At the mention of his name, Anne began to remember her dreams. It had to be Keelan, not Kendrick who appeared to her at night. Otherwise, why would Keelan say she was his mate? Even telling herself this over and over again, she couldn't ignore the burning attraction she felt for Kendrick.
"Hey Colton, did you dream of Rheia before you found each other?"
"Sure did. Most were nice, but they got scarier the closer I got to meeting her. Some nights, I went without sleep because I didn't want to see her get hurt in my nightmares."
"That's how you knew you were mates? Because you dreamt of her?"
Colton nodded. "She dreamt of me, too. It really helped her accept our mating. Why do you ask? Did you dream of Keelan before you met him?"
"Yes, I did; that's why I was so flustered that night in the store."
Colton laughed. "It didn't help that we had him in a pull up."
Anne smiled at the memory. "His face was the color of a tomato when he walked up to explain what was going on."
Colton groaned. "I still feel awful about that."
"Don't feel bad. It actually made talking to him much easier. There was no way I could be intimidated by him after that. In fact, I think that entire episode made it so that we could talk to each other."
Colton turned to her. "Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?" He turned his attention back to the road.
"Really. Normally, I get nervous around people. I was ten years older than my classmates in college, so I was on my own for a long time, but it was impossible to be nervous around Keelan with the image of him wearing a pull up burned into my mind."
"Thanks, Anne. I hated the idea that I might have ruined his mating."
"You're really very sweet. Rheia is a lucky woman."
The tips of Colton's ears turned pink. "I'm a lethal wolf shifter. I am not sweet."
"You keep telling yourself that."
Colton growled and laughed. She ended up laughing with him. Thanks to Keelan, she was making new friends. If only he could be awake to see.
*****
Sascha and Colton carried her boxes up to the guest room closest to Keelan's bedroom. They said their goodbyes and headed downstairs to join up with Quinn before heading to some place called the Council Manor for their meeting. She stared at the boxes and felt no motivation whatsoever to unpack. So she decided to change into more comfortable clothes. She dug through her clothes box and picked out a pair of teal sweatpants, sherpa lined slippers, and her favorite sweatshirt that read, 'Anime...Crack would be cheaper.' Wanting to be closer to Keelan, she grabbed her backpack and pulled out her laptop and charger.
She knocked on Keelan's door and waited. Getting no response, she exhaled in relief. She wasn't sure how to act around Kendrick and the feelings he evoked. She walked in and immediately went over to the bed. She checked Keelan's feeding tube and IV bag; both still looked great. She plugged in her laptop, sat down in the recliner, and made herself comfortable. With her laptop nestled in her lap she fired up her favorite boy's love anime. Boy's love anime was her favorite. What was better than one gorgeous guy going through the ups and downs of falling in love? Two gorgeous men. She was so engrossed in her latest episode, she didn't notice Kendrick's return until he was standing over her.
"Ahh!" She accidentally inhaled her own spit and began to cough. She set her laptop to one side as Kendrick hurried over to the table and brought back his cup of tea. She took small sips still trying to clear her airway.
"Were you trying to kill me?" she demanded.
Kendrick shook his head, an amused expression on his face. "You were so entranced by Tezuka-san and Yuri-kun, you didn't hear me call out to you."
Anne blinked as she realized he knew exactly what she had been watching.
Kendrick leaned down. "You forgot that I don't need subtitles to know what's going on."
"Oh, my goodness!" Anne buried her face in her hands.
"What?" Kendrick asked, walking back to the long table that hadn't been in the room before she left to get her things.
"You must think I'm the biggest nerd in the whole universe for getting caught up in an anime like this."
"Is that what that's called? I was enjoying listening to the story. In fact, if you don't mind, I'd like to find out if Tezuka-san will ever admit his feelings for Yuri." Kendrick picked up a large, ancient-looking, leather-bound book and began to read from it.
"You don't mind that it's two guys?"
"No, the story and dialogue are very well written, and the voice actors are superb. Not many of today's forms of entertainment hold my interest, this does."
Anne smiled. Of course he didn't mind that it was a love story between two guys. Not if he had a thing for Ryuu. "I can go back and start at the beginning. I'm only two episodes in," she offered hesitantly.
Kendrick turned to her, a smile on his face. "I'd very much like to hear how this entire debacle started."
Anne shook her head and double-clicked on the first episode. Within an hour, they were caught up and well into the next episode when Kendrick turned to her frowning. "I don't understand--why doesn't Yuri just tell Tezuka how he feels? They could avoid a lot of the confusion and trouble."
Anne rolled her eyes. "Because if he confessed his love and was rejected, it would destroy him. Right now, his dream of playing with Tezuka in nationals is the only thing keeping him going."