by Laura Wylde
Kayla was just like every other human I had met. Sure, she was beautiful and enticing in every way, but she was just interested in the bottom line. I had watched her race fight over paper for years, never having too much more to worry about. I didn’t know Kayla, but I knew that she was most likely just like all the rest of them.
“Are you going to stand there all night like that?”
Kayla was in bed, and I could tell that she wanted the answer to be no. It was her way of asking for me to piss off, but I wasn’t going anywhere. I knew that something was going to come of all this, but for now, I was just here to make sure that she was safe. Simone would rile up the other females, and they very well could come for Kayla.
“That is my duty, so the females of our clan don’t rip you to shreds.”
She gulped, and her face got even paler than before. The freckles that smattered across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks seemed to stand out even more with the lightened skin.
“You didn't have to say it like that. I don't know why you don't like me, but you don't have to scare me. I was just hoping that you would come in or stay out, so that I could get some sleep. That light is right in my eyes, and I am used to darkness.”
She thought that I was going to go out and shut the door, but I didn't trust her and wanted to keep an eye on her. It wasn't all about keeping her safe but keeping her contained. She had a curious mind and the last thing we needed was her poking around. If we were going to let her go, which was what it looked like we were going to do, then she needed to learn as little as possible about us before she left. And I was sure that she would be leaving.
She looked surprised when I moved into the room and shut the door behind me. She now had all the darkness that she needed, but I could still see as if there was daylight streaming in from the windows. My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, and I could see the worry on her face.
I was almost positive that this was the last thing she wanted, to be in the room with me. Javier had all these good ideas about saving the race, but how could we do that when she clearly didn't want to have anything to do with us?
“Thank you, I guess.”
I didn't respond to her, and I didn't say another word at all through the night. I just looked ahead and tried to get through it as quickly as possible. The last thing I wanted to do was be here.
It didn't take her long at all to go to sleep. It seemed like she was rather tired. Considering the day that she was having, I could see why. While I could sympathize with her plight, I still didn't know why she was here. I still didn't know what the hell Javier was thinking, bringing a human down here.
I wasn't the only one who was upset about it. It was clear very quickly that Kayla wasn't going to sleep very well. She may have dozed off rather quickly, most likely from exhaustion, but now she was tossing and turning. It looked like she was having one hell of a dream, and the way she whimpered, in a sad way, was very hard for me to hear.
I went towards the bed, not knowing what I was going to do when I got there. I just wanted to touch her, and I wanted her to relax or stop whatever dream she was having. I put my hand on her shoulder at one point, trying to take it away, not thinking that it would actually work. But she started to settle down, and I tried to ignore the way her sleeping form made me feel.
When Kayla had settled down, I pulled back and went back towards the door. I shouldn't have touched her, I knew that now. I’d felt something that I wasn’t supposed to feel, and I didn’t like it.
I stood watch over her all night, and she didn't seem to have another bad dream. I wanted to check on her, touch her warm skin, but I didn't. It was most likely for the best because she had a scent around her that really drove me crazy. I had smelled it the first night that she was in the woods, we all had. It was sweet and it tightened my chest when she was around. It was a sweet grip and it drew me in, just like the ruins did for the rest of us. I didn't know if she was a special human or if it was the first time I ever thought about it. Either way, I was certainly thinking about it now.
She finally woke up with the sun breaking over the horizon. I could tell that she hadn't gotten a good quality of sleep, her eyes spoke of her tiredness. I tried to help her, but she had too much on her mind, too much that her brain couldn’t process, and it was coming out in her dreams.
“What are we doing today?”
“You are supposed to stay here. I'm going to go to take care of my work. Haven't had any sleep, but it would be better than standing around all day.”
“You are not going to be with me?”
Her words bothered me for some reason, and I tried to ignore the skipping of my heart. Why did she want to be around me, and why did I want to be around her? It shouldn’t be this way, it really shouldn’t.
“No, I'm not. I have work to do. I don't have time to babysit you today, so you are going to have to stay in this room.”
“Can I come with you?”
“Why would you want to?”
“I heard Javier say something about the fact that you were the historian. I would love to learn all that I can about Panthera. If you don’t mind, I would really like to come with you, Tyler. I won’t be a bother, I promise. You won’t even realize that I’m there.”
“I highly doubt it.”
I was being gruff even by my own standards, and I wanted to smooth it over. If I was going to be around her all day, I might as well start off on a better foot.
“Get dressed and you can come with. Be quick though. You have laid about in bed all day.”
“Thanks.”
She had the biggest smile on her face, and it was disarming.
“I don’t really have anything to wear. My clothes from yesterday are all messed up and dirty. Could I go up top and get some of my stuff?”
“I don’t think Javier wants you up there. Stay here, and I will bring it to you.”
I left without another word. She already had me doing things for her. She was going to be hard to be around and maybe the last thing that I needed to think about was her being around me all day. I didn’t want to fall for her like Javier had. We all saw him kiss her and felt the need from our leader. He was supposed to lead us, and he had for thousands of years, but this was something else altogether. This was not about the clan. Javier was making decisions about Panthera because of some human. And I was falling for it too. I was going to have to snap out of it. I was just lonely. I knew that’s what it was.
Her things were neatly in a bag, and I just grabbed it up top and went back to her room. She was exactly where I had left her, in the bed with her hand holding the sheet above her. I tossed the bag on the bed and told her to hurry up. I was in a rush and I wanted to get back to my regular duties, no matter how badly I wanted to take a nap. There was a lot to be done, to modernize all of Panthera’s history, and I wanted to get it done faster. With the way things were going, I might not have that much time left.
I went to wait outside, and I could hear the woman getting up and getting dressed. She surprised me when she open the door just a few minutes later. I had told her to hurry up, but I hadn't thought she would be that quick. I don't even think I could get ready that quickly.
Kayla had the same button down white shirt with short sleeves and khaki shorts that she was wearing the day before. It was matched her well, giving her this look that I really liked. It was practical and it made sense, just like her. It made sense since she was digging in dirt and old stuff all day. I couldn't imagine her in a dress. She just wasn't that type of woman.
“Sorry, ready to go?”
She had a big smile on her face, like she was going someplace wonderful. I had always thought of the library as that very thing, but I had never seen that much enthusiasm in someone else. It couldn't be true, this must be some kind of rule or something. She was just trying to get on my good side, so that she could do something bad in the end. I still didn't trust Kayla, and I didn't understand why Javier did.
I didn't say much
as I walked through the labyrinth of underground rooms and stopped in the library. This is where I spent most of my time, and it was a place that I felt the most serene. I was surrounded by the stories of our people, and I liked to remember it how it used to be, when there was so many more of us. That was real life when I had my mate. Sometimes I came down here just to read about Marla. She was found in much of the history, and I missed her so much.
Pulling my mind from my ex, I turned to the human I was finding rather cumbersome. For whatever reason, she had wanted to come with me, but I wasn't going to waste any of my time talking to her. I had things to do after all.
“I don't really care what you do down here, but don't mess anything up and leave me be so I can do my work.”
Again, I knew that I was being a little ruder than I should've been. This time, Kayla didn’t seem to mind. She took off in the direction of a large stack of books, and I saw her settling in the chair. She had several books in her arms, but I doubted that she would get very far. I don't know what her reasoning was for being here, what her angle was, but I told myself that I was going to find out. Even if nobody else could really see her, I was sure that I could.
I went back to my desk and got started. It was the same thing that I had been doing for almost ten years now. The technology was getting better, and I was getting a little bit faster at scanning everything into the computer, but we still had a long way to go. We had thousands of years of history to take care of and then put into the computer. I don't know how long this was going to take, but I liked to remind myself of some of the older stories, and I liked the quiet in the library.
Kayla didn’t make much noise most of the day. I had to check on her a couple times, just to make sure that she hadn’t run off somewhere. She could have very well tried to leave, I was so absorbed in my work. But she was still at the same chair with new books in front of her, and she was turning pages at a rapid pace. I had never met somebody who could read that fast.
“What are you doing?”
“I am reading some of these books. These are great. Did you write them?”
I know that the people in the clan did not understand why I did this, but the leader did, so that was all that mattered. While that may be, it was nice for somebody to appreciate it. It had taken me many years to do this. Sometimes I wondered if anybody else was going to read them at all.
“Yes, I wrote many.”
She looked around at all the books and kind of gasped a little bit.
“That must have taken you long time.”
A chuckle came out of my mouth, and I didn’t recognize the sound for a moment. It had been so long since I’d had anything to smile about and it was the absurdity of this human.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“How long do you guys actually live?”
I really didn't know. Javier was the oldest one of us that I knew of, but there were older ones in other parts of the world. It was hard to get around and meet other clans, so we just stuck around to what we knew.
“Not really sure, but we age very slowly.”
“Yeah, I can see that now, Tyler. You guys have a very fascinating history. It really is a shame that nobody knows about you, but I can see why you would want to keep yourself. Nothing good ever comes from a scientist poking around, does it?”
“No, not really.”
“I never really thought about it before now. Everything that I do is really about digging up the past. But this is different because you are the present.”
She looked like she was deep in thought, and I wondered what she was thinking about. Kayla was not at all what I thought she would be. I didn't understand why she cared, but I could tell that it wasn't just a front. She really did care about Panthera and all of us. It just didn't make sense to me, but I was starting to see that Kayla was something special. Those were the exact words that Javier had used and now I could see why. I was rather shocked that I hadn’t seen it before.
“Why do you care, Kayla?”
“Because I do. I have always cared about the past and history. It helps tell a story about the future. And meeting you all, being here, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. You have been so nice to me and I hate to think of your civilization ending from man’s greed. It would be a shame.”
“Thought you weren’t sure if you would help or not?”
She looked down. “How could I not?”
I leaned forward on the table that her book rested on and brushed my lips against hers. It was meant to be something light and unremarkable. I just wanted to see. I wasn’t going to do anything more but just see.
What I saw out of the action was the way that Javier had felt. It was clear from the electricity that passed between us that our leader had been right. This human wasn’t just human. There was something else about her, and I heard the whimper come through her lips as she finally surrendered to the moment. Her eyes closed, and for a minute, nothing else was happening in the world. All there was was this moment, and I couldn’t believe how good she felt in my arms.
I pulled back and stared at her in disbelief. I never thought I would feel something for a human or for anyone ever again, but now I was raring to go, and I knew who it was that I wanted. Without a doubt, I wanted to go ahead with the plan. Maybe Javier wasn’t as far off of his rocker as I thought he was.
Chapter 12
Javier
We were on our way to relieve Tyler of his duty, but as soon as we walked into the library, I knew something was up. I wasn't sure what it was, but when I came around the corner and saw Tyler and Kayla kissing, I knew that they were the ones who were filling the air with their lust. When I paired the two together, I had hoped that they would be able to get along. Apparently, my plan had worked, but maybe it worked too well.
I wasn't supposed to feel jealous, I knew that. We had always shared, but things were different now. I didn't want to share, even though I knew I had to because she was for the pack, the whole pack, not just me. No matter how much I wanted that to be so.
Damien was next to me, and he clearly was intrigued by what was in front of us. It was hard for me to keep my eyes off of them, and I could feel a tightening in my loins. I wanted to be Tyler very badly at that moment.
Damien and I stood still there for several moments, watching the two of them have at it. Tyler was kissing her and holding her close in his arms. I could see that his hands were exploring her sides, and I wanted to be there instead. She made a small whimpering sound that pulled me in.
I told Damien that we were going to let this go. I wanted to see how far it went. Tyler had been holding out for many years now. It looked like he wasn’t too interested in holding out anymore. That opened it up for the rest of us, and I was ready for that. Now that we were all in the same page. However, I wanted to make sure that we got started rather quickly. If we were going to save our race from extinction, the quicker we got started the better.
It was only when Tyler started to take off her clothes, right there in the library, that I finally moved forward. I didn’t want it to go down like this. There was a ceremony that had to be done, and I knew that this wasn’t sanctioned. There was also some other side of me that didn't want to see his hands on her. I wanted to break them up.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
Tyler wasn't too bothered by it, still trying to kiss her. Kayla reacted quite quickly. The young woman screeched and covered herself up with the shirt that he had pulled off. She was breathing hard, face red, and Kayla was absolutely beautiful.
Both of them had guilt all over their face. Kayla especially was looking damn guilty as she had just been caught with two of us in as many days. I don’t know what was going through her mind at the moment, but it was clear that she wasn’t expecting to see us. That much was clear from the look on her face.
Tyler gave me a dirty look, and I could tell that he didn't want me to stop him. It looked like he wanted to slap me, but I can't say that
I didn't understand his frustration. If I was in that situation, when I had been in that situation, the last thing I wanted to be was interrupted. When they had stopped us from going further, I wanted to kill them all. Now he was looking at me the same way.
“What are you doing in here?”
“Now, now, Tyler. You know that we are meant to share her. You can't have her all to yourself.”
We were talking about her like she wasn't even there. Kayla didn’t appreciate it at all, and she wanted to make sure that we knew about it. Her fire was brighter than before.
“You guys act like I have no say in this. Now I'm going to get back to reading if you guys are done. I think I've been embarrassed enough for one day.”
She looked upset, and I almost felt bad for her. I can't imagine how this all felt to her. We were fighting over her like she was some sort of property. She wasn't really property, but she certainly was one hell of a prize. And we were a bit miffed that it was Tyler that had been moving so quick to the finish line. He’d certainly changed his mind rather quickly. He was a lucky son of a bitch, as far as we could tell.
“If you're going to keep reading our history, there has to be a promise made from you that you won't tell everybody what you learned here. We also need an answer from you.”
“An answer for what?”
“I need to know if you thought about staying? You know our story, and you're learning more and more about it every day. Have you considered staying here with us? You could learn everything that you wanted to know about us, and help our civilization continue. Have you thought about that at all?”
“I have, but I'm not ready to make that sort of decision yet. This is all just happening too fast. I'm just now starting to learn what Panthera is all about.”
“I can see that you are comfortable being with us.”