Page 42 of Magnum, Volume 2

“As long as we’re talking and working on it, it’ll be fine.”

I nodded. “I need to see you as the turtle, both physically and… I don’t know, are there species stereotypes? It kind of sounded like there might be. Wolves being loyal, cats being independent and impulsive, turtles being stubborn?”

He smiled. “Yeah, I guess there is.”

“Nickie says that sex is different for shifters. Like, wolves see it as a dominance thing. How is it different for turtles? Do you see it as just sex, or is there more to it?”

“Wolves mate for life, but turtles mostly don’t. There’s all kinds of location stuff for turtles in the wild though, right? Lots of species return to the exact same place, year after year, to mate and to lay their eggs. So yeah, there’s other stuff tied up in the sex, but it’s about territory and nesting, and I’m not sure it’s possible to explain it. You’re mine, though, and the turtle is just as sure of that as the human.”

“Can we sleep together outside of power exchange? I mean, we never have, but I don’t want to sleep alone, I’m just not up for—”

“Yes, whatever you need. I get that it’s a lot to process. No pressure.”

“Okay then, I’m going to take a shower and go to bed, and maybe we can snuggle and talk?”

Chapter 19

Magnum

I tried my hardest to just chill while she was in the shower.

I’d been terrified while she talked to Nickie, but her scent hadn’t been full of anger or grief when she’d finally come to me. It was all over the place, and I couldn’t get a handle on what she was thinking, but I was pretty sure she wasn’t thinking this was the end of us.

It was all I could do, though, to give her the time and space she needed without ordering her to tell me everything going through her head.

But I managed it that night in bed, while we cuddled and talked.

And then the entire next day — and she didn’t work; she gave me the day. We cooked together, we ate together. And no matter what we were doing, we talked. Even normal conversations, though, were mostly her asking questions and me answering them. Some questions involved an hour-long answer, but I gave her everything I could. My entire truth, no matter the question.

She wanted to go for a run, and I ran with her, only for this to make her realize I never get winded because of my supernatural nature.

She waited until nearly twilight to ask me if I’d show her my turtle, and shyly added, “You said he’s most active this time of day, right?”

It touched my heart, but then I had to try not to laugh at her when she said, “Unless it’s too cold? I mean, I thought I’d get to see you walking around and maybe even in the water, but it’s pretty chilly, even for Alabama.”

“You do realize turtles in the wild don’t have heated homes, right? We’re built for the outdoors.”

“And… shifters are the same?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I wouldn’t want to, but there’d be nothing to keep me from going to turtle and deciding to never come back to human. Wolves do that, sometimes. They mate for life, and I’ve known two who just disappeared into the woods after their mate died, and no one ever saw them again.”

“Wow. That’s sad.”

She’d already asked every question a human would normally be asking right now — does it hurt to change, can you understand me when I talk to you — so we walked to the water’s edge in silence, and that was fine.

I’d wanted to show her my turtle for months, and it felt like I should say something about that, but I wasn’t sure what to tell her, so I stripped without ceremony and let the turtle come forward.

One minute my vision was from six and a half feet above the ground, and then it was from a foot above the ground, and the world around me sharpened into a different focus.

Her scent was… not toxic. Not bad. Human. The human we love.

We walked out along a fallen log that jutted over the water, completely at ease on four legs. The turtle looked back at her before sliding into the water, and then focused on swimming back to shore. As soon as all four feet were out of the water, we changed back to human, and then stood naked in the fading light, water still running off my skin while I adjusted to standing on two legs again.

I analyzed her face and pulled in a slow breath.

Her scent was a chaotic mess, and I still couldn’t get a handle on what she was thinking, but there was one thing completely missing — disgust.

I breathed out in relief. The absence of revulsion was enough for now.