That makes him smile more. “Thanks. You can message me or send someone to get me once the kids wake up. I don’t want you to have to deal with all of them on your own.”
“I’ll be fine. You go take a nap.” Because he needs it much more than me.
Luca walks over to the sleeping kids, pulling the blankets over them more, before he gives me a nod and makes his way down the hallway.
I hope he gets some sleep. I really do.
Because I feel like we’ll be doing a lot of ‘sleeping whenever we can’ for a while, better to start now.
The kids are all having breakfast on the balcony, chatting happily as they look out over the fields. I’m very glad that the front of the house looks out over the fields and trees and not any of the other parts of the grounds that Mathew owns.
The training complex and other buildings are on the other side, which means that the kids don’t have to see any of the people in gear or anything they’re getting up to. Which is also the reason we’re keeping them up here and aren’t letting them go downstairs, less chance of them seeing or hearing something they’re not supposed to.
Luca’s family have joined us, partially to help look after the kids, but mostly because they don’t have much else to do and at least they’ve got other adults to talk to here.
Caleb and I explained some of what was going on last night, on our way back here, but we didn’t want to scare them too much or make them worry. So, we’re trying to keep them away from the more dangerous things as much as possible, which they seemed to understand.
Finding out that your child or sibling was being kept hostage by some criminal organisation and meeting kids who were in a similar situation, probably makes you willing to wait for any more detailed answers until things have settled down. I hope so anyway.
Luca’s family still seems quite confused, but also pretty patient when it comes to waiting for answers.
Hearing that their lives were in real danger also made them more willing to listen to what we were saying and not question things too much.
Now, let’s hope that we can figure out a new safe location for them, somewhere that they can live without worrying about being targeted again. Or, at least, without Luca having to worry about them being targeted again…
8
Vera
‘Can I come into your room?’ I message Riley as I walk up the stairs, a tray with sandwiches and some bottles of water in my other hand. Having been a waitress comes in handy at times, for example, letting me text while bringing my sweet Alpha something to eat and drink.
‘Sure. Just try to be as quiet as you can.’ Her reply makes me smile. Well, yes. That was the plan. I wasn’t planning on making a lot of noise.
Even though the door to the kids’ room is closed, I can still hear voices, laughter, chatting, coming from there. It’s muffled, but not very quiet, so I totally understand why she’s hiding in her room.
After last night, with everything being so busy and running on very little sleep, hiding away in a quiet space sounds great to me too.
Riley got some information from Erika earlier this morning, but as soon as she’d told us what she knew, she grabbed her laptop, a tablet and went back to her room. That’s probably going to be her base of operations for the day.
Well, we did make sure to kit her closet and any comfortable areas in her room out specifically for this purpose, so…
I open the door to Riley’s room, dim warm light greeting me as I step inside, and close it behind me, a sound that’s barely audible.
She’s got thick and soft carpet on the floor, the door closes basically soundlessly and the windows are covered with two sets of curtains, one to keep out the light and one to simply dim it, which are the ones closed right now. It makes it easy to see in the room without having to turn any lights on, but it’s still easier on the eyes than no curtains at all.
There’s a light breeze and I spot the quiet fans that are angled so that air moves through the room but if you sit at the desk, lie in the bed or curl up in the closet, you’re not actually in their streams. It’s enough to control the temperature in the room and to keep the air moving, without any physical sensations, apart from the quiet hum.
Since she’s not at her desk or on her bed, she’s probably hauled up in her closet, possibly the quietest place in the whole house, especially right now.
One of the doors of the closet is open, the other closed and I carefully look around the corner.
Even in the heat of summer, Riley’s sitting in the back corner of the closet, propped up against a bunch of pillows, two soft and fluffy blankets pulled up almost to her neck. The only parts of her visible are her arms and head. She beams up at me and puts her laptop to the side, on the little shelf so it won’t get lost in her ‘pile’.
“I’ve got some sandwiches and something to drink.” I keep my voice low. “Do you want me to give you the whole tray or just hand you individual things?”
She glances around, thinking. “Individual things, I think.” She meets my gaze, still looking exhausted, but definitely looking more at ease now. “Can I get a bottle of water first? I forgot to take one up with me.”
“Sure.” I put the tray on the floor and hand her one of the bottles, before I look around the room, spotting one of the big pillows and putting it against the open closet door so I can sit there. I could use a bit of quiet with one of my Alphas before I go back into the fray. A few moments to recharge.
