Page 15 of His Human Librarian

She stops to meet my gaze. “I have to write this up and tell my boss, the Head Librarian, exactly what happened when I arrived. There will be repercussions for how I behaved here. I'll be demoted, and this probably is going to be the last lead position I get for a very long time, if ever, because that's unacceptable for a Librarian to behave that way. First contact with a variety of species is what you’re supposed to be good at when you're in this exact line of work. Obviously, I'm not as good as I thought. So again, I apologize.” Taylor pauses and bites at her luscious lower lip, waiting for my response.

“How about we each take another shot of fire alcohol?” I question.

A smile widens across her perfect features. “Sure, one more,” she agrees.

We each throw back two more shots. Then I take this human on a lengthy tour through my family’s ancient private library, explaining everything we see with an excruciating amount of detail that would bore anyone else.

“I have wanted to do this type of tour before, and no one would listen to me,” I admit. “I’ve always had an interest in ancient history, art and texts that no one else around me understood. I majored in business at university but minored in ancient art, not telling anyone because it was just for me.”

“Oh,” Taylor giggles, pushing her glasses higher on her adorable nose, “you could give me this exact same tour again tomorrow, repeat everything you said the first time, and I would be thrilled, happy to hear it all again.”

I laugh. “Beings get bored. Their eyes glaze over.”

She leans in, pressing her full chest against my red forearm. “They think it’s nothing but boring print books, but these are amazing doorways into the past.”

My barbed tail wraps around her hips. “No one understands. And I feel no one will ever understand the importance of that cave of tablets I found either.”

“I understand, because I’m a Librarian and I love books, both new and old.”

I look down and meet her molten blue gaze, and for the first time since we met, it hits me hard that this sexy female is the only being who really does understand me.

And then she wobbles on her feet, and this is when I finally realize I gave her too much alcohol. For any Hyrrokin, three shots is enough to only feel loose and warm. But for my small human, it was over her limit. I’ll remember this error in the future and make sure to only give her one shot, or even half of one.

She giggles again and her eyes look a little droopy.

“You need to go to bed,” I tell her.

“Oh, no, no,” she hiccups. “I'm okay, yeah, I guess I should. What time is it? We've got a big day tomorrow.”

“Yes, we do,” I tell her. Then I scoop her up in my arms.

“No, I can…I can walk. Remember you took me to the med lab. I am all fixed up.”

This is when I realize how good she smells.

“What are you doing?”

I take my nose out of her hair. “Nothing, nothing.”

I lift her in my arms and then blow out a large draft of wind to bank the fire.

She cries out, “Oh, my gods, I cannot believe how you can do that. I am staying with satanic-looking creatures who can breathe fire and have barbed tails. And you know what?” She lifts her arms and wraps them around my neck as I exit the library. “I think I’ve already learned that you might look terrifying, but inside you're really nice.”

“We are,” I tell her. “We are.”

“What about me?” she questions as I stride up the stairs. “Do you think I look terrifying?”

“No,” I tell her, under my breath. “You're adorable.”

“What did you say?”

Before I can answer, I hear a little sound and notice that she's snoring against my chest.

I laugh and walk in silence down the hallway. A bot greets me and opens the door to her room for me, and I walk her inside. The bot pulls back the covers and I lay her down on her bed. I pause to take off her odd human foot coverings and place them on the floor nearby, of course noticing the softness of her delicate skin and the odd beauty of her human feet. Then I put the covers over her and blast a flame into her fireplace, so she'll have a cheery fire to keep her warm as she sleeps.

Then I stare at her for far too long, because her features as she sleeps are amazingly beautiful.

Finally, I quietly step out of the room and close the door behind me.

---