He glanced at me nervously, then shifted his gaze back to the floor. “No, I used the front door. It just…needed a little push.”
“You broke my door?”
“I can fix it.” He said quickly, shifting his weight back and forth.
I guess I should just be happy he took me home instead of eating me. But why was he still here?
“I wanted to apologize for scaring you last night, so I did a few chores around your home since I was already here. After I fixed the fence, milked the goats, and let the animals out to pasture, I wasn’t sure what else you took care of in the morning. I bathed a few of the sheep, but that black one is an ornery beast and I had to shift just to get him to heel.”
The werewolf paced in the doorway as he continued to ramble off chores and menial tasks. My head spun, and I looked around the barn to see that he did in fact fill up the milk jugs and even swept out each stall. I held a hand up and he silenced himself. “Felix,” I began slowly. “Where did you sleep?”
A long tail twitched behind him. “I didn’t.”
I rubbed my temples in an attempt to soothe the still raging headache. “How did you even know where I live?”
“I’m a werewolf, Lamb. I followed your scent.”
My head fell to my knees. “Snapping gators.”
“Please don’t be mad,” Felix whispered. “I didn’t intend to stay once I put you in bed, but the harder I tried to leave, the more frantic I became. I know humans don’t imprint like we do, so I wanted to give you space. But every second I wasn’t near, you tore at me. Finding tasks to do around your house was the only thing keeping me from barging into your bedroom.”
He stumbled back at my stunned look, holding his arms up in a placating manner. “Not that I would force anything!” He shouted. “Gods no. I just…” The werewolf sighed and sat down in the doorway. His large head hung low as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Snout. Whatever. After a moment, he let off an irritated growl. His gaze searched mine as if I had the answers to his wild behavior. “I’m usually a lot smoother than this. I swear.”
Maybe it was the absurdity of the situation or my lack of sleep, but I just started laughing and found it difficult to stop. Felix looked up at me with a hopeful expression, his tail losing some of that nervous twitch. When I tried to compose myself long enough to look him in the eye, the werewolf dropped his ears like a sad dog waiting to be chastised, and I just laughed even harder.
“Would breakfast help my case at all?” He asked.
I wiped a tear from my eye and sat up straighter. “Is that what’s burning?”
Felix shot up in a panic. “Oh fuck, my eggs!” The werewolf ran back to the house, scaring the poor sheep once more. A chorus of banging pans followed not far behind.
It was then I noticed Kevin, my black ram. His normally coarse coat shined like black diamonds in the sunlight. He stomped his hoof and threw his impressive horns in Felix’s direction, as if to tell the world just how pissed off he was at the impromptu grooming. At the base of his left horn was a tattered piece of brown cloth. No doubt a remnant of the fight he must have put up. Even I had a hard time getting that bully to do anything without getting a hoof to the chest. If he didn’t give off such fine wool, I would have turned him into mutton chops years ago. Little shit.
I made my way back into the kitchen to see an increasingly distraught werewolf trying to beat smoke out of the small window above the counter. His massive frame was still deeply intimidating, but from what I could tell, he meant no harm.Deep breaths, Brie.
“Felix, why don’t you go have a seat in the other room?” The demon began to make a noise of protest, but hushed when I grabbed his arm and gently but firmly pulled him out of the kitchen. In his werewolf form, he could have easily shaken me off, but instead closed his free hand over the one I had on his arm and let himself be led out of the smoking room. I motioned for him to sit down on a plush love seat and kicked a footstool near his feet. “Just wait here a bit and I’ll bring us some coffee and a snack.”
Felix moved to stand back up. “Brie, wait, let me help.”
“Sit,” I ordered without turning back.
A few minutes and a smoke free kitchen later, I returned with fresh coffee and a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches. Not the fanciest breakfast, but it got the job done in a pinch. Cooking wasn’t normally something I enjoyed, anyway. So the simple dish had its merits, in my opinion. “OK, so I hope you like- WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES?”
In my brief absence, Felix had returned to his human form. His very naked human form. He still donned my frilly green apron, but nothing else. A beautiful sight that happily borrowed its way into my mind, never to leave again. Absently, I registered that I probably should have turned away, but considering all that happened that morning, a well-muscled chest seemed like a fair payment. He interrupted my sleep, after all. The sight of all that smooth, fair skin pulled over the tight cords of his muscles was definitely worth waking up for.
Felix’s face blushed scarlet and quickly tugged at the pants around his ankles. “Sorry,” he murmured. “My clothes don’t transform with me. So I took them off while I was working outside.” He must have noticed my appreciative glance, and paused his movements.
Was I drooling? No. No dammit, I’m a lady.
Felix raised a brow. “Or I could keep them off if this is working for you?”
“No!” I snapped, placing the food and drinks on my coffee table. “Put your clothes back on.”
He hummed and did as instructed. But not without a satisfied grin the whole way through. Once dressed, Felix took his place back on the love seat. I slumped down in the armchair across from him and sighed at the soothing scent of morning coffee. The cheesy goodness of the first bite of my sandwich made the morning better all around. Logically, I felt I should be more concerned at the fact that I was sitting across from the man that broke into my home, but I felt partially responsible for his behavior. What with yeeting a love potion at his head and all. If the warning on the side of the bottle was true, then crazy erratic behavior would be something I’d have to deal with for the next couple of weeks. Honestly, a man showing up and doing my chores wasn’t the worst thing to happen to a woman.
“Obviously, we need to talk about what happened last night.” I began after a sip of coffee.
Running a hand through his blond hair, the man leaned back in the love seat as if he owned it. “I just feel like I’d hear you a lot better if you were over here next to me. My senses are dulled in this form, you know.” He patted his lap in invitation.
