He gave her a disgruntled meow, but he couldn’t stop himself from purring at the same time.
Thea laughed.“I’m off to bed.I’ll see you in the morning.Hopefully you’re a human again, and we can discuss what happened between us—and why you’re turning into a cat.”
He watched her leave, carrying her yarn with her, slowly ascending the stairs.Nathaniel settled in by the fire, letting out yet another disgruntled noise when Ginger came and nestled against his side.
How was he going to convince Ginger that he wasn’t interested?
What if he stayed a cat forever and had to fend Ginger off for the rest of his life?
He just wanted to be human again.
***
Nathaniel stretched and opened his eyes.Every part of his body hurt—because he was lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, once again a human.
Oh, thank goodness.
He needed to figure out why he kept shifting back while he slept, but at least he was human again.
Being human was better.
He stretched his arms and rotated his head around, trying to work out the crick in his neck.
He missed sleeping in his bed.
But perhaps now, he could finally kiss Thea again.
He got to his feet and made his way to the kitchen.Since he was here, he could do something he’d been wanting to do for ten years: make Thea her morning tea.
He boiled water and pulled out a blueberry muffin, left over from the day before, placing a dough scraper next to it.If he had the chance to tease her about calling her a wingleplucker again, he would.It had been far too long since he had.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Thea appeared, poking her head around first to look at him.He took a step forward, hiding her breakfast behind his back.
Her smile when she saw him was worth every bit of pain he’d suffered from sleeping on the floor.“You’re back to your normal form,” she said, her voice not at all betraying that she was excited.But he could see the twinkle in her eyes.
“I am,” he said with a sigh.“I don’t know for how long, though, so we shall see.”
“Hopefully it will be permanent this time.”
“I hope so, too,” he said, the words heavy.What if it wasn’t?That had been the longest he’d stayed in his feline form.
“Cheer up,” she said with a smile.“You never know what will happen.”
He raised an eyebrow.Thea being optimistic?That was usually his job.Apparently he’d fallen farther than he thought.“You mean I never know when I will next transform?”
Thea shrugged.“I’m sure it’s not all that bad.You seemed to enjoy it last night.”
Nathaniel turned red at the reminder.“I’m only so much in control of the cat reflexes,” he muttered.
“I thought it was cute,” she said.
“Because cute is just what I want to be.”
“Cute is good.”
“You make it sound like I’m turning into a puppy.”
Thea’s eyes sparkled as she stepped closer to him.“Isn’t a kitten the same thing?”she asked.
