Page 118 of Ulune's Daughter

“I’d like that. What are their names?”

“Cathmoir and Allelyn. They’ll ask you to call them Cath and Allie. They want you to like them, to feel at home here.”

I tip my head back to look up into his soft, hooded eyes. “Your mother is called Allie. Your mother, who is Cait Sidhe, is called Allie. Alley Cat?”

He grins. “It’s a family joke.”

“I bet.”

“My younger sister, Aine, is also here. Tell her to go away if she annoys you.”

“I’m confident she won’t annoy me as much as she annoys you.”

He chuffs a laugh. “You have no idea.” He flicks the tip of his fang with this tongue. “She’sdating.”

“Oh, dear ... how are you coping with that, big brother? Big, mythic warrior, older brother?”

Beneath our twined hands his chest puffs up. “I am a mythic warrior.”

“Separating the mythic warrior side of your mind from the big brother side of your mind will probably help you weather her dating years. Which can stretch into decades, you know.”

Another chuff. “I won’t survive decades.”

“Baby sister dating is rarely fatal,” I tease him.

“Even when it results in the baby sister marrying your ex?” He squeezes so the tips of his claws prickle the back of my hand. “I would very much like to avenge your heartache on that score. I could arrange for his car tires to be clawed to ribbons every day.”

I turn my head and kiss the warm hollow of his shoulder. “I do love petty vindictiveness, but no, that seems excessive, even for me.”

“I could command the local cats to start using his back yard as a litter box?”

A laugh tickles up my throat. So much better than the tears I cried over Mitch and Chelsea. “Thanks, but no. On a side note, do Cait Sidhe control cats?”

Hehumphs. “No one controls cats.”

“Good point. Can you talk to cats?”

“Of course I can. Everyone can talk to cats.”

I nudge his pec with my chin. “You know what I mean. Do they talk back to you?”

“Yes. They miaow and purr eloquently.”

I bite him.

“Ow.” He untangles his hand and nudges my chin until I release my teeth. “You’re a vicious little thing when you’re awake.”

“Which you love.”

He laces our fingers together again and settles back into the pillows, looking dreamy and peaceful. “Which I love. Viciousness is prized among the Cait.”

“Tell me more about the Cait.” I cuddle in against his side and let his deep voice fill more than my ears.

“The Cait are descended from B’sst, the first to wear the skin of a woman and the fur of a cat?—”

I nip him again. “You told me this already. Tell me aboutyourCait.”

“Oh.” His grumble turns into a purr. It’s a deep, rusty rumble like a car engine. Octaves deeper than Whitey’s purr, but it has the same effect on me. My bones melt and I settle even more deeply into his warm skin, his soft bed. “MyCait. My Cait are strong. Sneaky. We never let our prey escape. We let no insult slide. I have two cousins I rely on most, Mags and Dex. When we were still young, little more than kits, we ran afoul of the Ivywhile’s court’s Squire?—”