crash of water calling her name.
Her path back to freedom. To home, was right there. Just one careful descent down the cliff face and she’d be gone. Far from the bond that pulled at her chest like a hook.
The drop looked steeper than she’d hoped, but she could manage it. She had to. It would be easier if she could shift but Tara was still silent. That fractured link inside her remained dormant,
She glanced toward the horizon. The sky had turned menacing with low, swollen clouds. A cold droplet hit her cheek, then another, as the rain began to fall.
She didn’t have much time. Adalyn swung her legs over the edge, the wind whipping her hair into her face. Her fingers found a ledge in the stone.
She took a breath, steadying herself. “You can do this,” she whispered.
Then... A dull thud echoed behind her.
The fine hairs on her arms lifted as every instinct screamed run, but her body refused to obey.
Slowly, she turned her head to see a figure emerge from the shadows at the far end of the roof. The rain caught his outline first. The shift of muscle beneath a half-unbuttoned shirt, the gleam of claws tracing the edge of his bare feet. Water streamed down his chest, glinting like silver veins.
Then she saw his eyes. Blue shot through with gold.
The air thickened. Her pulse stuttered in her throat, and she could feel it. The faint tug of the bond, raw and electric, reaching for him even now. He didn’t have to say a word. The air between them spoke for him.
He didn’t need to speak. The storm spoke for him as the thunder erupted.
He’d found her.
- Writer
