by Amelia Jade
“Packing,” she said, using air quotes. “All I have can fit in a backpack. I need to find some source of money while I’m there.”
Kiefer looked at her questioningly.
“I need to buy some new outfits. Do you have any idea how depressing it is having exactly 3 changes of clothes, all of which are the same outfit?”
“Ah, I guess I do not,” he said with barely restrained laughter. “Perhaps we can figure out a way to help you out with that issue.”
“You’re going to take me shopping?” she asked hopefully.
The look on his face was priceless. Peyton couldn’t help herself; she broke out into howls of laughter, all of which were amplified by her earlier emotions. She sank to the ground, uncaring as people stopped to stare at her. Her entire body shook as the stress fled from her for the time being, leaving her exhausted.
“You’re like, super-strong, right?” she asked, eyelids growing heavy.
“To you, I suppose it would seem that way,” he admitted.
“So I’d weigh very little then, right?” she said tiredly, looking up at him from where she was basically lying at his feet. Her eyelids drooped.
“All right,” he replied, his eyes dancing with laughter. He bent down and scooped her up into his arms.
Peyton put her own arms around his neck to help keep herself aloft, but it very quickly became evident that she didn’t need to. There was no strain evident in Kiefer as he walked across the grounds of Base Camp to her room. The slow, rolling gait served to prevent her from bouncing too much, and she soon found herself curled up against his chest, trying to fight off sleep.
Despite the short distance, sleep claimed her well before Kiefer took her to her quarters and tucked her into bed.
Chapter Ten
Kiefer
He finished calling out room assignments and then stepped out of the way as his men grabbed their bags and headed inside.
As the squad leaders and his executive officer herded them to their bunks at the building serving as the Green Bearet headquarters—an oversized motel renovated to house far more bodies than originally expected—Kiefer noticed a lone figure on the bottom step. The huge bodies flowed up and around her, as if she were a rock parting the turbulent waters of a flooded river.
Kiefer smiled and walked over to Peyton. Although he’d dropped her off but minutes before, he felt a sudden surge of excitement as he neared her, as if it had been hours, or days, since she was last in his arms.
They had spent much of the previous two days together. Whenever his schedule had permitted, Kiefer had been at her dorm. They’d hung out, talked, and simply relaxed within each other’s company. There had been several points at which he’d been tempted to kiss her, but he’d never given in to that temptation.
It wasn’t that he wanted to.
Because he did. Oh, how he wished to taste her lips, to run his fingers under her jaw as he tilted her head up to his. That sweet, tingling, nervous sensation every male got as he went in for the first kiss, unsure if he would be accepted or rejected, had been an ever-present friend of his.
But he couldn’t. No matter how much his bear roared and shook, Kiefer held it in check, refusing to give in. It wasn’t fair to Peyton. He didn’t know if she was seeing someone in her past life, maybe even married. There was no doubt in his mind that the two of them had a connection, something deeper and more profound than he’d ever felt before. That was evident for anyone who spent a few minutes around them to see.
Kissing—or more—was off the table though. Not unless Peyton either cleared it with him first, or she made the first move. Kiefer wasn’t sure he could resist if she came to him, but until that point came, and he was forced to decide what to do, he would hold himself in check. He hoped. It wasn’t easy being near her, her soft, barely-there smell of lilac and something else, perhaps cinnamon, infusing his senses and threatening to overwhelm him.
Her reddish-brown eyes lit up as he approached, coming to a halt at the foot of the step in front of her. They were comfortable within each other’s space, though they had never even cuddled. Tension-filled hugs were the name of the game currently, and though he hated not being able to do more, they were a painful tease that Kiefer found himself wanting more of far too often.
Resisting putting his arms around her just then was tougher than it should have been. His bear was riled up, and kept testing its limits, trying to take control and gather her up within his embrace before taking her off to his room, where they would—
Enough.
Although her delight at seeing him was evident, there was something else bothering him. It wasn’t until he came to a halt in front of her though that it clued in.
She still had her bags.
“What’s wrong?” he asked cautiously, unsure of the goings-on. Was it a problem with staying in the motel, surrounded by the Green Bearets? Or a problem with the room itself? Until he could ascertain what it was, he didn’t wish to put ideas in her head, so he left his question open.
Peyton opened her arms in response. Kiefer didn’t object, folding her up in a powerful embrace. He lifted her clear of the stairs and spun around in a slow circle before setting her back down.
His eyes met hers.
“Well, this is a nice change,” she said.
“What?”
“Being able to look directly into your eyes.” She straightened. “Why, I think I’m actually taller than you!”
Kiefer laughed as he gazed right back at her, his head held level with hers.
The single step, combined with Peyton’s natural height, had put them almost at eye-height to each other. Kiefer vowed never to admit it, but he was almost as certain as she was that she was taller just then.
“That’s just because you’re cheating,” he rumbled, and took a step slightly to the side, allowing him to move up onto the same step as her.
“Not fair!” Peyton protested, side-stepping up to the next level, having made a quarter turn to face him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked innocently, once more stepping up alongside her.
“This!” she sputtered, moving to the next, and then the next as he matched her, step for step.
A moment later they reached the top.
“Well now look what you’ve done,” he said with a false sigh.
“Me? I didn’t do anything! This was all your fault,” she protested.
“Look, all your luggage is all the way down there,” he said, shaking his head at her.
“It’s six steps, Kiefer, I think you can manage it,” she giggled.
He frowned. “I can manage it?”
Peyton nodded, giving him a brilliant grin that threatened to turn him into a mass of jelly as his muscles went limp.
“Not fair,” he said meekly, but he slunk down the steps anyway.
“Now, that wasn’t too bad, was it?” she asked, putting a hand out to stop him on the last step.
“Well of course it wasn’t bad for you,” he said laughingly. “You didn’t have to do anything!”
“That’s because you’re a sweetheart,” she said, and without warning leaned in and pressed her lips to his cheek.
Kiefer froze, the surprise complete and total. His body locked up for several seconds longer as he processed what had just happened.
“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear, before pulling away.
Only then, when she was back up on her step, and he was alone on his, did control return to his muscles. It allowed Kiefer to both move and speak once again.
“You’re very welcome,” he said, his voice sounding strange to his ears. “But I must admit to being curious as to why you have it in the first place. Did you not want to leave it in your room for some reason?”
Peyton shook her head as they moved into the building. “It’s not that at all.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t have a room to put it in.”
Kiefer came to a halt.
“What?�
� he asked, wanting to ensure he’d heard her properly.
“The guy at the front desk said there were no orders to give me a room. Said that they don’t give out rooms to humans.”
Kiefer’s vision clouded over with red as Peyton spoke, but when he heard the last sentence, he nearly lost control of himself. The urge to walk into the room and snap the ignorant soldier’s neck was so great he barely restrained himself from ascending the final step and walking inside.
“Kiefer…” Peyton asked nervously.
His gaze swiveled to her and she actually shrunk back a step from him.
That got through to him like nothing else would. The look of fear, bordering on outright terror in her eyes was like a slap across the face followed by a bucket of cold water being dumped over his head.
“Peyton?” he asked, blinking back his spiking anger. “What is it?”
She tilted her head to the side, her back still arched away from him slightly as she looked him over once more.
“What was that all about?” she asked. “You just sort of disappeared there. As if you’d been replaced by someone else.”
Kiefer grimaced unhappily, his teeth gritting together as she spoke. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That wasn’t my intention. You weren’t meant to see that.”
She shuddered slightly. “See what?’
“My shifter side. My animal.”
“Oh,” she replied in a small voice. “I see.”
“Mm-hmm,” he said. “Let’s go have a chat with this desk jockey, shall we?”
Peyton hesitated. “You’re, umm, not going to like, hurt him, or anything, are you?”
He shrugged. “Peyton, you need to understand something.” Kiefer faced her square on. “I look like you, I talk like you. Oftentimes I act like you. But I am not like you. I am a shifter. We are not human. We don’t see the world like you do. It’s hard to understand. But we are part animal.”
“You’re going to hurt him.”
He sighed, closing his eyes. “I’d prefer not to. Honestly, I’m pretty lazy, and I would prefer not to exert myself if I don’t have to. If I can use words to get through to him, great. Amazing. Fantastic.” His broad shoulders rose up and down as he shrugged. “But if that doesn’t work…” he trailed off, hoping she would understand.
“You’re scaring me.”
Her words slammed into his gut worse than a blow from another shifter.
“I’m sorry, Peyton.” Lips clenched tightly together in frustration. “That wasn’t my intention. It wasn’t directed toward you.”
“You always seemed to be in control,” she said. “What happened? Why did this set you off?”
How did he tell her that it was her that made the difference? That it was because she was slighted that he wanted to beat the other shifter into a bloody pulp. To teach him, and anyone else, that they didn’t mess with his mate.
His bear trumpeted its agreement, surging toward the surface once more, threatening to break through. Kiefer was still firmly in charge, however, and he slowly got his beast back under control, locking it away. That done, he turned his task back to answering Peyton’s question.
“It’s…complicated,” he said at last. “You’re in my charge. I’m responsible for your well-being, and that includes being welcomed and treated properly.” He looked away, unhappy. “Although most of my men are tolerant of humans at a minimum, and most are perfectly okay with you, there are some…hardline cases, shall we say, that are not. It sounds like this fellow is one of those.”
“I’m sure it’ll be okay,” Peyton said with a wave of her hand. “I can go find somewhere else to stay.”
Kiefer’s eyebrow’s rose. “Um, not gonna happen. There’s a room waiting for you here, and he knows it. He just needs to be convinced to give it up.”
Without waiting for Peyton to protest any more, he snagged her hand, grabbed her bag with his other, and they walked inside.
The soldier, a very young shifter who must have just graduated from Base Camp, looked up at them. His eyes focused on Peyton first, and Kiefer saw the sneer that he carefully restrained himself from showing.
His eyes moved to the side, where he noticed Kiefer trailing along beside and slightly behind her.
Kiefer grinned as the soldier, a private, went slightly pale in the face.
“GOOD MORNING!” he boomed in a loud voice, sure to attract the attention of many other shifters, both in the lobby and in nearby offices. “How are you doing today?”
The young man sat up straight in his chair.
“I’m doing—”
“THAT’S FANTASTIC!” Kiefer all but bellowed, cutting him off. “I BELIEVE YOU HAVE A ROOM FOR THIS YOUNG WOMAN?”
A crowd was beginning to gather as various shifters stopped what they were doing to see what the commotion was all about.
“I, uh, well, that is, I don’t have orders, sir.”
Kiefer’s head tilted sideways just a little.
“You don’t have orders?” he said, his voice lowering just a notch. He also allowed all the false humor to flow from it, leaving nothing but ice in his words.
The other shifter refused to give up though. “No sir.”
Kiefer frowned. He knew the orders existed. He’d seen them himself.
“Show me the orders that arrived for the 91st Training Company,” he said, his voice softer but still easily carrying through the lobby to all the perked ears.
The private shuffled through a stack and produced it with a smile. “See sir, it only details the rooms for the company. There is no mention of anything for a human.”
Kiefer rolled his eyes. “You went to school, correct?”
“Of course,” the young man said.
Kiefer waited.
“Sir,” he added eventually.
“So it’s safe to assume that although you’re an idiotic, xenophobic moron, you can still do basic math?”
The soldier was bristling now, furious with Kiefer, but he still managed to maintain his composure.
“I can do math, sir,” he said, infusing his final word with as much hatred and disgust as he could.
“How many men are bunked together then?” Kiefer asked in his same, calm tone.
“Anyone below an officer is put six to a room,” came the automatic response. “Company Commander and Executive Officer both get a private room.”
“So it’s safe to say then that a normal company would have eight rooms, correct?”
The other shifter hesitated as he realized where Kiefer was going with this. “Yes sir.”
“And how many rooms does this order assign?” he asked. “Actually, just read this line here,” he said, pointing to the one in particular. “You can, read, can’t you?”
Thick muscles bunched in the private’s jaw as he gave Kiefer his best death stare, but the lieutenant wasn’t fazed. He’d been glared at by far, far worse than this pompous asshole.
“The 91st Training Company is to be allotted a total of nine rooms for officers, recruits and all attached personnel.”
“My, that’s convenient,” Kiefer said. “An extra room. And then out of nowhere, this lovely young lady comes up to you, saying she’s checking in with the 91st.”
“It says nothing—”
“Enough,” Kiefer said, his voice filling with cold anger, so that he never had to raise it to get his point across.
The private shrunk back slightly.
“So, what room is she in?” he asked politely, giving the man one more shot.
“It says nothing about any humans.”
“Did you read that last line?” Kiefer asked. “Where it says, and I quote, ‘All attached personnel.’ Did you not just read that aloud?”
“But—”
Kiefer was through with him. He reached across the counter, grabbed the shifter by his neck, and casually hauled him up and over the wooden construct. Kiefer pivoted while the private was mid-air, and slammed him down into the tile floor with bone-crunching force.
> “You are relieved from duty, as soon as you tell me which room she’s to be in,” he said, all the anger gone from his voice.
“Two-fourteen,” the private wheezed.
“Good. Now, who is your company commander?” Kiefer had every intention of taking it up with whoever was responsible for this slack-jawed idiot.
“That would be me,” a voice said.
Kiefer glanced up, and then straightened at once. “Captain Korver, good to see you sir,” he said with perfect military politeness.
“Indeed.” Captain Gabriel Korver looked down at the hapless private. “Get to the infirmary. You are confined to quarters until I decide what to do with you.”
The private, still struggling for breath and nursing at least several broken bones, nodded and climbed uneasily to his feet.
“Oh, and you have two hours to repair the floor,” Captain Korver added, glancing down at the multitude of smashed tiles.
The private looked sick, but he nodded.
Kiefer grimaced. Bending over to repair tiles would play hell on his recovery. But he didn’t actually pity the moron.
“Sorry about that, Lieutenant,” Gabriel said, rolling his eyes.
“It’s okay, sir. Sorry about the floor.”
Captain Korver laughed. “Very good, Kiefer. Very good. Now, go get her squared away and report to my office.”
“Yes sir,” Kiefer said, giving the current commanding officer of the Green Bearets in Cloud Lake a proper salute and then snatching up Peyton’s bags.
“This way,” he said, indicating the curved stairway to the right.
Peyton followed, though he caught her glancing over her shoulder at least once.
“Don’t mind that. It’s fairly normal,” he assured her.
“If you say so.” She didn’t sound convinced.
“I do,” he replied, giving her a confident wink.
“I’m sorry I’m so much trouble,” she said as she paused in front of the room assigned to her.
Kiefer opened it—none of the rooms had locks anymore—and showed her inside.
“You’re not trouble,” he said with a laugh. “Now, I have to go report to the captain, so why don’t you get yourself squared away, and then we’ll meet again for dinner in a few hours, okay?”
