“No.”
“She would have tried to keep him if you had brought him with us.”
“Can she do that?”
“She could try… there are legal channels. If they could prove we were keeping Kissu against his will, they could take him away and ban us from interacting with other zurgles.”
“How do you make a lion doanythingagainst their will?”
“Like I said, she couldtry.”
He helps me into the car and puts the treats in the back seat. “But now, we get to go home and not think about any of this for a while.”
“Is it wrong to say I’m kind of grateful to whoever brought me here?”
“If it is, then I’m wrong too.” He takes my hand, lifting it to his lips and pressing a kiss to it.
The drive is torturous. It’ssodifficult to convince my body that now isnotthe time.
“You’re not the only one who was too impatient to make it home.” He looks from me to a turn off. “That dead ends at a power generation station, and it is where Cindy and Core bonded.”
“Really?”
He nods. “The first time I went to town after they bonded, it hit me. One look at that road and the information was justthere.”
“Knowing things is a burden sometimes.”
“I bet.”
ARC
“Hi!” Chrys chirps as she untangles herself from her bag and takes off two layers of clothing. “Did you miss us?”
“Always.”
Risk gives me a smile and thinks through half a dozen things about their trip. I don’t like most of them.
I’d honestly expected them to smell like sex when they got home. I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or pleased.
It doesn’t matter. They’re home.
Less dressed than she was a minute ago, Chrys comes to kiss me before she looks around. “Where’s Shock?”
“Downstairs. We decided to keep to different rooms, just in case you could feel us if we wound up fucking each other’s brains out.”
“He’ll be up in a second,” Risk assures her.
“Okay, well.” She produces a bag that makes Kissu’s nose twitch. He huffs and sneezes and then sniffs at it again. “I hope you like these.”
She drops the bag on the counter, Kissu crowding close as she works to get it open.
His curiosity isn’t very coherent, so I don’t relay the thoughts… Or maybe that’s the sound of drool.
“Please don’t take my fingers off.”
Never hurt wiffan.
But he does snatch the treat away from her the moment he’s able.
