Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 199: You Don’t Have To Trust Me [3]

[RANIA]

King Nathaniel Kravoski was bad news and if the vampire king set his eyes on Incayon then it would be game over, especially now that none of them were at their full potential at the moment.

Then again, Kaia had told them that he had healed all the hurt warriors the previous evening, and that was why he had slept a little too late. It wasn’t nothing because it took a lot of energy to heal the broken, especially since he hadn’t been the one who had done the damage.

Maybe Kaia was reforming and being good, but with Nathaniel, it would be something else.

Granted, Nathaniel meant nothing to Kaia and was not ever going to be able to outsmart Kaia, but if Kaia left this team, and he had triggered the king of vampires, then the vampires would be at war with Incayon.

Not to mention the fact that the whole of Obren would probably be so mad at Rania that they would want her dead alongside the king. The Kaia murders had been too brutal and now they were digging themselves into a whole different hole.

What the hell were they supposed to make of that simple and haunting truth? What the fuck were they supposed to do with all of that out there? The truth wasn’t pleasant in any way, but it was the truth, and right now, Oshita was right to question Kaia.

This was a long and dangerous game that would last years on end. If Kaia abandoned shop in the future, it would be their asses on the line and not Kaia’s so was that something they were willing to explore at the moment?

"Yes, Oshita. That Nathaniel, unless you know of another," Kaia teased, and Oshita wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or if the fact that Kaia was teAsing him meant they were not enemies.

It was hard to tell, really, and that was frustrating on some levels. But maybe they would manage to get over the horrors and decide to embrace this new version of Kaia, right?

Well, the one thing that was true here was that they were never going to fully trust Kaia, even if he had unicorns coming out of his ass. They would still think that he was dangerous and needed to be stopped no matter what happened to or with him.

"Why you little—" Oshita said, ready to show Kaia how good he was at using his words, but Kaia interrupted him.

"Do what you must for Rani, I won’t stand in your way. Just the same way, you shouldn’t stand in my way, if you all refuse to work with me. The goal remains the same. To burn them all down even if it’s the last thing we do," Kaia said with conviction.

For a man who was used to ruining people’s lives, this time he seemed to have a direction, a purpose, something to fight for, or rather, someone to fight for. But how true was his commitment? How well was he going to be when all of this came to the hardest bit?

Would he still stay with Rani and her misfits, or would he shift positions? Would be weary of them or would he stand by them?

Would he protect and shield them like his own or would he throw them under the same bus he was used to recklessly driving?

"Yeah right, says the immortal," Dalrae scoffed.

"Who only listens to one person, my beautiful butterfly? I’ll see you guys around alright," Kaia said as he walked away, but not before kissing Rani one more time on the cheeks, something that their friends had noticed.

He had never kissed her on the lips, at least for the few times they had seen the both of them together. Maybe there was a meaning to that or maybe he was just doing it because he was showing them respect.

But did they need that right now, or did they need the answers to things he probably wasn’t ever going to give them?

Of course, the way Kaia was handling them was so understanding that anyone could have assumed that he had been with them for years. But maybe, just maybe Rania had told Kaia about them and he knew that he wouldn’t hurt them even once.

But was that assurance enough for the best that was loyal to no one? Were they supposed to believe him?

"I can’t believe I’m saying this, but be careful out there," Paloma said, and they looked at her like she was bonkers.

How was she telling the one everyone ran for to be careful?

What exactly was Kaia supposed to be careful of? Betrayal? Anger? People who would use magic on him? Fate? The universe? What the hell was Kaia Seto supposed to be scared of? Or maybe she was mocking him?

But wasn’t her voice too earnest and truthful for a woman who couldn’t be mocking the ruthless bastard?

"The man can’t be killed," Han said as if to remind Paloma that the nuisance before them was an immortal who would spend his whole life being a nuisance to them and many more along the way. But what if this time he wasn’t trying to play with them?

Would that be enough?

"He’s on our side," Paloma said, reminding them of the facts about the man they were dealing with at the moment. She was right though. Kaia hadn’t done anything to make them skeptical of his loyalty to them or Rania.

"He is loyal to no one," Oshita stated and Rania face-palmed. they were never going to let this go. They were never going to let the man have peace for coming into their lives without their permission and maybe they were right.

Rania should have prepared them a month earlier.

"Fortunately or unfortunately, he is loyal to Rani—" Paloma insisted as she and the others watched Kaia walk back to the guest room that he had been in.

It was one stuffy place and he could have easily cleaned it up with his magic, and yet Kaia hadn’t done anything. He had stayed in the dust and mist without complaining. He had come in peace, right?

Oh, but it should have been easy to believe him.

"I’ll bake you muffins if you stop this madness about Kai and his beliefs, your choice," Rania said and the misfits looked at each other, before they agreed uniformly you’d think they weren’t about to take Kaia through a truth test that they didn’t even know shit about.

"I’ll show you the shape I want," Oshita said as he held Rani’s hand, leading the way with her to the kitchen, like they had been camping at her door for literal hours.

"You all are hopeless when it comes to food," Rani sighed but that seemed to be another chance for the misfits to start bickering again, making Rania smile.

At least they didn’t press and ask for information about how she had met Kaia, because that would be a little too soon even then.

"You said it first!" Paloma whined sometime in the bickering, and Rania knew she would be having a long day with her five adult children. But she wouldn’t complain because they were really her happiness.

Hopefully, they would win the war and they would be happy like this, always right?