“Let’s go with warm bordering on so steamy we fog every mirror on the entire floor. I don’t know how good the hot water heaters are at your apartment.”
My virus approved of his commentary, and to cover her interest, I opted to perform a demonstration of one of my better practitioner tricks. I held out my hand, concentrated, and muttered the two-word incantation to summon fire, which lacked smoke and warmed only what I wanted it to. “I’m not bad at my practitioner tricks, so I could make the water as hot as I wanted. That’s tiring, though, so I usually settled for cool bordering on warm.”
I snuffed the fire out and shook my hand to make sure it wouldn’t reignite, something I’d had problems with when I’d first been learning how to tame the flames.
“Okay. I’ve worked with practitioners plenty in the FBI, and that was smooth. If you need an easy guide on how to flirt with me, that’s how you flirt with me. You show me a refined control of your magic tricks. You already impressed me with your control of your hybrid form, although you have a few new tricks to learn in the next few weeks. But that display? That was nice.”
My virus had me licking my lips before I could stop her. “You like practitioner tricks?”
“I couldn’t learn practitioner tricks as a child because of the cancer. I’d get intense headaches if I tried. As an adult, it’s hard to find someone with the patience to teach me, and I often don’t have the time. So, I watch people who can do practitioner magic with great interest.”
“I can make a dress out of fire,” I informed him.
“Can you work with any other elements?”
“I can make a dress out of ice, but I don’t appreciate getting that cold. It’s easier to keep a flaming dress from burning me than it is to prevent frost bite in really bad locations. There is no point in making a dress out of air.”
“There is definitely a point in making a dress out of air,” he replied.
My virus liked the way he thought. “Mud dresses are not appealing, and the dirt gets everywhere.”
“I would happily volunteer to help you get clean after wearing such a dress.”
I bet he would. “How does this whole cuddling business work?”
“I’ll get changed out of my clothes, shift to my hybrid form, join you in the tub, and give you free rein. You’ll cuddle up however you see fit while we soak. As we’ll both have fur coats, nobody’s modesty will be cruelly offended, and if you desire naked cuddling while human later, that’s entirely up to you. James was serious about how we try to handle things in the pack. Take your time, get used to having physical contact with other lycanthropes, and indulge however you see fit. I’m a willing participant in however little or much you wish to do. Considering your trauma, you should start on the easy end of the spectrum, get your virus adapted to being able to show affection, and relax. We’ll go hunt for Marlando and his pack of idiots, toss them out with the trash, and ultimately hunt for the bastard who beat you. If you’ve been hiding from your family because of your infection status, we can reach out and see about working on that, too.”
I stilled. “I was estranged from my family when I turned seventeen. They’re puritan. I’m a practitioner.”
“Puritan? How so?”
“They’re vanilla and hate magic.”
Wayne grunted. “If you want to reach out to them, we can make arrangements. If not, that’s entirely up to you. Still, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I was a headstrong kid; I’d decided I wanted magic, and I broke the household rules. I paid the price for that. I’ve been living on my own ever since. That’s fine. My parents are probably glad I’m gone.”
I’d accepted that long ago.
“Well, I have amazing parents. They would love to meet you, and they would have zero problems with showing you what it’s like to be part of a family. Whenever we have a new wolf in the pack who needs to figure things out, we drag them over to visit my parents. They’re like lycanthropes but a little saner and not as overbearing. Consider them training wheels for handling lycanthropes. If you can handle them, you can handle the pack. I have a bad habit of volunteering my parents to help people get used to being part of a family because they’re great. I often refuse to visit their house and make them come to mine instead, as I do not at all appreciate their hotspot. While I’m at no risk of getting cancer again, the hotspot makes my virus rowdy, and when my virus is rowdy, he wants extra cuddles and a mate. So, they usually come to me. I’ll be less inclined to dodge my childhood home if you’re coming with me, because I won’t have any problems with my virus being rowdy. My parents might have problems with my virus being rowdy, but that’s their fault for living on a hotspot.”
I looked Wayne over from head to toe, and while my virus had ideas on what to do with him, she also wanted to give him a few bites to mark him as our territory. “May I ask a question?”
“Of course.”
“The CDC did not mention anything about my virus wanting to bite.”
He chuckled, a low and sensuous sound. “That is more of a statement than a question, but that is your virus informing you she wants to mark her territory. Lycanthropes secure mates through virus exchange. It’s easiest to share the virus during sex, but if sex isn’t an option, biting is a good way to pick up the virus. Biting me would almost certainly break my restraint and result in a bite back. That would result in a virus exchange and would start a mating bond. It would be enough to appease your virus without being necessarily obvious to others we’re pairing. To our viruses, it would be as good as said and done, however. So, since you’re refusing to drag me to bed, she wants to bite. It’s normal.”
“It is?”
“I’ve been wanting to bite you since the day I met you. You told me no. That revved my virus’s engine. Then you kept telling me no, and my virus liked that a lot. I keep trying to remind my virus rejection isn’t good, but he’s unreasonable. I suspect my virus detected your virus without me comprehending your infection status because of the perfume. And while I dislike the perfume, my virus is a bit of an idiot at times. Frankly spoken, you’ve been driving me completely crazy.” Wayne checked the water level, nodded, and grabbed a bottle from the tub’s ledge and added it, resulting in bubbles. He turned off the faucet, hit a button on the wall, and the jets rumbled to life. “There. The water level is low enough for two lycanthropes but high enough the jets can work properly. You won’t damage the tub with your fur, and I know how to clean the drains in this model if we shed some. Tonight, worry about relaxing and enjoying yourself. Tomorrow, we can discuss the issue of bites and beds. But be aware, if you bite me, I’m biting back, and I’ll be starting a campaign to get you into my bed where you belong.”
“And if you are bitten tonight?”
“I’ll begin my fierce campaign to get you into my bed where you belong tomorrow, but I’m definitely biting you back. I expect my fierce campaign to take you to bed will be delayed long enough for me to present your attacker’s head on a platter. There are far better ways for a man to give a woman the lycanthropy virus, and you deserved the best we can offer, not the worst.”
“Why me?”
