Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

KALLE

They'd gone to the dining room to get breakfast for Elia and returned to the suite. But when she came out of the bedroom, Kalle was worried.

Elia's skin was dry and her hair dull. Her eyes had dark shadows underneath, and she looked utterly exhausted.

Kalle had enough extended family to know this wasn't uncommon with women in pregnancy. But Elia's exhaustion had a quality to it she didn't like. They'd hoped that her becoming Anima—or some kind of hybrid—would mean that her body was strong enough for the pregnancy. But here they were six weeks in, and her stomach was rounded enough to be noticeable in jeans or any top that wasn't baggy. And she looked terrible. Kalle made a mental note to ask her grandmother about those herbs again.

While Gahrye got changed in his bedroom, Elia sat, listless, at a small table in the corner and picked at the bacon and fruit they'd brought her. Kalle filled her in on their finds from the night before.

"…I was inspired when we talked about the pregnancy and I looked up human pregnancies in some of the medical journals here. Going by your size, I think you're the equivalent of an early second trimester human pregnancy already. And it turns out even with normal pregnancies there's a condition where your bloodstream can end up crossing with the baby's—which can cause problems if you're a different blood type.

"I'm wondering if that's what's happening to you. If Elreth's blood is mixing in your system and that's… that's what's causing you to shift, and… everything else?" She didn't want to tell Elia how terrible she looked. She didn't think that was going to help.

Elia nodded. "That would make sense," she said quietly, pushing the bacon around on her plate with a fork. "And, actually… if that is the issue, then it's probably helped by all the blood they gave me when they were healing me before we crossed."

Kalle had heard the story and had the same thought. "They gave you a transfusion, right?"

"Sort of," Elia said, her brow pressing into lines. "I guess they kind of… hooked me up to an Anima and we shared blood? That's what they called it, anyway. I wasn't awake, so I'm not sure. But then… then Reth… bled on my shoulder when Lucine had bitten me, and…" Elia swallowed hard like she was swallowing nausea.

Kalle put a hand to her shoulder. "It's okay, you don't have to talk about it. We know you got Anima blood twice in less than a week, right?"

Elia nodded.

"So, if we combine that with the baby's bloodstream… that's three different sources of Anima blood in a really short period of time. I'm guessing that's what we should be looking at. I'll ask Grandma if she knows where to find anything about Anima blood. Maybe they've even studied this with humans before. You said Aymora got the idea from a journal, right?"

"I… I think that's what she said?"

Kalle rubbed her shoulder. "Don't stress about it. We're going to the Library now and I'll ask Grandma and we'll just see what comes up. Okay?"

Elia didn't look up, but reached up to put her hand to Kalle's on her shoulder. "Thank you. Please take Gahrye. He REALLY doesn't like going in the car, or being in the city."

Kalle snorted. "You think? Last time I swear he was about to throw up when we got home."

"I was not," a dark, gruff voice said from behind her. Kalle's heart leapt—it was ridiculous. They'd been apart for less than five minutes. But turning to find Gahrye standing behind her in the jeans and that sweatshirt that matched his eyes made her breath come faster.

Her scent must have changed too, because his eyes went from flashing with irritation, to heat in a blink.

She gave him a wicked grin and leaned into him, putting her arms around his waist. "I know you're a big, strong male, don't worry."

He grunted, but even though his hands trailed up and down her back, he turned to look at Elia, who had suddenly found her plate very interesting.

"We will get you more books," he said softly to his friend. Kalle adored how concerned he was for her, but she wished he wouldn't blame himself for her condition. There were so many factors at play that were likely dragging her down both physically and emotionally, it was unrealistic for him to think he could fix them all somehow.

"Thank you. I really don't think I should go out and… well, you guys have fun."

"We will!" Kalle said brightly at the same time Gahrye snorted. Then they farewelled Elia and headed out to the car, Gahrye dragging his feet.

When they passed the dining room, Shaw was at the table, speaking with one of the staff. Kalle tugged Gahrye's elbow to hurry him past. She didn't want Shaw to notice them. He was beginning to get very insistent about the interviews that Gahrye and Elia kept agreeing to, then putting off.

Gahrye gave her a look, but was smart enough not to speak about it until they were outside alone.

"What's going on?" he asked, his shoulders back and hands tense—he was concerned enough to have forgotten they were walking to the car.

"He's pushing for that interview. I really think you guys need to go ahead and do it. The longer you put it off, the more suspicious he gets that you're hiding something." They were crossing the cobbled driveway to the garage.

Gahrye frowned. "Elia really doesn't want to talk about it. She won't even tell me what they said. I can't see her deciding to open up to Shaw."

"Then maybe we need to come up with some kind of plausible lie, or part truth? I know you don't trust him, Gahrye, but he really does talk to every single Anima that comes through. I don't know how honest they all are, but he's got a lot of information about it. And who knows, it might help us? You and me, I mean?"

She looked at him carefully. He could get touchy when she talked about looking into ways to cross the traverse. He was fiercely protective and worried she'd get herself killed.

"You haven't heard the voices," he said, his voice even darker than it had been back in the room. "We're not messing with this shit. Elia thinks I can get back to you. I don't know. But… we're not taking the risk," he said in the tone that meant he would not be debating it further.

Kalle rolled her eyes. "Okay, boss," she joked. "Let me know when I'm allowed a bathroom break, okay?"

He turned to her, confusion written all over his face. "I'm sorry, is this a human joke? I'm not familiar with—"

She hit the button to open the garage door and Gahrye jerked to look at it, frowning at the garage like it was a death trap, waiting to spring on him.

"The car," he said in a tone that she would have used to refer to toxic waste.

Stifling a grin, she hugged his waist again and whispered, "I asked Grandma to give us the room that locks," then kissed the side of his neck.

Gahrye sucked in and Kalle smiled against his skin. "It will be worth it, then," he said a second later. "But only just."