(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 262

Chapter 262: A dangerously good actor

"How is everyone doing?" Kellen asked as he opened the door to his Dad’s room.

Kellen wasn’t surprised when he found that his Mom had been let back into the room and Casper and the new Guide were near his Dad’s bed making arts and crafts projects. Casper had glue in his hair, his brows furrowed in concentration, while the younger Guide held up his string of misshapen creatures up for his Dad to see.

Kellen’s Dad’s complexion looked better. His eyes weren’t as stressed, his shoulders were relaxed, and the large, awful bandage around his neck was on full display. Kellen swallowed thickly as everyone turned their gaze to look at him.

His Dad broke out into a large smile, pulling down his own craft project and held out his arms, asking for a hug. Kellen couldn’t resist him, and made his way over, wrapping his arms around his Dad delicately, much to his laughter.

"You are about as bad as your Mother. At least your sister hugs me like she means it." He grumbled, but clearly didn’t mean it. Kellen pulled back, checking him over with his gaze and watched as his Dad did the same. His Dad gave him a squeeze. "Kellen, stop it. I’m fine."

"Then stop checking on me in the same way." Kellen replied and his Dad laughed. Kellen was glad to see that he was in such high spirits after everything that had happened, but he also knew the secret ingredient.

Kellen glanced at the two damaged Guides next to him before meeting his Dad’s gaze. His Dad gave him another squeeze until Kellen pulled back, worried he wouldn’t be able to hold the position for long with his injured leg.

"You look okay for someone who is basically holding this Guild up by its bootstraps." His Dad joked, and Kellen flushed.

"There are so many people involved in this Guild. I’m barely doing anything." Casper gave Kellen a look, and Kellen felt the warning before the Captain’s arm wrapped around his shoulder.

"Don’t sell yourself so short, Mr. Woods. Who knows how we would have handled everything up until this point without you here? I honestly can’t even imagine it." Rhys told him, pressing a kiss against Kellen’s cheek. Kellen made a face, and his Dad laughed.

"Oh, openly showing affection now huh? Did Rhys wean you down?" His Dad teased and Rhys grinned proudly, pushing out his chest.

"Why yes I did. He even lets me hold his hand sometimes in public." He bragged and Kellen flushed even more. Even Kellen’s Mom laughed.

"You’ll never believe it." She whispered loudly to her husband. "But I interrupted them in Kellen’s office." She had a wicked grin on her face. It was a complete lie, or, the context was wrong since Casper was also there, but his Dad didn’t need to know that.

"Mom!" Kellen protested loudly, and his Dad covered his mouth, his eyes wide and sparkling.

"My goodness! He really weaned you down so quickly. One minute, you’re complaining to me about different levels of guiding, and next you’re holding his hand in public without guiding involved? Kellen, slow down." He teased and Kellen felt his heart jerk at the reference to what they were discussing right before the attack.

Rhys turned to Kellen, his bottom lip sticking out.

"You were complaining about different levels of guiding to your Dad? What? Was I not good enough?" Kellen choked on air, coughing into his arm while his face flushed. Kellen’s Dad laughed at his reaction. He reached for his wife’s hand, taking it in his own and Kellen’s Mom relaxed. She smiled at her only son as he recovered.

"No no, it wasn’t anything like that, Rhys, but I don’t think I should speak about it in detail. I wouldn’t want to embarrass him." He winked, and Kellen wanted to suck that smug look off of his face. It was far too late for that, Dad!

"Oh, thank goodness. I was worried there for a minute. We’ve been working it out in our free time, but it would be quite disheartening if he wasn’t being honest with me." He was putting on a good act, Kellen would admit.

He didn’t look like he needed to get drunk to forget everything. He almost had Kellen fooled. Too bad the man was touching him and Kellen could feel the wave of his powers, his emotions, beating down on him from behind.

Kellen’s Dad raised his hand, motioning for Rhys to come forward on his own with a kind, tender smile on his face. Rhys glanced at Kellen, who motioned for him to go forward, and Rhys did. When he did, Kellen’s Dad wrapped his free arm around him, patting his back.

"It will be okay. Whatever is bothering you will pass. My son is a good man, he’ll be there for you." Rhys froze and Kellen could feel the temperature in the room drop. Both Casper and the new Guide gasped, which told Kellen that he could feel the fluctuation of powers as they happened.

Kellen was fine.

"How can you be so sure?" Rhys said, his voice dangerously calm and he laughed, patting his shoulder still. It spoke highly of his Mom that she didn’t react negatively to Rhys’ drop in emotions.

"Because I know if things were truly dire, Kellen would have already asked for help. More so than he already has. He has faith in you, Rhys, and I know you are a strong, powerful man. My son wouldn’t select just anyone as his pair, even if the compatibility was high." Rhys pulled back and Kellen wondered what his face looked like. He could only see the back of his head. He could see his Dad’s face.

It didn’t look too different to him. Kind, soft, warm. It was just his Dad to him, but he wondered what Rhys saw in it.

Rhys sighed, leaning in and giving him another hug and Kellen’s Dad closed his eyes, chuckling.

Oh. Right. Yeah, he knew that his parents were famous but he forgot the depth of it sometimes. Yeah, he knew that the city was upset that they had been attacked, but it had been a while since someone had reacted like this. To him, they were just parents.