him I was, I still liked him and wanted him. The old mischievous smile appeared on his face, and his hand cupped my chin. He pressed his lips against my cheek. “Then let me be your friend,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes and let his heat envelop me. “Friends don’t breathe in my ear like that.”
“We’ll be special friends.”
“Kiyo-”
He drew back a little, still smiling. “Seriously, Eugenie. If we can’t be lovers, I still want to be in your life. I want to help you through this. I want to protect you.”
I stiffened, and my old snarkiness reared its head through the emotional miasma. “I don’t need protection.”
“Do you have any idea how bad it’s going to get for you?”
“I’ve handled it so far. I’ll handle it again.”
“God, you’re amazing.” His spoke with admiration. “But you’re also annoyingly difficult. Let someone help you. Let me help you.”
I stared stonily ahead. His expression darkened.
“They’re going to come after you! Do you think I can just sit around when people are trying to hurt and rape you?”
The heat in his voice seared me. He wasn’t angry at me; he was angry for me. He regarded me in a way no one had ever looked at me before, an expression that said I meant so much to him that he would take on hell itself to protect me. That intensity wrapped around me. It thrilled me. It scared me. I didn’t know what to do with it.
Again, he read my face. This time, he pulled me over, crushing my body against his. I didn’t fight it. “Let me help you,” he repeated.
“How? You live an hour and a half away.”
He pressed his face against my hair. “I’ll commute.”
“Oh for God’s-”
“I mean it. I know I can’t be with you all the time, but I’ll do what I can.”
“You’re going to trail me like a bodyguard or something?”
“I’ll do it as a fox if it makes you feel better.”
I laughed in spite of myself, tightening my hold on him. I knew we shouldn’t be locked in this kind of embrace, but honestly…after everything that had happened, it was comforting. And a turn-on too. But mostly comforting.
“What’s that like anyway?”
“What’s what like?”
“Being a fox. Is it weird?”
“I don’t know. I’ve always been that way. It’s the only thing I know.”
“Yeah, but…why not just stay human all the time?”
“I’m stronger as a fox. Comes in handy in a fight.”
“You’re not too shabby as a human.”
“Women think foxes are cute.”
“Not that cute,” I grumbled. I could sense his smile.
“It’s a good way to let your instincts take over.”
“Which instincts?”
In one movement, he had me flipped onto my back. His hands held mine down while his body pressed against the rest of me. Those lips hovered a few breaths from mine.
“All of them,” he growled.
My breath was coming out in rapid bursts, and a voice in the back of my head was yelling, Hey! Remember how you don’t want to be involved with Otherworldly people? I knew that voice was right, but it was kind of hard to pay attention when my body was melting against his and one of his hands had slid down to the side of a breast.
“I don’t think friends are supposed to lay like this.”
“I know,” he said.
“Or bodyguards.”
“I know.”
“Or veterinarians.”
“That I disagree with.”
He crushed his mouth to mine, and it was powerful and ravenous and furious and wonderful. I couldn’t think or do anything coherent in that moment, only let him keep kissing me and kissing me.
At last he broke away. He sat up, and I could see his body tremble. The look in his eyes was still hungry and yearning, and there was a visible struggle within him, a warring of two halves. One must have won, because he took a deep breath, and that animal need faded-slightly-from him.
“I need to go,” he said at last. “I’ve got to work in two hours.”
“Okay.”
We stared at each other for a long time. I pulled a sheet up, letting it cover part of me. A grin lit his features.
“Thanks. That helps.” He stood up and moved toward the door. “Hey, would you mind meeting Maiwenn? She wants to talk to you in person, see what you’re like.”
“You seem pretty chummy with her,” I said. The words came out sharper than I’d intended, but he looked unfazed.
“She’s a good friend. And I believe in her philosophies. She wants both our worlds left intact. So do I. She can be a good friend to you too.”
“Is she strong enough to come over here?” He nodded. “If she’ll do it, I’ll meet her. I’m not really keen on going over there anytime soon.”
“I’ll tell her.”
He took a few steps out the door, and this time I called to him. “Hey…Kiyo.”
“Yeah?”
“All these people and…things are coming after me because they think I’m going to be Damien’s mother or something…but seriously, do you actually think any of it’s true? Do you really believe this prophecy could happen? Roland-my stepdad-says prophecies are a dime a dozen in the Otherworld.”
“They are,” Kiyo said slowly, a slight wrinkle between his eyes as he thought. “And most don’t come true. But a lot do, a lot more than you’d think growing up here. The thing about prophecies is…well, people sometimes read the wrong things into them. Or, in trying to avert them, they only make the prophecy come true.”
I shivered, half-wishing he would have just said prophecies were a bunch of crap. “You mean like Oedipus? How his father got rid of him to beat that prophecy?”
“Exactly. Doing that only ended up making it happen.” Seeing my dark look, he smiled. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I told you most don’t come true. And besides, you’re not trying to have kids, so there’s nothing to worry about. Concentrate on the now.”
I gave him a faltering smile back, hoping he was right. “Thanks.”
He held my eyes for a few seconds before stepping out of the room, only to return a moment later with my burnt mirror. He set it on the dresser, regarding it with displeasure. “Sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”
“Hey,” I said, mustering some bravado, “I told you I can take care of myself.”
Those dark eyes flashed. “I know. You’re a dangerous woman.”
I wasn’t entirely sure if he referred to my fighting abilities or something else.
When he was gone, I lay back in bed with a sigh, thinking I might not move for a week. Things just got weirder and weirder around here.
Suddenly I felt a faint pressure build in the room. I sat up straight. Red eyes peered at me from a dim corner.
“Volusian? I didn’t summon you.”
“You gave us permission to come if we acquired information.”
“Yeah. I suppose I did. I didn’t really think any of you would actually listen to me. What’s up?”
