Page 16 of Falling for the Felid
“You and Eoin. Jared and the king. Me. And Ari. Jared, I need you to help me explain to him what’s happening on the ice.”
“Happy to help,” Jared assures me. “Are you sure this is a good idea? If Ari’s having some kind of internal crisis, putting it on display in front of his boss and his king isn’t going to make things better.”
“Iknow,” I groan. “What part of ‘I panicked’ are you missing? I was saying that it’s hard to understand some of the stuff I was talking about without seeing it in context, and next thing I know I was inviting him to see a human game. And then I thought about how fucking awkward that would be, just the two of us in a sea of humans while I tried to explain hockey, and…” I wave a hand. “Group night out.”
“You know that Eoin and I have no understanding of hockey, right?” Dáithí checks. “We’re going to sit there like lumps. Plus, since Eoin isn’t likely to be distracted by the game, he’ll definitely notice if Ari starts being weird, and that’s going to—” He stops talking when a growl escapes my throat.
“Calm down, kitty,” Jared says. “There will be no mauling in my kitchen.” He turns to Dáithí. “I think it’s clear that Felix understands the implications of his actions, but we’re stuck with this plan now. We have to ride it out.”
Why did I think talking to my friends would make me feel better? Standing, I pace across the kitchen, shifting into my felid form along the way. Pacing is always better in cat form. Same with stalking. The biped form doesn’t have the same fluidity of hip movement.
“Aw, kitty,” Dáithí murmurs behind me. “Okay, how are we going to fix this?”
“We go to the hockey on Thursday,” Jared replies immediately. “Felix needs our support. It’ll also give us a chance to see how Ari acts around him. Fe, are you going to see him before then?”
I turn to pace back toward them and shake my head. It’s an odd gesture to make in this form, but the easiest way to be sure they understand me.
“So if he acts normal on Thursday, we still won’t know if it’s a you thing or if he was having a bad day today.”
Great. Though, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be weird around me on Thursday too. The person my friends have described to me is someone I’ve never met, so this isn’t the first time he’s been not himself in my presence. Gotta love it when a good-looking, intelligent guy instantly hates me.
“I’ll get us tickets,” Jared continues. “Or I’ll tell Eoin to. He’s probably going to be pissy about the security, right, Dáithí?”
“Right. We’re all better off if it comes from Raðulfr. Actually, that might be a good idea—let’s make it seem like Ari’s presence is an afterthought. He might relax if the focus isn’t on him.”
I know I made a huge dramatic episode of this, but it might be possible that they’re the ones overthinking it now.
“Good plan. I’ll talk to Raðulfr tonight and tell him we’re having friends’ night out at the hockey game and that Ari should come to even the numbers and so he can learn about the game.”
“Make it sound like you want to set Ari up with Felix,” Dáithí suggests, and, in a move I haven’t experienced since I was an actual cub, I trip over my forepaws. By the time I’m back on my feet, I’ve shifted back to biped.
“What?”
Dáithí shrugs. “It’s just a thought. That would definitely throw them off the scent.”
“Absolutely not. If he thinks… No. Don’t do anything that could make this worse for me!”
“I’d never do that,” Jared promises. “Just leave it with me, and I’ll text you the details. Now come here, and let’s practice meditating again.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ari
The surgeof debilitating relief I feel when I walk into the DEA offices the next morning is a little shameful. I’ve been in battles, for fuck’s sake. I’ve been trained to deal with truly heinous situations—and Ihave. I faced down the potential end of my world without flinching. It’s ridiculous that I’m relieved I don’t have to deal with hockey people today. With… him.
I wave to Dáithí like I always do and turn toward the hallway that will bring me to the security office. We have a team meeting this morning, and th?—
“Ari!”
Uh-oh. Dáithí wants to talk to me.
Could be a good thing, I remind myself as I turn back around and slowly cover the ground between us. Maybe he wants me to distract Eoin so he can plan a surprise, or something like that. Something benign. Something that has absolutely nothing to do with me, the ridiculous internal angst I’m going through, or the hockey people.
“So?” Dáithí asks expectantly when I’m standing in front of the reception desk. “How did it go yesterday?”
Disastrously.
“What do you mean?” I need to be careful. Dáithí and Felix Ansas are friends, which seems like one of those things that shouldn’t be allowed by nature. Too much chaos energy in the one place.
