Page 10 of WitchCurse
I narrowed my gaze at him. It was my duty as his lord to protect him. My glamour slipped again. He patted me on the cheek. “This world is safer than what we’re used to. Nothing here is going to jump out and eat me.”
“I would if I were mortal,” I told him.
His smile was instant and radiant. “The things you have no idea you’re saying sometimes…”
I gave him a quizzical look. He left my side for a second and leaned out the door to deliver whatever numbers were required to the shopkeeper. A moment later the door was shut again and he tugged a thick sweater out of the stack, and a T-shirt. The shirt fit as expected, not too tight, though I was not fond of how Nick frowned at it.
“Does it fit incorrectly?” I asked.
“No. It’s not wrong. You’re just thinner than I’m happy with. Maybe Seb can make us more cake.”
I sighed at the idea of eating more of their energy, even in amounts as small as it might be. I felt like a leech, sucking from the tit of our unaware leaders. Or a parasite. They should have left me in Underhill.
Nick unzipped the sweater and held it up. “Is it the clothes that make you melancholy, or is Seb’s cynicism adding to your own when you eat his magic?”
Had the shield loosened again? It was getting harder and harder to keep him locked out. I stared at him when he zipped up the sweater. It was soft and warm, a bit like a hug or a blanket. What a strange sort of shirt. “Both, perhaps?” His frown made me unhappy. “This is soft.”
“Yeah? You like it? They have it in a few colors. Might keep you warmer?”
“Conceivably it is warm,” I said, though it was unlikely anything could stave off the cold long. That curse had been digging its way through my soul since childhood.
“I want to go up a size in the shirts. See if we can get you back up to a normal weight.”
“I know not what that means,” I said. Normal weight. Healthy. Mortal concepts. I was fae, a dying one at that. A change wasn’t going to happen without ending the blight, which is what I presumed normal weight meant.
“No ribs showing.” Nick said.
“I can glamour them away.” I hadn’t expended my glamour far enough to change my shape, only the outer dressings.
“Don’t use your energy for anything more than you need to,” Nick said. “I wonder if we can get a wolf pack of our own to feed from? You’re partially from this world. They would be a constant source of energy.”
“The wolves are an aggressive lot to be used as food,” I added. “I’ll eat the second in command if that pleases you. It would please the fox.”
“Liam needs Carl. Seb doesn’t dislike him, but it’s a relationship that keeps them both on their toes.”
Relationship? I mouthed the word, wondering at the connotation of it in this world. Carl and Sebastian had no relationship. Not like the fox and the alpha, or even the fox to the third who had traveled with us. More mortal distinctions I didn’t understand? “The little wolf would enjoy ripping into the second.” The way the wolf stared at the man, like he knew the taste of tearing out his throat would be divine, was something that amused me most days. Did he hold a grudge from that spelled attack when we’d first helped him heal?
“It’s good that you think of Toby, but neither of you should be tearing into Carl. Even when he’s a constant asshole.” Nick said as he returned to the door and gave them further instructions. I missed his touch as he made his way back and dug through the pile for things to try. I watched him change clothing. The trousers fitting well, though not as nicely as a pair of leather ones would have. The curve of his bottom, and strength of his thighs lost definition beneath the dark fabric. Not unpleasant, but different.
“Leather pants aren’t really everyday wear here,” Nick said.
“You should not have this much access to my thoughts.” I worked hard to stay out of his head and give him privacy.
“I like it better when you don’t keep me out.” He pointed to his own head. “It’s really quiet and lonely up here when you lock down. I hate being stuck with my own thoughts.”
“I am sorry.” I never meant to hurt him.
He tugged off his shirt, added a T-shirt that hugged his shoulders and defined chest. Nick was the sort of male who made any look twice, well-formed and confident, strong and sculpted from years of dedication to training and pushing his body beyond mortal limits. The power I fed him in the beginning, used very efficiently to create a warrior any would be proud of. I could not help but admire his beauty, though wasn’t fond of the idea of other’s finding the same joy in it.
“That is a good size?” I asked. “To show so much?” Everything was covered, as the shirt sleeves stopped right above his elbows, and the length ended a hand width after his waist. The top collar cut more in a V than the circle of mine, gave a hint of defined collarbones. And the fabric clung to his defined muscles rather than hide them. Was it safe to show that much flesh? Would the dark golden line of his strength draw others to him?
He picked up a sweater, a little lighter weight than the one he’d given me, and tugged it over his head, hiding away the uncovered bits of his arms and that open collar. It rested on his hips, giving him a casual and modern look, that I recognized as similar to the alpha.
“Better?” he asked.
“Do you wish to look like the alpha?”
“Like Liam? He’s pretty decent with style. Better than Seb who is sort of chaos without Liam to fill his closet. This is common wear of this world. For males at least.”
