His mouth curved. “I should be concerned, but I find I like hearing that.”
“You have an ego, Njkall.”
“Only where you’re concerned.”
The words landed softly in the space between them, and she felt them resonate through her entire body before she pulled his head down and kissed him. He kissed her back, but gently, teasingly, his lips barely brushing hers until she made an impatient sound and caught his lower lip between her teeth. His growl vibrated against her mouth and he deepened the kiss, sending heat flowing through her body. She was just about to tell him that she really wasn’tthatsore, when he reluctantly pulled away.
“I’m going to wash,” he said. “Do you want to join me?”
She blinked. “You want me to join you?”
He raised one white brow. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because…” She gestured vaguely at herself. “I’m a mess.”
His mouth curved. “You are a beautiful mess.”
She laughed, but she shook her head. “I think I’ll wait. I don’t want to distract you from your responsibilities.”
“Distract me,” he said softly, and bent to kiss her. “Any time, little one.”
He kissed her again, longer this time, and she melted into it, her hands coming up to tangle in his fur. When he finally pulled back, they were both breathing heavily.
“Later,” he promised. “I’ll be back soon.”
She watched him walk away, smiling like an idiot.
I love him.
The thought arrived so quietly that for a moment she almost missed it. Then her smile widened.
Of course she loved him. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, or whether there had ever been a single moment when it happened at all. Somewhere between crawling into his bed because she was afraid and waiting eagerly for him to come home because she missed him, needing him had turned into wanting him, and wanting him had turned into this.
She loved Njkall.
And strangely enough, that didn’t frighten her at all.
Everything had changed between them, and somehow, nothing had changed at all. She was still herself. Njkall was still Njkall. She could tease him and argue with him and send him off to his clan meetings, except now she also knew exactly what his hands could do to her body—and how much she wanted them to do it again.
She was still smiling when she drifted back to sleep, wrapped in his scent and the afterglow of his touch. When she woke again and drifted out into the main cave, the cave was empty but there was a note propped against the teapot. She recognized Njkall’s neat, angular handwriting.
Clan meeting. Back tonight.
She smiled at the simple, familiar message. How many times had she woken to find a similar note over the past year? But today, instead of the small pang of loneliness she usually felt, there was only warmth.
After washing and dressing, she hurried off to join Tess.
The healer’s cave was warm and quiet, the air thick with the scent of dried herbs and the low crackle of the fire Cera kept burning in the corner. Tess sat cross-legged on a pile of furs, a stack of printed records spread out around her, and her eyes shadowed with the particular exhaustion that never quite seemed to leave her.
She looked up when Polly entered, and something in her expression sharpened.
“You look different.”
She felt heat rise to her cheeks. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do.” Tess’s mouth curved—not quite a smile, something harder and more knowing. “You slept with him. And not in thewe’re-just-good-friendsway.”
There was no point in denying it. Tess had survived too much to be fooled by evasions, and she respected her too much to try. “Yes.”
