(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 404

Chapter 404: This is the first time we’ve been apart

Rhys didn’t lie when he said he was only going to be on the front lines for a minute. He also took almost exactly what he needed from Kellen to do so.

Rhys drove down to the front lines on his own in the middle of the night, saying goodbye to Kellen, rousing him just enough to get a kiss from him before he left. When Kellen woke up alone the next morning, he was a little upset, but he tried to go about his day as normal.

Even though it felt like there was a part missing when he’d woken up to an empty bed, Kellen pushed through. He’d even gone to the gym, chatted with the other Espers that he saw there, and put on his guide smile, his guide face. He could tell that Taylor was a bit concerned about him when she saw him in passing at lunch time, but she didn’t push it. Kellen was grateful for it.

He felt like his body, his mind was made of glass. He’d never felt like this before.

Kellen’s mind kept rushing back to where Rhys was, and how he was doing, but he had to keep his focus on his classes, on his work. It was hard. This was the first time as far as Kellen knew since their compatibility score came out that they weren’t in the same city.

That they weren’t within a few minutes from each other. That they couldn’t track the other down in about 15 minutes. It was strange. After going for so long avoiding each other, the two of them had been close to each other. Not quite attached at the hip, but fairly close.

The fluttery feeling in Kellen’s chest made him question his stance on imprinting all over again. In fact, he found himself reading the damn little books that Casper had given him after he’d jumped classes, reading the sections on imprinting just to see what they said about the benefits.

Kellen was sure that once Rhys was back within his tower, Kellen would be fine again, but he didn’t like this. He didn’t like the nagging feeling in his chest. The worry that filled him. The way that if he thought too long about Rhys, his whole body tensed up and he couldn’t focus on anything else.

He might have pushed his first class a bit too hard because of his own emotions, but he wouldn’t apologise. He needed it, probably just as much as they did. He’d been going easy on them with the rotations happening, so a hard day every once in a while wasn’t a bad thing.

He could tell that a few of them did want to check in with him, to make sure he was okay. It wasn’t until Gwen’s group passed by the Guides working in the obstacle course after lunch that Kellen thought he might be going a little too hard.

She was with a few of her friends from her group, and when she saw Kellen, she perked up. Then demanded that she joined in on the class just to see what Field Guides had to do.

Kellen let them join since arguing with her would only eat up their class time, and it was only 15 minutes later that Gwen was calling Kellen a monster, worse than Lieutenant Gunther, Lieutenant Hill, and her other teachers. She then made a big show of asking the Guides if they were okay, all big, grey eyes and soft, pouty lips. It made quite a few of the Guides break, smiling shyly at the attention she gave the group, and Kellen had to admit, even he cracked a smile.

That was just the kind of person his sister was. She was good at breaking tension, good at smoothing things out. Good at noticing things, and unlike Kellen, she wasn’t awkward. She just...was far more sociable than Kellen.

Kellen couldn’t even get mad at her for her behaviour, since she was just bringing the humour back to the class, making it feel not like a sentence for the Guides to be here, but an actual fun time where they wanted to be here.

Kellen hadn’t realised how bad his emotions were affecting him until Gwen showed up. She didn’t even need to say anything, he could just tell.

She gave him a hug once the class was over, not saying anything else as she left with her friends again and Kellen was once again left alone.

It was around late afternoon when an exhausted Rhys showed up at Kellen’s office door.

Kellen had been expecting a Field Guide, or even Casper, so he was quite shocked to see Rhys. He pushed his office chair back quickly, stumbling to his feet to get to Rhys. Rhys moved quicker, grabbing for Kellen and wrapping him up in his arms, burying his face into his shoulder.

His grip was tight, but Kellen made sure he was able to wrap his own arms around him, squeezing him just as tightly. Kellen could feel his heartbeat in his ears, his breathing jagged, rough. He thought it was just himself, unable to hear anything but himself for a long, long moment. It was only after he’d calmed his racing heart that he realised that Rhys was in a similar condition.

A small part of him relaxed, his grip shifting and tightening on the other man as he pressed his face against his shoulder as well. Damn it. He hated how little time had passed, and how deeply he had missed him. He needed to tell him.

"I missed you." Kellen whispered and Rhys trembled.

"Fuck." Rhys whispered. He sounded almost like he was in pain, and Kellen shifted. He went to break their hold, wanting to check on the other man, but Rhys just held him tighter. "No. Stay." Rhys murmured and Kellen did. He stayed, holding the other man. "I missed you too." Rhys told him eventually, a sharpness to his tone.

"Everything was okay?" Kellen asked, neither of them letting the other go.

"Relatively. The generator issue is exactly as I thought. I’ll tell you more about it once I brief everyone on it." Rhys told him and Kellen swallowed.

"Okay." Kellen told him.

"You should check up on Brent. He looked like a corpse when I checked on him. Your kids are doing great though. Everyone is grateful for them, and says that they are well behaved and take no bullshit from the Espers. It’s led to better behaviour out there. Who knew that more Field Guides like my darling Kellen was the answer?" Kellen’s face flushed at the affection in his tone.