Page 31 of Starve
“You’re not a cat,” is all I can say, as my gaze falls on Cairo’s face where he sits, reclining against the large tree.
His eyes open, flashing in the night like an animal’s reflecting light. My stomach clenches, and the feeling only gets worse when he grins and I see the hint of fangs between his lips.
“I’m definitely not a cat,” he agrees in a tired, raw voice. “And I’m probably not as charming as one either. You should go back inside.” He grimaces when he tries to move, prompting Moro to step closer and nudge at his arm.
“Why?” I ask, unmoving. But alarm bells are going off as I look at him and see the blood spattered on his clothes that aren’t Bluebone Ridge issue at all.
“Because you weren’t supposed to know I was out here in the first place.” He grimaces at Moro’s next nudge and finally relents. Cairo lifts a hand and settles it on her head, scratching behind her ears. “Thanks a lot for that, by the way,” he tells her flatly. “I clean you up and bring you to her, and this is the thanks I get?”
Moro’s tail only wags harder, but I’ve never been more confused.
“Youwhat?” The words send a shock of surprise through me, and I feel so strange standing above him in the woods. Belatedly, as he looks up at me, I realize he’s bleeding. “What the hell happened to you?” I murmur, kneeling beside him. “Was it—” But I snatch my hand back when he grins, once more showing me too-sharp teeth.
“It was,” he tells me without hesitation in a voice that holds a soft, dark chuckle. “But not for the reason you think.” He moves to scratch Moro’s chest, though grimaces when she tries to lick at the blood running down the side of his face and gently pushes her back. “That’s gross, Moro,” he tells her disapprovingly.
“You saved me.” It isn’t a question as my mind puts together the pieces of that night. “The voice I heard before I passed out was yours. How did you get…it…” He looks up at me balefully, and my question dies on my lips.
Because it’s obvious, and I don’t need him to confirm it for me, with his reflective eyes and sharp teeth. “You’re hurt,” I force myself to repeat, trying to keep my mind on that.
“I’ve been hurt worse.”
“I didn’t ask.”
He rolls his eyes at that, settling back against the tree. “Well, it’s not fatal. And you shouldn’t be out here, Fern.”
“Why?”
But he doesn’t answer me this time, only gets comfortable with his hand on Moro as his eyes slide shut. It gives me theopportunity to survey him from where I’m kneeling, though I can’t see much in the light of the moon and the useless illumination from my deck in the distance.
I can’t leave him out here.
Not when he’s the reason I’m alive. “Come on.” I gently kick his leg, being as careful as I can be to not hurt him. “Get up, Cairo. My house is over there.”
“I know.” He sighs airily, which doesn’t make me feel any better.
“Which is weird.” I lean a little bit closer without letting myself chicken out. “We should talk about how weird that is, because it makes you sound like a stalker.”
“I’d have to be human to be a stalker, wouldn’t I?”
The admission sends a shiver up my spine, and I freeze with my hand outstretched toward him. Cairo opens his eyes to slits, and I see the satisfaction there. It hits me that this was his intention; hewantsme to be afraid of him.
“You look human enough to me.” Before I can chicken out, I drag him to his feet, not that he really fights me on it. “Shut up,” I add when he starts to say something.
I’m definitely putting on a facade of confidence, but I don’t know what else to do. Cairo walks back toward my small house with me, mostly supporting his own weight except a few times when he has to stop and lean on me, letting out sharp, hissing breaths between his teeth.
Finally, I haul him up on my deck with Moro loping inside once I open the door, wagging her tail and turning like she’s welcoming him into her home. The sight makes me snort, and I shake my head at her treating him like her friend.
“You really helped her?” I close the sliding glass door and lock it while he leans on my small table, panting.
“Well, yeah. I stuck around until I could hear the ambulance coming for you. She didn’t want to leave you,” he adds, grinningback at me. “She almost bit me every time I got close to you for a few minutes.”
“Oh.” I glance back at Moro, who only wags her tail at both of us and steps forward to nudge at Cairo’s hand. “I’m happy you did that. I’m happy she’s okay. And I’m also pretty thrilled that I’m okay.”
Making a decision, I grab his arm and bring it over my shoulder, ignoring his undignified squawk of disapproval. “Are you hungry?” I don’t know where he’s been, or how he’s doing other than being hurt, but for some reason my question gets a grating chuckle from him.
“I’mstarving.”
The words make me stop. We’re in my bedroom, just outside my bathroom door as I stare at him. Those words make everything inside me twist with anxiety. “Don’t say that.”
