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.”