Ever Cynical

Chapter 9- She Wants to Stay

Anais POV

After breakfast, Kieran walked me out to his jeep. We took the right-hand side road that I had noted upon arrival, which swung around lazily through the woods until we reached another natural log and river rock building. Outside there was a field, and an obstacle course that looked positively evil. I could not wait to get myself out there. Just to be clear, evil was good if it meant a challenging course. One wall of the three-story building was glass, and you could see several people engaged in various forms of physical activity from treadmills to heavy bags and weights and even the very climbing wall I'd asked about. It was, in a word, perfect.

I even saw a row of dummies outside that could be used for practicing with weapons.

"If you need swimming facilities, those are back at the, err, community center." I wanted to tell him to just say pack house as he stumbled over the term, but I wasn't sure how much to tell him and how much to keep secret, as yet. I'd known him less than thirty-six hours, after all. It may have felt like a lifetime, but I'd seen enough betrayals in nine hundred years to make me cautious. We walked around the center, and he pointed out everything he thought I would need to know, even assigning me a locker to make things easier.

"Thanks for the tour." I said as we walked back to his jeep. "I'm sure you've got work to do just like me, so let's head back and I will get your office set up once the internet is in place." He nodded, seemingly content not to speak as we sat and secured our seat belts. He still seemed restless, and I could not help but ask, "Are you... alright? You seem stressed, and I know it’s none of my business or anything, but do you have the help you need?" Claire giggled in my head. I hadn't decided if she was annoying yet or not.

Hey, ma Cherie, I'm part of you, she pouted.

Yes, but that doesn't mean you are incapable of annoying me, now does it? She huffed and retreated. I guess at the very least, I could never truly be alone again. That was an oddly comforting thought. Kieran sighed, and I refocused my attention his way.

"In my position, there is just a lot I have to keep track of, and to be honest, I'm hoping that this modernization can help me stay organized without pulling my hair out." I wanted to stroke his back as he vented, but I knew this was far from appropriate. IF I thought for a minute it was acceptable, I would so have done it.

"Do any of your... people even know how to use a computer? I don't mean that in a rude way, just that it can take time to get familiar with how they work." He looked at me, and for a moment I was sure there was nobody else on the earth I could possibly want. The emerald depths felt like they were both sucking me in and scorching my soul. I cleared my throat as I broke eye contact. "I'd be willing to, you know, stick around for a while and help out with that." He studied my face as if it held the answers to the world's mysteries.

"How long are you talking about?" He asked, his voice husky and smokier than usual. I looked out the window and swallowed carefully, afraid he'd spot my vulnerability. I needed to stay here. Claire agreed. Besides the fact that my mate was here, it just... felt like I belonged.

"Would you mind if I stayed... indefinitely?" I whispered. I knew with his wolf hearing he'd caught every word. As the silence stretched out, I began to get nervous. What if I was totally wrong that he and his pack would accept me? Maybe they wouldn't? After a good five minutes, I finally looked at him, unable to take one more second of silence. He was grinning, his straight white teeth proud against his tanned skin. Seriously, as much as I hated how serious he seemed to be, the smile was just devastatingly attractive. He looked at the road as we began to drive.

"Yeah, we can do that." I could sense that he was incredibly happy, almost giddy. A weird giggle bubbled out of him, just like the one earlier when we were dealing with his mother.

"What is with that giggle, anyway?" I asked him, crossing my arms. I wanted to feel bad when he immediately became more subdued, but I just had to know.

"Um... I get these weird internal thoughts sometimes and they make me laugh." He said sheepishly. It was clearly something that had embarrassed him before. As someone with a sense of humor few understood, I got it. I laughed at weirdly inappropriate times because I found irony in things all the time.

"So, what was the one you had just now?" My tone was curious, and I really, really wanted to understand him. No, I needed to understand him.

"Listen, nobody gets my humor, so I'm not sure-" He hesitated, and I'd bet my bank account his team were very literal and probably never got his jokes. Poor baby. Once again I felt compelled to touch him, comfort him somehow. s**t, this was getting out of hand fast.

"Come on, you know my humor is out in la-la-land too. What. Were. You. Thinking, Kieran?" I pushed. He blushed and cleared his throat, once again shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"It's not... appropriate. I can't." Ohhhhhh. It was dirty. Probably about me. Fine. Claire purred.

I know what he was thinking. You need a sexy librarian outfit, that's all I'm saying, she said before retreating again. My mouth dropped open in shock, but I quickly closed it and decided to just avoid the current thought, and ask about earlier instead.

"Fine. What about when we were speaking with your mother?" He giggled again. If it wasn't so cute to me, I might have been creeped out. I'd bet it creeped out his pack. His giggle was low-pitched and husky, just so y'all know, almost like a purr. Damn sexy.

"I uh, had the thought that you shouldn't open a can of worms by asking my mom about her feelings, right?" I nodded. "And suddenly I had this vision of, you know, those fabric joke worms that come out of fake peanuts cans popping out of her mouth when she talks about that shit." What the hell? It wasn't funny, and yet a giggle bubbled out of me, too. "See, it's just weird." He sighed.

"Tell me another." I cajoled. He hesitated and I nudged him with my elbow.

"Fine, fine. So the other day I walked into my office. You know that, well we call it a couch but in reality it's a love seat." I nodded, recalling the soft leather seating I'd noticed when I assessed his space. "When I walked in, Geoff, Sean and Lugh were all sitting on it, squished in together. There's a chair in there, you know? Why did they all squish in like that? And I just couldn't help but think how funny it would be if they all tried to stand up at once and the couch, you know, stayed with them." This time, the visual made me laugh out loud. He was right, it was weird that they all squished in together. He seemed relieved that I got what was funny. "I think you're the first person to laugh. I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain myself to a blank stare."

"Yeah, I find humor in stuff other people don't too. Like I heard this story on the news right? A lady was stealing from a thrift store. And you know, things at a thrift store are usually at most twenty dollars, and usually more like five or less. Anyway, the lady got caught shoplifting so she ran away to hide," I paused and he nodded. "Guess where she decided to hide? The trash compacter." He looked at me startled. "Yeah, what you're thinking, it happened. It was automatic and she was killed." I started to giggle, and his lips quirked up as the humor of a person hiding in a place that ultimately killed them over thrift store merchandise sank in. "I mean, she could have just returned it." We were both laughing now.

"Sounds like she could have been featured on one of those shows about stupid criminals. Not to speak ill of the dead, but jeez! I feel bad for the people that had to clean up afterward." He said.

"Yeah. I mean it's still tragic, just funny that she used such poor judgment over something so insignificant." I tried to explain my humor a little, because I realized that it sounded a bit unfeeling.

"No, I get it, I really do. You don't have to defend your humor, even if it's morbid, from me." His eyes touched mine briefly, and I immediately felt reassured, strangely.

"Wow, how generous of you." I giggled.

This was nice. We were getting along. I didn't feel as worried. I almost felt... relaxed. We fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the ten-minute drive and I popped into the storage area holding all of the equipment I'd brought when we got back to the pack house. Kieran waved as he walked off to his office. Part of me wished he had time to just hang out with me while I worked, but my logical brain replied that I was being unreasonable.

I still had two weeks until I could confirm who my mate was in this pack. I sighed and focused on the task at hand.

Kieran POV

She wanted to stay! Yeah, I might have fist bumped the air in joy outside my office door, but nobody saw me.

I will deny it until the day I die.

I entered my office, and again three pairs of eyes greeted me from the love seat. Did they do it on purpose? They looked baffled for a moment, before Sean remembered and stood abruptly. I giggled. I was already in a great mood because of Anais announcing she wanted to stay indefinitely, so my resistance to the urge was low. Geoff rolled his eyes.

"What's got you in such a great mood, Kier?" He asked me. I was vibrating with excitement. "I haven't seen you this happy since we got electricity and indoor plumbing installed."

"She wants to stay." I burst out. No need to explain who she was, of course. They were momentarily stunned before Sean clapped me on the back in congratulations. Broad smiles broke across their faces. "Oh, I forgot to tell you." I raised my brows, my expression daring them to ask. Geoff rolled his eyes again, and flapped his hand in a gesture to spit it out. I grinned as I plopped into my office chair. "She has a wolf." They were stunned for a moment before Goeff pointed at me.

"That is not a funny joke, Kier. You almost got us." His smile grew sly. I sighed.

"I'm not joking, Geoff."