Chapter Text
“Kaiya!”
“Yes?” The young woman looked up when she heard her name.
“There’s a new contract in. A business group opening operations in Europe, possibly expanding into Asia shortly after. They need a translator, since it seems you know the languages for most of the places they are going, you get first dibs on it.”
Kaiya held out her hand for the file her coworker was holding, quickly flipping through the information.
“Seems doable. I’ll take it if no one else wants it.” She glanced around at the others, to make sure they were okay with her taking the job.
“Europe and Asia for business?” one of the other women said. “No, thank you! Seems too stressful. Plus, it would take a few of us to do all that, but only one of you.”
Kaiya offered a hesitant smile, “The benefits of being a diplomat’s daughter, I guess.”
“Excellent! I’ll set up an initial meeting to make sure everything is going to work out.” The coordinator walked away, humming. Kaiya went back to work translating the final document for her current job.
* * *
A few days later Kaiya was sitting in an upscale café, waiting for the businessmen she would possibly be working for. Despite the fact that she came from a wealthy family and had spent a lot of time meeting people in fancy restaurants and cafes, she still somehow always felt out of place.
Moving around so often as she had all her life had resulted in a shy nature. Kaiya much preferred spending time with books, they didn’t demand so much from her. She had chosen to become a translator thinking she could spend most of her time with documents and avoid people. However, because of her fluency in so many languages, the freelance coordinator she worked through often sent her out with people. She had become accustomed to it, but she still didn’t like it. People still made her nervous.
“Miss Stromness?”
Kaiya looked up and immediately froze. Standing around her were five of the most beautiful men she had ever seen, and they were here to see her.
“Yes,” she finally managed after a moment of internal panic. She stood with a smile and extended her hand to the closest man. “I am Kaiya Stromness. It’s nice to meet you.”
The tall man with midnight hair and storm cloud gray eyes glanced at her hand before meeting her eyes. “I’m Jericho Kemmerson, head of International Relations. It’s nice to meet you as well. I hope we can work well together.”
Slightly embarrassed, Kaiya dropped her hand as Jericho stepped back and the rest of the men introduced themselves. The man with dark hair and dark eyes was Jameson Shea, Vice President of Marketing, Stefan Kemmerson, very tall with brown hair and blue eyes, was Chief Financial Officer, Cian Dorrance had auburn hair and green eyes and was Vice President of Production, and Jaxon Mellon was fair with silvery blond hair and gray eyes and was Chief Operating Officer.
Kaiya was struggling a bit to maintain her professionalism since these men made her feel extremely nervous, especially after Mr. Kemmerson rejected her handshake. She did what she always did when nervous, hid behind a cool, composed façade.
“Please have a seat so we can discuss the details of the job, your expectations, my requirements, and if everyone involved thinks this will be a good fit,” Kaiya motioned to the table she had been occupying before the men had arrived.
Once they were all settled and their orders had been placed, they quickly dove into the matter at hand. Kaiya pulled out a notebook and pen to take notes on all the requirements of the job, and any other expectation of the hired translator.
“First and foremost,” Jericho began, leveling Kaiya with a stern look, “you will be required to always dress in a professional manner when traveling. Even when not working. One can never know when they might meet the clients or business associates, so one must always look one’s best. Second, you will always be on call when we are traveling. There are times we may have to make sudden calls in the middle of the night local time to deal with a situation in another country. We were lead to believe you are fluent in a multitude of languages, so you will most likely be the only translator on staff. If there is an overwhelming amount of work at a particular location, we may hire a temporary translator on location, but that shouldn’t happen often. You are to be present at all meetings, looking and acting professional. You are to ensure that everything is translated accurately, so as to prevent any misunderstandings, or possible problems with the business. Do you have a problem with any of this”
“Not at all. It all seems fairly straightforward. I will let you know that work done after a certain time, or beyond contractual hours will incur an overtime fee. I keep meticulous logs of my work hours, duties, and tasks. Though you hired me through a contractor, you will pay me directly. Failure to pay me fully on time will result in contract termination, if it occurs more than once. You are responsible for the cost of transportation and lodgings for all business purposes. I require at least one day off per week and sufficient breaks for meal times. If a meeting is being conducted over a meal, I require time before or after the meal to eat. In my experience it is not possible for a translator to eat and work at a business lunch or dinner. If all of this is acceptable, I would like to discuss your travel plans and goals for each location.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Stefan said. “Our plan is to start in France and Italy. If things go well there, we’ll head to Spain, Portugal, and Germany, possibly Norway. Eventually we hope to expand into Asia, mainly China, Japan, and Korea. How many of those languages do you know?”
“All of them,” Kaiya said.
“Come again?” Jameson said, eyes wide.
“I am fluent in the languages of all the countries you mentioned.”
“Seriously?” Stefan looked at Kaiya suspiciously. “That seems a bit beyond belief. That is a lot of languages.”
“I realize that,” Kaiya spoke softly, trying desperately not to shrink in on herself from nerves. “I have an affinity for languages, and I spent at least two years in each of the countries mentioned while growing up.”
“You honestly expect us to believe that?” Stefan glared at her with narrowed eyes.
Kaiya was practically in tears, from stress and anxiety, but fought to hide it.
“My parents were diplomats, so we moved around a lot.”
All five men looked at her with varying degrees of disbelief.
“Well,” Jericho finally spoke. “Time will tell if you are telling the truth. Since it seems you speak all the languages we need, I think you will be a good fit for our needs. We won’t all always be traveling, but I will be there pretty much all the time. The others will rotate around. We plan on heading to France next month. Will that give you enough time to get things ready to go?”
“Yes,” Kaiya said softly, eyes still on the notebook in front of her. “Please send any documents you would like me to translate before hand. I’ll get to work on those, so that everything is ready when we leave.”
“Of course, we’ll send them to the coordinator’s office first thing tomorrow.”
The five men stood, so Kaiya rose to bid them farewell.
Once the men were out of sight, she collapsed back into her chair, dropping her head onto her folded arms, and let a few silent tears slip out.
* * *
“Kaiya, darling,” Kathleen Stromness, Kaiya’s mother, said over the phone. “Are you sure you don’t need anything from us? You know we still have some contacts in France, we could get them to help you out.”
“No, Mother, but thank you,” Kaiya said, smiling as she continued packing for her flight the next morning. “I don’t know that I’ll have much time. This group of businessmen seem very serious and work oriented. I’ll probably be working 24/7.”
“You better not!” Arthur, Art for short, exclaimed. “If those men work my baby girl to exhaustion, you call me and I’ll fly over there and teach them a lesson.”
“Thanks, Daddy, but I’m sure I’ll be fine. My contract clearly says that I get at least one day off a week, and they agreed and signed it. I doubt they will try to break my contract this early in the game.”
“You never know,” Art grumbled. “These are the same men who refused to shake your hand and almost made you cry from stress, and all at the first meeting. There is no telling what they might do.”
“I appreciate your concern, and if I need you, I will definitely call you. Does that help you feel better?” Kaiya asked with a smile.
“Slightly,” Art mumbled. “I guess it will have to do for now.”
“I love you both, and I’ll call every chance I get.”
“We love you, too, Baby,” Kathleen said. “Have a safe flight. Let us know when you land and get settled.”
“I will. Love you!” Kaiya hung up and quickly finished packing, took a quick shower and headed to bed.
Early the next morning, Kaiya was dressed in comfortable, yet professional attire, and waiting at the airport for her current employers. They all arrived together in two fancy chauffeured SUVs, and the group headed into the airport. The men kept to themselves, mostly ignoring Kaiya while they waited for their flight. On the flight itself, Kaiya wasn’t seated near them, so she was left to her own devices. Once they arrived, they all got settled in their rooms. Jericho sent Kaiya a message a little while later saying the friends were going to dinner and they would see her bright and early the next morning.
Kaiya spent the evening relaxing. She went to her favorite restaurant in the area, then took a long, hot bath and went to bed early.
Once again, she was the first one in the lobby the next morning. She took a seat on a bench near the elevators so the men would see her and pulled out her tablet and began reviewing the information about the potential investors they would be meeting that day.
When the others all arrived, they headed out, once more not even acknowledging Kaiya, just expecting her to follow. Still feeling quite shy and nervous around the men, she didn’t bother trying to speak up, just followed quietly. And she stayed quiet throughout the day, unless she was translating. She never spoke outside of conveying what someone else was saying. She ate lunch and dinner by herself and then retired to her room to entertain herself for the evening.
This was the pattern the group settled into. The men barely paying attention to Kaiya, and Kaiya only speaking for work purposes. This made the woman feel more stressed, because it led her to believe that the men she was working for didn’t like her, which in turn led to her being more quiet and reserved. It was a vicious cycle that Kaiya didn’t know how to break.
It seemed they cycle would continue until one morning when Jaxon actually came down before the others. Kaiya was sitting on the same bench as usual, reading notes from the previous day, mindlessly playing with the elegant leather bracelet clasped snugly around her left wrist.
“I’m not sure a leather bracelet is very professional,” Jaxon commented.
Kaiya glanced up at him then down at her wrist. “I have a silver bracelet, but it feels too clunky for the business setting. I can wear it tomorrow if you think it would be more appropriate, though.”
“Why don’t you just get something smaller, or not wear anything at all?” Jaxon sounded a bit exasperated, but not angry.
Hesitating for a moment, Kaiya finally said, “There are some marks on my wrist that I’m not really comfortable with other people seeing, so I keep it covered.”
Jaxon looked away, seeming a bit uncomfortable. “Oh, well, then, I guess what ever you want to wear is fine then.”
The pair fell silent until the rest joined them shortly, then headed out for the day, back to the previous pattern.
A few days later, Jericho informed Kaiya via text that they were going to look at office spaces the next day and would be leaving an hour later than the previous mornings. She responded with an acknowledgement and went about her evening.
In the morning, she was waiting in the lobby again, looking at office spaces and rental prices for the area, just in case she was asked for her input. However, when the men came down, they headed right for the doors, not even stopping to acknowledge Kaiya. She quickly followed them, knowing they wouldn’t wait.
They all got into the cars, Kaiya, Jericho, and Jameson in one and Stefan, Jaxon, and Cian in the other. Soon they arrived at a large office building. Kaiya followed behind the group as they entered the building and greeted a man, who seemed to be a real estate agent. He spoke English perfectly and began a rundown of the office space as they made their way to the elevators. He mentioned the price, which Kaiya knew was double what prices should be for the size and location. She rolled her eyes, knowing the man was overcharging the men, thinking they wouldn’t know better and for not speaking French.
When they arrived at the elevators, the agent pressed the button and held it as the other men got on. When he saw Kaiya he did a double take.
“Kaiya Stromness? Is that you?”
Looking up in surprise, Kaiya smiled. “Monsieur Desjardins?”
“Ah, it is you!” Monsieur Desjardins exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“I work as a translator and these men have hired me to translate for them.”
“Really? Well, I must admire their excellent taste, then. Perhaps if you are free for dinner, you can join us? Belle and Vivienne would love to see you,” the older gentleman spoke as he ushered Kaiya onto the elevator and pressed the button for their floor.
“It all depends on if I am needed this evening, but I can let you know later,” she said with a smile.
“You two know each other?” Stefan asked.
“Of course! I helped Kaiya’s parents find a beautiful home to rent when they were
stationed here as diplomats, then later I helped them find the perfect chateau to purchase for their vacation home.” Monsieur Desjardins smiled widely at the group. “Of course, since you know an old friend, I will give you a discount on the price.” He winked at Kaiya.
She hid a small smile, but thanked the man for his kindness.
The rest of the day went quite smoothly as Monsieur Desjardins showed them a few more locations and arranged to show them a few more the next day. Before they parted ways, Kaiya confirmed with Jericho that her services would not be needed that evening, then informed Monsieur Desjardins that she could join him for dinner.
“Excellent!” he exclaimed. “Do you need Kaiya for anything else, or may I take her with me? I will of course escort her back to the hotel after dinner.”
Looking a bit startled, Jericho told Monsieur Desjardins that Kaiya was free to leave with him, and they parted ways.
“Well, they seem like a stern lot,” the man said when they were safely ensconced in his small car.
“They are very serious about their business,” Kaiya said with a small smile. “They seem like they have fun with each other outside of working hours, but when they are on the job, they are all business.”
“You don’t see them outside of work?”
“No, they keep to themselves. I am merely the hired help, and I’m okay with that. I wouldn’t know what to do with such handsome men outside of a business setting. They make me nervous!” Kaiya admitted with a light laugh.
“You always have been a shy thing. I remember it took you a good ten months of consistent visits before you warmed up to us. You and Belle became such good friends eventually, but then you moved away. Broke my poor girl’s heart. I’m glad you kept in touch with her, though. You should have let us know you were going to be here. We could have had you over sooner.”
“I was planning on letting you know when things settled down a bit with work. I didn’t want to get your hopes up at seeing me, and then not be able to for a few weeks. I was quite surprised when you were our agent. What are the odds?”
“It was fate, my dear.” The pair smiled at each other, then fell silent for the last few minutes of the ride.
They soon pulled up to a lovely house down a small side street. Monsieur Desjardins led the way into the house calling, “Belle! Vivienne! I brought you a lovely surprise! Come see!”
Kaiya remained behind Monsieur Desjardins until both his wife and daughter were there.
“What is it, darling?” Vivienne Desjardins asked her husband.
Monsieur Desjardins didn’t say anything, simply stepped aside.
The two women stared at Kaiya for a silent moment, then Belle shrieked her name, and threw herself at her old friend. “When did you get here? What are you doing here? How long are you staying? We must go shopping soon! Oh! And to the park! And our favorite restaurants!”
Kaiya laughed at Belle’s excitement. “Calm down so I can answer your questions!”
Belle squeezed her tightly once more, then stepped back, clasping one hand in both of hers.
“I’m here working. I work as a translator and was hired by a company trying to expand into Europe. I’ve been here for a few weeks, but I’ve been too busy to meet you, so I didn’t want to tell you I was here until I could meet you. I’ll be here for a few more months at least, so we should have plenty of time to do everything.”
Belle let out a happy squeak and tackled Kaiya into a hug once more.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Kaiya darling,” Vivienne said. “You’re parents must be worried about you being so far away. I’ll have to call your mother and let her know I’m looking after you now.”
Kaiya smiled. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.” Vivienne nodded, then insisted they sit down to dinner.
The evening flew by in a haze of happiness and wonderful food. Soon enough it was time for Kaiya to return to the hotel, and the whole family insisted on accompanying her back. They smothered her in hugs before letting her go into the hotel and up to her room, where she collapsed onto the bed with a sigh of happiness, feeling more relaxed and content that she had in weeks.
In the morning, as usual, Kaiya was the first down, but Jaxon soon followed. She continued looking over the list of office spaces Monsieur Desjardins sent her, so she would be prepared for the day and able to offer her thoughts if asked.
“Did you have a nice time last night?”
Kaiya’s head jerked up when Jaxon spoke, startled.
“Yes,” she said after a moment. “It was lovely catching up. It has been a few years since I have seen the Desjardins family.”
“Good, I’m glad you had a nice time,” Jaxon offered Kaiya a small smile, which she returned. “How long were you in France before?”
“We were here for nearly three years. Monsieur Desjardins was one of the first people we met. He was very kind and helpful.”
“He seems like it. Who were the other people he mentioned yesterday?”
“Vivienne is his wife. Belle is his daughter. She and I became good friends when I lived here.”
“Well, hopefully we can pick an office space soon and get things settled there so you can have more free time to spend with them.”
“That will be nice,” Kaiya smiled brightly. “I think the third office on the list today will be the best choice.”
“How do you know what we’ll be seeing?” Jaxon scrunched his gray eyes in confusion.
“I asked Monsieur Desjardins to send me a list last night,” the copper haired woman admitted. “I like to be prepared.”
“An admirable quality. I’m surprised Jericho didn’t ask for a list.”
Kaiya shrugged. “Would you like to look at the list?”
Jaxon nodded and Kaiya handed him her tablet. A short while later, the other four men joined them.
“I agree with you, Miss Stromness,” Jaxon said, handing her tablet back. “The third location will be the best. We’ll see if we still think so after seeing it in person.”
“What?” the others said in confusion.
“Miss Stromness used her connection to the real estate agent to get a list of the office spaces he will be showing us. I just looked through it. To be honest Jericho, I am surprised that you didn’t ask for a list.”
Jericho blinked, looking a little surprised. “I didn’t think about it. I guess maybe I thought all the information would be in French, so I didn’t bother.”
“We literally have a translator. She could have translated everything on the list,” Jaxon said with a snicker.
Jericho narrowed his stormy eyes at his friend. Kaiya, sensing his irritation, held out her tablet. “The first location is a bit of a drive. Would you like to look over the list on our way there?”
Moving his gaze to Kaiya, Jericho carefully took the proffered tablet. “Were you going to tell us you got a list or just let us go in blind.”
“Let’s go. The cars are waiting,” Jaxon said pushing his older friend toward the door before Kaiya could answer.
That day marked a slight change in everyone’s behavior towards Kaiya. They asked her opinion a bit more often and actually spoke to her occasionally, but things were still a bit stiff
and awkward between the men and Kaiya. She was still quite nervous and shy around them, but she was warming up some to Jaxon, since he was making the most effort to be a bit friendly with her.
As Kaiya had expected, the third location had been perfect. The group chose it, and soon signed a lease agreement and began setting up their offices, which kept Kaiya quite busy for a few weeks.
Soon things were set up, and the business was running smoothly. Everyone was making their own way to the office, no longer leaving all together each morning. Kaiya was still usually the first one at the office, and as soon as Jericho realized that, he gave her a key to the front doors and the security codes.
Early one morning, Kaiya finished translating a business agreement the men had been waiting for. She figured she could just leave it on Jericho’s desk, since he didn’t usually arrive for another half hour.
Kaiya walked quickly from her office down the hall to Jericho’s office. She didn’t bother knocking since she hadn’t heard anyone else come it, and figured the room was empty. She opened the door and glanced up, letting out a squeak of surprise.
There stood Jericho, back to the door, shirtless. And what a back it was. Kaiya took in the smooth, well muscled expanse of skin, gaze drawn to a tattoo on his right shoulder blade. There was a large, fluffy black wolf with stormy gray eyes, standing in such a way you knew it was guarding the beautiful gold phoenix perched on its back, long feather tail draped down across the wolf’s shoulder and chest, almost in a way that was protective and caring. The dark emerald eyes of the phoenix seemed to pierce right through you, as if determining if you were worthy to approach the wolf.
“Did you need something, Miss Stromness?”
Kaiya finally jerked her gaze away from the stunning tattoo and looked up at what she could see of Jericho’s face, turned partially in her direction.
“Yes, sorry,” she stuttered. “You aren’t usually here this early, so I was just going to leave
this contract on your desk. I apologize for not knocking. I didn’t realize anyone else was in the office. I’ll just set this on your desk then be on my way. Let me know if you need anything else.”
Kaiya knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t help it. She was stunned at the tattoo on Jericho’s back. The same tattoo that was on her own right shoulder blade. She had finally met her soulmate, and it was a man who didn’t really seem to like her much, or even really notice her at all.
“Miss Stromness.”
“Yes?” she squeaked.
“Are you that upset at seeing me shirtless?” Jericho had turned to face Kaiya, and took a step in her direction.
“No, I’m just a bit flustered,” Kaiya managed to sputter after a moment. “I wasn’t expecting anyone, so you startled me, and I seem to have interrupted you. I shouldn’t have just barged in like that. Also, your soulmate tattoo on your shoulder is distractingly beautiful.”
“I spilled coffee on my shirt, so I was changing. I should have locked the door. I’m sorry I startled you,” Jericho said with a small smile. “And that isn’t my soulmate mark. I don’t know what that is, but my soulmate mark is this band of flowers on my wrist.”
Jericho held up his left wrist to show Kaiya the band of 6 flowers intertwined with and connected by vines.
Kaiya almost cried in surprise, reaching for the leather band around her wrist.
“My soulmate thinks it’s a little funny our mark is six flowers.”
The words froze Kaiya. “What?” she eventually managed to say.
“My soulmate isn’t really fond of our soulmate mark. She doesn’t think flowers are that great. I actually like it. I looked up all the flowers once. It turns out that I have the birth flowers of myself and each of my friends. The last flower doesn’t match my soulmate though. I kind of hoped it would. Speaking of soulmates,” Jericho continued with a sappy smile. “My soulmate will be arriving this afternoon. She plans on spending the next few weeks here with me.”
“That’s wonderful,” Kaiya forced a pleasant smile. “I’ll just set this here and be on my way. I’ll see you later.”
Kaiya could barely see through her tears as she made her way back to her office. Once inside, she shut and locked the door, collapsing into a puddle of silent tears, feeling her heart shatter inside her. She cried for what felt like hours, but was probably closer to thirty minutes. When her tears subsided, Kaiya took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together. She slipped into the bathroom next to her office, and splashed cool water on her face.
Once she had pulled her emotions back under control, Kaiya slipped back into her office and fixed her makeup, then carried on with her day as if nothing were wrong.
The day passed in a blur, nothing seeming real for Kaiya. She didn’t know how she managed to make it through the day, but as soon as she made it into her hotel room, she collapsed into tears once more, painful sobs ripping their way out of her chest.
She cried for hours, unable to stop, the pain in her heart only getting worse. When it was near dawn, Kaiya finally calmed down a bit and reached for the phone to call her parents.
“Baby!” Kathleen exclaimed upon answering the phone. “How are you, darling? We miss you.”
“Mama,” was all Kaiya could whisper for a moment, voice hoarse from her sobs.
“What’s wrong?” Kathleen was suddenly on high alert. “Kaiya, what happened? Art! Get in here! Something’s wrong with Kaiya!”
“Kitten?” Art was there in an instant. “Tell me what’s wrong. Do we need to get a flight right now?”
“No,” Kaiya finally managed after swallowing down her emotions. “There’s nothing you can do to help.”
“We can certainly try!” Kathleen exclaimed.
“No, you can’t,” Kaiya sighed. “I found my soulmate.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long moment.
“Kitten, that should be a good thing,” Art said. “Why do you sound like your heart is broken?”
“My soulmate thinks the mark on our wrist is his soulmate mark and he thinks he has already found his soulmate, and it isn’t me,” the heartbroken woman barely managed to whisper. “You should have seen the look on his face when he talked about her. He seemed so happy. How can I tell him that he’s wrong, she isn’t his soulmate, but I am? He barely seems to tolerate me. It would kill him if I told him that. If he even believed me, that is. He is my employer, and I can’t risk it. He is happy, and that is all that matters. I’ll just have to do my best to remain professional."
"Oh, baby," her mother whispered through her own tears. “I’m so sorry. That is awful. Maybe we should come visit. Your father can convince those men you need a few days off, and we can go to the chateau.”
“Thank you, Mama, but that won’t be necessary. I’ve lived this long without a soulmate, surely I’ll be fine. I never thought I would meet my soulmate anyway, so I’ll just carry on like I haven’t. It will be fine.”
“Kitten. . .”
“Please don’t, Daddy,” Kaiya whispered. “Let me convince myself I’ll be okay, and then I will be.”
“Okay,” her parents said softly after a moment.
“Oh!” Kaiya exclaimed. “He did say something interesting about the flowers on our wrist. He said he looked them up and the flowers are the birth flowers for him and his friends, but he doesn’t know about the last one. I haven’t looked it up, but maybe it’s my birth flower. What do you think that means?”
“Probably that the six of you share a guardian mark,” Kathleen said.
“A what?” Kaiya asked in confusion.
“A guardian mark,” Kathleen explained, “is when two or more people share a bond outside of soul mates. They have usually been together in a few life times and they look out for each other. There are two types of guardian, they physical guardian and the emotional guardian, and there is at least one of each per group. The physical guardian is usually responsible for looking after the physical well being of those who share the mark, protecting them from any harm or danger they may encounter. The emotional guardian helps keep everyone emotionally stable, in the sense that they provide love and support and a safe place to express, process, and deal with all emotions. It is kind of a throwback to a time where people were in physical danger more often. It isn’t very common anymore because they aren’t really needed. There is usually one symbol per member of the group, so there are six people in your guardian group.”
“That is a lot of information to process,” Kaiya finally said. “What happens if the mark isn’t completed? Right now only two of the flowers are filled in, the other four are just outlines.”
“I can’t be sure, but I’d hazard a guess and say that if the mark isn’t completed in this lifetime, it will end here. It won’t come back in the next life.”
“One more way for me to be a failure,” the young woman said, exhausted from everything.
“Kitten,” Art said, the warning in his voice clear.
“I’m not great with people, how am I supposed to convince five men who don’t really like me that in our past life we were so close we share a guardian mark? Oh, and by the way, our guardian mark is what the oldest of the group thinks is his soul mate mark, and I’m actually his soul mate, too,” Kaiya’s ragged voice was raising, and crackling as she got louder.
Her parents were silent on the other end, unsure what to do, but hating the fact that their only child was so upset and alone, so far away.
“We’re going to book a flight to see you,” Art finally said, when he could hear Kaiya’s erratic breathing was somewhat returned to normal. “We’ll take you away for a few days to rest and process everything at your own pace, then you can go back to work.”
“Thanks for caring, Papa, but I don’t think that will help,” Kaiya sighed. “I just need
something to distract me while I lock these emotions away and pretend they don’t exist. I’m not going to risk his happiness just because of some mark on our skin that says we are supposed to be perfect for each other. Soul mates are rather silly anyway. I’ve realized it as I’ve gotten older. There is no way to guarantee that the person who shares your mark will be the best person for you, or even a good person. Anyway, thanks for listening. I need to go shower and get ready to go to work. I have a lot to do. Jericho is taking the day off to spend with his soul mate, who just arrived yesterday, and Jameson has some marketing meetings today that I need to be there for. I love you both, so much and I’ll call you soon.”
Kaiya blew kisses through the phone, waited for the “I love yous” and return kisses, then hung up.
She sat their for a long moment, fighting the pain that was trying to overwhelm her, and ended up burying her face in her pillows and screaming for a few minutes.
After the cathartic release, she was able to get herself ready for the day. She twisted her hair up into a tighter, more severe knot than usual, and had to do more with her makeup to hide how pale her face looked and how dark the delicate skin under her emerald green eyes was. She couldn’t bring herself to wear any color when she was so miserable, so she went with a pair of black dress slacks, low heeled black dress shoes, and a black wrap around sweater knotted firmly at her waist. She didn’t dare forget her leather bracelet to cover her guardian mark. Kaiya made the resolution to never take it off again, even in the safety of her own room. Who knew when one of the men might stop by. It hadn’t happened yet, but better safe than sorry!
As soon as she was presentable, Kaiya headed to the office and got to work.
At 9:30 Jameson came to her office to go over the information for the meeting.
“So, tell me what I need to know about these people and the information they sent over,” the man said as he settled into the chair across from Kaiya’s desk.
“Weeechk,” Kaiya’s emerald eyes widened in surprise at the squeak that emitted from her mouth instead of words. She tried a few more times with the same result.
Apparently screaming hadn’t been such a good idea. It was the final notice that evicted her already evacuating voice.
“Miss Stromness?” Jameson sounded a bit panicked. “What’s going on?”
“Aheehsskkhhg,” Kaiya tried to speak again.
“Jaxon!” Jameson shouted scrambling to the door. “Come quick! Help!”
It sounded like a herd of elephants was stampeding down the hall.
“What’s wrong?” Jaxon exclaimed as he slid through the door, Stefan and Cian hot on his heels. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Nooo!” Jameson wailed dramatically, fingers threading through his dark brown locks in frustration. “She’s broken! Fix her!” He flung his arm out, pointing at Kaiya.
“What?” The three men asked, clearly confused.
“Aaahheeemmnnn,” Kaiya squeaked, trying to say ‘I’m fine.’
Jaxon, Cian, and Stefan stared at her in shock, and Jameson sobbed exaggeratedly and flung himself at his friends.
“How can she translate if she can’t even talk!”
Kaiya picked up the notepad sitting on her desk and quickly scribbled, I’m sure I’ll be fine as soon as I have some hot tea and held it up for the men to see.
Jaxon narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you sick?”
Kaiya shook her head, no.
“Do you know what happened to your voice?”
She shrugged, then edged her way passed the men standing between her and the door, heading to a nearby tea shop. She quickly returned to the office, armed with steaming cups of horehound tea, chamomile tea, and green tea, all laced liberally with honey.
Jaxon was still in her office when she returned.
“Do you really think that will help,” he raised a silvery blond brow skeptically.
Kaiya nodded, returned to her desk and began sipping as she resumed translating some documents for a meeting the following day.
Half an hour later, Jameson returned to her office, poking his head in cautiously.
“How’s your voice?”
“A bit better,” she managed to whisper. “Should be fine for the meeting.” Her voice ended on a slight squeak.
“Are you sure?”
Kaiya nodded.
“We can postpone.”
She shook her head emphatically.
“Are you sure?”
Once again, Kaiya nodded.
True to her word, Kaiya’s voice was mostly back in time for the meeting, and held out until the very end. During the last 15 minutes, she started to get a bit squeaky, but not enough to effect the meeting.
Jameson walked Kaiya back to her office, trying to encourage her to head home for the day. They both froze when they stepped into her office.
“You’re in trouble now!” Jameson whispered, before turning around and running down the hall.
“What’s this I hear about you being unwell?” Jericho asked, stormy eyes narrowed in annoyance or concern, Kaiya wasn’t sure which.
“I’m fine,” the woman squeaked, toying nervously with her leather cuff.
Jericho raised an eyebrow at her squeaky voice.
“I’m not sick, just a bit of laryngitis, I’m sure,” she continued. “I should be fine by morning. I’ll just minimize my speaking for the rest of the day and drink lots of warm tea with honey.”
“You better. If your voice isn’t back by tomorrow, I’ll take you to the doctor myself.”
“There you are, baby,” a slender, platinum blonde woman walked in and wrapped herself around Jericho. “What was so important that you had to leave me all alone with that grumpy Jaxon?”
“I’m sorry, love, but I had to check up on Miss Stromness. Cian and Stefan both called to tell me she was sick, but wouldn’t postpone the meeting and go home to rest. I needed to make sure she was okay.”
“Why?” There was almost a sneer on the woman’s face, distain barely concealed in her pale blue eyes. “She’s a big girl, surely she can take care of herself.”
“I’m sure she can, but as the boss, it is my responsibility to ensure that she is able to take the time off she needs. She wouldn’t listen to anyone else, so I came to try.” Jericho dropped a soft kiss on the woman’s lips. “Speaking of which, Kaiya, this is my soul mate Vivian Rothschild. Love, this is our translator, Kaiya.”
Kaiya could feel the loathing rolling off the taller woman.
“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Rothschild. I do hate to be rude, but as you can see Mr. Kemmerson, I am perfectly fine, and I have quite a bit of work to finish up. I hope you enjoy your visit, Miss Rothschild.” Kaiya nodded politely to both, and walked around them to sit at her desk and get to work on the documents for the meetings the next day.
Jericho watched her intently for a moment, until Vivian pulled him away, whining about wanting to go shopping, and he promised to buy her a new designer dress.
Once they were gone, Kaiya rolled her eyes. What a spoiled child.
* * *
For the next few days, the five men seemed a bit concerned with Kaiya’s well being, checking on her frequently and making sure she wasn’t working to hard and getting plenty of rest, food, and liquids. For the first time since she stared working for them, the men insisted that Kaiya join them for lunch. Vivian was there, too, and she was rather snide to Kaiya, which the translator didn’t understand.
Shrugging it off, Kaiya enjoyed her meal, and simply observed her surroundings, attention captured by a street performer just outside the window. He was performing simple magic tricks for a small crowd and Kaiya was amused by his over exaggerated movements as he entertained his viewers.
“What has you so fascinated?”
Kaiya jumped, startled by the low voice in her ear. Turning her head, she was even more surprised to realize it was Jericho, and he was much too close for comfort, especially given the glare Vivian was directing at her.
“Hmm?” she murmured, shifting away subtly.
“What were you watching so intently?”
“There is a street magician outside. He is quite entertaining,” Kaiya answered with a small smile.
Vivian gave a derisive snort. “Please, he is just scamming the crowd for money. Street performers are a nuisance.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Kaiya said softly. “I have some wonderful memories of watching street performers.”
The tall blonde just shook out her long hair. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
Kaiya shrunk in on herself a bit, knowing that Vivian really didn’t like her and that none of the men would do anything about it.
After the uncomfortable lunch, Kaiya wasn’t invited to join a meal again, which surprised her not at all.
She was, however, extremely surprised when a few days later, Jaxon and Jameson were waiting outside her office when she stepped out for lunch.
“Good afternoon,” Kaiya murmured softly. “Is there something you needed?”
“We were headed out to lunch, would you care to join us?” Jaxon asked.
“Just Jaxon and I,” Jameson added when he saw her nibbling on her lip nervously.
“Sure,” she said after a moment’s hesitation.
So the trio headed to lunch, where Kaiya mostly stayed silent, but enjoyed listening to Jaxon and Jameson banter and tease each other.
The three went to lunch together a few times a week, and the two men invited her to dinner occasionally, though she still stayed a bit reserved, though slightly more relaxed in their company.
Unfortunately, Vivian started hanging around the office whenever Jericho was there for work, and she seemed to take great pleasure in making Kaiya miserable.
There was one morning Kaiya got to work, and the files she had been working on the day before were all gone. They had been deleted. Luckily she was incredibly paranoid, so she always backed up her files on two different external hard drives, one of which she took home with her every night, so she was able to quickly restore the missing files and get back to work.
The sabotage only seemed to get worse over time, as Jericho spent more time talking to Kaiya about things other than work.
One day, Jericho and Kaiya had gone for a business lunch with some investors, and after the meeting, Jericho had insisted on remaining at the restaurant so Kaiya could eat and he refused to discuss business, so they talked about other things.
“Have you had a chance to spend any time with your friends recently?” Jericho asked as Kaiya nibbled at her salad while waiting for her salmon to arrive.
“Not really,” she replied. “Things have still been a bit too busy with work. It looks like things will slow down in a week or two, so maybe I’ll actually get two days off in a row so I can meet Belle and do some fun things.”
“I’ll make sure it happens,” Jericho promised. “You’ve been working so hard, you deserve some time off. Maybe we’ll all take a few days off to relax.”
“If you plan that, please let me know well in advance. My parents want to come visit, but they want to make sure I have a few days off to spend with them.” Kaiya offered him a shy smile.
“Of course,” he agreed. “In fact, I’ll discuss it with the guys as soon as we get back to the office so you can make arrangements with your parents today.”
“Thank you,” her smile grew bigger but immediately faded.
“Jericho, my love, there you are!” Vivian sauntered up and slid herself into Jericho’s lap and tried to kiss him.
“Vivian, love, not now, please. You know how I feel about acting like this in public. It doesn’t look good to the investors.” Jericho gently nudged Vivian into the chair next to him. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“The meeting was supposed to end half an hour ago, and you weren’t back yet,” the blonde pouted. “I missed you. And I was wondering what was keeping you.”
“Kaiya needs to eat. We’ll head back when she’s done,” Jericho said. “I’m sure I told the guys that was the plan.”
“They didn’t tell me that,” the pout grew more pronounced. To Kaiya, it looked like Vivian was about to throw a full on temper tantrum, like a toddler.
“I’m sorry no one told you, darling,” the man soothed, stroking her arm gently.
“Hmph,” Vivian crossed her arms and turned away.
Awkward silence reigned for a moment, until the waiter approached.
“You’re salmon, Miss Stromness,” he said with a smile.
His smile quickly turned to panic when the dish flew out of his hand and hit Kaiya in the shoulder, food falling into her lap, and the plate somehow cutting open her shoulder.
Within seconds, the table was surrounded by employees trying to help, one waiter trying to clean the food out of Kaiya’s lap, one pressing a clean white cloth to the gash to stem the blood flow, and both the waiter and manager apologizing profusely.
“Please forgive us, Miss Stromness, he will be fired immediately, and your meal is complimentary, and we’ll give you free meals for the next few weeks. We will of course pay for the medical bills. Just have them sent here.”
“Stop!” Kaiya exclaimed in frustration, causing everyone to freeze. She pushed everyone’s hands away and pressed the cloth to her shoulder herself. “Please do not fire the waiter. It was an accident, and entirely out of his control. I do not hold him responsible at all. You really don’t need to pay for my medical bills or offer me free meals. Accidents happen, please don’t worry about it. I’ll of course get my shoulder treated, but there is no need for you to pay for it. Thank you for your kindness. The food was delicious, and I will certainly be returning. Good afternoon.”
Kaiya stood, swaying for a moment before her stance stabilized, and walked carefully out the door.
Jericho chased after her, and caught her at the door.
“Let me take you to the hospital,” he insisted.
“No, you need to go back to the office. I’ll be fine on my own,” Kaiya offered him a tight smile. “I’m sure Vivian has been quite traumatized by the events just now. Go take care of her. I’ll see you later.”
Before Jericho had time to react any further, Kaiya slipped into the waiting taxi and was gone.
The drive to the hospital was relatively quick, and Kaiya was seen shortly after she arrived. The cut on her shoulder was long, but fairly shallow. She still needed stitches, but it wasn’t too bad.
“You’re going to have a nasty bruise to go along with the stitches,” the doctor informed her. “I’ll prescribe you an antibiotic and some painkillers to help for a few days, then switch to acetaminophen or ibuprofen to deal with any pain. How did this even happen?”
“Someone tripped or pushed a waiter, so he fell and the plate he was holding slipped and slammed into my shoulder.”
“Did the person push the waiter on purpose?” the doctor asked. “That’s how you make it sound.”
“Well, I have no proof, but I’m fairly certain it was on purpose,” Kaiya admitted. “Jealousy is an ugly thing.”
The doctor nodded in agreement, finished bandaging the freshly stitched wound, and wrote the promised prescription.
When she was free to go, Kaiya headed back to the office, stopping only to get the medication for her injury.
“Kaiya!” Jaxon shouted when he saw her. “What are you doing here? Go home and rest.”
“I’m fine,” Kaiya said, scrunching her nose a bit. “I have some things I need to take care of today, so I can’t go home.”
The injured woman made her way to her office and set about transcribing her notes and translating them into French and English, then emailed them to both parties.
“KAIYA!”
The shout from down the hall caused her to start, which resulted in her twitching so a sharp flash of pain shot through her shoulder. Kaiya was wincing when Jericho stormed into her office.
“Go home!”
“No,” she said calmly. “My injury is not that severe, and I have work I still need to finish.”
“You were literally wincing in pain when I walked in!”
“Stormed in,” Kaiya pointed out. “There is a difference. And I was wincing because you screaming my name startled me, so I jumped and jerked my shoulder. Don’t shout my name and I won’t get startled and my shoulder won’t hurt.”
. . . Apparently these pain killers reduce my nervousness. . . This could be bad. . . Kaiya thought to herself.
Jericho blinked at her in surprise. “I didn’t think you had an attitude.”
“I apologize,” Kaiya whispered, staring at her toes, regret coursing through her. “It seems the pain killers the doctor gave me prevent me from filtering my words. I’ll be more careful in the future.”
“That’s not-“
“Baby?” Vivian sauntered into the room. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to send Kaiya home, or at least make sure she got something more to eat, since her lunch was spilled all over her.”
“She came back to work?” the tall blonde seemed very put out.
“So it appears,” Jericho said, sending an odd look Kaiya’s direction. “Let’s head back to my office, love.”
The couple walked out, and Kaiya sighed in relief, which was short lived when Jaxon and Jameson walked in to her office.
“If you are going to insist on staying at work, you need to eat something. Let’s go.”
Jaxon gently draped her coat around her, then carefully nudged her to her feet and out the door.
The trio made their way to a nearby delicatessen. Kaiya ordered a small bowl of soup with a baguette.
“That is not enough food,” Jameson commented. “You’re still going to be hungry.”
“Not really,” Kaiya said. “I don’t eat a lot for lunch.”
“Still, you should probably try to eat a little more,” Jaxon said. “You’re recovering from an injury. Your body needs energy to heal.”
“Maybe tomorrow,” she agreed. “Today my body just wants a little food and minimal activity. I’ll just eat this then go back to work and finish the documents needed for tomorrow. Then I’ll go home and rest.”
Jaxon and Jameson just sighed.