Lola didn’t understand why he tacked on ‘right now.’Perhaps he was thinking about the fact that she’d have to go home tonight.She blew out a breath causing her hair to fly away from her face.“Crisis averted,” she muttered under her breath as she tried to pull her hand away.Callon wasn’t having it.He entwined their fingers, and shrugged at her when she raised her brow at him.
“I like touching you,” he said absently as he continued to stare straight ahead.
I liked it too, a little too much,she told herself, making sure her lips were firmly pressed together so the words didn’t come yapping out of her mouth.
By the time they were back in his car, Lola felt much less tense and Callon was more relaxed as well.He turned the music on low so it was background noise, then rested one hand on the steering wheel while holding hers in the other.
“So where’s home?”she asked as she watched the people on the New York streets walking quickly to wherever they were headed.“Long Island,” Callon answered.“Our kingdom owns a large estate there.”
Lola’s mind tried to work through all the estates he could be talking about.It’s not like there were tons of places in NYC where there were large amounts of unoccupied land.Wouldn’t beastwalkers need a large place to run free, for lack of a better term?“Does everyone live there?”she asked as she continued to watch the passing scenery.
“Not the entire kingdom, but a large amount,” he answered.He was lost in thought when she glanced at him.Callon’s fingers tapped mindlessly on the steering wheel as his eyes stayed completely focused on the road.
“Where do the others live?”
“My father has purchased large warehouses that have then been gutted and turned into homes with interiors that appeal to our feline nature,” he told her as he glanced over and gave her a quick smile.
Lola’s Curiosity Meter was dinging like crazy as she considered what, ‘appeal to their feline nature,’ might mean.“Are there lots of indoor trees?”she asked before she could think to sensor herself.Then mentally rolled her eyes.As if she’d ever actuallythoughtto sensor herself.There was no sensor, only a second of time, if she was lucky, where she managed to snap her lips closed before the thoughts could leave her mouth.
“More like high places with ledges to lounge on,” Callon answered.And then added with a smirk, “Not all cats climb trees, in fact, the larger cats species couldn’t get their large asses up a tree even if they wanted to.”
Lola worried her bottom lip as she contemplated all the questions that had been building in her mind.
“I can practically feel the questions welling up inside of you, Lola,” Callon said, his voice low and teasing.“Your head’s going to pop off if you don’t go ahead and get them out.Besides, we've got an hour drive, not including the twenty-minute ferry ride until we arrive to my home.”
Lola's leg began to bounce up and down, and she felt her palms beginning to sweat, which wasn't cool because one of her hands was still in his.Sweaty palms were not attractive.She knew that if she started asking questions she'd never stop.How could she?It was an entire new world with fantastical things, and they lived right here in New York, not to mention the other kingdoms and wherever else they were located.
She took a deep breath and decided that if he got sick of her questions, he only had himself to blame because he was the one who asked."Just so you know," she warned, “You brought this on yourself."
Callon simply chuckled."Bring it on,Sazzi," his voice was a deep purr that did things to her.
Focus.Hormones later,she told herself."Okay, here we go."She pulled her hand from his, and ran both of her palms up and down the tops of her thighs."In Damara, do all of the species look like our species?And did you call yourselves the same things?Like you're a lion, so in Damara, is that what you would have been called?Or is there another language with different names, but you use the names of the animals in our realm that most closely resemble your animals?Can you communicate with animals when you're in your animal form, or even in your human form, since you're obviously very much in-tune with your animal nature?And speaking about having an animal form, what's it like living in a world that's not your home?I mean, is it stifling to have to act human?And, if," her question was stopped with a finger over her lips.She looked at Callon.
He wasn't looking at her, but he was grinning."I can't answer any of your questions if you don't give me the opportunity, and though our intellect is superior to humans, I can't remember fifty questions all at one time."
She frowned."Superior intellect," she mumbled against his finger which was still pressed to her lips.
"Let's start with your first question."He pulled his hand away and rested his palm on her thigh."Remember, as I answer these questions, I was born in this realm.Earth is my home, even if it isn't where my species is originally from.But those of us who were born here go through our own schooling and learn about our world."
"Okay, so you're telling me from a third-person point of view," she nodded."Got it."
"From all the drawings I've seen of Damara, the beasts there all very closely resemble those that are in this realm.What's more interesting is as time went on with Damarians living in the human realm, our animals sort of changed to resemble the earth animals more until we looked identical."
"Seriously?"Lola exclaimed."That's amazing."
Callon nodded."I think it was Visata's way of helping us fit into this new life.We brought it on ourselves, and yet, He did not forsake us.He gave us a way to adapt and live in a new home."
"Visata?"
"Our Creator," Callon said, his voice full of reverence."The equivalence of who you call God."
"Whoa," she breathed out."I hadn't even considered where you actually came from," she shook her head, "I mean,howyou came to be."
"Let's deal with one topic at a time," he teased.“So, yes we looked similar while in our own realm, but now you wouldn't be able to tell a Damarian tiger from an Earth tiger.As for the names," he paused as he slowed at a light and flipped on the blinker.Callon looked both ways and then turned right."We do have a different language, and so, yes, our beasts were called something different.”
"What were you called?"she blurted out.
He chuckled."So curious.We're calledVottaris."
