Page 32 of House of Kallan
“You’re too cute, you know that?” I asked.
My attention moved to my phone when the screen lit up. I tried to keep it on vibrate so it wouldn’t distract meall day, but I knew that my future husbands were out there. In the two weeks since dinner, we texted often, though we hadn’t gotten together since. I hadn’t even seen any of them since then.
I talked to Aden the most, which I kind of loved. He was sweet and funny and we could honestly talkfor days. We’ve spent hours talking about nothing at all but I always went to sleep with a smile on my face.
A knock on my door had me looking up. It was cracked open. While I was surprised to see Tyrus standing there, I wasn’t surprised to see that he had Bael in his arms.
“Come in, Tyrus,” I said, sitting back in my chair.
He pushed the door open and grinned at me. Bael was just over a month old now and had officially moved to the orphan room last week when Sadie checked herself out and took off. This wasn’t a jail and, technically speaking, she was physically fine. We couldn’t keep her here, even if we thought it might be in her best interest.
“You have a favorite kid too,” he said, looking at Shadow. “I’ve seen you take him out many times.”
Shadow gave me a smirk. Yes, this nine-month-old smirked at me. I sighed. “What do you need, Tyrus?”
He sat in the chair across from me. His hair wasn’t green anymore but a very pretty sea blue. Just the top, where it was the longest. Floppy with tight, blue curls and shaved on the edges. He was actually really cute like that.
“I want to take him home,” he told me. “Bael. Not Shadow.”
“I know who you’re talking about.”
“Some people like to play dumb when I don’t speak clearly, as if they don’t know what I mean,” he said, raising a brow. “I’m an adult and should be treated as such. Just because I’m happy, even while I rip someone’s throat out, doesn’t mean I’m a child. I lack empathy; not intelligence.”
I studied him for a minute. “Thank you for the lecture, Tyrus.”
He grinned. “That wasn’t for you. Sorry.”
“Quite all right. I understand being judged for something stupid.”
“The world is kind of a stupid place,” he said.
I couldn’t disagree with that. “You think it’s a good idea to bring Bael home?”
“Are you judging me for a stupid reason?” he asked, not even trying to hide his grin.
Sighing, I shook my head. “No. I’m judging you for a legitimate reason. But I’m not judging you at all. I have it on good authority that you’re entirely capable of taking care of Bael in a healthy, stable environment. I still have concerns.”
“I hope they’re because you have concerns about everyone and not because I’m crazy,” he said, smiling like he hadn’t just talked about his psychopathy as if it were a cold.
“You don’t think that’s a good enough reason to be concerned? Before you answer, yes, I’m concerned with everyone. Not just you.”
“I appreciate that answer. But, no; I don’t think that’s a good enough reason. Icanbe a contributing member of society. Iker chooses to keep me home, but that’s based on his worries, not anything I’ve done. I kill bad guys, Miss Tatum. It’s my job to kill those who would otherwise kill us. I’ve never hurt anyone else. Just because I don’t always understand people and their weird feelings, doesn’t mean I would be a bad caregiver.”
“Bael needs a family, Tyrus. Not a caregiver.”
“Is that what you’re doing with all the people here? Finding families for them?” he challenged.
“For the orphans, yes. Can you imagine what would happen to these kids if they weren’t brought up in a loving, supportive, and nurturing environment?”
“I was brought up in one of those,” he said. “I’m still a psychopath.”
“You’re selling yourself with rainbows,” I deadpanned.
He laughed. “Come on, Miss Tatum. I need you on my side. Then you can convince Iker and the rest of my husbands to come in and see Bael.”
“Tyrus, if they don’t?—”
“No,” he said, interrupting me. “It’s not at all that they don’t want a child or even this specific child. They want a wife. There’s supposed to be ‘an order’ to things and bringing a child homemight complicate that. I meant what I said the other day; the reason they haven’t been in with me is because they’d want to bring him home too.”
