Page 27 of Klaus

10

Ainsley

Ididn’t notice the note just inside the door to my room until I was returning from the shower. Meet me at the stones.

Nothing more than that. Not even a signature. I didn’t recognize the handwriting, which told me it could only have been written by one person.

My pulse picked up speed, even as I wondered what he might want with me. He must have come by while I was showering. Had any of the others seen him standing by my door? Undoubtedly, our rooms extended down the length of the tunnel and off to the right and left three doors down from mine, forming a capital-T shape. There was no chance that no one had happened to pass through at the right, or wrong, time.

“What of it?” I asked myself, my voice the only sound in the otherwise silent room.

We were friends. That was all they needed to know.

So why did my heart begin to race when I knew he wanted to see me? That certainly didn’t happen when Owen or Dallas wished to speak with me.

His knowledge of my affliction had woven a connection between us, whether I’d known it at the time or not. Two days had passed, and I hadn’t yet managed to remove him from my thoughts. He was everywhere, all the time. His voice, his eyes, his hands on my arms. His kindness.

So kind. That was the most surprising of all. Anyone who looked at him would think him a brute, while he was large as all male shifters were, his body was what I could only describe as “brawny.” Yet as a lion, he moved with grace I wouldn’t have believed possible.

A man of contradictions.

And he wanted to see me outside.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Alan asked when I nearly crashed into him on my way out the door. He’d obviously been on his way in to see me.

Of all the times. I hadn’t exchanged more than a few words with him at a clip since our return. I tucked my hair behind my ears, then silently scolded myself for fidgeting. I wasn’t a child, and he hadn’t caught me doing anything wrong.

“I didn’t think I was in a hurry,” I lied. “I wanted something to eat, and then to go for a walk.”

“I want you to be careful out there,” he muttered, his brows drawing together.

“Why? Is something amiss?”

“…no. Not exactly.” It was his turn to lie, it seemed.

I heaved a sigh, Klaus forgotten for the moment. “What is it, truly? I’ve known you too long and too well to buy whatever it is you’re attempting to sell.”

His frown deepened. “I don’t know, honestly. It might be something, it might not. It could’ve been a tourist or hiker who lost their way.”

“A human, you mean. There was a human somewhere nearby.” My stomach knotted itself, then knotted the knot. If I’d indeed intended on finding something to eat prior to crashing into Alan, a change of plans would’ve been in order.

“We’re looking into it.”

“We?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You know who I mean. Along with Klaus.”

Which explained why he’d been prowling the woods as a lion. I hadn’t thought to ask him about it at the time, too wrapped up in my own concerns to question his actions.

“I see,” I murmured, imagining him putting himself in potential danger for our sakes. It wasn’t an image I particularly enjoyed, not one bit.

“So please.” Alan placed his hands on my shoulders in a familiar, practiced gesture. “Please, do not take too many chances out there. Times have changed.”

Had they ever. I promised to be careful and managed to extricate myself from his grip as politely as possible before moving on. Klaus would undoubtedly believe I’d chosen to ignore his note by now. What was it he wanted to speak about? Was he going to tell me what my brother had shared, that he’d sensed a foreign presence nearby?

He paced inside the circle of stones, hands deep in the pockets of his shorts, the picture of a man whose impatience had grown until it was nearly unbearable.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I joined him. “I was held up.”

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