Page 73 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
I nodded and found myself leaning into his side, almost craving his touch.
How had I gone my whole life with no one touching me ever to this man constantly touching me, and me… wanting it? I legitimately wanted him to touch me. All of the time.
It was getting to be a little much, but that didn’t stop me. It certainly didn’t make me move away.
“Agreed.” I took a deep breath, then called over, “Hey, Chaos?”
The kid looked up from the ground where he was sitting and throwing sticks for Clucky with an unimpressed expression. “Yeah?”
“Um… I have a question.”
He stared for a few seconds, then rolled his eyes. “Okaaaayyy… I gathered that. What is it?”
“So I found a firebird who I think is meant to be my familiar, but we haven’t fully bonded yet, so I guess I was wondering… how do you complete the bond?”
He stared at me for a good ten seconds before he got to his feet, made his way over, and leaned against the truck on my other side with his arms crossed. Clucky stayed with Aeson, playing tug-of-war with him. Chaos was silent for a bit, but I had the feeling he was thinking things over, so I didn’t push. I simply waited and enjoyed the way Winter’s hand had moved to the back of my neck, his fingers playing with the hair at my nape.
Finally, Chaos asked, “Do you feel a pull to her?”
“Yes.” I answered without hesitation because the pull felt stronger every day, every minute. Even here, away from her, I felt like the pull was stronger than it’d been before I’d left the house this morning.
He nodded. “Good. I guess I sort of concentrated on that pull and kinda pushed my magic into it? And then I felt Clucky’s magic push out toward me, and I grabbed onto it. I followed my instincts, and so did Clucky. Our magics sort of mixed, and then… that was it.” He shrugged and made a face. “That wasn’t helpful, but that’s all I got.”
I nodded and sighed. “Yeah… that sounds like what I read.”
Chaos hesitated for a few beats before he faced me, leaning his shoulder against the truck. “Look, I’m not good at this whole… sharing magic thing, but you seem like an okay guy, so… If you need help when you’re bonding, you can call me, and I’ll talk you through it or whatever.”
Now the kid wouldn’t meet my eye, looking everywhere but at me.
“Thank you, Chaos. That’s a really kind offer.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. You have my cell.” Then he pushed off the truck and walked back over to his brother, still refusing to look at me.
Winter chuckled quietly. “He’s a good kid, even though he pretends not to be.”
I nodded and sighed. “Yeah, he is.” And he brought out every protective instinct I had.
I knew I’d always felt protective of animals, but the last time when I’d felt this protective over another person, I hadn’t been able to protect her the way I should’ve and… I shook the thoughts away. I couldn’t go down that road, not again.
I could, however, do my best for two teenagers I’d only met this morning.
I was going to have to find another job to hire them for, if only so I could pay them and feed them again.
And then I’d find another job after that, and another after that, and I’d just keep doing it until I knew for sure they were safe and healthy. And loved. That last one was important too.
Winter sighed. “I swear that I’ve seen him somewhere before, but I’ve never worked with a necromancer before, so I have no idea where that could’ve been.”
I looked at Winter. “Maybe somewhere in town or something?”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but the kid said this drive was out of the way, so he probably doesn’t live near us.”
“Hm. True.” I shrugged because I had no idea. “Well, to be fair, that car probably wouldn’t make it on the beltway at all, so out of the way for him might not be the same as out of the way for us.”
“I didn’t think about that.” He sent me a small smile and turned toward me, leaving one arm behind me while he used theother to run his fingertips through my hair. The move made me sigh and close my eyes, leaning into the touch.
I’d never, ever had this. This peacefulness that came from another’s touch.
I knew some of it had to do with his being a null, but I was pretty sure most of it was simply because it was Winter himself touching me. He was so sweet and kind and gentle and… and I really, really hoped that after today, he’d still want to be my friend.
