Chapter 110: Episode 110: Fear

Kael’s POV

The meeting ended later than I wanted. I walked out of the council room already thinking about the guild house.

The few hours away from Akira had felt too long. I felt restless from the moment I stepped into the corridor. I needed him near me again.

I missed him with a sharp, clear ache. Separation anxiety pressed on my lungs with every step I took toward the main doors. I wanted Akira in my hands.

I wanted to pull him close and bury my face against the curve of his neck. I wanted to breathe in the soft peachy scent that belonged only to me.

That scent was mine. The warm weight of his body was mine. The quiet way he leaned into me when the day grew heavy was mine.

Being away from all of it for a full morning left me irritable and hungry for contact. Possession filled my chest until it felt tight.

I moved faster through the corridors. Hunters stepped aside when they saw my face. I did not slow down. The need to see him, touch him, and make sure he was fine grew stronger with every turn. My hands felt empty without him.

I stepped into the open common area near the entrance and stopped hard.

Akira stood near the side wall. Sena held him by the arms. His whole body shook. Even from a distance I saw the wet shine in his eyes and the tight line of his mouth.

Fear slammed into my chest. Shock followed it. Then deep worry flooded me and turned my blood cold.

I crossed the space in long strides. Sena looked up. Relief and concern showed clearly on her face. She kept one hand on Akira’s shoulder until I reached them.

"What happened?" My voice came out low and tight. Anger already burned under the worry. "Why is he shaking?"

Sena spoke quickly. "A lady named Vanessa called him away. I do not know what they talked about. He was gone for a while. When he came back he was like this. Shaking. Tears in his eyes. He has not said much."

The name Vanessa settled in my mind like a cold weight. I did not know her full history with Akira yet, but I knew the result of their talk stood shaking in front of me. Cold fury rose inside me. Someone had put this look on his face. Someone would answer for it.

I stepped in and pulled Akira straight into my arms. His body felt small and trembling against mine. The peachy scent I had craved was still there, but fear and distress had mixed with it. Protectiveness roared through me. Love and anger and deep care twisted together until I could barely keep my breathing even.

"I have you," I said against his hair. My hands moved over his back in firm, steady strokes. "I am here. You are safe. Breathe."

Akira’s fingers clutched the front of my jacket. He pressed his face into my chest and kept shaking. The feel of his tears soaking into my shirt sent another wave of cold rage through me. I locked my arms tighter around him and looked at Sena over his head.

"Thank you for staying with him," I said. The words stayed controlled. The feeling underneath them burned. "I will take it from here."

Sena nodded. Worry still showed in her eyes. "I will be close if you need anything."

I guided Akira toward the private corridor that led to my office. My arm stayed firm around his shoulders. His steps were unsteady. Every small tremble that ran through his body fed the dark planning already starting in the back of my mind.

Vanessa. Former guild master. The woman who had called him in a harsh tone and left him shaking with tears in his eyes.

I did not know the words she had used. I did not need them yet. The result was enough. She had hurt what belonged to me. That fact alone decided her future.

We reached the office. I unlocked the door, led him inside, and closed it firmly behind us. The moment the lock clicked I pulled him fully against me again. Both arms wrapped around his back. One hand cradled the back of his head and held his face to my neck.

"I am here," I repeated. My voice stayed low. "No one is going to touch you while I am in this room. Breathe with me."

Akira’s shaking continued. I felt the uneven pulls of air against my skin. Distress and leftover fear poured from him. I answered every tremor with a tighter hold and steady presence.

Love and fierce protectiveness filled me until there was no room for anything else. The separation anxiety from earlier now felt small compared to the need to fix whatever had broken him in the short time I was gone.

I walked us backward until my desk was behind me, then lifted him carefully and set him on the edge of it so I could stand between his knees and keep him close.

My hands framed his face and tilted it up. Tear tracks marked his cheeks. The sight sent another hard pulse of anger through my chest.

"You do not have to talk yet," I said. "Just stay here and let me hold you. I am not going anywhere."

He gave a small nod. Fresh tears slipped down. I wiped them with my thumbs and then pulled him forward until his forehead rested against mine.

The peachy scent of his skin finally reached me without the sharp edge of fear drowning it. I breathed it in deeply and let the familiar smell calm the worst of the panic that had started when I first saw him shaking.

But the anger did not calm. It settled into something cold and precise. Vanessa had done this. Vanessa would learn what it cost to leave my man shaking and crying in a public hallway.

I would find every pressure point she had. I would use every piece of rank, record, and influence I owned. I would make sure she regretted the harsh tone and whatever words had followed it.

Akira’s hands finally loosened their desperate grip on my jacket and settled against my sides instead. The shaking slowed by small degrees. I kept one hand moving up and down his back and kept the other curved around the back of his neck.

Soft words left my mouth without much thought; quiet promises that he was safe, that I was here, that nothing would reach him while I stood in the way.

Relief began to mix with the anger as his breathing steadied. He was still upset. He was still fragile in my hands. But he was here and he was letting me hold him.

The sharp need from the morning melted under the stronger need to protect and repair.

I pressed a kiss to his temple, then to his damp cheek, then to the corner of his mouth. Each contact carried care and quiet fury at the person who had made these tears necessary.

Possession filled me again. He was mine to keep safe. Anyone who forgot that fact would be reminded.

"I have you," I said once more. "Whatever she said, whatever she wanted, it does not touch you while I am here. We will deal with the rest when you are ready. Right now you only need to stay in my arms and breathe."

Akira gave a small, broken sound and nodded against my face. Love and leftover fear and tired trust moved through the sound. I wrapped him up tighter and let the office stay silent around us.

Inside my mind the planning continued. Vanessa’s position. Her records. Her connections. Every lever I could pull.

The cold focus of it lived under the warm work of holding Akira until the last tremble left his body. She had made him cry. She would answer for that. I would make certain of it.

I held my man and breathed in the soft peachy scent that belonged only to me. Worry and rage and deep care all lived together inside my chest.

Outside this room the guild continued its usual noise. Inside this room the only thing that mattered was the slow steady work of putting Akira back together while I planned the downfall of the woman who had broken him in the first place.

He was safe now. He was in my hands. The rest would follow. Vanessa would learn exactly what it meant to leave my boyfriend shaking with tears in his eyes.

I would teach her that lesson without mercy and without rush. For now I only held the man I loved and let him borrow my calm until his own returned.

I stayed standing between his knees and kept my arms around him long after the shaking stopped. My fingers moved slowly through his hair.

The soft peachy scent calmed the last of the morning’s restless need. In its place sat a colder, harder promise.

No one was allowed to leave him like this. Not while I still breathed. Vanessa had made a mistake. I would make sure she understood the size of it before the day ended.

I pressed one more kiss to Akira’s hair and kept him close. The planning continued behind my quiet breathing. The woman who had hurt him would not walk away untouched.