Page 101 of Tainted Gifts
"They were trying so hard to figure out a way not to agitate you, and they were panicking the whole time," Jase snickers out. "It's a little emasculating to have someone far more afraid of your girlfriend than they are of you."
I blush a little, feeling a little overly abrasive now.
"Your fiancée," I say with a grin, correcting his term for me.
He stops abruptly with his hand still holding mine, so I almost fall while stifling a grin at the halted stride.
"Fiancée?" he asks with an expressionless face.
What happened between the hotel and here that made him change his mind?
"Unless you don't want that anymore," I murmur, suddenly feeling very insecure and foolish.
His lips rush mine in a bruising kiss, and I smile when he becomes lost in my touch the way I always get lost in his. Our grins grow too big to continue the kiss, and we both giggle like fools in love.
"Fuck yes, I still want it. You're saying yes?"
I nod, my smile growing, and he scoops me up, curling me to his chest and making our kiss resume despite the grinning lips' hindrance.
"I love you," he says through a happy, excited laugh when we finally give up the useless effort to kiss.
"I love you."
"Hey!" Simone interrupts, waving us over.
The last thing we want to do is work right now, but lives are at stake... ours included. Jase sighs out before standing me back up, but he can't wipe his smile away. Neither can I.
"What'd you find?" Jase asks, looking peculiar with his salacious grin amongst the massacred area.
"Um... you okay?" she asks, showing her confusion for his glee.
"Never better in all my life. Now what's up?" he says, his grin only growing as he pulls me closer.
"Well... I've got some results on the blood from the hounds killed before Aria went nuclear. They were definitely fused with emergents, but they were fused after they were infected."
"How is that possible?" Jase asks. "If they were infected, they should have been hairless with red eyes. How did they end up like this?"
"I don't know," Simone says while running a hand through her hair. "I've never seen this before. What's the purpose in creating a group of mutant dogs? Just to offer a mass attack? And why attack here? Now? When we had some of our strongest on hand? What could they possibly have expected to achieve?"
Jase's smile finally falls flat as reality interferes with our moment of bliss. It's always something. He drops my hand while walking around two of the mutts Simone has butchered in her quest for answers.
"I don't know. Maybe they underestimated Aria the way everyone else has. It's possible they were expecting to take her out, or they were trying to test their new pets on our fleet."
"It's crazy they're targeting us when the Unaligned are the ones using hybrids as slaves," Simone grumbles.
Jase tenses suddenly, and my eyes follow his to find the dirty blond haired hybrid who is walking toward us. Kellan's eyes stay on the ground, studying his next step as though he's lost in thought.
"You found a trail?" I ask, trying not to act as uncomfortable as I feel right now.
How am I going to tell him I'm getting married? Do I just blurt it out, or do I pull him aside and talk to him one on one?
"Yeah," he says softly, not meeting my eyes. "If it's cool with you, Commander, I'd like to start tracking it before it gets cold. These dogs didn't come out of nowhere, and the sooner we find the source of their creation, the better."
Jase looks to me and then back to Kellan. "Sounds good. You can take Captain Frick's team. He's around here somewhere."
"Actually, if it's alright, I've already called Grayson Morris, and he's going to meet me. I don't trust just anyone, and he's never had a leak out of his unit."
Jase nods again. "Even better. Take what you need and call me if you find anything."
