Page 12

“Is this… Is this okay for cats?” I asked.

It was too steamy in the shower to read the details.

“Yeah. It’s made for shifters. Good for fur and skin. It’s an all species blend,” he said. “And…”

“And?” I asked, pausing as I crouched down to lather up Spinach.

“I think you’re right about us,” he said. “I… when you opened the door to let the cat in…”

“I know,” I smiled softly.

I was still hard from his scent. Even his voice grazed over my soul in all the good ways, but there was still work to be done. Living on Obizad under the curse had taught me pleasure and comfort could only come after everyone was taken care of. I was clean and now Spinach needed to be clean too. The fox outside the shower was my mate, but Spinach was – my child, my companion, and my partner in survival. Before the curse, he’d have torn me a new one to escape the shower, but the hard life had changed him too. Now, he sat there purring away as I massaged the patchouli and rose scented bodywash into his fur and skin.

“I’m Leopold. Pollie for short,” my omega said.

I paused mid-massage and let his name bounce around my skull. Leopold. It was a good, strong name. It was the name of the fox who I’d spend the rest of my life with. I smiled and scrubbed at Spinach’s fur again.

“I am Arken,” I said. “There are a lot of details but that’s what the soul bites are for.”

“Soul bites? Oh! Do you mean the claiming vows?” Leopold asked me.

“Probably,” I nodded. “The exchange of magic forged onto the soul and transmuted into something the body can understand and process.”

“I… We can wait as long as you need to,” Leopold said, his words gentle. “I mean… You’ve been through hell and back and maybe did it again? I… I don’t want you to feel rushed on my behalf.”

I let out a long breath. It wasn’t Leopold rushing me. It was my hard dick, the true-mate response, and of course the buzzing inside my bones that Spinach and I both survived. I wouldn’t have to find a spot to bury my cat before the undead ate his corpse after I died. I shook my head. Yeah. I was going to have to find a therapist. I was willing to bet that would prove difficult. If someone had told me about a curse that moved the dead and made them meat eaters before I saw it with my own eyes, I’d have thought they were liars.

“I mean it. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll have to make some calls later to let my family know where I am, but we don’t have to rush anything.”

My cock throbbed at his words.

“I know the true-mate response magic wants what it wants, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have time to process everything that has happened to you.”

“Mate, I don’t want to think about that right now. I’ve done nothing but survive for years. I need to just… Just not be someone avoiding the undead. I don’t know that I’ll ever be normal again, but for a little bit I want to pretend that maybe I could be,” I told him. “I know you probably have questions and I’ll answer what those that the soul bites skip over but not right now.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to or anything that’s too hard to talk about,” my omega said and I smiled softly. “We can stay here for as long as you like or we can go back to my full-time house where there are more people, if that makes you feel better. I live in Heartville. It’s a train ride away and it’s full of people. Cats too. Not all foxes. My sire is a dragon shifter. Some of my siblings too. Some of my siblings are winged foxes because of the draconic genes. Crap! Sorry. You probably don’t want to hear about this right now. I’m sorry, Arken.”

My name rolling off his tongue wrapped around my soul.

“Mate,” I said gently. “Talk all you want. It’s nice to hear about your family. It’s nice to hear about your normal life.”

Leopold kept talking. He told me all about Heartville where he currently lived and grew up. He told me about his little wild fox familiar, Pox, and how he stole a spirit board to find me. He talked and talked until the water ran cold and I had to turn it off.

As soon as the water died, Leopold handed me a towel over the top of the shower door. The black fluffy thing was likely intended for me, but without the constant rain of hot water Spinach shivered. So, I wrapped him up in it and held him to my chest.

It would’ve been easy to step out of the shower, but my mind blocked my way. The shower was small. The only ways in were the door, over the top, or breaking the glass. I could see threats coming. It was a safe place to be. The bathroom had a window. In a pinch, I could shimmy over the top of the shower with Spinach and leave through the window.

“When the water heats back up, would you like my help washing and drying your fur?” Leopold asked, choosing his words gently.

I thought about it for a long moment and my dick twitched hard. His hands would be all over me. The first shifter hands that had touched me in years would be all over me and they belonged to my mate.

“I’d like that very much,” I managed to say without letting my voice drop into that husky, needy tone. I barely remembered what that tone sounded like coming out of my own mouth.

“I have a hair dryer, if you need it for your hair or for Spinach.”

“He doesn’t like those,” I said.

“Understandable. No hairdryers for Spinach.”