Page 17 of Monster's Pet

“A kitten?” I asked, purposefully misunderstanding him.

“A baby.”

I hadn’t expected him to actually say it. “I hadn’t thought about it before. All I wanted was to get out and explore the world. But...” I watched him a little longer, his attention back on the kitten, and imagined how it would look with him holding a baby—ourbaby. “Yeah, I think I do.”

“In a few years, after we explore the world a little,” Aiden said. Then his eyes flared with internal fire. “I’ll pump you so full of my seed that you can’t help but get pregnant.”

I shivered at the promise. “Sounds like a plan.”

We entered the academy by the kitchen door. I reached into my pocket to pull out my mirror. “Rhiannon,” I said into it. The mirror turned foggy with swirling smoke for a minute, until the other witch’s face appeared.

“Siobhan? What’s wrong?”

“We found a kitten next to its dead mother,” I said quickly. “We’re in the kitchen. Can you help? Please?”

“I’ll be right there,” Rhiannon said, and then the mirror reflected my face once more.

Aiden paced the width of a counter. “I hope she can help.”

“Watch out,” I said, pulling him toward me and out of the way of one of the student chefs. “She’s brilliant with animals. I’m not worried.”

The kitten started mewling again and Aiden rubbed its head gently. “Do you think I’m overheating it?” he asked anxiously.

“We’re inside now. You might be,” I said, chewing my lower lip. “I hate feeling like I don’t know something.”

“Maybe you need to concentrate on Care of Magical Creatures more,” Aiden teased gently, shifting back into his more humanoid form.

I stuck my tongue out at him, but didn’t say anything since Rhiannon joined us at that moment.

She took one glance at the crying kitten and grabbed the nearest chef’s arm. “Cream,” she ordered. “And a syringe.”

“I’m busy,” he snapped.

“I’m trying to save an animal’s life,” she retorted, turning her back on him.

“If you show me where, I’ll get it,” I offered to the chef.

He nodded once and walked away. I hurried after him. He led me to a pantry, where he grabbed a small syringe, and then into the walk-in refrigerator, where he pointed at the cream. I thanked him and brought it back to Rhiannon and Aiden.

“We need to warm the cream,” she said. “Not too hot, though. Body temperature.”

I grabbed a saucepan and put it on the burner next to them, pouring a healthy amount of cream into it and enchanting a spoon to stir the liquid.

The kitten was on the counter, still half-wrapped in Aiden’s shirt. There were stains that definitely hadn’t been there before he’d used it as a blanket. Rhiannon expertly handled the baby, checking each bone in its body to make sure they were whole. I was interested to note that the kitten didn’t have wings like its mama.

“I need to bathe it, get the after-birth off. Did she have siblings?”

Aiden shook his head. “We checked for life signs. This was the only one.”

“She?” I asked.

Rhiannon gently flipped the kitten over and spread her back legs. “You can see here, there aren’t any pouches for testicles.” To Aiden, she added, “Don’t let her roll off the counter. I’ll get a bowl and a cloth.”

“Why me?”

“Because Siobhan is busy.” Rhiannon disappeared into the pantry.

I chuckled at the stricken expression on Aiden’s face. “You were fine when you were holding her. What’s changed?”

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