34 – Reunited

Eventine bent over Leilani on the couch, trying to catch the words she was whispering. “…you ever touch me again, I’ll hurt you.”

Eventine was surprised at not only the words, but the tone Leilani said them with. She meant it, whoever she was saying it to. Eventine held her friend’s hand, wishing things could be different for her, hoping it was only a dream, and not… something else.

Eventine’s mind doubled over on itself without warning, making her cry out and hold her hands to her head. A new memory appeared in her head, overlapping an old one she already had.

In the old memory, the orderly Joel abused Leilani in the Roosevelt, touching her inappropriately, and then giving her shock treatment when Eventine had forced her to fight back. Then Jaggar killed him and was suspended.

In the new memory, Joel had been fired from that job two years before, for abusing Leilani, for leaving a mark on her face- proof… so he hadn’t been there when Jaggar had arrived, and Jaggar had never killed him.

Which meant… Jaggar was not suspended?

Eventine squeezed her hands to her temples, as the memories fought with each other.

“What’s up?” Harlan said, rubbing her neck from behind.

“I don’t know,” she said, then she opened her eyes, the two memories still warring inside her mind. Her eyes fell upon Leilani’s face, and she saw the scar appear. It looked like a small crescent moon curving just above Leilani’s eyebrow. The sight of the scar clinched Eventine’s memories, declaring a definite winner.

That orderly had been fired long ago. Jaggar hadn’t killed anyone.

She grabbed Harlan’s hand, knowing it, still needing confirmation. “Is Jaggar suspended?” she asked, holding her breath.

“What? Why?” The panic in Harlan’s voice was genuine. “For leaving? For what he did to me? Who said so? I’ll fix it for him. Tell me.” He knelt next to Eventine and stared into her eyes, pleading with her with his eyes.

She smiled at him and patted his face. “No, none of those. No one’s said anything. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

On the couch, Leilani frowned and made a small noise. Her arms jerked.

Troy’s voice came to Eventine in ruhi. We found Jaggar. He’s human and unconscious and won’t wake up. He’s at the bottom of a gorge and we’re hauling him out now. No injuries.

Eventine breathed a little easier, but only a little. “They found him,” she told Harlan. “Alive but unconscious. He must still be in the meadow.”

Harlan sighed and closed his eyes, obvious relief playing over his face. Leilani stirred and Eventine put her hand on the female’s arm. Leilani took a deep breath, then smiled with her eyes still closed. Her arms moved to her face. She rubbed her eyes, looking for all the world like she was about to wake up.

Please. Evie chanted the thought, holding her breath, daring to hope that when Leilani opened her eyes they would be normal. Brown and normal with no silver in sight.

Leilani sat straight up on the couch, swinging her legs to the side, opening her eyes into the dark room.

Silver. Sightless. Damnit.

Leilani gasped like she had been drowning, or dying, and she sucked in a huge breath. Then she said one word.

“Jaggar.”

“He’s ok,” Eventine told her, hoping it was true.

Then his voice filled her head, but he wasn’t talking to her. He was talking to his mate.

Leilani, where are you?

Leilani pushed herself to standing, holding her hands out in front of her, a huge smile on her face. She shuffled toward the wall. “Jaggar,” she said. “I don’t know. I’m somewhere. Find me, find me quick…” Her voice trailed off and her fingers clenched into fists, her smile faltering. “I need you.”

“You’re with me and Harlan,” Eventine said. She’s in cabin 6, she told Jaggar.

I’m coming up the path right now. I’m almost there.

“Where’s the door?” Leilani cried. She couldn’t wait for him to get to her. Eventine grabbed her hand and steered her, knowing there was no sense trying to calm her. She wanted her mate. Good. The happiness that spiked through Eventine at these two seeking each other out so frantically was fierce. Jaggar deserved it. Leilani deserved it. They deserved whatever happiness they could find together.

She opened the door and helped Leilani through it and down the steps, across the yard, heading for the forest. Night had finally broken and the first rays of the sun were lighting the forest.

She heard Jaggar before she saw him, heard the males running on the path behind him, heard his heavy footfalls and his voice calling his mate’s name.

Then he was there. Tall. Imposing. Big. Dressed in uniform, his intense gaze zeroed in on his mate. She held out her arms and he caught her around the middle, picking her up, crushing her to him, twirling her until her legs and her hair flew out with the momentum of it. She laughed and let her head fall back, the silver light from her eyes shining straight up. He only stared at her, his face never losing that hard cast.

He pulled her in close to him, and then his expression finally softened. “Thank Rhen,” Jaggar whispered into his mate’s neck. Eventine had to stop and think, but she was certain she’d never heard him utter an oath to Rhen before. He’d never liked the deae, she knew, even though he’d never uttered it out loud.

Jaggar put Leilani down and bent to her, as Troy and Mac and Rogue skidded to stops behind him. Jaggar gathered his mate close and kissed her like he was going off to war.

Or like he was back from it.

“Whoa,” Mac said. “These two need a room. Didn’t they just meet a few hours ago?”

Leilani stopped kissing Jaggar and pointed her face toward Mac’s voice, the silver light from her eyes steady and uncompromising. “It feels like two lifetimes ago,” she said. She palmed her hands on either side of Jaggar’s face. “The meadow,” she said, her face solemn. “How did you get out?”

“The catamount threw me out,” Jaggar said, kissing her again, murmuring into her mouth. “Don’t worry, we didn’t fight.” He kissed her again, hard. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

“Awww,” Rogue said. Troy made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a bark, and then he coughed hard and loud.

“Let’s go home,” Jaggar told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. He looked up at Eventine, gave her a smile that she hadn’t seen in thirty years, and then he looked past her at Harlan, his face tightening in a way that made Eventine take notice.

“We’re moving into the spare room at the farmhouse. That cool?” Jaggar said to Harlan, his voice grating.

Harlan tried to laugh, then abandoned the effort, his joke falling flat without the laugh. “I don’t know, Jag, I gotta ask my mate.”

Eventine elbowed him in the ribs, but mechanically. Satisfaction was trying to fill her, but she couldn’t quite let it. For all its prettiness, something was still wrong with this scene, with this reuniting of two mates.

Harlan spoke. “I’m kidding, you know that, my house is your house, and I know Burton and Evie feel the same.”

Eventine nodded. “We’re moving in?” she asked her mate.

He kissed her soundly. “Today, if you think it’s… a good time.” He looked around at the forest, raising his face to the wind, his nostrils flaring.

Eventine evaluated. The forest seemed quiet, no longer waiting for something. Whatever she’d sensed coming, it had either come, or it had passed them by.

“Today,” she agreed. “Let’s pack up.” She was suddenly eager to get home. To start life, their new life.

As she turned to head back to the cabin, leaving Leilani to Jaggar, Evie couldn’t help but take score. Joel had been fired long before Jaggar had ever found Leilani, so he hadn’t been there to be killed by Jaggar. Jaggar was never suspended. Jaggar still had a job. Which was great, exactly what she’d asked for. But Leilani…

A small voice buzzed in her ear, whispering, “Patience and faith is needed now. Acceptance has many layers.”

Eventine waved the buzz away and shook her head. Patience and faith? She had neither. She refused. She took one last look at Jaggar and Leilani. She still had no shoes on, even though he was fully dressed in a KSRT uniform, boots and all. The group that had searched for him had brought a uniform in his size with them. Habit. Protocol.

He had picked her up, cradling her in his arms like he was going to step over the threshold of their first home together. Which he almost was. They only had eyes for each other, the entire rest of the world having fallen away as he held her and kissed her softly, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him carry her and kiss her. She giggled softly at something he said.

“Jaggar, your keys,” Mac said, fishing them out of his pocket and holding them up and heading for them.

Too quick to track, the beast rippled over Jaggar’s features. He snarled viciously, holding Leilani with just one arm and hand as he slashed out with the other, claws extended. The noise he made, rather like a semi-truck running into a cement wall, made every person and animal in the forest stop and turn in fear.

Mac jumped his body back just in time, barely avoiding being eviscerated.

“What the fuck, Cujo?” Mac shouted. Eventine thought she heard a knife unsheath. Disaster.

Eventine ran in between Mac and Jaggar, plucking Jaggar’s keys out of Mac’s hand, putting them in Jaggar’s pocket, and pushing Jaggar away from Mac, down the path toward the driveway. Behind her, Harlan dealt with Mac and Rogue.

“You know what you gotta do,” she said as she pushed Jaggar with all her strength, trying to force the stubborn male to move.

He finally did, crooning soothingly to Leilani, who had gone still and frightened in his arms. Eventine watched them go, hoping he claimed her soon. The beast was not an animal to mess with, certainly not something you wanted on a hair trigger.