Connor
“How is your father?” he asked as she returned to the kitchen.
Maddy smiled her beautiful smile, looking happier than ever. She had finally been able to contact her father, now that he was safe in Genesis Valley. It was something she had been worrying about a lot. More than she had been willing to admit, even to him.
“He’s good,” she said happily, sitting at the table. “He’s got a job at that Lionshead Mining Consortium, the one you work for. Doing some sort of research for them, I guess. We didn’t talk too much about that. He was, ah, a little more interested in knowing about me, and what I can do now,” she said awkwardly.
Connor smiled. She would get over that part of it. He could tell.
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said softly, meaning every word of it.
“Connor?” she asked as they ate breakfast the next morning.
The Underground had scattered overnight, dispersing to several other safe houses Connor and his team had set up without Flint knowing. There were still several people in the unit, but as it turned out, Connor had secured all three floors of the sixty-year-old storefront building for their use. The pair of them had had no trouble finding some privacy the night before to renew their relationship. He smiled at the memory of it.
“Mmm?” he replied around a mouthful of bacon and egg.
“I’m a shifter now,” she said with a grin. “And I think I was always supposed to be this way.”
He returned the smile, careful not to let the bits of bacon in his mouth show. “You certainly seem both more confident and happier,” he admitted after swallowing his mouthful.
“I feel…normal,” she said slowly. “I think. I mean, I don’t feel normal using how I used to feel as the ‘normal’ to compare it to. I feel normal as in, this is how I think everyone else usually feels. As if I’m finally who and what I’m supposed to be. As if I’d been denying a part of me somehow.” She shrugged. “Not that I ever could turn into a bear before, but it’s like taking the two serums unlocked something within me.”
He nodded. They had discussed how she had taken the two types of serums. The one that bonded with the shifter DNA that had lain latent in her, and the one that bonded with the active human DNA. It had formed something within her that had allowed her bear to come to life.
It brought a whole different angle to the shifter world, and half-bloods. The question was going to be asked for a long time now about whether every half-blood had a bear locked away inside of them or not. That wasn’t a problem for Connor to solve though. He was a warrior, not a philosopher, and was perfectly okay with it. He was happy with what he had.
“Well, you certainly are stronger than you were before,” he said, shaking his head ruefully.
They had tried to test out just how strong she was last night. Neither of them knew if her heightened powers was a temporary thing. She was much stronger than he was, and still had been this morning. He had rolled over on top of her when he woke. The move had startled her, however, and she had thrown him clear of the bed when she jerked in surprise.
“I said I’m sorry for that!” she complained, coming over to him and giving him a seductive kiss on the cheek, then trailing down to his neck.
He closed his eyes with a growl.
Her hands disappeared from his shoulders.
Connor’s eyes flew open just in time to see two pieces of bacon disappear from his plate.
He growled playfully, shoving the remaining bits into his mouth and got up from his seat to chase after her.
Maddy shrieked and fled across the room, but he caught up to her, locking his arms around her. Although they both knew she could break away quickly, that wouldn’t be fun. Maddy let herself pretend to be helpless as he picked her up and set her on the countertop.
Swallowing his meal, he moved in close so that they could embrace each other.
“How are we going to do this?” she asked softly into his ear as he held her tight, relaxing in their closeness. Being with her always evoked a sense of peace, something he had rarely felt before.
“You have a good team to support you,” he said firmly.
Not one person had decided to leave the Underground, despite all that had just happened. Everyone had said they would stay.
All those that had made it out, at least. Although those with families had reported that their loved ones were safely on their way to Genesis Valley, half a dozen members of the Underground had never reported in at all.
Connor feared the worst.
“I’m going to have to give you orders,” she said. “I don’t want that to be a stress point between us.”
He nodded seriously, acknowledging the point. “Well, don’t forget, Jared is actually the head of the team. So you can give him the orders. I’ll fight with him over them, and he’ll fight with you.”
Maddy brightened almost instantly with the reminder, before her shoulders slumped once again. “See? That just shows how little I know about the Underground, and how ill prepared I am for this.”
He squeezed her tight. “You’re going to do fine. Trust me.”
Maddy gave him a small smile.
“Now kiss me,” he said. “That’s an order.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure I give the orders around here now, mister.”
He laughed. “You give the orders in the office.” He leaned in close, nipping at her neck. “I give them in the bedroom.”
He quickly put himself to work proving his point.