(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 440

Chapter 440: The fifth day after everyone arrived on the front lines

This was the day where Kellen switched up the groups that the Field Guides were training in. They had gotten comfortable. Used to what they were doing. Now, he had them move around. It was like watching them get their sea legs back after being on land for a while.

Kellen had chuckled as they made mistakes that they hadn’t made when they first started doing this exercise. It was funny to him, since today Charlie had asked for a break so that he could go have tea with Kellen’s Dad. Kellen didn’t even care if it was an excuse, Charlie was allowed to have breaks.

In fact, he hoped that it was true he was going to have an early tea with his Dad. His Dad needed to leave the apartment too.

Kellen spent the little bit of free time he’d gained by examining what the Field Guides were doing, making little notes of improvement he could recommend, and eating the food that Rhys had sent to him again.

Again, heart shaped, again, a full platter. This time though, the person who had delivered it was able to escape since Kellen had a track record now of eating the food mostly by himself. This time it was steak bites with several dipping sauces. Kellen didn’t want to share.

So, Kellen ate his snack, going over files and making notes and realised he’d finished the platter before his time was up. He could feel the happy gazes of Espers on him. It was clear that they were over the moon at these displays that Rhys was showing, and from an outsiders perspective, Kellen got it.

It was good that the Captain of your Guild had a stable, happy relationship. Especially since he’d been alone for so long. Kellen got it. That didn’t mean he wasn’t heavily embarrassed by the fact that more Espers were coming up here to see what Rhys would deliver for him today.

He knew that the Espers had increased because it was obvious. Kellen knew most of the crew that worked out in the morning.

Kellen wasn’t going to be able to hide how red his cheeks were, not for a while. Nor was he going to be able to express how much he liked this method of Rhys’. It wasn’t...aggressive, but it made Kellen think about him all day. He liked it. He was already thinking about Rhys all day, in combination with all of the worries he had, but Rhys’ actions had a way of shifting how he thought about things.

Kellen was more relaxed while his students were at their wits end. They were arguing with each other, frustrated with the sudden change in a dynamic that they had gotten used to. Kellen had to talk to them after class, and explain that they were all doing quite well. He could tell that they didn’t believe him, so he just smiled and confirmed that they would be working in the same groups again tomorrow. They seemed pretty pissed about that.

It was around lunch time when Rhys came down to the cafeteria, a little winded until he met Kellen’s gaze. He was eating alone, the first time in a long time so that he could work on some papers for his second class. Kellen had no idea why Rhys was panting, but he didn’t have to wait long.

One second Rhys was on the other side of the room, the next second Rhys was at the edge of his table. He could see that a few of the others had jerked at the sudden change, but Kellen was adjusting to this sudden ’burst’ from Rhys as he liked to call it. Rhys bent, his lips near Kellen’s ear but Kellen knew it wasn’t for any seductive reason. Not from the way that Rhys’ eyes were glowing.

"Hill got us some new information." He said quietly. Kellen froze, fork halfway to his mouth. It had been quite some time that Hill had been working on these guys. Their resilience alone told Kellen that they probably weren’t some lower level guppies. One of them was a big deal.

Kellen put his fork down, looking up at Rhys.

"What did she get?" He asked even quieter, since he knew Rhys had enhanced hearing. Rhys was staring at Kellen, and Kellen felt his stomach drop.

"What they did wasn’t the biggest part. It was just the lead up. A distraction. Something worse is going to happen on the front lines." Kellen felt conflicted. A wave of satisfaction, that his feelings weren’t wrong, filled him. On the other hand, he felt pure terror fill him. His grip on the fork warped the fork, turning it in his hand.

Rhys reached out, taking the fork from Kellen’s hand and replacing it with his own.

"They won’t say what it is, only that it’s going to be devastating. I’ve already informed Sergei, Sakura and Lieutenant Fisher. Sakura has her people working double time to eliminate the poison as an issue so that everyone can be anywhere on the front lines." Rhys said quietly. "Sergei is ramping up security. He’s called in more of the Guild to look out for the others. We’re doing everything we can as well. Unfortunately, our normal guide is in a gate so unless we want to recall everyone right now, we have to wait at least a day to extract the Field Guides and new recruits." Rhys told him. Kellen swallowed.

He squeezed Rhys’ hand tightly and Rhys didn’t flinch at his tight grip.

"He’s in a gate?" Kellen confirmed and Rhys nodded.

"Yes, sugar. He is. We’ll keep them in safe locations. I promise. Brent also knows, he was there with Sergei when I called in." Kellen normally would have had an ah ha moment if he had heard that in any other time, but right now? This wasn’t the time to point it out.

Kellen felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He could barely get a breath in. What could it be? What was it? What was going to make this so dangerous? The poison gate was being checked constantly, was heavily monitored. They couldn’t do anything involving that. There was no way.