Chasing Fate (Sentinel & Guide)

Chapter 32

Fate looked up nervously from her perch on the couch when Jack came out of the bathroom. He smiled gently, his wet hair dangling over his shoulders, leaving dark spots on the shirt that stretched anxiously tight over his broad chest... His broad chest that was glistening through the deep V in the shirt collar.

Her face turned 4 shades redder and she looked down to inspect her nails. She had no business ogling him like that anyway.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to run you over I-" as her mind went blank she instinctively began to apologize, blowing the 'crime' far out of proportion.

"Hey..." Jack came over and carefully grabbed one of her hands, causing her to look up in shock. He was radiating calm through their bond, though it was tough to battle this new wave of apprehension.

His thumb rubbed soothingly over the palm in a motion that was becoming familiar. "Thanks for bringing my clothes. You didn't have to. Let me grab my phone, I think they're waiting on us downstairs."

Jack didn't want to let go of her hand, so he may have been a little pushy about guiding her out of their room and down the hallway. The gaming area had been tidied and four teen-aged kids sat on the couch trying their very best to look nonchalant.

Apparently bad acting was a trait of the clan. At the very least they could have faced the television they were pretending to watch. Fate felt their curiosity like a bubble gun frothing right at her forehead. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was intense.

She belatedly realized that Jack's room was not just sentinel-friendly. There were guide-dampening materials in the walls as well. She could feel the latent emotional signatures of several other people at various areas on this floor, as well as a miasma of joy and interest from below. There had to be about fifty people in the area already. DIstantly she could sense more coming.

"Shouldn't you lot be helping downstairs?"A chorus of whines and groans were his answer as the teens dramatically flopped off the couch.

"We're all done!" one girl chirped as she slid backwards off of the couch into a lazy cartwheel, popping up right in front of the two adults, "We're just excited to meet our newest clanmate..."

The girl wasn't shy about trying to peek around Jack's massive build. She was young, just an inch or so over 5 feet, with somewhat too long limbs and bumpy skin that spoke of puberty. Her bright green eyes were wide and probing. Fate could tell instantly, this was an alpha sentinel in the making. No lesser sentinel would be so calm about getting in Jack's face to inspect his guide, clanmate or no.

The other young sentinels were also approaching, peeking around to get a glimpse of the newest guide on the block. Though Jack was far more lenient than most alpha sentinels, he was not going to let the kids get away with everything just because they're cute.

He let out a low subvocal growl, so quiet that Fate couldn't hear it, but the young sentinels snapped to attention. "You may be excited, but unless my ears are getting weak, I heard Dad grumbling about where you lot had run off to."

Jack lifted an all-knowing eyebrow. "Aww...Come on Sig!" the group all groaned and protested but nevertheless made their way towards the stairs, not even dreaming of challenging the alpha prime.

Jack released his 'stern alpha' stance as soon as they were out of sight.

Fate felt his chuckle before she heard it as he fondly turned to her, "So that's what excitement feels like?"It was ticklish, like butterflies let loose beneath his diaphragm all rushed up to his chest. He hadn't realized it wasn't Fate's feeling until it dimmed when the kids rushed downstairs. Instead he felt Fate's pinchy feeling of surprise.

"Y-Yes, that's one type of it," she answered quietly. Jack was giving her his full attention, and she felt his curiosity, again that frothy feeling. it made sense, while sentinels trained on their senses, guides were taught to identify the layers of emotion. Of course any guide of meager talents could tell excitement from anger and joy from relief, but stronger guides could calculate the feelings almost like a formula...given the training.

"That feeling...It's curious excitement," Fate explained cautiously. Jack nodded, his own excitement growing like a bubble in his chest, and with it, the first tinge of nervousness she'd felt from him since they'd landed.

"There will be a lot of that, I think." Jack murmured as he began to pull her towards the stairs.