That gave me warm fuzzies. Dice! “Well, at least we can rule out you, Dice, and Rhys as suspects.”
Draven stood and leaned over to kiss my forehead. “Feel better, cara. I don’t want to see you in the office for at least two days.”
I pouted, ignoring the buzz tingling through my body from his lips on my skin. “But I’ll be so bored! I need something to do!”
Draven hesitated and then sat on the bed next to my familiar. It amazed me there was room, considering the tiger took up most of the space. I was wedged into an itty bitty corner, and my familiar’s enormous body covered the rest.
Draven smirked at me. “Do you want to play Scrabble?”
Ooooh, Scrabble!“Yes! And when I win, I get a double chocolate chip muffin.” He was going down!
* * *
Later,I was relaxing in bed and very tired of being there. My familiar and I were about to get in the shower, so I could scrub the hospital off of me, and my tiger could play in the water. The shower was hardly big enough for both of us, even though it was an enormous walk in that could possibly fit a football team.
I turned on the spray on both sides (my tiger got one and I got one) and sighed as the warm water enveloped me, laughing at his antics. He had a very tried-and-true method of showering. First, he tested the water with his paws. I knew for a fact he was testing the temperature because if it wasn’t the right temperature, he would look at me until I fixed it. He did that now, and I chuckled and added a little more heat.
Second, he would stick only his head under the spray, and let the water run down the top of his head and neck. He would usually pause there for up to several minutes, just enjoying the water on his face. Then, he would get his whole body in, and with his head down, would just let the spray drench him. Usually, but not every time because I didn’t want to dry out his skin or beautiful coat, I would soap him up with a special scrub brush, and he’d rinse off as fastidiously as someone trying to get something sticky off of them.
We went through the same routine today because today was a shampoo and conditioner day for him. Ben had given me a great shampoo and conditioner for big cats that smelled like lemons. It was the only brand that my familiar liked. We’d tried the one that smelled like peppermint and he’d sneezed for days.
I hurried through my routine as my tiger was rinsing off and shut off the water. He sat in the shower waiting for me, and I chuckled again, moving gingerly because of the pain. My cuts had already scabbed over. It turned out that all elves could make healing draughts keyed into someone’s DNA. Aiwin made me a weak one earlier (while apologizing that it was shamefully weak—he blamed it on his mother’s side) that had made all of my cuts scab over. Rhys promised to make me a powerful one that would heal me more deeply, but I had to wait, because it would take a while.
I was just happy to be able to shower.
After getting dressed in the softest leggings and oversized shirt possible, I pulled my hair up into a messy bun, and got out the hair dryer. My tiger, used to this routine, shook off any excess water from his coat, and then stepped out onto the towel that I’d laid down for him.
“You’re spoiled, you know that?”
He chuffed at me, rubbing his wet head against my hip. I kissed his head, and turned the dryer on full blast, aiming the warm air at my prima dona tiger. It took a long time to get a tiger dry. They just had so much fur! Whenever I felt like it was good enough, I’d move to another section. The whole time my familiar kept his eyes closed with the most blissful expression known to man or beast on his face.
I knew they had warm air full-body dryers for bathrooms. I was considering getting one. That way Zian could...
I stopped, stunned, and turned the dryer off.
“Zian?”
He opened his eyes. Instead of being miffed that I’d stopped his beauty treatment, he went still. I could sense something happening, and I kneeled in front of him.
“Your name is Zian,” I breathed.
I was absolutely certain of this. As certain as I knew my own name.
Zian chuffed at me and tucked his gigantic head under my arm. I pulled him to me, and we stayed like that for a few minutes. Still. Quiet. Inside, I could feel a connection forming with him. Draven hadn’t given me a lot of details about what would happen once Zian and I bonded. He’d said it was something that was different for each familiar and mage.
The connection finished forming, and I knew that Zian could now feel me, wherever I was, and would know if I needed him. And because of the connection, he could now find me anywhere in the world. If I was lost, he’d come and find me. It was as though a weight that I hadn’t known was on my shoulders lifted. I got a little misty eyed and laughed when Zian backed up back to his towel, and sat, waiting for me to turn the dryer on again and finish drying His Highnesses fur.
“Sappy moment over with, huh?” I chuckled. “I’m so glad I can stop calling you generic names in my head. Saying ‘my tiger’ or ‘my familiar’ was getting a little old.”
He eyed me.
“Yeah, yeah, less talk, more drying.”
Inevitably, when I finished drying him, I would crack up laughing.
“You look like a big fluffball!” I said, giggling. I led him to the full body mirror on my wall so he could get a look at himself. His fur was sticking out everywhere. And I mean everywhere. It was so full and fluffy I could barely see his amber eyes.
“Well, Zian, what do you say we bust out of this joint?”
