Page 9 of Cry of the Damned
My face flushed with mortification. In the beginning, I’d called them savages and wildlings to their faces, and just the memory of it made me so embarrassed I wanted to dig a deep den and never come out again.
“I didn’t…” I stammered.
Maki crossed his arms. “Yes, you did.”
My mouth opened and closed. “I swear… I—”
They all busted out laughing, even Ila.
I glared at them. “That’s not funny.”
I marched into the kitchenette and retrieved the pair of scissors I’d seen in one of the drawers earlier. Holding them up, I made cutting motions with it, the twin blades opening and closing quickly.
“Nuh-uh, I’m not doing it.” Maki retreated, holding up his hands.
Next to him, Novuk gave a shrug. “I’m up for it. It’s hard washing my hair in that tiny bathroom. And have I said that I don’t like shampoo?”
The first day he tried it, shampoo had gotten in his eye, and he whined like a big baby about it.
I pulled out a bar stool from under the peninsula. “Sit here.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Bethel said, taking the scissors from me.
I winked at her and let her have them. She wiggled her eyebrows, stood behind Novuk, and started threading her fingers through his messy curls, suggestively caressing his scalp.
Maki huffed and leaned in my direction to whisper. “Why do they have to make everything weird? They need to just have sex and get this mess over with.”
“I can hear you, you know?” Novuk grumbled.
“What did he say?” Bethel, who didn’t have the enhanced hearing of a shifter, asked.
“Nothing,” Novuk said. “Just cut away.”
Bethel didn’t need to be told twice and immediately started working on chopping the wild bramble that Novuk called his hair. We sat on the sofa to watch as chunks fell to the floor, and quickly, he began looking like a different person. When Bethel was done, she set the scissors down and stood in front of him. She had cut the sides shorter than the top, and the look suited him. She brushed bits off, then ran her fingers into what was left of his hair.
“You look great,” Bethel said.
They stared into each other’s eyes. Novuk placed his hand on her narrow hips and pulled her between his legs. Heat seemed to sizzle in the air between them. Maki pulled to the edge of the couch, watching intently.
Bethel angled her head to one side and licked her lips. They were going to kiss right in front of us! It was like they’d forgotten we were here.
Ila cleared her throat.
The witch and Novuk jumped away from each other, blinking as if a spell had been broken.
“Um, you look great, Novuk,” Ila enthused.
Self-consciously, he ran his big hand over his head and rubbed it back and forth. “Feels good, I guess.”
“Your turn,” Bethel told Maki.
“Nope! I already said I’m not doing it.”
“Ila can cut your hair for you,” the witch suggested.
At this, Maki blinked and glanced toward my sister, looking expectant.
Ila’s cheeks blushed a little. “Sure, I can do it.”
