Page 32 of Bloom in Darkness

“Talia wants the replacement bouts approved before noon.” The man lifts the folder slightly and takes another step toward us. “I just need you to sign the changes.”

A low vibration starts beneath my ribs as the man keeps walking toward us, faint enough at first that I almost mistake it for Caelan before the sound grows louder through my chest. My arm tightens around him as I stare at the man approaching our corner.

Caelan looks down at me. His mouth twitches once before he controls it.

The man stops again. “Should I…”

“It seems our Omega doesn’t want you in here while I’m injured.” Caelan says it so casually that my purr gets louder before the word our fully catches up with me. “You might want to leave the folder with Bryn.”

The man laughs, and I hiss before I can stop myself.

His mouth snaps shut. Behind us, Bryn makes a choking sound that might be an attempt not to laugh. I twist around and glare at him too, which only makes his shoulders move harder.

“I’ll come back later,” the man says, already retreating toward the door. He puts the folder on the edge of Bryn’s desk on his way past and leaves without waiting for Caelan to dismiss him.

I keep staring at the door after it closes. My purr fades after a few seconds, though I don’t loosen my hold around Caelan.

“Astra.” Caelan waits until I finally look up at him. “I’m fine.”

“You almost died.”

Bryn lowers his tablet while Caelan stares at me for a long second, then slowly turns toward him. “What the fuck did you tell him?”

“That you got hurt,” Bryn says, his expression completely unchanged.

“You said he got hurt.” I push myself upright enough to look between them. “Then I get here and he’s limping, he has a bad knee, and he can barely put weight on it after getting in a ring with somebody!”

Caelan blinks at me. “I did not almost die.”

“You don’t know that. Bryn was there too, and he’s been watching you like you’re going to fall over since I got here.”

Caelan shoots Bryn a look. “You are terrible at reassuring people.”

I turn back to Caelan and point toward his knee. “You said it was an old injury, which means it was already damaged, and then you went and fought on it.”

Caelan closes his mouth, and I nod once. “Exactly.”

“That proves absolutely nothing.” His hand comes up to cup the back of my neck before I can start spiraling again. “Astra, listen to me. I hurt my knee years ago. Last night I aggravated it. It hurts, I’m going to be sore for a few days, and Bryn is going to glare at me every time I stand up. Nobody almost died.”

I tighten my arm around Caelan and glare between them. Caelan sighs.

“You’re taking his side,” Caelan says, sounding deeply offended even as he presses a kiss to my forehead.

I tighten my arm around his stomach. “He’s the one not trying to walk around on that leg.”

“I’m starting to regret teaching you how to argue.”

The argument wears itself out after that. Caelan goes back to his tablet, Bryn returns to the paperwork on his desk, and I stay sprawled over Caelan while the office settles around us. Every so often Caelan forgets himself and shifts like he intends to get up. I make a warning sound against his chest, and he settles back down without complaint.

At some point I reach for the notebook in my bag and start sketching without moving off him. Caelan tries to look down at the page, so I angle it away.

“You’re using my chest as a desk,” he points out while his fingers trace slowly through my hair. “I feel I should have some rights to the final product.”

“You have the right to sit still.”

I make a soft noise and keep drawing. Caelan laughs under his breath, kisses my forehead again, and returns to his work while my charcoal moves across the page. The warmth underneath my skin gradually settles into something heavier. I’m still restless in a way I can’t explain, but being tucked against Caelan with Bryn close by keeps it from becoming unbearable.

The next time I wake, neither of them realizes it. The office has gone quieter. Caelan’s tablet is dark on the cushion beside him, one hand resting at the back of my neck while Bryn has moved closer from the desk and is sitting on the edge of the couch.