Page 43 of House of Kallan
A sigh was his only acknowledgment. He didn’t like to talk about those early days. Or the years before us. I didn’t blame him. Aden had been through some shit.
Minutes ticked past and no one answered my question on whether they thought Tatum would want to get married. It was fine. I’d hold out hope that she would one day. Hopefully, one day soon.
I knew Aden needed more time, but there was no reason that he couldn’t spend that time with our wife as much as with our… girlfriend? Ugh. That just wasn’t enough.
Minutes turned into hours, and I think we were all nearly dozing when the door finally opened. I jumped up, slightly disoriented from my half-asleep state. By the time my mind turned back online, Aden had already jumped into Hawthorn’s arms and was wrapped around him like a baby sloth.
I didn’t bother to wait my turn and joined them. It wasn’t long before we were all wrapped around Hawthorn.
“You okay?” Hadrian asked, his voice soft.
“I’ve never seen such horror,” Hawthorn said. “Just when you think it couldn’t get worse, it does.”
“I don’t want to know,” I said. Aden shook his head.
“No.” He sighed. “I don’t even want to know. However, I’ll say that unlike everywhere else we’ve been, there was actually information there. The Breeding Houses appear to just be holding facilities. Besides providing the women their basic needs to bring them to term, they’re largely left alone.” He paused. “I think. I hope.”
“I suppose that’s better than it could be,” Lazarus said.
“Yeah, but this place.” He shook his head. “This is their nursery. Or maybe an experimental training camp? It’s horrendous but what was… nice, if you could call it that, was that there was actually information on the children they had. Each of them had a folder with their observations. I’m not going to tell you the means by which they came to conclusions, but it’s still going to be helpful for Haven to have.”
“Speaking of Haven,” I said. “Was Tatum there?”
“Yes,” Hawthorn said. “She was.”
I sighed, slightly jealous that he got to see her.
“Tatum,” Cobalt said, and I felt our little huddle break apart.
I nearly whined because I wasn’t ready to be done with this closeness yet. But when I picked my head up to complain, I found the reason why. Tatum was here now. She stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, and watched us with a tired smile and eyes half closed.
“Hi,” she said.
Her voice made Aden pick his head up too.
“I brought her home,” Hawthorn said. “I’d like to tell you it was for altruistic reasons because she was dead on her feet and I didn’t want her to drive home, but really, I thought that after what we all saw tonight, no one should be alone.”
“That’s still kind of altruistic,” Hadrian said.
“Let me have my moment,” Hawthorn answered.
I laughed, hugging him tightly. My laughter was slightly hysterical because I was so fucking tired. Something I thought Hawthorn heard because his arm tightened around me.
“In that case, let’s get you two cleaned up and head to bed,” Hadrian said. “We can talk more in the morning.”
Rahael pulled me from Hawthorn and picked me up, much like Hawthorn was still holding Aden. I rested my chin on his shoulder and closed my eyes as he carried me up the stairs.
I’d like to say that I was wide awake and present when Tatum joined us in the big bed. But that would be a lie. I was fast asleep before my head even hit the pillow. My family was here, together and safe. That was enough for me to find my peace.
Tatum
When I opened my eyes,I was disoriented by my surroundings. Laying on my back and facing the ceiling, my first thought was,when did my ceiling become so ornate?There was crown molding and three rings of whatever those decorative features around the base of a chandelier were called. Oh, did I mention the chandelier? There was nothing that said ‘divine’ more than that thing!
I had a single ceiling light that came standard in all apartments. You know, the ones that look like a boob? Yep, that’s the atmospheric ambience I had going for me. The lamp on the bedside table was useless. It didn’t put out enough light to even see your nails if your hand was right in front of your face.
That’s what I got for thinking I could choose something stylishandfunctional.
So yeah, when I first woke up, I had no idea where I was. My next thought was,it’s so damn bright.It didn’t take long for me to realize that it wasn’t early morning and I shot up in bed. Fuck. Late for work! How could I have slept through my alarm?
