[AWUOR]
There was a list of things that Hawi wanted and that she knew Malika wouldn't do, unless she commanded her, but the most important one was coming back towards them in the form of Elodie Kane, the psycho's best friend.
'Anything?' Hawi had asked again, like she wanted to be very sure before she told Malika what she wanted.
'Anything you want, Mistress. Even the cringy things just don't leave me with this man,' Malika pleaded in the mind link, and it took everything in Hawi for her not to burst out laughing.
What Malika hadn't noticed was the fact that her crush was closing in on them and that their current situation was solely turning into one that even her heart wouldn't be able to handle, especially if Hawi kept teasing her.
But then she had made the choice and of this was the price she had to pay for Jer being out for eight hours, then Malika would do it without a doubt.
"Holy fuck," was all that Elodie could say, when she felt Malika's lips on hers, and the sparks of their very evident mate bond.
"What?" Jer asked and Hawi knocked him out making sure to erase the memory of everyone who had seen what just happened.
"Hold on. Why? What? Wh— Holy shit what the fuck?" Elodie shouted as she looked at Malika who was seriously blushing while Hawi was having the time of her life, being invisible to everyone save for Elodie and Malika who were out there.
Elodie was not sure what to feel about the kiss because she loved the sparks, she wanted to feel them again, but she hated the way their first kiss had been.
She had always thought it would be under better circumstances, when the woman she liked wasn't sharing a bed with her sister's ex-mate. It wasn't the most ideal of times, but goodness, Elodie didn't like what had happened.
"I'm off. Thank you Hawi," Malika said as she disappeared into the pack house, probably to get her husband to bed, and then go deal with the visitors who had come for the funeral.
There were so many things they needed to sort, but it was obvious that Malika's mind was going to be preoccupied with the taste of Elodie's lips on hers.
Malika wanted to do it again.
She knew that this time Hawi meant business.
Granted, it was not going to be easy for her to look her father in the eyes, given everything that had happened but Hawi also knew that there were two ways to get the answers on what happened to Dom.
One of them was to torture Jer into admission, which really sounded like the perfect plan. But then that was also a plan that could backfire terribly on them, given Hawi was still a daughter of the lands.
The second option was to go and try to see for herself in her father's memories what had happened. Sure, she could have gotten the answers if she checked Jer's mind, but she just couldn't do it.
She just wasn't ready to see what other skeletons were in Jer's closet.
"I am sure of this. I will do my part, and you do yours. Make sure the funeral is over by the time Jer wakes up. That gives you eight hours, but I need you to make it four hours. Spin whatever is left of the weak Luna facade and get the leaders out of here.
"Get Rukiya out of here, and do not tell her anything about this. I don't want her worrying, or blaming herself for whatever decision I make. If she insists, tell her I can always use the blood oath to get to her.
"As for Elodie, you need to decide if you want to pursue her now, or later. Unlike Rukiya who bound herself to me with a blood oath, Elodie won't be as understanding, especially since she has a duty to Sicario and to me.
"Elodie could abandon Sicario, but she won't let her initial plan to get me back home through the front gates go bland. That means she could resist any and every plan you present to her about leaving Sicario.
"So you have to think very carefully about what you will do with her. And don't break her heart in a terrible way, or I might come for your neck, since she's the only person I have left in my family and even circle," Hawi said and Malika looked at her worriedly.
She had not expected this shift from the happy moments they had had, but then she also knew that Hawi wasn't always going to hide under the facade she had held on to for so long. Eventually, she would have to come out of her shell and face the world.
But was this just her being ready to face the world?
"That sounds awfully like goodbye, Mistress," Malika spelled out, worried that it would be true given she had never been wrong about Hawi and her thoughts.
Awuor Hawi was a complicated woman and even in her complicated state, Malika had learned to deal with her.
"Because it is, at least for a while."