He Will Be Mine

Chapter 25: Thanksgiving Break Reunion

*** Kane's POV ***

I can't keep myself from anxiously checking the screen that shows the arrivals to make sure that Aly's flight has landed. I saw the indicators change to show that it arrived a few minutes ago, but I'm getting impatient already. I feel Andrea put an arm around my back and lean her head on me, which does help to calm me some.

I have only been on a plane once before myself, and the idea of my little girl at the mercy of one has been making me beyond restless. What really doesn't help is knowing that she's bringing that kid with her, the one with the messy hair and the cocky smile. I know you know what I like to do to your daughter, that smile always seems to say, and his hair just adds insult to injury by showing that he can't even be bothered to take care of himself.

I hear her laugh before I see her come around the bend of the long hallway just ahead of where we've been waiting to receive them. Sure enough, the kid is with her as promised, and he's helping her make a fool of herself.

"Look, Kane," Andrea insists.

I'm looking where she is looking, but I am apparently not seeing what she is seeing. She sounds like she is looking at some marvel, but all I see are people greeting other people and hurrying off to wherever they're going.

"No, really look. Look at your girl, and the way she lights up when she is with Tyler," she directs me.

We're obviously looking at two very different scenes. Does Aly seem to be enjoying herself? Sure, she's laughing and goofing off with the kid. I notice her push on his shoulder and it is everything I can do not to charge across the room and see what he did to upset her. As I watch him put an arm around her waist and draw her in to his side, I have to focus that energy into clenching and unclenching my fists.

"She doesn't seem to know it, but I think we're looking at her mate," Andrea declares.

I don't know why she keeps alluding to that. Aly has a mate already. This kid is just a problem she can't seem to kick.

"Not if the Elders have anything to say about it," I reply, and I can tell by the way she looks up and smirks at me that she thinks I sound grumpy. That's the look she always gives me.

"That's why I'm telling you to look harder. Look past all that. Look at Aly, not at what the Elders will think. Watch how at ease and happy she is, and don't think about whether she will be Alpha. Look at your daughter. Do you recognize that look on her face? Is that not how I look at you when you're being sweet?"

She has somewhat of a point I realize as I study Aly's face and her body language. I wouldn't go so far as to say he is mate material, though. It's no secret that Aly likes him; otherwise, she wouldn't have told him about us and brought him here. But there's no way that the same girl who would fight me until she was red in the face about how she will never take a chosen mate would ever turn around and choose some random human in place of her fated mate.

Aly and the kid are getting closer to us now so Andrea switches to mind-link to finish off what she wants to tell me.

She loves him, but she just doesn't know it yet. And you see it, you just won't admit it yet. Be nice to him.

The Moon Goddess didn't choose him, so I don't know why Aly would, I silently argue back to her just as they approach us.

Aly runs to close the rest of the short distance between us, and I reach out and grab her, pulling her in for a hug and taking a moment to soak in her scent. It's been too long since she has been home with us, that's for sure. Andrea joins in on the hug, and the kid with Aly is smart enough to hold back and not try to impose.