“My clothes?”
“Don’t tell me no one ever told you that you dress like a retarded superhero.” Dae said as serious as she could.
“There’s nothing wrong with my A. S. Roma Soccer Jersey, soccer hater. I do not dress like a retarded superhero. I’m showing loyalty to a team–”
“Whatever you say, Sasquatch but wearing a soccer jersey in public implies a special kind of retardation.” Oh no, Dae was not going to listen to a sports fanatic’s reasoning. You couldn’t pay her to listen to that insanity.
Koda chuckled. “Should I dress like you? Somehow I don’t think spaghetti straps and short shorts will go with my figure.”
Dae laughed as she imagined the picture he painted. It was not pretty.
“You never know, you may just have the hips to pull it off.” Dae teased.
“You know, I really like it when you said my name.” Koda saw her eyes narrow and quickly added, “I didn’t mean that in a dirty way. Get your mind out of the gutter, woman!”
Dae shook her head. “So we have to get in to this again, huh?”
“Yes, we do. I would rather you call me by my name, Koda.”
“Like I forgot it.” Unfortunately, Dae’s addled brain replayed his name, among other things having to do with him, over and over again since he introduced himself. Gods, Dae was a sick woman. She rolled her eyes, “Well, bully for you, Sasquatch. A naming is a gift, few are lucky enough to ever receive one.”
“Seriously Dae, Iya can call me Sasquatch all day, but please, would you call me Koda?” Koda pleaded.
He sounded serious. And why were their conversations always getting so serious?
“What’s the big deal? You are a Sasquatch compared to us, so the name fits.” Dae said as nonchalant as possible, hoping he’d just go with banter-flow.
“A Sasquatch is a mythical creature who lives in the wild and is hunted. It really doesn’t apply to me.” Actually, it did apply to him.
Dae glanced at him in her peripheral vision. That was lie. Weird. Then his face relaxed. Koda looked like he should have had a lit light bulb floating above his head. This was not going to be good for her.
“If you keep calling me Sasquatch, I guess I’ll have to call you by your real name.” Koda laid so much emphasis on ‘real’ Dae wanted to punch him in the balls. Subtle he was not.
“You wouldn’t.” Dae’s eyes narrowed as she slowed her pace and stopped. Koda stopped too and gave her a lazy grin. Damn him. She eyed his superior height and debated how many fake punches it would take to preoccupy him to get a clear shot to his balls.
Five. Seven, tops– but maybe, just maybe, Dae was going about this all wrong. Maybe she didn’t have to fight to catch him off guard. She could do something so completely out of character that he would be stunned. Shocked. Something Iya would approve off. Maybe she could use some of that Iya finesse to achieve a means to her end. Then, if all else failed, she’d still have her shot at his balls…
“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I guess you’ll have to make that decision for me. You’ll have to call me Sasquatch and see what happens.”
That was a challenge, almost like a dare and Dae barely stopped herself from screaming ‘Sasquatch!’ in the street like some mental patient. Most of the time it was like there was something in her DNA that’s stopped her brain from functioning logically when someone dared her. And Dae did the craziest crap because if it. Thank the Gods that frostbite healed. Dae might have had one less toe on her right foot for the rest of her life.
No, this was not a dare –it was an opportunity. A real chance to reconfirm Dae’s life motto and prove Iya wrong… Iya and her peacekeeping theories were a little too arrogant for Dae’s liking. She couldn’t pass an opportunity to take them down a peg or ten, now could she?
It would be such a waste and Dae hated waste.
Dae tilted her head to the side and arched an eyebrow. A gesture was both animal and human. Koda was starting to become wary. The look she gave him made him uncomfortable. He had the sudden impulse to cup himself.
Dae stepped forward slowly, looking like the predator she was, except she didn’t look like she was ready to rip his throat out. Her eyes were low and seductive as she approached him as if they weren’t on some random street. She approached him as if they were in a bedroom.
How he wished they were.
She stopped an inch away from him and inhaled as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Koda swallowed at the hungry look in her eyes.
She was scenting his arousal and it looked like she liked it.
Her small hand lifted to his cheek apprehensively. Koda’s eyes were locked on hers. He couldn’t look anywhere else if he wanted to. Hordes of cartoon characters could have been waging war in the street all around them and he still would have been unable to do anything in that moment other than what he did. And he didn’t want to.
When her hand made contact with Koda’s cheek, he fought not to grab her against him and ravage her like an animal. He couldn’t push her; this had to be her choice, her decision. He would lose her if he pushed her too soon. She was like a wounded animal, so wary of everyone she’d rather be in pain and starve than accept help.
The softness of her hand and the heat from her touch lit him up like a rocket on Fourth of July. Koda was breathing deep as Dae slid her hand up to touch his hair. That felt good. Especially when she lightly scraped his scalp with her fingernails and then pushed his hair away from his face. She gazed at his jaw as she ran her fingers down to his cheekbone and palmed his cheek. He already had stubble on his face, which made him regret his shifter genes. The DNA that made him heal so quickly also made his facial hair grow like that Chia from the 1980’s Chia pet commercial.
She didn’t seem to mind though. Koda closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek against her palm.
Dae spoke in a husky tone that made his cock twitch. “You– you like this?” Dae sounded and smelled confused.
“Yes.” Gods yes. His voice was animalistic but he saw that she didn’t mind one bit. She didn’t seem fear the animal in him like most did. She feared the man. But that was changing. This was proof. Had to be.
“You don’t want me to… stop?” There was that confusion again.
“No.” He growled, almost completely unable to use his human vocal cords. She was bringing out something in him that he always feared. She always seemed to bring his wolf to the forefront while the man was fighting the wolf back for control. The strange thing was that she seemed to pull the wolf out and tame him simultaneously.
Dae lightly pulled her hand back an inch and before he could stop himself he covered that hand with his own to keep it pressed against his cheek. He growled ‘No’ in wolf but still she didn’t run. She gazed at her hand against his cheek, her features softened and wanting. It was a miracle he didn’t throw her in the bushes and so they could ‘do it like wolves’.
Gods he wanted to.
“Would you do something for me?” Dae asked, her breath caressing the skin of his face as he leaned down closer to her.
‘Anything.’ He growled in wolf. Stop using the word ‘the’ forever, ok. Make friends with those arrogant cat-bastard Jaguars, No problem. Legally change his name to ‘He who farts in shoes’, sure –why not? There wasn’t a thing he wouldn’t do if she would accept their bond right then.
“You mean that?” Did he really? Gods, Dae couldn’t ask him to kiss her. Dae wouldn’t. She shouldn’t. But –damn– she wanted to. Screw her pride, she only cared about her hunger. Dae wanted more. More than a caress, more than a melding of bodies, though she wanted that bad enough it made her ache; she wanted him. All of him.
Madness.
His cheek was rough to the touch, the muscle of his jaw clenched as he held her hand on his face. When his eyes closed, Dae thought she might be lost. Her body was screaming its own demands and so was the her that wasn’t her. And then there was the her that was her that couldn’t remember what she was supposed to be
doing…
Throw him in the bushes and get naked. Throw him on the ground and get naked. Jump him where he stands. Naked.
Was that the plan?
Naked is the plan.
Dae’s face appeared even more confused… Strange, he mused. He wondered what she was thinking about.
Getting naked. Please let it be getting naked.
“I mean it, Dae. Anything.”
Was Dae really going to do this? Dae couldn’t recognize who she was anymore. She was a familiar stranger. She looked like her, smelled like her but somehow wasn’t her. But she didn’t care, as long as she had him.
Mine.
Koda watched as Dae’s eyes sparkled their natural gold liquid and he saw something in there that looked like the beginning buds… of triumph. He started to think with his head instead of his other –no less important– body parts. The scent of her wanting him was making him loose all sense of reality.
This wasn’t right. This wasn’t his Dae; this was too easy.
Had she really decided to touch him unexpectedly when she had been adamant about him not getting remotely close to her whatsoever not but a few hours ago? Had he won her acceptance so easily? Surely not.
Dae was a fighter. She fought with everybody. For fun. Koda had never seen her act like this before. Ever. She was more than casually close to him. And she was relaxed. Easygoing. Sexier than all hell but still this wasn’t her way. It was Iya’s.
Dammit!
Intimate touching. Inviting him closer. Non-violent. This was Iya’s personality all the way. Iya definitely had a conman’s finesse. Not that he thought Dae didn’t have finesse; this was just the complete opposite of Dae’s personality. It wasn’t natural.
Dae partially opened her mouth –Koda guessed to ask that he let her call him whatever she wanted. Her mouth was so close now that if he leaned an inch lower –or six– he could kiss her.
He should too; the conniving little wolf deserved it. He should close that distance before she even realized it. He would have her then. But he wanted her to give him their first kiss, not have him steal it. Like a thief in the night.
Before she could speak he said, “I wouldn’t ask that if I were you. It might make me think you’re trying play me like your own personal fiddle.”
Dae tensed at his words. Before he spoke, she was going ask him to kiss her. She was going to let it slip how bad she wanted him to. She lost the fight between her mutual selves and body. She had begun to lean closer to his body and his heat nearly scorched her.
So lost was she in her own attempted seduction that she forgot the game.
And he wasn’t even playing.
Dae felt foolish. There were no more animal growls; he was speaking normal again. That should not have made her feel bad. Or sad. Or angry. Or achy everywhere.
This was a good thing. It was a good thing. Dammit!
Dae could now honestly say she tried it Iya’s way. It just didn’t work on him. She didn’t want to analyze how well it worked on her.
Gods, he had played her. Dae swallowed against a foreign lump in her throat.
She stepped back from him slowly. “You suck.” Dae resumed walking. Away. Far away was the plan. Her original plan that she should have stuck with.
Stupid Dae, always stick to the plan. There is nothing but the plan.
“I suck?” He asked incredulously as she began walking off. He followed her.
“Yeah, you suck dirty animal ass.” She felt like punching him in the balls. But she always felt like punching him in the balls for one reason or another. It was not because she was hurting.
“Why do I suck, because I didn’t let you make me your bitch boy?”
Dae laughed a genuine laugh but fought the stinging in her eyes and another lump in her throat. Shit, something was wrong with her body and her mind.
What luck she had.
“I wasn’t trying to make you my bitch boy. I was trying to get you to promise never to speak my government name aloud.” Initially… but somehow, the only thing that happened was he made her want to be his bitch girl. Or something less insulting. “You want to lose one of the boys, it’s fine with me. I was just testing Iya’s theory, trying to make her happy.” Initially.
Koda watched as she shook her head and tsk’d tsk’d. Like that made any sense to anyone else but her.
“Boys? I don’t understand.”
“She says ‘you can’t resort to violence to solve everything’. I say you can.”
“What are you talking about?!”
She let out an exasperated sigh.
“I tried her way of solving problems. I didn’t hurt you, did I? Well I didn’t hurt you yet, but the point is I tried to solve my problem the ‘easy peasy’ way Iya swears by. It didn’t work. So I will neuter you like a Pekinese if you ever speak my government name aloud.”
“But that’s not the easy solution she meant! The easy solution is laid out for you; you’re just so damn anti compromise and pro stubborn to see it. It’s not a concession. It won’t hurt you at all. Just call me Koda and I won’t call you by your government name.”
“That’s the easy solution for you, not for me.” You right bastard. Dae didn’t make solutions, she made problems. It was a gift. And she liked sticking to what she knew how to do so well.
“How do you figure?” He was starting to believe she was as insane as she claimed.
“You get what you want and I get nothing. Where I come from that’s bad business.”
“You get me swearing not to call you by your government name!”
“How can I believe you? I don’t even know you. You weren’t ever supposed to hear that name in the first place. Its Iya’s fault. Since I didn’t create this problem, why should fixing it not please me?”
Koda smacked his hand to his head. Dae smiled as she thought, at least this was fun. It made her chest ache less and her eyes seemed to go back to normal.
Dae wished normal didn’t seem like such a far away land in Fairytale-Ville. Normal for her anyway. She didn’t know if she would ever find her way back.
Focus! Pity never did anybody any good. Get over it and move the fuck on. Fake it until you make it.
Koda hated her logic just as much as Iya did. Bully for him. She wouldn’t call him Koda because he wanted her to. Dae never gave anybody else what they wanted. Especially the enemy.
The her that was not her growled but Dae ignored it. She didn’t care about her crazy self or him. Deny, deny, deny was not just a motto regarding information in Dae’s book. Recently, she’d started denying herself. For good reason. Look at what almost transpired. This was a lesson learned. No more human relationships. They were bad for the brain and body.
“Your just jerking my chain, aren’t you?” he said hopefully.
She didn’t miss the innuendo, she just ignored it.
“If it helps you sleep at night then yes.” Dae shrugged as they walked by a gas station.
Well, that was a lie. Why did his mate have to be so difficult! She couldn’t believe that crap, could she? It did smell like truth…
Asshole, you were just bitching about it seeming to easy. Make up your mind. Either you want her as she is or you don’t want her as she is.
Of course he wanted her, needed her… just not a fake, stolen her. It was a fake her before, wasn’t it?
Don’t look at me.
He had his work cut out for him. His mate didn’t trust anybody. Honor was an empty word to her. She gave people no rope to hang themselves because she considered all of them already hung. He needed to change that fast or he was never going to get past her walls. Berlin’s fell eventually…
He walked in front of her path so she could stop. It was the only way he knew how to reach her unreasonable hybrid behind. She nearly ran into him.
“Truce Ok? I really would like it if you called me Koda but if you’re not, I still won’t say your government name to others. I only liked the way you made my name sound. But as long as you’
re speaking to me, I’ll live with whatever you want to call me.”
He said it like it was some great suffering on his part. Like he was going to miss her saying his name or something. And he smelled sincere.
It doesn’t mean anything.
Maybe he hates being called Sasquatch. Sort of like how she hated being called ‘Satan’s evil harbingering whore of death and destruction’. Those orphanage nuns sure were judgmental.
Still, he made her feel like she kicked the shit out of his puppy and his handicapped grandmother.
Couldn’t she just call him Koda? Would it be that hard?
Dae almost stopped breathing. She had to pinch her thigh to keep herself on the subject at hand.
Dae was about to agree so he’d stop with the sad eyes but then he said, “Come on, we’ll call a cab to take us back. On the way, I can think up all kinds of names you can call me. You know, like Sexy Ass, for my masculine sexiness and my defined posterior.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Or just for you being an ass.”
He shrugged, “Whatever. I could get used to hearing you call me that for either reasons.”
Ten
Koda had his cell phone pocketed so the wait for a cab home was nonexistent. The ride back didn’t take long either; there was a huge time difference between walking 10 miles and driving 10 miles. Koda gave her some silent time for her to think about the events of the day. And try not to think about how the cab smelled like unwashed athlete’s feet. Dae made sure the windows were wide open.
She pushed back all her irrational thoughts –and her sudden moments of complete madness– and focused on the facts.
Dae realized, albeit late, she had no idea where her messenger bag was, which contained all of her books for her classes and her brand spanking new cell phone. So she was basically SOL on that front. As was the usual anytime Dae and Iya had classes, Iya became wholly crazed-doomsday-was-coming about being late so Dae casually tossed it in her bag that morning. It seemed like good idea at the time. In reflection, not at all.
More importantly, her time to think did not give her any satisfying conclusions. She had no idea who beady-eyed grease man was and what he wanted other than to beat her quietly. As if that made sense. And how had she known that? Another mystery.
Lost & Found (A Lost Ones Novel Book 1) Page 14