She yelps and turns toward me, and before she even opens her eyes, I haul her into my lap and bite her earlobe.
“All right, fine,” I say. “Since it’s becomepainfullyobvious I can’t trust you to follow instructions, go ahead and look.”
She opens her eyes, and the sweetest little gasp rushes out from her lips. “Jude! What the… Are these… um… are these Randall’s—”
“Kneecaps,” I say brightly, and she picks one up for closer inspection. “Rather, theywerehis kneecaps, and now they’re tiny bowls for tiny crackers—just the right size for your birds. Completely sanitized, not to worry. Rook built me a machine that does it. Kind of like a high-powered dishwasher. Gets off all the sticky bits.”
She’s silent for a moment, tracing her thumb over their polished curves.
I’m about to tell her it’s all a joke, because I’m pretty damn sure I just found her hard limit, but then, almost reverently, she says, “You etched all these flowers on the outside by hand?”
“Well, yeah. Way I see it, birds and flowers go together, right?”
She turns and tilts her head back to meet my eyes, her own shining with emotion. “You made these for me?”
“Don’t sound so shocked, scarecrow. Isn’t that what a boyfriend does? Makes presents for his girlfriend?”
Her eyes brighten, a smile flickering at the corners of her mouth. “Is that what we are?” she teases. “Boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Honestly, I’d prefer the termman-friend, or even beastfriend—more appropriate, don’t you think? But boyfriend is more in keeping with the current vernacular.”
“No, I like beastfriendwaybetter. But to answer your question, I’m not sure about the presents. I’ve never had a boy-man-beastfriend before.”
“Well, you do now, darling. Andthisbeastfriend? He’s gonna spoil you rotten.” I tighten my hold around her waist and sniff the side of her neck, breathing in her fresh, clean scent. “Youandyour birds.”
She laughs. “Really?”
“The three of you—sorry, four. There’s one more, right? Jean-Pierre?—you’re a package deal. A bit weird, if you ask me, but hey. No kink-shaming inthishouse.”
She huffs with faux indignation. “Once again, ladies and gents, the guy who carves bowls out of kneecaps is callingmeweird.”
“Oh, I meant it as a compliment.”
With another grin, she says, “Now I know your secret, Jude Hendrix.”
“That so? Let’s hear it, then.”
“You’ve got a big… heart.” She presses her hand flat against my chest. “Huge.Massive.”
“A big, massiveheart?That’swhat you’re on about?” I gather her closer, threading my claws into her hair and brushing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Does this mean you like your gift, darling? I made some dice for Rook, so if you’re not into the bowls, we could ask him for a trade.”
“Dice?”
“From the…” I grin and tap my teeth. “Not Randall’s, though. Smashed his to smithereens with a hammer—nothing to be salvaged there.”
“Sorry, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you made dice out of someone’s teeth.”
“Oh, sure. Bit small for real gaming, but Rook likes collecting things like that. Little game pieces and dice and figurines. It’s all child’s play, if you ask me, but I sure did enjoy drilling all the holes and filling them with resin. Precision work, that. Requires a real fine touch. Fortunately, as you know…” I flip her around so she’s straddling me, and slide my hands up under her shorts, claws brushing along the curves of her arse. “A fine touch is another of mymanytalents.”
“Accurate,” she breathes. Then, with another laugh, “You know, I’d hate to deprive Rook of such a cool gift. I’m good with the bowls.”
“You sure?”
“They’re perfect. Huxley and Lucinda are out in the orchard now, but I know they’ll go bat-shit crazy for them. Well,bird-shit crazy. I can’t wait for them to try them out.”
“Seems I’m pretty good at this beastfriend stuff.”
“You are,” she concedes. “But what about Auggie?”
