He tilted his head at me, like he was enjoying the weight of my stare. Cocky bastard. At that precise moment, the sun glinted perfectly on his irises and they flashed the palest green, almost white.
“Rourke, your eyes are completely insane.” I swam over to the edge closest to where he was standing and stared, shielding my eyes to the sun as I glanced up. “Humans must comment on them all the time. How do you explain them away?”
He shrugged like having diamonds for eyes was a normal everyday occurrence. “If I think they deserve an answer, I usually tell them I have my mother’s eyes,” he said. “And if I don’t, I tell them it’s none of their goddamn business.”
“And they actually believe you?”
“Humans already know they’re going to have to accept whatever excuse I give them, before they even ask. Thinking I’m ‘Other’ is not an option. So they ask with the idea that they’ll get a logical explanation, and once I give them one, they usually take it without question.” He gave me a lopsided grin, which made him seem more human. “But sometimes it takes a little more finesse on my part to win them over.”
“Are they really your mother’s eyes?” I asked, choosing pointedly to ignore my wolf, who bristled at the “finesse” part. He’s not ours, I scolded. He can finesse anyone he wants. She bit the air.
“I guess you could say that,” he said. “My shifter genes came from my father, like everyone’s do, but my mother had very unusual eyes to begin with, or so I’d been told. I don’t remember her much. It was a very long time ago.” He grabbed his clothes and started around the pool toward the sulfur trickle coming out of the large boulder.
I swam over to where my jacket was hanging and hoisted myself up. I turned away demurely and was about to put it back on to cover myself when Rourke cleared his voice right behind me. “Um, sorry, sweetheart, but I’m going to need that jacket now.”
“Huh?” I asked, dripping wet, arms crossed over my chest.
“Scent trail. Our scent stops at this pool.”
I took my jacket off the branch with my index finger and reluctantly swung it out to him. He took it and walked to the edge of the pool, grabbed a large piece of floating wood and draped my jacket over, and sent it off. I watched with a heavy heart as my coverage floated down the stream. “Wait, you just sent my jacket downstream where we just came from. How is that going to help?”
“It will eventually float to shore. Hopefully that’s where they’ll think we got out. Having a buildup of your scent downstream can only help us.” He headed to the sulfur without looking back, and started cupping the smelly water and splashing it all over his body.
I made my way over to him. “You just sent my modesty downstream for a two-minute diversion?”
“Hey, I’ll take any advantage I can get.”
“That wasn’t an advantage, that was sneaky.” I walked up next to him and started pouring water over my head, cupping my hands tightly to catch it. It smelled awful this close, like rancid eggs right in my nostrils. Rourke stayed focused on his task. At least he wasn’t trying to ogle my breasts. Though it would’ve been easier to dislike him if he had. Instead I was feeling quite the opposite. He was just so … normal. Not at all what I’d been expecting. It was throwing me off. We have to remember he’s dangerous, right? My wolf huffed at me, and instead of agreeing, she flashed me a picture of him getting out of the pool without his jeans. Stop it! You’re not helping! He could snap at any moment and try to kill us. She turned her back on me. Plus, he doesn’t seem to be that into us anyway. Other than a few lighthearted comments, and some dazzling smiles, he hadn’t sent us any real signals.
I cleared my voice and hoped I sounded normal. “Rourke, what kind of werecat are you?”
He seemed genuinely surprised by the question. Then he narrowed his eyes, flashing me a toothy grin. “I never kiss and tell on the first date.”
He turned back to the putrid water and splashed more of it on his chest.
My wolf licked her lips and let out a mew. We don’t mew.
She snuffed at me.
“Come on, you can tell me.” I moved in beside him, cupping more water between my palms. “I won’t spill your secret. I’ve got enough to worry about, why would I have any reason to tell?”
We stood close and heat from him radiated into my body, along with his strong power current. It prickled my skin again like a million tiny pressure points tapping at the same time. Standing this close to him was an at-my-own-risk kind of deal, but I was doing it anyway. Rourke turned, tendrils of water snaking their way down his body, disappearing under the lip of his denim. A spark ignited somewhere deep in his eyes, and chills ran down my spine. That had been a little on the “real” side.