Furever Loyal

by Riley Storm

  He barely noticed, too busy going through the shift to even care. His body blazed with agony, from dozens of cuts to the usual pain of the change that was always amplified after a fight. It didn’t matter. None of it did.

  All that mattered was Haley.

  He stumbled forward even before he was fully human once more.

  “Haley!” he called, looking around wildly. “Haley!” She was there somewhere.

  “Kincaid!”

  Joints cracked as his head whipped around to focus on the sound of her voice. There! Emerging from behind the biggest piece of machinery in the entire factory came his chestnut-haired beauty. He lunged forward, ignoring the pain in his leg, his abdomen, multiple ribs and most of the rest of his body. It was easy when he saw her.

  “I can’t see you,” she called again.

  “I’m almost there,” he repeated, no more than ten feet away. “I’m here, Haley. I’m here.”

  He swept her up into his arms, spinning around, kissing her more furiously than any intimate moment the two of them had shared. She was safe.

  “I’m sorry I took so long,” he whispered between kisses, having to pause between the words. “I’ll never let this happen again.”

  “You had better not,” she teased, stroking his face, either not noticing or not caring about the blood flowing from at least one good cut.

  “Haley, there’s something I need to tell—”

  “Kincaid, I need to tell you—”

  They both stopped short, speaking at the same time, then burst into laughter.

  “You first,” she said, sneaking in another kiss.

  “Haley, I’m not very good with words,” he began. “That makes what I’m trying to say so much more difficult, but it needs to be said anyway. So I’m going to just say it. There’s no flowery speech, no grand gesture. There’s just…me, in a factory, surrounded by a less than romantic scene that I’m very glad you can’t see, and also Kvoss and possibly the Queen and—”

  “I thought you said there was no flowery speech?” she interrupted, still touching his face.

  “Right. Haley Meynard, I love you.” The room pitched wildly for a moment as his legs grew wobbly and unstable, as the nerves he’d so long kept penned up came rushing forth, mixing with his weakness and injury.

  “You good?” she asked as he steadied himself against her.

  “Yes. Sorry. I’ve been wanting to say that, and now that I have it’s just…” he smiled. “It feels good.”

  “I bet you it doesn’t feel as good as hearing it,” she said, stepping closer.

  Kincaid shrugged. “I…I wouldn’t know. I’ve only said it.”

  “Let me help you out,” she said, reaching up to her tiptoes to get as close to his ear as she could. “I love you, Kincaid Ursa. I love you so much.”

  He shuddered. Once. No more, because now wasn’t the time nor the place for it.

  “Feels pretty good, doesn’t it?” Haley teased, kissing him softly, slowly.

  “It feels really good,” he murmured, returning her kiss. It did. It felt amazing, knowing his mate well and truly did care about him. That the feelings he’d been slow to realize and accept were reciprocated. It was perhaps the most wonderful non-physical feeling he’d ever experienced.

  “You know, I’m inclined to believe you,” she said in a strange voice.

  Although it was almost pitch black inside the building, his vision picked up enough of her face for him to know she was struggling to contain a laugh.

  He frowned, looking down at Haley. “What do you mean?”

  “Kincaid, my love, you should probably put some pants on.”

  38

  “It’s weird,” she said, staring out the window at the beautiful manicured lawn and gardens of Ursidae Manor from the window in Kincaid’s bedroom.

  A giant lump under the covers stirred, emitting a sound that she chose to take as being curious.

  “How long were we actually on the run for? Three or four days? Something like that.” It was all a blur still. “Such a short period of time. Some people are on the run for weeks, months, even years. A few days, and yet it feels like a lifetime. Going back to normal now, not having to avoid anyone, being able to walk about your house openly. It’s weird, don’t you think?”

  “If this is your way of telling me you want to go pull some Bonnie and Clyde shit, I’m gonna have to say no,” Kincaid moaned, exhausted.

  She turned just in time to see him pull back the white duvet and stick his head out.

  “Why do you have the curtains open already? Do you really hate me that much?”

  Haley snorted. “It’s ten-thirty in the morning. Aren’t you big beasties supposed to get up with the sun or something?”

  “Oof. That’s cold-blooded.”

  “I’m hungry,” she said, letting the littlest bit of whine enter her voice.

  “You know perfectly well where the kitchen is. I’m sure there’s food made. Wanna be a doll and grab me some?”

  Haley lifted her eyebrows, placing both hands on her hips at the same time.

  “Okay, okay. I’m getting up!” Kincaid yelped, tossing the covers down to reveal his naked body.

  Muscles tightened and popped into definition as he sat up and stretched, providing her with more than an eyeful.

  “My eyes are up here,” he muttered.

  “I know.” She kept staring.

  He finally left the bed and came over to her, wrapping both anaconda-like arms around her and holding her tight. Haley didn’t bother to hide her contentment, snuggling back into his embrace with unabashed glee. She loved when he held her like this. It was so calming. She felt safe and secure in a way she did at few other times.

  “Haley.”

  She stiffened. There was something in his voice… “Yes?”

  “I think we need to talk.”

  For just an instant, a crack appeared in the perfect little world she’d spent the past two days constructing while staying with Kincaid. She’d known it would never last, that she would have to go back to reality and her job eventually, but Haley had always expected Kincaid to still be in the picture. They loved each other after all and had said so repeatedly.

  “A-about what?” she asked nervously, unable to force herself to turn and look at him, choosing instead to remain staring out the window.

  What was he going to say? Haley had just about had her fill of surprises and revelations to her world. What more could he possibly tell her besides the fact that shapeshifters of all types from wolves to dragons existed alongside magic users that could cast real honest-to-goodness spells on people?

  Maybe it was a more personal thing, some sort of confession. Was there someone else? Was that it? Had his House decided that he couldn’t be with her because he had to be with someone who could provide shifter children?

  “I need to ask you how you’re doing.”

  She frowned. This wasn’t what she expected. Not at all. The focus had suddenly shifted from Kincaid, to her, and she wasn’t ready for it.

  “What?” It was the best she could manage.

  “Listen,” Kincaid explained, gently taking her hand and spinning her in place so that they were looking at one another. “You’ve been through a lot the past week. You’ve learned things that you never knew existed are real, that the world you thought you knew, you didn’t. You’ve seen horrific things, you’ve done things you never thought you would do.”

  “Yes.”

  “Nobody takes that sort of thing without flinching. Without having a moment of panic or fear. So far, you’ve taken everything that’s come along in your stride, without seeming to be fazed by it, and that’s got me worried.”

  Haley blinked. “I’m doing okay, and you’re…worried because of that?”

  “Yes,” he said, staring at her, imploring her to speak. “I’m scared you’re bottling it up. Not letting your emotions properly show.”

  “I…” she went silent, thinking. “I’ve learned a lot a
bout myself this past week,” she said slowly. “I don’t want to repeat what we’ve just been through. It was quite enough, thank you very much. But buried in it, I think, are some lessons that I desperately needed to learn.”

  Kincaid didn’t say anything, giving her time to speak, to explain why she wasn’t having a meltdown or freaking out over what she’d seen. The more Haley talked, the more confident she became that what she was saying was the truth of her emotional and mental status.

  “I won’t lie, it hasn’t been easy. I freaked out. But I didn’t do anything wrong. I was never the criminal. The people who did the bad things, who tried to frame you, they got punished. It’s not the punishment that I’m used to, but I suspect that the civil authorities would never have apprehended those men. They would have been free to keep doing what they were doing. It’s a different world, but Kincaid—it’s not my world, so therefore, it’s not my place to judge.

  “Why should I be able to dictate your world by my world’s standards. That’s not right, nor is it fair. You look human, but at the core of it, you aren’t human. You’re kind of my little alien boy,” she teased, running a hand playfully along his stomach.

  Kincaid laughed and hugged her. “Thank you for talking to me about it.”

  But she wasn’t done. “I also learned a lot about myself during this time. I learned that I was so wrapped up in following the rules, I wasn’t letting myself do anything. I had no friends, no love life, nothing at all. I was tied up in a locked room and I calmly thought my way through it and escaped!” she said proudly. “Do you have any idea how foreign a concept that would have been to me a week ago? If you’d suggested that would happen, I would have had a meltdown or something. This was good for me, Kincaid. I didn’t know it, but I needed it.”

  “Glad I could help,” he said, kissing the top of her head.

  “You did. You pulled me out of my shell. But I can’t stop now. I need to keep going. I need to call Danielle again. To see if maybe she wants to hang out, outside of work. I have a man, now I need friends.”

  Kincaid growled and lifted her clear of the floor, spinning her around and kissing her.

  “Damn right you have a man,” he said fiercely.

  39

  “Hey.”

  Shaking her head, Haley pulled her gaze from the window. “Sorry,” she apologized with a smile. “Just thinking.”

  “About Kincaid?”

  Haley stuck her tongue out at Dani. “No, actually. In what I swear is a totally non-creepy way, I was thinking of you.”

  “Me?” Dani leaned forward. “Why me?”

  “I’m having fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve had fun.” Haley looked down briefly. “You’re the first friend I’ve had in quite some time.”

  Dani smiled. “Aww, you’re gonna make me cry!”

  “Really?”

  “No!” Dani laughed. “I’m just glad to see you finally open up. I knew there was a fun person in there. I just didn’t expect it to take years to happen.”

  Haley laughed, sitting back into her seat. They were having coffee at a little café that Dani had recommended when she’d asked to hang out. The cozy little atmosphere was helping her to feel relaxed and open up.

  “If I’m honest, it all happened so slowly over a period of years, I never even realized how I was detaching myself from the world. It just became so normalized to me.” She took a sip from her mug. “Looking back on it now, I can’t believe how numb to the world I’d become. It’s crazy. I feel like I was living in a bubble, or black and white. Now I look around, and everything is just so vibrant.”

  Dani nodded. “You feel alive again.”

  “Do I ever! Friends. A man.”

  “Yeah, speaking of your man,” Dani said slowly. “I was wondering something.”

  Haley focused on her new—and still only—friend. “What?”

  “Things seem to be going well there between you two.”

  “I think so,” she said happily.

  “Well, um. This is kind of embarrassing, but does he maybe have any friends?”

  Haley was mid-sip when Dani finally spat her question out, and she nearly spewed coffee everywhere.

  “Hey, come on!” Dani pleaded. “This is embarrassing enough that I can’t meet guys on my own, okay? You don’t need to laugh at me in public.”

  Taking pity, she fought her laughter down. “I’m sorry. I thought you were going a totally different way with this. That you were going to ask a serious question.”

  The red was slowly fading from Dani’s cheeks. “I wasn’t exactly joking, but no. Nothing serious. Unless you think he’s going to propose soon, but that would be pretty fast.”

  Haley slowly nodded. “I can see how you’d think that. It is moving fast but,” she paused, trying to find the right words. “I’m not really sure how to explain it, Dani. What Kincaid and I share it’s…it’s more.”

  There really were no right words to describe the bond she had with Kincaid. Her last remaining doubt, that she would be unable to bear him kids, had been laid to rest when she’d met several of his friends the day before, and found that many of the women were human, and several had given birth to shifter children.

  It was then that he’d explained to her how shifters only ever chose one mate, and that person was the one they would spend the rest of their lives with. That knowledge, knowing that what she felt toward him was because of fate, that they were meant to be together, had assuaged any last doubts she may have had about spending the rest of her life with him.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell Dani any of that. Not unless she hooked her friend up with one of the other shifters.

  “I want that,” Dani said, smiling at her over the rim of her mug.

  “Want what?”

  “That look you get on your face when you think of him or talk about him. I’ve never seen it on anybody before, never quite like with you.”

  Haley didn’t know what to say. She’d never felt like this either.

  “Hey, I have a question for you,” she said to Dani.

  “What’s that?”

  “If Kincaid does propose, I, um, I don’t have any other friends, and, well, you see. There’s supposed to be people, and then they do the thing, and like it’s a party, there’s the one that holds the flowers and then the one…”

  Dani reached out, grinning broadly from ear to ear. “I would be honored, no matter what it is you’re trying to say. You can count on me.”

  Haley blushed and looked into her mug. “Thank you, Dani. For so much more than I can say. Thank you.”

  “Hey,” Dani said, raising her mug. “That’s what friends are for.”

  Haley lifted her own, clinking them softly together.

  40

  Kincaid bounced into the room like a whirling dervish.

  Haley, who had been sitting on the bed, jumped in the air, yelping in surprise as he barreled over to her, wrapping her up in a hug.

  “You’re in a suspiciously good mood,” she remarked, returning his kisses fondly, but at the same time wondering just what he had up his sleeve. She’d been waiting patiently for him to return from the ceremony.

  For the most part, the shifters of High House Ursa had welcomed her into their world. Like any group, there were dicks and those who just didn’t care one way or another, but overall, she felt accepted.

  Today, however, he had been taken to a ceremony somewhere deep in the heart of the house, a place that she, apparently, was not welcome. It had something to do with his confirmation as Hunter, of High House Ursa, one of the Title Holders, the ruling members of the House. Not much more had been disclosed to her about it. Maybe now she would get some answers.

  “I’m not in a good mood.”

  She frowned. “Really? Are you sure?”

  “I am. Because I’m in a great mood!” he all but shouted, spinning her around wildly and smothering her in kisses.

  Sputtering with laughter at the affection, she returned them all, b
efore eventually wiggling free from his grip. “Okay, I’ll bite, my love. Why are you in a great mood then? What happened? Did everything go well?”

  “Well?” He swelled up his already powerful chest. “You, darling, are looking at the newest official Hunter of High House Ursa.”

  “I knew it!” she squealed, leaping into his arms anew, confident he would catch her. “I knew you would do it. Congratulations, my love. You deserve it.”

  He grinned and planted a huge sloppy wet kiss on her cheek.

  “Ack! What was that for?”

  “That is for being so amazing and wonderful and perfect, and all around the best woman I could ever have imagined for my mate.”

  Feeling buoyed by the warmth and tenderness he was showing, Haley snuggled in close. “Does this mean you’ll finally tell me what’s going on?”

  “Sure.” Kincaid showed her over to the couch, where they both sat down and curled up close to one another. “The Hunter is one of the more unique positions in a House. When one is confirmed, we go through a ceremony that essentially gives us sensitivity to magic. Specifically, the magic that binds a mated pair together. We can feel it, and we are often given visions, I guess you would say, of mates that are destined to come into contact soon.”

  “So, like a seer?”

  “I guess. I can’t control it, and the visions come when fate works its own magic. Some Hunters go years without one, some have really busy weeks.”

  “And this makes you happy?”

  “Haley, my love, my everything. I can sense you. I can feel the magic that binds us together. I knew you were the one I wanted, but having life itself tell you that you made the right choice? That’s a pretty great feeling.”

  “So you can see the connection between us?”

  “In a way. It’s hard to explain, but yes. You and I. We are meant to be together.”

  Haley blew out air through her lips. “I could have told you that.”