Page 16 of The VaDorok's Unexpected Mate
Kull smiled at her reaction, his expression softening slightly. “Good, right? My mother made me this tonic when I was not feeling well. It replenishes important minerals. I promise you that you will feel better tomorrow.”
Katie nodded and allowed him to feed her another bite of the tonic. A comfortable quiet settled between them with only the crackle of the fire whispering to them as he slowly fed her spoonfuls of the tonic. His tail brushed against her side as he did so, but he didn’t seem to be aware of it. At first, its gentle strokes caught her off guard and made her wary, but it gradually workedthrough her defenses as the heat of it dragged comfortingly around her like the curl of a cat’s tail. She suspected that not even Kull realized just how kind he was to her, and just how much it meant to her after so many months of degradation.
As for that brat—just let him keep trying her.
Chapter 12
Kull’s tail flicked away the heavy snow, but he froze as he went to set down his bag, his gaze locking on his younger brother as his gaze fell on the young male scowling into the fire burning in the hearth. Was it his imagination or did Ren’s mane look... shorter?
“What happened to you?” he asked as he set down his gear and leaned his biriate lance against the wall.
“Nothing,” Ren muttered. “I failed to notice something sticky on the cloth I used to dry my mane with until after I had already started. It was apparently used to clean up a spill, and Katieforgotto wash it or notify me.”
Kull leaned forward and sniffed, and his brows rose. Sealant sap?
“It’s not that I didn’t tell him,” Katie argued from where she was lying listlessly on the cushions on the other side of the room. “I told him that I had accidentally knocked over the bottle on that table over there.” She lifted her hand and pointed at his workstation. “He was just too busy complaining at me for using all the drying cloths that he didn’t give me a chance to explain before he snatched it from me and proceeded to use it. That’s not my fault. I even apologized and generously helped him cut the cloth free—though I’m afraid it might be ruined now. I didn’t realize how sticky that stuff was, or how quickly it hardened. He unfortunately lost a bit of fur.”
There was a touch of guilt at the end, and the corner of Kull’s mouth twitched. She could not have known that the sealant would rapidly grow hard with applied friction—something that made it so valuable for making boots as well as many other goods that required sealing. The minor act of revenge—as petty as it was—was clearly not meant to have gone so far.
“A bit of fur?” Ren demanded as he spun around to stare at her incredulously. “You call this a bit of fur? That female is a menace! It will take seasons for it to grow back out where it was.”
She winced apologetically, and Kull peered at him, taking in the full scope of the damage. He tried not to laugh as he noted that the fur around the male’s shoulders and upper back was also noticeably shorter, making him look revolutions younger than he was. Forcing a neutral expression, he turned to Katie and tipped his head toward the jar on his worktable. The jar should have had a shiny side if it had truly been knocked over, nor was there any evidence on the floor, which just clarified that at the very least part of the incident had been intentional.
“That is nurami. It is a special sealant and adhesive,” he explained. “It takes a special solvent to remove it fromanysurface it touches.” He gave her a meaningful look, and she grimaced apologetically in response, admitting without words that she had been caught. “And it hardens rapidly with friction. Be careful around it so that there are no further accidents,” he added and bit back a smile at the look of surprise that spread across her face.
She clearly expected to be exposed and rebuked, but they were in an alliance for a reason. Ren would have to take this punishment and take advantage of the learning opportunity if he was smart. Unfortunately, his adopted little brother had a thick skull, which made him believe that the male had also tormented her earlier while he was gone for Katie to have struck back so decisively.
“Accident,” Ren scoffed, and he gave them both a disgusted look before leaving the room entirely.
Kull watched him go before glancing down at Katie curiously. “What did he do?”
She raised her eyebrows at him and smiled. “Nothing at all, but maybe it will discourage Ren from messing with anyone’sclothes in the future. By the way, I hope you weren’t attached to those little black seeds that you had in storage.”
He gave her a curious look and shook his head. “I grind them up as a spice, but I can easily acquire more. Are we out?”
“You could say that,” she replied. “I assume that having a bunch of it lying out in the snow won’t harm the wildlife.”
He shook his head, baffled. “There are some that will eat it, but it will not hurt them. Most animals will avoid it.”
She drew in a breath and slowly expelled it. “Okay, good.”
He peered at her curiously, but when she offered nothing else in the way of an explanation, he shrugged and pulled out the burrah from his sack. Spreading out his leather rug, he settled on it and picked up one of the beasts. His knife paused, however, his ears pricking when he heard her mumble under her breath.
“... going to be picking those damned seeds out of my boots for days.”
Shoulders shaking with mirth, he continued with his tasks and set the skewered burrah over the fire before heading toward where her boots sat near the door. Bending down, he picked up one boot and lifted it. Sure enough, the inside was coated with tiny daldek seeds. He shook his head, his lips twitching. Though she hated being cold, he knew that she liked being able to step outside for a bit of fresh air so that she did not feel so confined. She had explained as much the first time he noticed that her boots were slightly damp from use. Her retaliation for the loss of comfort and freedom after all of her suffering had been swift. Kull shook his head. Ren was lucky that a sticky cloth intended to just make him temporarily miserable had been all that she had done... his subsequent loss of fur was simply fate and the gods evening the score as far as he was concerned.
Picking up the other boot, he carried them back to the fire where he would have the best light available and sat back down. His gaze turned to Katie, and she looked back at him, returninghis gaze curiously. Her expression shifted to surprise, however, when she saw what was in his hands. The corners of his mouth hitched to convey that he understood his reason for revenge before he shifted his focus to the boots and began to carefully scrape the seeds off with the side of his claw. His ears twitched as he heard her move from the cushion and the light tread of her steps as she walked to his side.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said quietly.
His eyes lifted to her briefly, and he smiled down at the boots as he studiously continued to remove the seeds. “I appreciate that you have your own way of dealing with Ren’s mischief and pranks, and trust that you will not go too far in handling it, though I hope you will inform me when he steps over the line.”
“It’s just childish stuff,” she assured him. “I have three brothers. This is nothing unusual.”
Kull nodded in acknowledgement, though his heart warmed with how resilient and understanding she was. If she could handle Ren at his worst, perhaps she was stronger in some respects that he had not been aware of or fully considered. Surviving her tormentors had been a matter of necessity to survive, but beating Ren at his own games was something else. That she could do it calmly while still preserving the younger male’s dignity was admirable. The ulukskinon flared hotter, making his skin itch with its unresolved demands.
He cleared his throat. “Good. I do not wish your time here to be one of misery,” he admitted.
