Page 11 of Catnip

“Yep.”

Unexpectedly, she saw him smileagain.

“Well, there’s that. No one expects me to explain myself thesedays.”

She stared again, until hechuckled.

“A long time ago,” he said, while undoing her bandage with care, “something happened that pissed me off. A lot. I stopped talking for a while after. I just couldn’t speak because I felt like I was going to yell and explode, but the people around me were my friends, and they didn’t deserve it. I started speaking again after a few months. I guess they were relieved, so they never pushed it afterwards. It suited me. I don’t really…” he paused. “I don’t have much to say topeople.”

His callused hands caressed her skin, and the pain became irrelevant, just like it had the day before, for aninstant.

Needing a distraction, she asked, “Whathappened?”

His jaw set, and he kept itshut.

“If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. But you need to say ‘I don’t want to tellyou.’”

“I don’t mind telling you,” he replied. “It’s just going to take a second. I’ve never talked ofit.”

Were those butterflies in her tummy? Yep. Yep, theywere.

“I was accused of rape.”Oh shit.“Falsely,” he clarified immediately. “And I was cleared since. Almost lost my neck, though. But I was young, and there wasn’t enough proof, so I was banned from my pride instead. The friends I didn’t want to yell at are those who left the pride with me and formed thisone.”

Oh, well. That explained why he didn’t feel like being an ass to them.Still.

“That must be hard on you. Talking, communicating… I guess people are different, but that’s how you know you’re part of a community. Especially as a shifter. We need to feel like we belong. Talk, touch…” she trailed off again, because talking about touching him stirred something a little too intense for thecircumstances.

Besides, she wasn’t saying anything he didn’tknow.

“I don’t touch people, either,” he added, which only served to make his hand feel hotter against her. “It looks better. I’ll clean the balm off, so you can heal upnaturally.”

He was very meticulous, and very thorough, too. He didn’t even comment when her damn nipples got hard. Although he did bite back agrin.

“How do youfeel?”

“Betteralready.”

She could feel the healing process kicking in now; it made her sleepy, achy, and hot.Yeah, right.The hot part was all due to the fact that she washealing.

Liar.

“Good. I’ll let yourest.”

He returned to the armchair next to the large bed, and grabbed a book from thefloor.

When she woke up later, the room bathed in morning light, he was still there, looking down ather.

* * *

Breathe,Ava. Justbreathe.

They were all there. All the larger than life shifters she’d seen from a distance. The room looked much smaller when they occupied it, expectantly staring ather.

Coveney had gone to fetch his Alphas, but he’d also brought his Betaback.

“Will you give us a minute?” Aisling Wayland-Cross asked, and although she’d formulated it as a question, everyone nodded, heading towards the door - everyone except Coveney. The Alpha female turned towards the Head Enforcer, clarifying, “That wasn’t asuggestion.”

Ava admired the Alpha’s ways. She’d noticed it when she’d seen the pride interacting in the past, and it was evident now. Aisling wasn’t one to wave her dominance left and right; she respected her pride, and itshowed.

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