Arms still crossed he stared for a long moment, and then ran a hand through his curls, muttering, “Fine, I am that much better after shifting.” He put his hands behind his head, grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it off right there in front of me, all types of strung tight muscles rippling, my eyes flying wide open, especially, when he started to unbutton his pants, seeming now to be in a damn hurry to get undressed and shift.
“Jesus,” Elder Samson muttered, waving a hand. “Just for once, can’t you people do that elsewhere?”
“Perhaps,” my King flicked a finger to the side, even as he placed his other hand over my eyes when Cain only continued undoing his zipper, “not right in front of us?”
Or, maybe they could all leave, and he could keep undressing in front of me?
Cain’s voice was half wolf. “Close your damn eyes if you don’t want to see.”
I heard the rustling of pants, my King muttering a quiet grumbled complaint, keeping his hand over my eyes, like I was a damn child, but it wasn’t like I could push his hand away to stare, so I sat perfectly still until his hand lowered. I flicked him a withering glare, but it didn’t have much gusto behind it because my attention quickly swung to the enormous wolf in front of me, and I froze completely. Black fur slightly wavy, it flew about as he shook himself, stretching languidly, hind quarters in the air, then his chest up, massive paws pattering on the ground. He rolled a couple of times, stretching on the ground, lying on his back, arching, rubbing the top of his head on the carpet, like he had a scratch he couldn’t reach, not acting as I had remembered while I watched with wide eyes, since the last time I had seen him in his wolf form…well, he had ended up hurting me…badly.
I jerked back against the couch when he rolled swiftly back onto his stomach, navy blue eyes lifting to Elder Samson’s foot by his nose. He sniffed, and lifted, huffing quietly. Moved on to King Zeller, sniffed him a bit, growling quietly when King Zeller nudged him with his knee. His next culprit was Elder Bridges, who showed a bit of fang when he sniffed heavily at his hand. Elder Farrar ruffled his fur on top of his head when Cain leaned heavily on him, smelling his shirt, producing a huffing growl from Cain, smacking his jaws at him. Sin held perfectly still as Cain made a slow stalk around his chair, sniffing him at every angle, but he eventually moved on, and in wolf form, managed a swagger, swinging his tail as he moved toward us…looked at King Collins’s pant leg, not smelling him, but his black nose wiggled a bit.
King Collins muttered a quiet curse. “Yes, I was the culprit who stole your coffee this morning.” The middle finger was raised. “It hurt like hell, too, when I spilled half of it.” The wolf huffed quietly a few times…like he was laughing, and King Collins muttered another curse, then decided ignoring him was best, staring over him at the movie.
The wolf huffed a few more times, apparently still laughing, but a moment later, he dropped low onto his stomach. I held perfectly still as navy blue eyes flicked toward me. I really wanted to pick my feet up off the floor as he started to inch toward me bit by bit, extremely careful, pausing every once in a while as I eyed him with caution and uneasiness and, possibly, with remnants of fear, from our previous meeting, knowing full well, yes, Cain was still running the show, but his wolf definitely had a strong foot hold in his shifted form.
He stopped inching closer once his nose touched the tip of my bare toe. No sniffing. No moving. Just lay perfectly still.
I eyed him closely, curling my toes into the carpet, ready to jump away if he pounced…but he only continued to lie there, navy blue eyes peering up at me quietly, his huffing breathing fanning over my feet.
I waited, watching him.
Waited even longer, knowing full well how cunning a wolf could be, my previous foster parent, Philip Masterson, having taught me well enough how brutal they were, not to mention, an enormous, frightening as fuck one like Cain.
Time stretched on into minutes.
Minutes lulled into a half hour.
King Collins even nudged Cain’s flank at one point when I didn’t move for the popcorn he tried to hand me, seeing where my guarded gaze was glued.
But, he still didn’t move.
So, I continued scrutinizing him.
A half hour turned into an hour…and that was when he twitched…sniffing me slowly, just the barest twitching of his nose against my toes, the action almost tickling, except for…there were all those teeth hiding. Instinctively, I jerked my feet back against the couch. He froze again. Watching. Silently…until his eyes closed…and he fell asleep, his wolf snoring softly.
Exhaling slowly, grandly, I closed my eyes, my body relaxing on the couch, head falling back on the cushion, and reached blindly for the bowl of popcorn on my King’s lap, grabbing it, and putting it on my own. Stuffing my mouth with a handful, the smell driving me crazy for the past half hour, practically ready for a nap now after that tense damn hour of a stare off between…I froze, trying not to scream, eyes flying wide open when I felt the brush of fur against my hand holding the bowl…and damn near choked on my popcorn, seeing Cain’s enormous body raised, standing fully in front of me…with his head in the bowl of popcorn on my lap, studying its contents, his tongue peeking out—no teeth showing—as he caught a few pieces, and ate them quietly, only for his tongue to peek back out, catch a few more with the flick, munching those just as silently.
I swallowed heavily, the popcorn going down cuttingly, but I still moved my hand from under his jaw very warily and gently. He stopped eating, and dunked his head…and started tipping the bowl toward me. Instinctively, I grabbed it, but froze again, when his body moved forward, pressing his furry, warm chest against my knees…and dipped his head to start eating from the bowl quietly, his face rubbing against my hands his head was so large.
King Collins did a double take from the movie, staring down at Cain, muttering, “Seriously?” He wiggled the bowl. “There’s going to be drool all over the popcorn!”
Navy blue flicked up for the first time, and I was pretty sure he glared at him, but he stayed silent, only flicking his tongue out to grab more…no drool showing whatsoever, and thank God, no teeth, either. In fact, when King Collins glanced away in irritation, Cain shifted his big head, using his snout to push my hand into the bowl….then rested his chin on the edge…his gaze darting up to mine for the first time since he had hijacked my bowl…and after pretending to sleep.
Cautiously, I took a few pieces—all dry, and raised them to my mouth, eating them slowly, only to have to grab the bowl again when he once more started tipping it. My eyes narrowed the barest bit, that action definitely not an accident. I waited…and watched as he nudged my hand into the bowl, watched me as I ate…only to start to tip it again when I didn’t reach for more. His head started to gradually move back from the glass rounded edge, to ever so slowly and gently lower to my legs…where, as long as I continued eating, he didn’t try to tip the bowl, sniffing me covertly, just a slight wiggling of his nose against my bare skin—my pajama shorts ending higher on my thighs, moving down over my knees, huffing every once and a while…only to lift and steal more popcorn.
Unbidden, my lips twitched.
He didn’t miss it, either. His rounded ears twitched. Even though he was staring into the bowl, trying to get more, he was using all of his senses right now…as he tried to make me not fear him. It had taken awhile for me to understand, but that was what he was doing. Possibly even why he hadn’t wanted to shift around me, knowing I would after our match at the manor. Why he had started sniffing the others first, saving me for last, pretended to sleep, then ate from my own bowl, not showing his scary teeth.
I reached down into the bowl around his snout, slowly lifting a few pieces of popcorn into my hand, cupping them, and holding them under his nose…a silent peace offering, me saying I was sorry for being such an idiot…because I knew his wolf didn’t hate me…well, no more than the man did, anyway. He instantly pressed on me more firmly, huffing softly, and I felt his tongue flick out, taking the
popcorn from my hand, again eating them silently, his own brand of saying he wasn’t upset with me.
That night when we went to sleep, he and Brann were still in their shifted forms, but when he jumped onto his bed…his tail somehow managed to creep across to my bed, dig under my blanket and intertwine between my ankles.
Chaotic…twisting…delusional…pain, so much agony…heated steel…like a bolt, I jerked upright in bed. Breathing hard, my gaze flew about even as I wiped a shaking, dimly glowing hand across my forehead, then stared down into sleepy silver eyes. Instantly, my gaze flew to his other side, and thank God, Lissa wasn’t there. Voice a mere croak, I mumbled, “Sorry.”
Leric’s voice was quiet. “You can stay here if you want.” My attention slammed on him, and he rolled over, giving me his back, murmuring, “Just to sleep.”
I actually thought about that a moment, wondering if I would just end up here again if I didn’t, but I remembered Cain, and my previous stupidity, and I gently crawled from the bed, whispering, “I’d better get back.”
His tiger growled quietly, his bare back still to me, sheet hanging over his hip. “To him. You mean, you should get back to him.”
My lips pinched, glancing at his empty bed again. “Where’s Lissa?”
He was quiet for a long moment, and then murmured, “She ran out the door as soon as you came through.”
Ah. I ran a hand through my hair, trying not to feel possessive. “That was smart.” And it was, even if my voice was clipped. I turned toward his suite’s door, and began moving toward it. “Again…I’m sorry to interrupt your night.”
I heard the sheets rustling, then Leric’s voice was stronger, and I knew he was facing me. “What I said before, about sex not making you his…I wasn’t lying, Caro.” He paused when I did in the middle of the room, keeping my back to him, but listening…since he sounded reasonable, him and me never talking about that day when he had lost it. His words were slow, deliberately calm as he continued, but he spoke through our bond for any eavesdropping ears. “From what I saw, it may never work, and not because of you. Deep inside you are a tender-hearted individual, and you will eventually forgive him for what he did to you, but he…that’s a lot of fucking hate, kitten, and it’s not because of what you’ve done, or who you are, but because of what you are.”
I swallowed heavily, and also spoke with the same form of communication. “What you may have missed in all that sex you saw, was the fact that even though I don’t hate him because of what he is, I truly do hate him because of who he is, not just what he did. He’s an unscrupulous, calculating bastard that has grown up cold and hard, making him into who, the man on the inside, he is today, which would be the complete opposite of me. Arguing which is worse on what to hate, who someone is or what someone is, is moot in my opinion, because they’re both equally important when two people despise each other with equally long honed hatred for those pieces of a person.” I sighed heavily, running a hand through my somewhat damp hair from my night terrors. “And yet, having said all that, I’ve found myself caring for him, and he for me…both equally a little.” I stayed silent after that, not glancing back, giving him a moment to process that news.
His voice was chilling when he spoke in my mind. “I should probably tell you, just as you will hunt Lissa down if she ever hurts me, I’ll do the same with him if he ever hurts you. And it won’t even matter if I do believe you’re making a mistake by continuing this. If you’re hurt by his actions, if he is ever malicious and deceitful to you again, he’ll be dead.”
I chuckled quietly, my own tone chilling. “If he ever did that to me again, his blood would be on my hands, not yours.”
He was quiet for a long moment behind me before he stated quietly through our bond, “Just be careful, kitten. What you’re entering with him…the outcome is murky at best.”
“I know.” And I did. I started moving toward the door again. “Good night, Leric.”
“Good night, my Chosen.”
Walking down the hallway, I passed the Guardians securing his door, and moved down to mine, a few doors down, and stopped, listening closely…and didn’t hear anything. I sighed heavily, closing my eyes for a moment, then knocked on the door, since I didn’t exactly have a key stuck in my pajamas somewhere. It opened instantly, King Zeller standing in his pajama bottoms, hair mussed, lips pinched, staring at me with an extremely pointed expression.
My brows puckered as I walked past him into the dark room, everyone in bed, quiet…except for glowing eyes greeting me from all, Brann and Cain shifted back to their natural forms. I stopped in place, my own eyes glowing a bit when King Zeller shut the door behind me, the room only lit from the moon through the balcony, and he moved to place his hand on my back, pushing me forward a bit, stating quietly, “You disappeared before we could wake you.”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured as we moved toward the beds. “I didn’t mean to wake everyone.” I blinked, then hurried to say, “Again.”
Elder Bridges pushed up on an elbow, stating casually, “Yes…well, maybe, you should have stayed in the One’s bed.” He held my gaze, yawning tiredly. “He did offer, did he not?”
Instantly, my heart rate crashed, plummeting as deeply as my stomach, only to shoot off like crazy, eternally grateful Leric had started speaking through our bond, knowing for certain now Elder Bridges would have heard our conversation, and I stuttered, “He did offer, b-but I wanted to come…back.” Instantly, peace transfused me, the gentlest of brushes from King Zeller’s guiding hand on my back, and I stated evenly, “Maybe I should get my own room, so I don’t wake you all in the future.”
Elder Farrar yawned loudly. “I believe everyone was just startled,” another yawn, and he rolled, fluffing his pillow, “when you screamed all of a sudden, shaking the room, then glowed bright enough to light the entire area, only to disappear a few moments later.”
I stopped dead, rubbing a hand over my face, and if I wasn’t still receiving the peace from King Zeller I knew I would have been mortified, feebleness unmistakably exposed.
Sin grumbled defensively, “Her nightmares aren’t usually that bad.” Emerald green eyes connected with mine. “You’re sleeping with me, love. Don’t even think about getting another room.”
Sounding exhausted, Elder Samson muttered, “You’re fine, Ms. Jules.” He waved a hand at the bed. “Just lie down so we can all go back to sleep.”
Cain grunted, watching me quietly with his head on his crooked arm, more than likely bare under the sheet tied around his waist. “Every single person in this room has a past that haunts them in some way. You’re no exception to this.” He flicked a finger to my bed. “Plus, now that I’ve seen it happen, I’m fairly sure I can wake you the next time before you disappear.”
Elder Bridges snorted, lying back down. “Speak for yourself, Elder Merrick. I sleep with a clear conscious every night.”
Cain chuckled quietly, not bothering to glance his way. “Do I even need to call bullshit, Elder Bridges?” When no response came, Cain flicked his finger again to the bed. “Get some sleep, Ms Jules.”
King Zeller gave me a light shove, his magical peace disappearing as his hand fell away, but I felt mildly calm as I walked on…only to stumble when suddenly King Zeller’s voice was directly in my ear, even though he was already tucking himself back into his bed, his words softly spoken. “Elder Merrick is not as calm as he appears. You frightened him when you disappeared, and then, it didn’t help when you didn’t show for another half hour, even though I tried to explain to everyone you were only sound asleep in the One’s bed.” A pause. “In other words, try to calm him before Elder Bridges picks up on it because everyone else’s emotion will wane as they fall asleep, and Elder Merrick’s are too heightened right now for Elder Bridges to miss.”
I kept my face as blank as I could during that spiel, and then made myself move again, crawling into bed, making sure I lay on the edge, Sin pulling in close to my back, wrapping his arms around me tight. I kiss
ed his cheek lightly, affectionately, then turned my attention to the Shifter who was resituating himself on his trundle, unwrapping the blanket around his waist to let it lie normally over him, his gaze meeting mine finally…and even though my eyes had stopped glowing, his were still dimly shimmering between his hooded lids and thick lashes, both doing a stellar job of hiding whatever it was he was feeling right now, which I couldn’t even decipher, but I rested my hand out casually over the bed, keeping the sheet draped over it…and instantly felt his warm, long fingers threading through mine, gripping my hand tightly…and that was all the invitation I needed to keep him safe from Elder Bridges.
I opened my Core, the tiniest sliver, and floated into the cosmos, concentrating on the connection to my hand. I found his shimmery, beautiful black tether instantly, and pulled it gently to my lips, whispering, “Be at peace.”
It was only the slightest touch of continuous magic, but instantly, Cain inhaled sharply, his grip on my hand turning brutal, apparently having felt the influx of my power…but his eyes stopped glowing as he accepted it, not fighting me, his body relaxing visible where he lay on his side facing me…in fact, I instantly felt the gentlest, most sweetest, brushing of soothing Shifter magic run over me from my hand up, feeling like the silken brush of heated fur, just the barest morsel, a whisper, like mine for him, but I instantly held his hand more firmly, accepting his offer to soothe me.
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