Page 47 of Never Kiss a Krampus
We were both lying through our teeth, and we both knew it. But I didn’t pull away, and his tail remained wrapped around my waist, a warm weight that somehow felt like a promise.
Outside, the blizzard raged. Inside, wrapped in darkness and warmth and the strange comfort of his presence, I felt safer than I had in months. My eyelids grew heavy.
“You should sleep,” he said.
“Can’t. Have to stay awake in case something happens.”
“I will keep watch. You sleep.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“It is now.”
I wanted to argue, but exhaustion was pulling at me with warm, insistent hands, and his heartbeat was so steady, and I was finally, finally warm all the way through.
Just a few minutes. I’ll rest my eyes for just a few minutes.
“Noelle.”
“Mmm?”
“Sleep.”
His voice was gentle, almost tender, and I let myself drift. At some point, his hand began moving in slow circles on my back, soothing and hypnotic. At some point, my own hand found his other hand where it rested against my stomach, my fingers tangling with his claws. At some point, I stopped pretending this was just practical.
His tail tightened around my waist. His other arm shifted, supporting my weight more fully. His chin rested lightly atop my head. We were a tangle of limbs and warmth and unspoken things, pressed together on a couch that was too small for him, pretending this was nothing but survival.
I should have been scared. Instead, I felt peaceful.
The blizzard howled outside, but inside, wrapped in Bastian’s arms with his tail around my waist and his heartbeat steady against my spine, I let myself fall into sleep. The last thing I registered was his voice, so quiet I might have imagined it:
“Sleep well, little light.”
And his lips, pressing briefly to the top of my head. Then darkness took me, warm and safe and entirely impractical.
CHAPTER 16
Iwoke to the hum of electricity and the distant groan of the heating system kicking back to life. For a moment, I didn’t know where I was. Everything was warm and dark and safe, and there was a steady rhythm against my ear that I couldn’t quite place.
Then I registered the fur beneath my cheek. The massive hand spread across my back. The tail still wrapped around my waist.
Oh no.
I’d spent the night wrapped around Bastian like he was my own personal body pillow, and judging by the way his arms were locked around me, he hadn’t minded one bit. I cracked one eye open. Dawn light filtered through the window, pale and grey. The blizzard had passed, leaving behind drifts of snow that gleamed in the early morning.
Bastian’s chest rose and fell beneath me. In spite of his claims, he was clearly asleep. Ancient winter beings actually sleep after all.
I should move, should extract myself before this got even more awkward than it already was. Instead, I let myself have one more minute of warmth and safety and pretending this was normal. His heartbeat was still steady beneath my ear. Strong and sure and strangely comforting.
This is dangerous,I thought.This thing between us. This comfort. This trust.
I didn’t care. Not yet. Not while I was still warm and his arms were still around me and the world outside was still quiet and snow-covered. But reality had other plans, and he stirred beneath me. His hand flexed against my back, claws catching briefly in my sweater before smoothing flat again.
“The power has returned,” he said, his voice rough with sleep.
“Yeah. I noticed.”
“You are awake.”
