Exiting the meeting room, Landon looked like stormy clouds gathered over his face. The frustration and lack of progress with the ongoing threats are eating away his patience. The decorum he carefully cultivated to mingle with the humans crumbles day by day and the animal inside pushes at him to shed all pretense and hunt until they are all dead. The Instinct would have been really handy here but it never seemed to surface ever since the shooting incident back at the office.
He went back to the room where he left Ley and composed himself again back to human standards. This time, it was effortless as the thought of her being frightened at him leaves him with discomfort for some reason.
He was the one that got surprised instead. There was no one in the room and all that was left there is a note on the table addressed to him saying 'See you at the office'.
Looking at the note, he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed. Something about her behavior interests him all the time lately.
He dialled to the guard house with his phone and asked, "What time did Roma left?"
Shifter currently on duty answered with a confused tone, "Your secretary sir? She
didn't pass by here."
Landon was taken aback at what he heard and exasperation filled his face.
"Sir? Is she missing? Do you want us to look for her?" the shifter volunteered.
"Never mind. I'll look for her myself," he replied and hang up.
He took a deep breath and the faint tantalizing aroma of wild roses and apple filled his sense of smell. He followed the scent and his amusement grew as he retraced the steps Roma taken. Most humans would shy away from an unfamiliar forest at night but she didn't and instead went straight ahead with it. Her scent just going straight to a certain path without backtracking.
Landon finally found her a few minutes later in a ridiculous scene he never imagined. She was climbing the railing in a skirt that was almost double her height with heels in hand. He almost burst out laughing but managed to stop himself in time and let out a cough instead. He saw her look at him without surprise.
"I'll see you at the office, sir" she said normally and as if 'sir' was just added as an afterthought.
She had her blank face as usual but something told him that she was currently upset.
"Stop climbing and get down now or I'll climb up there and get you," he replied with certainty, expecting her to climb down at the order.
She increased her climbing pace instead and was almost at the other side when Landon acted without thinking.
In just a second, Roma was in his arms facing him and they both looked taken aback at what happened.
"W-w-what?" she stuttered, no doubt surprised at what he did.
Landon was also reeling since he just unconsciously revealed his ability that sets him apart from humans just like that to Roma and it unsettled him. He never planned on letting her know that way and he's worried that she might get scared instead.
He slung her across his shoulders and hurried back to the house all the while ignoring her demand to put her down.
***
In all her life, Ley couldn't think of anything more awkward of a situation than this. She was sitting on a bed with Landon in front of her on a chair. He was just staring at her as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
She was just about to speak when he suddenly leaned in while placing his elbows on his knees.
He spoke softly as if he was afraid of scaring me, "I didn't want you to find out like this but it's better that I make sure you don't get the wrong idea."
Her brain which was already tense from all the anger and weird situations became even more confused at what he's saying.
"The speed of my movement earlier must have shocked you. I'm not sure what you thought of it but I can assure you that it's nothing bad. I'm not a human but a shifter," he divulged.
That was when it all became clear to her. She was shocked earlier not because of his unintended revelation of her abilities but because of the way he just carried her like some caveman. He can't know that though.
She pinched her thighs under the covers so the pain made her squeaked in a high-pitched tone, "What?!"
"I'm a shifter. I shift into an animal, only one type of animal," Landon said, gauging my reaction.
Her curiosity got the best of her and asked, "What animal?"
"Tiger," he said simply. He looked like his usual confident self but she could see a hint of unsure in his eyes. It was something that she was familiar with. It's what she sees every time she looked in the mirror, a result of hiding what she really is.
"I don't mind," she said, even though it's uncharacteristic for a human to say that. She didn't want this little episode to become something that would make him doubt himself.
"You don't mind?" he muttered, clearly confused.
"What I mind is the reason why I'm here and not at my own home," she distracted him.
"Oh. That," his voice reflecting his reluctance to answer.
"Yes. That. I don't think the threat to my life isn't that big compared to yours and doesn't warrant this kind of extreme action," she said, a bit of her frustration leaking into her voice.
Landon's gaze became intense and she felt the need to back away from him.
"To you, perhaps but it is something important to me. I take any threats to you seriously. Don't deny that you didn't feel anything that night at the party. I don't know what to call it but something in you calls me," his husky voice became even lower and she felt her pulse speeding. Damn territorial shifter.
"What do you think would've happened if Sebastian didn't interrupt us?" he continued when she didn't speak, giving her that smolder that seemed to threaten her willpower.
Ley was absorbed with what he's saying when her brain threw cold water at her. It was Roma that he's seeing not her. It calmed her down quickly.
"Nothing would've happened," she said decisively.
"Should we see if there's really nothing?" he slowly said, flashing that devil smile again.
This was the first time she felt Landon really threatened by Landon. She felt something in her wanting what he's offering and it's something that she can't afford to try at all.
She didn't notice that she was clenching the sheets until Landon grabbed her hands and made her released them.
"Go to sleep. You don't have to think about this now. I can be really patient when I want to," he patted her head and settled back on his chair.
"Why are you still here then?"
"I'm making sure you're not going to run off again," he spoke righteously.
Ley felt that this teasing was never gonna end if she replied so she just laid on the bed and got under the covers. A few minutes later, she heard Landon got up and closed the door.
Ley heaved a sigh at how her life suddenly became much more complicated ever since taking this mission.