Love and Other Crisis | Season 1

Episode | 38

Ronin contemplated the night sky and the droning sound of the city below. All attempts at focusing on work failed. His mind kept drifting off to unwanted places. He abandoned his office for Sky Park, hoping the fresh air would clear his head. It didn't.

How did he have time to be distracted with everything going on? Ronin rubbed his brow.

Kaliope Barnes wasn't a shake-up he or the Occult world foresaw. In her first case, she created a giant crack in the glass dome of the witching society. He'd assumed responsibility for said crack, aware the backlash for Kaliope would be severe. Occult-Noccult relations were as unstable as the House System.

The most Ronin anticipated was a long lecture from his father. He called that a regular Sunday dinner.

But his interest in Kaliope's safety wasn't solely because she was a member of his team. As he'd suspected in their first meeting, the woman proved a puzzle. She was familiar, yet not. A fascination and a constant source of irritation. Ronin faced the reality of these contrasting facts when Andreas goaded him about Kaliope acquiring a mood stone to shield herself from him. The two almost came to blows in the elevator. Andreas relished him losing his composure.

You're slipping, brother.

He'd slipped alright. And hooked himself on an unforeseen complication he struggled to ignore.

~~

Ronin lingered at the door of his godfather's office, unsure if he wanted to start a fight or simply get answers. Eli was busy marking papers.

"Planning to stand there all night?"

"Did you know?"

"About what exactly?" Eli continued his work, shaking his head as he scribbled a note in red ink on one of the papers.

"About Kaliope."

Eli's hand paused. A second later, he raised his gaze. "What about Kaliope?"

Ronin reconsidered his stance on whether Eli was an intentional mastermind or if he, Ronin, happened across a stroke of fate.

"Ronin." Eli rose, his eyes gleaming amber. "If something's wrong with Kaliope."

"She's a match."

Eli flinched, the fire draining from his eyes. "A match?"

Fueled by Andreas' taunt, Ronin impulsively introduced his pheromones to Kaliope. He'd been on edge, as he was for days, and he acted on the urge to bridge the disconnection between them caused by the mood stone, unmindful of possible repercussions. Ronin hadn't considered there would be any. He hadn't expected Kaliope's reaction.

"She recognizes my pheromones."

"How? She's human. How certain are you? "

"Not at first." At first, Ronin convinced himself his aura overpowered Kaliope until he caught her response to Gideon's homemade tea made from bergamot essential oils squeezed over black tea leaves. The momentary shock when she tasted it and the panic as she shoved it away. And again during Ballister's press conference. Kaliope picked at the candies Inola offered, eating all except the orange flavor. "But I'm certain now."

Kaliope definitely distinguished his scent, and she avoided it. Her avoidance irritated him. Yet, he told himself it was for the best...until those moments when he slipped.

"You're distressed."

Ronin's irritation flared. "Of course, I'm distressed. You know what this means." Kaliope could only read his pheromones if she were a compatible match for him—a potential mate. Ronin hadn't recognized his disconnect from Kaliope when she started wearing the mood stone for what it was. And in one foolish moment, he crossed an irreversible line. Tried as he might to keep his distance, burying himself in work, nothing helped. Now she was having dinner with Andreas, of all people. And the way she was staring at him earlier. Ronin gritted his teeth.