“What?” She was acting strange, and it bothered me a bit.
“Oh, nothing really,” she said in a singsong voice before reaching for another slice of pizza.
“You’re up to something again.” I frowned to express my displeasure.
“Me? I’m never up to anything, right, Caden?” Xany bat her lashes at him.
Mal nearly spit out his soda as he laughed so hard his entire body shook. After a moment, he finally gathered himself enough to say, “Xandrea Wade, you are the biggest troublemaker I have ever met.”
Caden laughed and kissed Xany’s cheek. “Of course, precious. You’re the best behaved of all.”
I laughed upon hearing Caden purposely feed into Xany’s good girl act, and Vanessa seemed to enjoy listening to everyone while she ate. Xany grinned at Caden and stuck her tongue out at Mal who shook his head at her.
“So, Red, think one day you’ll dance for us?” he asked casually.
“Maybe.” She finished her pizza and set the plate on the table before stealing my soda for a sip.
“What kind of dancing do you teach?” Mal continued to talk with Vanessa, which I appreciated. I was surprised that she was able to answer his questions so directly. Whenever she was in a room full of people, her social skills all but disappeared.
“Irish Dancing.” She slouched a tiny bit, her shyness peeking through. Her hand fell to my upper thigh, and she began doing a gentle kneading motion with her fingers. It reminded me of a common house cat when she did that.
“She used to compete when she lived in Ireland. She has medals and stuff.” I joined the conversation to distract myself from Vanessa’s wandering hand. For some reason, I was uncomfortable with her affection. She was always touchy and affectionate with me, but it was usually in private. Maybe it was the presence of other people in the room that fed my discomfort.
“Really?” Xany asked with peaked interest.
Vanessa nodded, slouching a little more to rest her head on my shoulder. Even though Vanessa took pride in being the center of attention, she never seemed to like being the center of attention that required Q and A.
“For such a confident cat, you’re being awfully shy,” Mal said as he watched her. He seemed intrigued by her interesting demeanor as many people often were.
Vanessa mewed at him, then snickered. “I’m not confident,” she said, which made everyone laugh.
“She’s very modest,” I said through my laughter which earned me a swat from Vanessa. Xany giggled and seemed to be struggling with whether or not she was entertained by Vanessa or put off by her.
“You want to stay and watch a movie with us?” Caden asked. I imagined it was his way of casually including Vanessa. He had a subtle way about him that, even though he was large and scary, that made people feel welcomed and comfortable. He was a strange dominant, a strange alpha, and a strange wolf. So was Mal for that matter. Who would have thought a wolf would ever be sharing a couch with a cat? Xany was right; Caden and Mal were different. Their inclusion and acceptance of Vanessa as an ally, without knowing her from Eve, proved that. Vanessa nodded to Caden. I smiled at him, silently thanking him for inviting her to stay. He gave me a subtle wink, and Xany hopped up to the stack of DVDs on the mantle.
“I get to choose!” she shouted, then selected Dracula this time. I got the feeling she had a thing for vampire flicks.
Mal laughed at his sister, grabbed a few blankets off the back of the sofa, and tossed them out to everyone. Vanessa turned on her side, and I wrapped an arm around her. She slipped her hand up my shirt and rested it on my bare stomach. A bizarre flutter wiggled through me under her hand. It made her grin. I didn’t quite understand all the things that my body had been doing lately. Between the hot flashes in my face and strange stomach lurches and gurgles, I didn’t know which was worse. If I wasn’t a doctor, I’d probably think I’d had some sort of disease. But knowing what I knew, I doubted there were any diseases where the main symptoms were hot flashes and belly gurgles.
We all watched the movie together; however, I could have sworn Mal, Caden, and Xany were all sharing some sort of silent conversation with each other because every once in a while I would catch them glancing or nodding toward one another. I imagined that it was either Vanessa or I as the subject of their discussion…
Chapter Twenty-Four
I woke up the next morning later than usual after having a ridiculous dream about a version of Dracula that sucked mercury out of thermometers. Rolling over to stretch, I found myself alone in bed again and frowned. Sometimes I liked when Vanessa stayed through the night, and for some reason last night was one of those times. I got out of bed and went about my showering routine before heading into the kitchen. Xany was there by herself, taking out a few items from the fridge to start breakfast like she usually did.
“Need any help?” I asked.
She perked up, greeting me with an excited hug. “Sure, NeeNee,” she replied with a smile. “We can make an omelet, home fries, and sausages. I think we have all of the stuff for it.”
I returned her hug this time without much thought. I was starting to get used to her affection. “Yum! Yeah, let’s do all that.”
Xany appeared tickled by my sudden enthusiasm. “The guys are outside finishing the fire pit, and they’ll be hungry soon.”
I smiled, and we got to it. We fixed a ham and cheese omelet, seasoned home fries, and plump sausages. I set the table, and Xany squeezed some fresh oranges for juice. She was proud of our collateral work, and frankly, so was I.
“So, where’s your kitty today?” she asked as we set the food on the table.
“I dunno. Most of the time she leaves before I wake up in the morning.” I shrugged, placing a plate of sausages in the center of the table.
“Really? Why?” Xany looked over her shoulder at me.
“She just does.” I turned to face her, not understanding what the big deal was about Vanessa leaving. She always did; it’s just how she was. Maybe it’s just how cats were in general.
“You want her to stay, huh.” She grinned, but I could tell she was trying to hold back a girlish giggle.
“Sometimes, yeah, I do. She falls asleep with me almost every night, then when I wake up, she’s gone.” I poured the juice into glasses as we conversed.
“Maybe it means something to her by staying all night and waking up with you,” Xany suggested, tapping her lip and looking at me with a risen brow.
I got the feeling she was trying to plant a seed that I was sure I didn’t know how to sow. “Maybe.”
Mal and Caden came into the house, covered with mud and dirt from digging out the fire pit. It wasn’t a very deep hole that they’d have to make so I wasn’t sure why they were so dirty. Maybe they decided to roll in it or something.
“Hey, ladies… Wow, it smells good in here.” Caden sat down at the kitchen table.
“Of course! Nee and I cooked.” Xany grinned, before her expression suddenly changed into a stern look, both hands on her hips. “Oh no, you don’t, Mister Lionsong. You get your sexy ass in there and clean up before you even think about sitting down at my table.” She pointed toward the bathroom.
Laughing, Mal snuck off to the bathroom first to clean up while Caden got reprimanded. Once they both were clean, everyone gathered around the table. Mal was smiling when he sat. “Damn,” was all he said before he started serving everyone, Xany and me first, then Caden and himself. I lifted a brow at him when I saw the serving order.
“We don’t have eating ranks in this pack. Ladies first,” he explained with a grin.
“The man speaks the truth. Alpha eats with his pack here, not before.” Caden gave me a nod and only started eating once everyone had a plateful. I smiled at them and looked to Xany.
“Told you.” She shrugged, smiling proudly. “They’re different.”
While we sat together and ate, Mal told me of his plans for the fire pit and how he decided to dig it out a few yards from the front of the cabin. The
fire pit was a place where everyone could hang out on cool nights, have ceremonies, cook, and sometimes simply make S’mores.
“What do you say since you girls cooked, Mal and I clean up?” Caden offered.
“Good plan, I’m game!” Xany giggled.
The guys cleaned up the kitchen relatively quickly while Xany and I decided to saunter off to the main room to turn on the TV.
“We should check the weather, Nee. It said there was going to be a series of thunderstorms heading our way.” She flipped through the programs until she got to the news channel that warned of severe thunderstorms.
“I like storms,” I commented while listening to the forecast. Mal sneaked off to the bathroom to shower, and Caden joined us while he waited for his turn.
“Hank said his men will be back out here at the end of the week to finish the addition now that the ground isn’t as frozen,” Caden said.
“What are they adding on?” Xany asked.
“Two more rooms. One I thought would be good for a library or office type area, and the other can be a spare room or guest room or whatever we want it to be. They’re also going to add a second bathroom at the end of the addition.”
“A second bathroom will be perfect. That way Nee can take as long a shower as she wants without me bothering her when I have to pee.”
I laughed and bopped Xany with a pillow from the sofa. Caden chuckled and sniffed the air. “The resident cat has returned.”
“Does he always announce my presence?” Vanessa asked as she strolled into the living room from the doorway of my room. She had gone back to wearing her usual green velvet dress. My mood lightened when I saw her. Her hair was down, and she smelled of sweet shampoo and fabric softener, which were my two favorite scents. She was barefoot as she almost always was, and she purred while nuzzling my cheek in greeting.
“Every time.” I returned the gesture, closing my eyes and enjoying the contact with her. While I was distracted, Caden glanced to Xany who giggled softly.
“What if I wanted to sneak up on you?” She sat on the arm of the sofa beside me.
“Unless you have a gift that makes you scentless, it’ll be pretty hard,” Caden said.
Vanessa snickered and peeked over at Xany who continued to giggle. She lifted a brow at her and slid her hands to her hips. I looked over to Xany to see what she was up to.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Oh nothing…”
I shook my head at her antics. “Ness, you want something to eat?”
“Milk?” Vanessa asked, keeping her eyes on Xany.
“Just milk?”
“Mhmm. Or cream.” Her purring was low and subtle. She watched Xany, who was unrelenting with her giggling and grinning as she toyed with Vanessa.
Caden watched the interaction silently. Just as I got up to get the glass of milk, Mal returned from his room dressed in his typical jeans and T-shirt. His shirt was tighter than usual, which made me do a double take and bump into the kitchen table. He looked at me with a risen brow. I smiled innocently and hid behind the door of the refrigerator until he went to sit in the main room with the others and nodded a greeting to Vanessa.
“Xany, what are you doing?” he asked when he saw Xany giggling and Vanessa eyeing her.
I came back to the living room and handed Vanessa her milk. When I went to sit down on the sofa, she slid quickly under me so that I ended up sitting on her lap. I shook my head though I smiled. She held me close and scooted around until she was comfortable. Vanessa was such a typical cat sometimes. When she could tell I was in a good mood, she always made the extra effort to get as much affection out of me as possible. I didn’t mind.
“Oh, nothing, “ Xany said in a sweet singsong voice.
“I think you’re right, bro. She is a troublemaker,” Caden said. Vanessa sipped her milk, then handed it to me to place on the coffee table as she silently watched the exchange.
Xany continued to put on her innocent act. “Am not.”
Mal nodded to Caden, and Xany huffed. “It’s not my fault she let her secret out,” she said, baiting Vanessa whose entire body tensed. She glared at Xany with such force that I imagined if her eyes were laser beams they’d go right through my body like butter.
“What secret?” Vanessa’s voice was low and quiet, threatening.
It is common knowledge in the preternatural world that cats are notorious seekers of secrets. They love to keep them, have them, and find them out. Telling a cat you have a secret or know a secret is a sure way to rile or upset them. I got a little annoyed at Xany because I knew she’d said it on purpose to get Vanessa upset.
“Xany, that’s not very fair. She’s just teasing you, Vanessa, relax.” I watched her emerald eyes fixate on Xany, flashing yellow bits, and her pupils became slender.
“Neither one of us is going to protect you, Xandrea Wade, when Vanessa kicks your ass and ties you upside down from the ceiling fan,” Mal warned. Caden laughed lightly, but I could tell he agreed with Mal. Xany grinned at having a one-up on Vanessa and shrugged, pretending not to care.
Vanessa grew increasingly tense. I turned in her lap, straddling her legs to face her. Vanessa’s hands went to my hips, digging into my bones with a force that was ever more crushing. She continued to look at Xany with her cattish eyes. I took careful hold of her chin and guided her to look back at me.
“She’s baiting you. Don’t bite.”
She hissed at me, then frowned. Her posture slouched, and she turned fully away from Xany. In the language of cats, Vanessa had just expressed the depth of her displeasure. To be ignored, not just mentally, but physically, was the greatest of insults.
Caden gave Xany a chastising look which only made her pout. “I was just having fun.”
I ran my fingers through Vanessa’s hair and then glanced at Xany. Vanessa smiled at me when I touched her hair, and her purring returned slowly. She tugged me closer so that my stomach was nearly pressed against hers. I didn’t think twice about sitting like this. It wasn’t unusual for us, in private anyway.
“Mom would have tanned your hide for that,” Mal reprimanded his sister.
“But Mom’s not here.” Xany bobbed her head from side to side with each word.
“Even if you do know a secret, it’s not fair to drive the cat crazy over it. Play fair.” He lifted his lip as if to snarl at Xany; the flavor of his discourse was so thick I could almost taste it.
Xany huffed and went to sit in Caden’s lap. He, of course, babied her but didn’t disagree with Mal’s lecturing. Neither of them agreed with hitting below the belt. The room grew quiet until Vanessa’s purring was the only sound. Suddenly there was a crack of thunder outside. A deep grayness overshadowed the previously bright tree line. I watched out the window, waiting for more lightening to come.
“Your favorite,” Vanessa whispered, her eyes swirling back to their usual green.
“Mhmm. I like storms.” A flash of lightening illuminated Vanessa from behind. Her hair seemed to shimmer for a moment.
“Me too. They’re especially strong up here,” Mal said. I drew my gaze over to him.
“Think we’ll lose power?” My brows flicked upward though I tried to hide my excitement.
“Maybe.” He grinned. “You like that?” He mimicked my lifted brows which made my cheeks flush.
“Yeah. Everything stops, and we’re stuck in total nothingness with no distractions. It’s pure. I love it.” I smiled at him. I could tell Mal was the kind of man that appreciated the simplest things in nature.
Caden was sitting there with a smile on his face. I could feel Xany’s eyes on me while I interacted with Mal. For some reason she kept watching the two of us like hawks lately. I didn’t really understand why, but maybe she was feeling protective of her brother. Caden looked pretty goofy sitting there smiling for no reason.
“I hate rain.” Vanessa shuddered.
“You hate water unless it’s a shower.” I poked her stomach.
She g
rinned and leaned into me, pretending to bite my shoulder. I laughed and tried to wiggle away.
“Naughty.”
She snickered and relaxed back against the sofa as her eyes wandered over me. I watched her until a flash of lightening lit up the window. It sent a shiver up my spine. I watched Vanessa chew her bottom lip. I wasn’t sure if she was nervous or holding back something she wanted to say. Vanessa purred louder, until she was making the wheezy-sounding kind. She slipped her hands up my shirt to rub my bare stomach.
I glanced at the others, worried that all eyes were on us without the distraction of a movie. My slight discomfort turned into full-blown embarrassment that burned my cheeks. My stomach jumped and warmth rushed through me, starting from behind my navel.
Vanessa’s expression made the slightest of shifts, but she continued to watch me. I could tell Mal was watching us. I glanced over at him. He seemed relaxed. Xany and Caden were quietly kissing by the fire. I tore my gaze away quickly and looked back to Vanessa.
“You smell different,” Vanessa said, still chewing her lip.
“I…what? How do I smell different?” Her odd statement caught me off guard.
She rubbed her hands on my stomach again. That weird flutter behind my navel returned. A wave of shyness suddenly caught hold of me. I hugged her to escape it, which ultimately gave her less access to my stomach.
“When the storm is over, what do you all say we head down to Imogene’s shop in town? Mal has a few things to drop off, and it might not be a bad idea to get out a bit tonight.” Caden’s voice seemed to appear out of nowhere, but I was secretly grateful for it.
Mal was the only one who appeared to be enjoying the ambiance. Vanessa wrapped her arms around me and nipped my neck and shoulder. Occasionally, I could hear a quiet inhale as she sniffed me. I didn’t understand what she meant by saying I smelled different. Nothing had changed. I still used the same soaps and detergents and everything else. It made me a bit worried. I didn’t want to smell different to her. I wanted to smell the same. What if the smell was gross or something?
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