Page 16 of Monster's Pet

“That direwolf isn’t going anywhere,” Aiden said grimly. “What could have taken it out?”

“I’m almost scared to find out,” I whispered. “You’re sure it wasn’t a shapeshifter wolf?”

“Quite. The ears are different. Besides, it would have shifted back once it died,” Aiden said bleakly. He cast sleep on the larger beast and we walked over to it, careful to avoid tripping hazards.

“Oh wow,” I breathed, once we could see the creature clearly. It was cat-like, blood smearing its white-purple coat. Its wings were draped brokenly around itself, covering a lot of the damage. “Beautiful,” I said, looking at its majestic face, ignoring the blood dripping from its fangs. “Should we bury it?”

Aiden raised his eyebrows. “I don’t have enough magic left in me to create a grave big enough.”

“You’re right.” A tiny sound met my ears and I looked around. “I shouldn’t have asked, I’m sorry.” The sound came again, but Aiden was crouched down and lifting the wingtip of the creature before I could say anything. I peeked over his shoulder and gasped.

A very tiny kitten was struggling to extricate itself from its mother’s body, drenched in afterbirth.

CHAPTER 5

“What the...”Aiden let his sentence trail off.

“She was about to become a mother,” I whispered, blinking back tears. “She never got to know her baby.”

“What do we do about it?” Aiden asked, half reaching out to the kitten. “It’ll die if we leave it out here.”

“What doweknow about taking care of a kitten?” I countered. An idea occurred to me. “Rhiannon would know, though.”

“We’ll bring it to her.” Aiden whipped off his shirt, his skin pricking up with goosebumps in the cold air, and put it on the cleanest part of the ground. “Come on, Fluffy. We’ll take care of you.”

“Fluffy? Really? That’s the best you could come up with?” I asked, watching him try to coax the kitten onto the material. “We need food.”

“What do you think it eats?”

“Milk,” I replied absentmindedly, looking around the clearing. There was nothing I could see that would help. “What about some of the mom’s fur?”

“That might be useful.” Using a severing charm, Aiden cut some of the clean fur off the mother’s side and scattered it over the shirt.

The little kitten mewed pitifully and fell over.

“I don’t think its eyes are open yet,” I observed. A thought occurred to me. “What about the rest of the litter? Don’t cats have more than one?”

Aiden nodded grimly. “Check for life signs.”

Swallowing hard, I let the net of my spell cover the mother, the kitten, and Aiden. The tiny creature showed up as a dim purple to my sight. I shook my head. “None, and this one is fading. I think you’ll have to pick it up. We need to hurry.”

“I think you’re right.” Aiden scooped up his shirt and used it to grab the kitten gently around its middle, wrapping it up tightly. “You’ll be okay, Snowball,” he crooned to it, rubbing the top of its head with one finger.

The kitten mewled and worked one of its arms free like a fluffy Houdini. It batted at Aiden’s wrist weakly.

“Let’s get it inside,” I urged. “It must be starving. Who knows when its mother died.”

“Agreed.” Aiden hugged the bundle to his chest. “I’m going to shift. The heat of my fire will help warm it.”

“Great idea.” I began to lead the way back to the castle, avoiding the mess of the direwolf across the clearing.

Halfway back, the kitten stopped meowing, and I glanced back to see that it had fallen asleep wrapped in Aiden’s shirt and cradled in his arms. My heart melted to see the soft expression on his face. “Do you have a thing for animals?” I teased.

“It’s so tiny,” he whispered, looking down at it. “It’s relying on me for everything.”

“Babies do that,” I said.

“Yeah, they do.” He glanced up at me, and my breath caught in my throat. “Do you want one?”

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