“Are you okay?” I can hear the concern in his voice, and I almost start to cry again, but I bite my lip as the wind picks up, blowing straight through my dress. The rain falls even harder, and I can’t stop the shiver that racks my whole body.
“I’m sorry. I got caught in the rain, and I was just going to stand under here until it cleared enough for me to return home,” I tell him as my teeth start to chatter.
He looks away from me and out at the storm and frowns. “I don’t think this is going to ease anytime soon. Do you want to come inside? You can dry off and wait until it clears.”
I bite my lip and look from him and out to the storm again. He’s right, it looks like it settled in for the evening.
I shake my head. “I’ll just call a rideshare and get out of your way. I’m sorry I disturbed you,” I say as I feel my hair drip down my back, and I wince.
He chuckles. “I’m not sure anyone will let you in their car soaking wet.”
Ugh, he has a point, but I don’t know this guy, and for all I know, I will walk through his door and never walk back out. Before I can make a decision, I hear a plaintive meow, and a cat slinks between his legs, weaving in and out of them. A wide smile brightens his face, and I stare, stunned at how gorgeous he is. He bends down and picks up the fluffy gray and white thing and holds it up, rubbing his head against the cat’s. “What do you think, Stormheart? Shall the pretty lady come in and get dry?” He talks to it in a baby voice, and I can’t stop the snort of amusement that comes from my mouth. It’s so freaking adorable and kooky.
He turns to me, tucking the cat under his arm, and the two of them look at me. I swear the cat narrows its eyes on me in warning, like it’s saying don’t you dare, but the guy still looks welcoming.
“I’m Nox, and this is Stormy. Come on. I’m not going to bite.” He doesn’t wait for a response, just heads back inside, leaving the door open.
I glance back at the storm and shrug. What do I have to lose? If he kills me, at least I won’t have to worry about the shifters.
Chapter
Eleven
Lennox
Idon’t bother to turn around, but I know the minute the female crosses over the threshold and into my space. I’m not sure if it’s the magic that floats benignly around her marriage cuffs or if there is something else to this woman, but my own magic is going crazy despite my charm to conceal it. I’m almost certain she’s human, but I’m not sure I made the right choice by inviting her in. What if she’s also concealing her nature like I am, but my magic isn’t telling me that she’s dangerous so I have to trust it for now? I rub a hand over my chest where I can feel it. It’s usually quiet and sullen, annoyed that I choose to hide my true nature, but today it almost seems excited.
I place Stormy down on the top of his cat tree, and he circles a couple of times before settling down without taking his eyes off the girl.
“What’s your name? Do you want to get out of those clothes? I can give you a towel and something dry to wear,” I ask, turning around. Her dress is completely plastered to her figure, and my mouth waters at the sight of all her delicious curves. I need toget laid. It’s been too long if I’m getting turned on by a poor female who looks like a drowned wolf. Instead, I focus on her stunning face. I can sense that she’s upset about something, and there are visible signs she’s been crying. Her pretty lavender eyes are red, and her plump bottom lip is cracked where she’s been biting it. The girl is fucking gorgeous, and I feel my creature stir for the first time in ages, trying to see through my eyes, but with my charm on, he can’t. I feel his annoyance at me, and he gives a halfhearted kick but settles down when it doesn’t get him anywhere. He knows if he wants to be let out occasionally, he can’t fight me. My stomach rolls with guilt at suppressing him, but it’s the best for both of us.
“I’m Colbie, and yeah, that would be great. I’m freezing,” she replies, hugging her arms around her body as she looks around my living area. I know she’s probably not too impressed. I live a fairly simple life. My cottage consists of one main living and kitchen area, my bedroom, a bathroom, and the spare bedroom where I have my workspace. I have a couple of old, overstuffed sofas that Stormy and I use to watch TV or read and a bookcase full of all sorts of interesting books. I hope she doesn’t look too closely, otherwise she’s going to guess I’m not human. Most of them are texts I’ve gathered from all four kingdoms, but there are a few fiction books in there as well. I’m an eclectic reader, reading anything from crime fiction to romance, but my love of knowledge beats out everything else. When I was growing up before my animal emerged, I had dreams of working in the archives in the shifter capital. That all went up in flames when my animal emerged at seventeen. My heart broke when I also received a bond group mark, but there was no way I was going to search for it and make myself vulnerable to rejection when they discovered what I was. The ridicule I received from my peers in the village was bad enough. Instead, I slunk off and hid here inthe human zone where no one suspects that I am anything but mundane.
I shake off my thoughts as I head into my bedroom and grab her a shirt and spare set of sweatpants. They’ll be way too big on her, but there’s a drawstring, so they should stay up. I don’t have anything to offer her for underwear unless she wants a pair of mine. I groan. The thought of her in my clothes, let alone my underwear, is a little too enticing, and I adjust myself as my cock twitches in interest. She’s going to think I’m some kind of deviant if I go out there like this. I can’t hide anything in my sweatpants. It’s hard enough with the size of my dick without it becoming erect. I wasn’t expecting company when I got dressed this morning. I conjure up thoughts of being teased by the village teenagers, and my hard-on quickly deflates. Scrubbing my hand through my hair, I return to the living area, holding the dry things out to Colbie.
I find her exactly where I left her. Stormy is still staring at her suspiciously, but she just looks exhausted. “Here you go,” I say, holding out the towel.
“I didn’t move because I didn’t want to drip all over your place,” she explains, taking the towel and scrubbing it over her body to remove some of the dripping water.
“Pfft, it’s nothing that doesn’t clean up easily. My bedroom and bathroom are through there.” I point to where I just came from. “You’re welcome to use the shower if you want to warm up. How about I light a fire and make us coffee? That should help too,” I suggest, moving away from her so she doesn’t feel overwhelmed. The fire is already set, so I just have to throw a match on it. I crouch down in front of it, and I hear her walk in the direction of my bedroom. As she passes behind me, I get a whiff of her scent, which is what originally brought me outside. I didn’t hear her over the sound of the storm, but the windblew her scent inside, telling me she was there. She smells like cupcakes and frosting, and it makes me crave cake.
I hear her close the door to the bedroom as I strike a match on the side of the box. The flame bursts to life, and I throw it in the fireplace. It hits the starter blocks and catches them on fire. I watch as the flames spread across the blocks, a pretty red and blue, and feel the heat radiating off them as they set the wood alight. It doesn’t take long, and the fire crackles gently, warming up the room. I hadn’t noticed how cold it had gotten, my shifter biology making me naturally warm.
I stand up and turn, my gaze drifting to my closed bedroom door. My fascination with the little human outweighs my natural inclination to avoid anybody. Normally if someone had turned up on my deck, trying to escape the weather, I would have been an asshole and chased them off, but there’s something about the gorgeous woman that intrigues me. She smells and feels like magic, which can’t be true because she’s definitely human. I’m assuming the magic is coming from the fae cuffs she’s wearing, but she’s like a puzzle I want to solve, and I can’t help but be curious. I feel this strange need to get to know her, and I haven’t felt that in a long time.
Sighing, I head into my small kitchen and turn my coffee machine on before checking the cupboard for something to eat. I don’t have a lot, and I really need to do some shopping, but I’ve been putting it off. I do find a packet of chocolate chip cookies, though, so I pull them out. I hear the bedroom door open as I shove a pod into the machine and put a cup under it, pressing the button.
I turn around and inhale quickly at the sight of her in my clothes. My creature starts rolling inside my chest, and I rub over that spot, trying to ease the ache. Fuck, I never thought seeing someone in my clothes would cause such a reaction, especially a human somebody.
I always thought if I mated, it would be with a shifter, but when my animal emerged, and I was ridiculed, I quickly let go of that idea. I haven’t really dated since I moved to the human zone, preferring to keep to myself. A relationship with a human was never going to work, because I would always be hiding something, unless I got the guts to tell them the truth. Children wouldn’t be a possibility either, so I remain single.
This gorgeous creature is really making me reconsider how I feel. She smiles at me and holds up her wet clothes. “Do you have a dryer or somewhere I can hang these?” she asks, and I hurry over and take them out of her hands.
“My dryer is in the mud room out back. I’ll just go put them in for you. It won’t take long to get them dry, and I can bring you home if you want.”
“That would be great, thank you,” she replies, and I hurry to do just that. When I return, she’s taken over making the coffee and is sitting on the sofa in front of the fire, with two cups on the table in front of her and a plate of cookies. She’s nibbling on one, lost in thought as she stares into the flames. Her legs are tucked up under her, and she looks cozy and right sitting on my sofa.
I take a seat next to her and grab my cup. “I would have finished making these, thank you.”
