Page 86 of House of Kallan
My office was situated between the ring of orphan houses and the women’s barracks. I could just see the center of the children’s ring where they were playing when I looked out the window.
A knock on my door made me look up and Taylour walked in. I was thankful when she agreed to move into the compound with her family.
“Ready?” she asked, taking a seat across from me.
“Yep. Let’s hear it.”
We were still going strong, looking for families for our orphans and mother-child pairs. Taylour still discussed the options with me. When I told her I appreciated it, but if she didn’t find it necessary, she could make decisions on her own. She assured me that she liked this routine we had established. It helped to hash out the options with someone who knew the kids and women.
After discussing three mother-child pairs and five orphans, Taylour sat back and studied me. Before I could ask what she was looking for, she asked, “When are you going to apply to bring Shadow home?”
I caught my breath. “What?”
Taylour rolled her eyes. “Come on, Tatum. You tense up every time I bring up the shadowkind. While I think Shadow is your favorite, you don’t really want any of them to go. Especially as they get older.”
Sighing, I dropped my head back and closed my eyes. “It’s selfish that I want to keep them here.”
“Yes, I won’t argue with that. But I think you only want to keep them here because you don’t want to bring up adopting Shadow with your new family.”
I cringed and looked at her. She smirked. Leaning forward as she got to her feet, she said, “Talk to them, Tatum. Shadow would be just as devastated if he was placed with another family as you would be to see him go. He’s yours, and you both know it.”
I frowned after her as she left. Though… not because she was wrong. Because I was irritated with myself that I had refused to acknowledge any of that until she pointed it out.
We didn’t have a ceremony or a celebration. There was no bouquet and there was no gathering. We held our nuptials privately, just the eight of us. It had been exactly what we needed and perfect in its simplicity.
Taylour was right. Shadow was mine. I was going to have to talk to my husbands tonight.
But before I went home for lunch, I had one task left to do that had been lurking in the back of my mind for weeks. Months. Since we made it official. Tatum Malak.
Picking up the dark flower with glowing edges, I headed out of my office to hunt down my prey. Most of those who lived within the compound now worked remotely; I figured I’d find him at his home, so I headed there.
At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to like living in a fortress. That was essentially what this was, after all. The outside walls were three feet thick, eleven feet tall, surrounded by a fucking moat, and topped with a whole mess of barbed wire.
That was all for show. The real defense was the magic within the entire place. Glancing up, I could just catch a glimmer of it as the sun reflected off it and through it. Like a dome. At night, sometimes it made its own stars.
Honestly, I didn’t hate this at all. Unless you were close tothe walls, they weren’t obviously visible. The sidewalk I was walking down made the neighborhood I moved through feel like a suburb. There were small yards and houses lining the streets. Kids playing outside.
It was nice here. I didn’t hate it at all.
When I reached the Darkyn’s house—only a few doors down from us—I knocked on the door and waited until someone answered. It wasn’t long before Tyrus opened the door with a wide smile. “Miss Tatum,” he greeted. Unsurprisingly, he was holding Bael. I was confident that he would never let Bael learn to walk. He was always being carried around.
Though, not just by Tyrus, something I think Tyrus both loved and hated.
“Hi,” I said, smiling. Bael grinned at me, holding out his little hand. I took it, kissing the back. His smile widened. “I need to see Raleigh, please.”
He sighed. “Are you having an affair with our human?” he asked, stepping back and letting me in.
“I think you’d actually like that since you like me,” I said, raising a brow at him on my way past him.
I was amused that he actually thought about it. Eventually, his voice followed me down the hall. “Funny.”
Chuckling, I made my way to Raleigh’s room. It wasn’t hard to make our houses almost as big as the ones we left. Since 80% of residents were working from home now, they needed places to do so. So even families of eight or nine like ours meant we needed at least that many bedrooms.
Knocking on his door, I waited until Raleigh looked up. He was wearing a headset, sitting at a desk that looked far too small for his big stature. It was like one of those cute commercials with the giant bikers cooing to their tiny two-pound yapper dogs with their hair up in cute little pink bows. That was the image that flashed in my head whenever I saw him at his desk.
Raleigh smiled, waving me in. When I pushed his door open further, I realized he was actually talking into his headset. I satin the chair beside his desk to wait for him to finish and looked around his room.
His bed was made, as it always was. I didn’t think he actually slept in it. In fact, I didn’t think he used his room much at all. Part of me thought that if I opened his closet, I’d find it empty.
