Page 33 of Siren in the Rain

Wolf Boy flashes a beautiful smile. “No strings attached, I promise. Just platonic cuddles.” His smile fades. “I’m really worried about you.”

How bizarre. I don’t know the last time anyone was worried about me.

“Will you let me comfort you?” he asks, his tail wagging slowly and uncertainly. Then he tilts his head and studies me, his big, pointy fluffy ears swiveling as he waits and listens.

Maybe if I just think of him as a big stuffed animal to cuddle, I could do this?

“I don’t know,” I finally manage to say, choking out the words, every nerve ending in my body still raw after the godawful nightmare I couldn’t wake from.

He reaches out a big, tan hand and takes hold of mine, intertwining our fingers together. I stare at our joined hands blankly.

“How does this feel?”

Truthfully, I don’t really have words to describe it. There’s something about this man’s touch that calms me but also sends a strange current of awareness coursing through my entire body.

Is it all his empathic abilities?

He called us fated mates.

No. I don’t even want to contemplate that notion.

I roughly shove it aside in my mind.

“It’s okay, I guess.” My tone is brusque but it doesn’t seem to bother him.

He chuckles. “Why don’t we lie down and cuddle?”

I hesitate, disturbed by the fact that a huge part of me wants to throw caution to the wind and say yes to this proposal.

I’m so used to retreating within, closing myself off when things get hard. For so long, the only person I could rely on was myself.

He holds up his hands innocently. “Perfectly platonic, I promise.” His features tighten in concern as he reaches out and strokes the hair back from my face. “You’re tired and you need rest. Let me help you. You’re safe with me.”

I can’t deny his first point. It’s as if I’ve just finished a marathon I didn’t train for and I’m a physical and emotional wreck. That nightmare, on top of everything else I’ve been through in the last day, wrang a lot out of me.

As for being safe with him, my brain is still undecided, but my gut is telling me to trust him. With cuddles, at least. It’s a big reassurance to discover Haku doesn’t immediately naysay this suggestion either. If he’s giving Wolf Boy his approval, then I feel like I can too.

For tonight anyway.

Eventually, I scoot closer to the wall and lie down. He joins me, flashing that adorable dimple again as he grins, like I’m the present under the Christmas tree that he’s been waiting to open all year.

“No inappropriate touching,” I tell him.

His tail flaps against the bed, making a repetitive thumping noise, and his ears twitch. “I swear on my life.”

“Swear on your balls,” I grumble. “’Cuz I’ll rip them off if you try anything.”

He laughs. “Duly noted, babe.”

I ignore the endearment and turn my back to him. Very slowly and carefully, he curls his body around mine. He’s bigger than me and so deliciously warm. Wrapped in his arms like this, I can almost imagine I’m safe, cocooned from the world around me.

“Let my Super Charged Surfer Scent work its soothing magic,” he says.

I snort softly. “So that’s what SCSS means…”

He nuzzles my hair and I yawn.

His yummy coconut scent seems to be doing a damn good job already because my eyelids are heavy once more and I hear sleep calling my name.

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