He repeated himself, touching my head and scratching behind my ears, but the idea of seeing humans was no longer enjoyable. I began to clean the blood as he babbled on in the background, his voice eventually fading to a murmur I could ignore. Cleaning off the flecks of humans and magic, I found my corner to lick and clean myself in peace while he roamed through the open space.
He began to flip through the cell phones of the dead people, along with making several calls and figuring out some sort of plan. I didn’t pay attention after I finished cleaning myself before heading to the large tub that was big enough for me to settle in. I waited until Caleb came toward me.
“What do you want? It would be easier if you just shapeshifted and told me.” I nudged his hip with my head several times before jumping into the large tub to sit and wait. He shrugged, put the plug in the bottom, turned on the water for several minutes until it reached a point where I could lay in the warm water, and I settled in to enjoy it. He continued to speak, mostly to the little boxes with others talking back. I flipped my tail at him when he stopped rubbing behind my ears. I enjoyed my water until it cooled, causing to hop out and shake out my fur. I trotted to the bed, cleaned my coat again, then laid on the soft bedding even as Caleb followed.
“Alright, it has been a few hours, it is past time to shift back to human. Come on, Seraphina,” he spoke, tugging at my whiskers. I gave a hiss then turned to get my face back from his prying hands. “Fee, for the love of God, turn back. I need to talk to you, not comb your fucking fur.”
I blinked before he wrapped an arm around me, grabbing the scruff of my neck. Hissing at the contact, I was nearly paralyzed from his grab. “Enough, darling, turn back now.” The deep grumble of his voice reached something inside, and I felt a flicker of humanity within me, he needed me, and I began to roll into the shift. It took energy, thought, and the ability to focus on the feeling of being human. The warm flesh of his hand began to let go, releasing my fur and skin as it went back into my body and turned back to human. My brain was foggy with animalistic logic as I reached for Caleb. I needed to reconnect to humanity, and I reached for the warm human before me. I kissed him with surprise, he waited as I began to explore his face with my mouth. Human and here, mine. I rubbed my face into the side of his, into his hair, grabbing the thick sandy brown hair and sniffing the scents of his body, humanness, and just him. I missed it. I missed him. Oh shit.
Chapter Eighty-One
He tugged on the back of my neck, where my hair met at the nape to pull me back from nuzzling my way over his head. I met his eyes.
“Are you back, is it you? I don’t want to take advantage of your state.” I nodded; words still lost within the world within me. I nuzzled into his neck, absorbing his scent, adding mine to his, marking him as mine and mine alone. Other cats would sense it and know he was marked. The smell was rare, a marker to scent one as a mate, a loved one to be handled with care and not to be attacked. Others of my group would sense and keep him safe. They might have a lot of questions, but I can handle a few questions. It was doubtful that he would stay with me once we finished handling the kidnapped mage issue, but if he came across other cats, they would give him safety and a wide berth. I continued to rub against him, scenting everything from his head, chest, arms, and lower. My mouth was soon followed by head rubbing, exploring places I knew and remembered. I wanted to mark everywhere; use my teeth and tongue over every plane of skin I could reach. I took off his clothing and piled it in a heap on the floor beside the bed, my hands roaming freely, touching everywhere, enjoying the old and new feelings. I took us to the edge, over and over, never going over until I was ready. Mounting him, I took us to the heights of ecstasy, our sweat mingling with hints of violence as we met in the middle before tumbling over together.
Panting, I laid on top of him, his wild heartbeat under my hand. Neither of us moved, only shifted the weight around enough to keep comfortable. Sleep came in bits and pieces, enough for a regular cat nap without heading into the dark world of dreams.
Feeling his hand comb through my hair, I woke entirely from the doze to look up to him.
“I am glad you are human again,” he stated.
“Yeah, I occasionally can lose track of my humanity between too many shifts and the kanima. Glad you were here to help bring me back from the edge.”
“Not sure how I did it, but hell, right now, I am still in your debt. I must find the ringleader before this completely blows up. The Dallas branch will know by now about the kidnapping, and if the group is still up, they will come down like hellfire.”
“We can’t afford your fancy mage group coming in, trying to take over, that would be a war. The supernaturals here don’t need the supervision that you guys think.”
“I want to avoid an all-out war too. I need to handle this, showing that it
