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But with her in charge, and my room actually feeling similar to a nest, sleepiness started to lap at the edges of my mind, gently swelling inwards in a lackadaisical, non-threatening crawl.
Maybe another nap was in order, and with my wolf dutifully in charge of our mind, it would be much more restful than the first.
At that moment, it seemed like a great idea. Hopping up onto my bed, which I now barely fit on, I curled up into a ball and let myself relax. It wasn’t often that I got to nap as a wolf, so I might as well take advantage while it lasted.
Resting my furry chin on my paws, I let myself drift off.
Knock.
I blinked blearily, a soft moan escaping from my maw before I clamped down on the instinct to make noise. Shaking my head, I remembered that I'd fallen asleep in my wolf form and just had the deepest, most restorative nap. Maybe I needed to do that more often.
I tried to figure out what had woken me up at all, only for my door to bang again.
Knock! Knock!
It was certainly more insistent, and I mournfully let my wolf form go as I slid into my human one. Clearly, Darla hadn’t realized how serious I was about my brush off earlier and had come back for round two.
Ugh.
I'd much rather have been asleep than chew out a lovely woman who was just trying to be thoughtful and kind.
Normally I’d spray scent-cancellers and slather on some nullifying lotion, but Darla was a psychic, not a shifter. It wasn’t like I needed to worry about her knowing my hidden side. Besides, I was still half-asleep and more than groggy when I stumbled out of bed.
“One moment!” I tried to rub the crust out of my eyes. I'd been so dead to the world that I had no idea what time it was.Did I sleep for a couple of hours or a couple of years? Either seemed possible right now.
The knocks stopped, which allowed me to hurry over to the door mid-yawn. As soon as my jaw stopped trying to break itself, I opened the door.
But it wasn’t Darla at all. Instead, it was none other than Captain Kai standing there looking whole and healthy.
“What the fuck?” I cried, slamming the door closed again without thinking.
Was I still dreaming? I certainly hoped so, because not only did I just expose my uninhibited scent to the man I was actively trying to avoid, but I’d also just slammed the door in my commanding officer’s face.
I was in such deep shit.
“Uh, are you all right, Everton?”
He didn’t sound angry from the other side of the door, but that only made me feel a little better. Running to my toiletries, I tried to rapidly rub some of my lotion on.
“Yeah, just tired and not exactly decent,” I called nervously. “Wasn’t really expecting company.”
“I apologize if I startled you,” he said. “But I'd like to talk.”
I wasn’t keen on facing him then, even if I was quite happy to see him conscious and without any scarring. Even his charred hair had grown back: another wonder of a shifter’s healing ability.
“Uh, another time, perhaps?” I suggested.
I could probably put enough lotion and perfumes on to hide my scent, but there was another worry on my mind, and it was that the relief of seeing Kai happy and whole would break down my resistance against throwing my arms around him and kissing him like crazy.
Which obviously was impossible. It’d ruin everything, and I most certainly meanteverything.
“I'd prefer to speak now, Everton.”
Goodness, the way he said my name was like honey against my ears, a balm to the malcontent in my heart. I wanted to hear it again and again, however he wanted to say it, until the end of the world.
“I, uh, like I said, I’m not decent.”
“That’s all right. I can wait.”
