I'm Entirely Yours, Klaus (Book 3)

CH. 22

TWENTY TWO:

Friday, January 11th
8:45 AM

I yawned softly, covering my mouth with my left hand while with my right I poured myself my third cup of coffee. We got up early this morning after one night in a crappy motel. Now we were in some little town, grabbing breakfast at a kitschy diner. Klaus was outside on the phone with Elijah and Hayley was googling addresses to Lucien's company. The latter thought that she could go check out all of his offices under his 'Kingmaker Development' to see what Lucien is up to with the wolves.

Hope was at the end of the booth, eating a plate of scrambled eggs with her hands. "Slow down, sweet pea," I teased the toddler, wiping her cheek with my thumb to get rid of a dab of grease. "Is it good?"

Hope scooped up a handful before holding it out me as an offering to try myself I guess. I shook my head quickly, "Eat!" Hope demanded as I was trying to push her chubby hand away.

Hayley lifted her head to see what was going on. She snickered as I grimaced, taking the tiniest bite I could from her handful. I smiled at Hope as I chewed dramatically, moaning in pleasure and rubbing my stomach for effect. The baby giggled loudly as her father walked in the diner behind her, kissing the top of her head before sliding into the booth next to me.

"What's so funny?" Klaus asked his daughter before turning to Hayley and I.

"She's feeding me with her messy hands," I said.

Klaus made a face of disgust for a moment, tossing his arm over my shoulder and turning his attention back to the phone he still had pressed to his ear with one hand. "If you find him, don't hesitate," Klaus told his brother before hanging up and tossing his phone on the table between my plate and his.

Hayley perked back up again, sliding a piece of paper she's been scribbling on, across the table towards us—mainly Klaus. "So... which of these Kingmaker offices should we hit up first? There's ten of them," she informed him.

I raised an eyebrow. I know she said she wanted to check them out for personal reasons of caring about the wolves that have gone missing. However, I did not think she wanted my fiancé to go, certainly not while while we were a group of three with a baby. I turned to Klaus, waiting to see his response to the suggestion of us all going together. It's a first for her, not wanting to do it alone. Klaus had a look on his face that told me he just received bad news.

"What is it?" I asked him, placing my hand on top of his on the table. "What did Elijah say?"

"Lucien has revealed his true nature," he sighed, looking at me worriedly, "He's taken Freya."

"Oh, my god," Hayley mumbled.

He glanced at her then, nodding, and telling us the rest of what he's learned. "And now, it seems her rescue depends on Elijah working with my ever-reliable brother Finn," Klaus frowned deeply.

"Oh," Hayley frowned herself. "And you want to go back to New Orleans to head up the hunt?"

My fiancé looked at me, conflicted. I furrowed my eyebrows, ready to tell him we could do whatever he wanted to do. Odds were we were too far to help Elijah at this point. But I did want to go home, I did not want to spend another day trapped in a car going to who knows where.

Hayley spoke again before anyone else could voice their thoughts, "Fine. You should go. I'm sticking with Kingmaker, though. Lucien's working very hard to cover up these wolf kidnappings, and I want to know why," she said.

She went to grab the list in front of us, but Klaus placed his hand over it. He sighed deeply, giving me a quick side glance before telling her his decision, "No. The wolves, Freya's abduction... it can't all be coincidence. We'll let my brothers pursue the obvious path. You and I... will pursue this one. No doubt all roads lead to to the same treacherous bastard."