Page 31 of Whispered Warnings: Part One

Finally, I have managed to get it all off, and I add them to the pile in the corner of the bathroom that needs burning, none of that is salvageable, which means I have officially run out of outfits, and I am down to my last pair of underwear. The good news is that is tomorrow's problem because I have my sleep shirt that I have been using and leggings, not that I wear leggings in bed, but they are there for the morning.

I turn the shower up as hot as I can stand it, and then step under the spray, pulling a face as I watch all the brown stained water run off me. That really is gross, I thought I got most of theblood and dirt on my clothes but there was clearly quite a lot on my feet and in my hair.

Ew.

It takes four rounds of shampoo and soap for me to finally feel like I am clean, and I step out of the shower, drying myself as fast as possible and getting dressed. As I move into my room again, I stare longingly at the bed, as much as I want to go straight to sleep, I know that when I do sleep I’m going to be sleeping for a while so that I can recover from dying and every fucking other thing that has happened since that. With this in mind, I move over to the desk in here instead and rummage around, finding a pen and some paper, I get to work on my report.

I’m a page into my report when there is a soft knock at the door.

Pulling it open, I see a slightly nervous looking River, “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

I shake my head, “No, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, here,” he holds out what I can only assume is a shirt, and I take it with a slight frown on my face. He scrubs a hand over the back of his neck, “I thought you may need something to sleep in.” He smirks and adds, “I like you in my shirts.”

I smile and pull the shirt closer. It’s soft and black, and although I avoid looking like a complete weirdo and sniffing it, I do get a whiff of his scent on it, and I love it.

“Thanks, this one is getting a bit close to its last legs now,” I say, plucking at the hem of my shirt. His eyes track my movement, dipping lower to trace a slow path up my exposed legs, he gulps and glances away, but not before I have seen the searing heat in his eyes and quite frankly, I have never felt sexier.

He clears his throat, his voice coming out rougher as he says, “You’re welcome. Night.”

“Night,” I reply to his already retreating back.

Smiling, I shut my door and immediately take off my sleep shirt, pulling on River’s one instead, hooking it over my nose, and taking a deep breath, calm settling over my entire body. Wearing his shirt over my almost naked body is an entirely different feeling from pulling his shirt on over my ruined clothes. I can almost pretend that it’s River wrapped around me and to be honest I might do just that later, but first, I need to be a grown up and finish writing up the report.

River

She must think I am a moron, to be honest I probably am. I would blame my kitsune for wanting to make sure that she wears my scent, but quite honestly, it’s not that at all, well it’s partly that. It’s me, I wasn’t lying, I really do love seeing her in my shirt.

I had to walk away from her when I did because I was moments away from throwing caution to the wind and taking her right there against the fucking door. She looked absolutely fucking delectable in that shirt, but I am starting to think that I would feel that way about her no matter what she was wearing. She was covered in blood, dirt, and fuck knows what else earlier, and I couldn’t give a shit. My kitsune started that and shocked the fuck out of me, I have never had that reaction to anyone. Even so, I managed to get that side of me reigned in reasonably quickly, and I didn’t want to let her go. She felt right in my arms, and I know that makes no sense, I have only known her properlyfor a few days and really how well can you get to know someone in a few days?

It is what it is though, and there is no doubt in my mind that I feel something for Neith. I would be tempted to say that it was something like a mate bond, but I don’t have one. Kitsune mate bonds are decided based on strength, and the strength of a kitsune's partner needs to be equal, or they risk hurting them with their magic, and they wouldn’t be compatible anyway. I have nine tails. I am the only kitsune alive with nine tails, and there aren’t any with more than six; I am too strong to have a mate. I made my peace with that a long time ago. It doesn’t mean that I have to be alone; I can have relationships and sex, but I won't ever be able to experience the magic of a true mate bond.

My strength has ostracized me in my pack, and I did so from a very young age. As soon as I was old enough to go to the academy it was a relief for everyone involved, I was out of their hair, and I very rarely go back now. I will never stop thanking the fates for putting me in the path of the guys. They have become my pack, and their strength easily matches up to mine and, in some cases, surpasses it. I am free to be wholly me, and that is something that I didn’t have until I met them at the academy.

My kitsune and I are one and the same, we aren’t separate entities sharing the same body, but my kitsune side does have different reactions to different situations than I do. Usually, I am the only one aware but when the reaction is strong enough, like Neith bleeding and no one taking care of her, then it can trigger that side of me to come out more in my human form.

It hasn’t happened since I was a teenager, and my emotions were running high anyway.

It’s curious.

“Was she awake?” Doc asks, a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eyes as I walk back into the front room and take a seat on the couch.

“How did you know . . .” I trail off.

“Dude, you went all alpha on us, there was no point in us even betting on whether you were going to give her one of your shirts to sleep in, it was inevitable,” Evander smirks.

I shrug and flip the room off as a whole because they are all grinning at me, “Fuck you all. It’s not like any of you are unaffected,” I point out and look at Doc, “you’ve joined our team, which we have been asking you to do for years, and you’ve moved into the house after saying that you preferred your own space but spending most of your time here anyway.”

Doc grins, sipping a beer, and says, “I guess I just needed a little push.”

“She’s come into our lives in a fucking whirlwind, and I feel like shits only just getting started,” Raiden says.

“You summed Neith up perfectly,” Van agrees, “a whirlwind. You will never be the same after you have met Neith.”

The room falls silent for a moment, and I can bet that all of our thoughts are on the beautiful, silver haired woman who has no brain to mouth filter whatsoever.

I love it. It certainly keeps things interesting.

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