Chapter 21

Katsuro shifted around on the seat behind me, probably looking in the gear as best he could while we bounced along through the forest. His vampiric nature gave him an edge, and he didn’t fall off even though I hit a rock or something and nearly dumped us over. He probably saved us when he shifted his weight, and I kept going as fast as I dared down the track.

“Bridger left us a gun. Werewolves in the forest are notoriously hard to hit, but I believe I have a chance, and I do know how to use this. It has a suppressor, so it shouldn’t deafen you.” Katsuro’s breath tickled my skin as he spoke, leaning forward so I could hear him over the muted noise of the ATV.

“Great,” I replied through gritted teeth. My arms and shoulders ached from wrestling the vehicle, and a dull throb had formed behind my eyes. I suspected it was heading toward migraine potential, though I didn’t typically get migraines.

To make it worse, my glasses were sliding down my nose and I didn’t dare take a hand away from driving to push them back up. I might be able to see in the dark, but that didn’t make my vision any sharper. I wrinkled up my nose and tilted my head back, but gravity was stronger than my contorted face muscles and the glasses stayed low on my nose.

“Problem?”

“My glasses are sliding down. Because, of course, they are.”

The vampire kindly pushed them back up my nose for me, startling me but returning my normal range of vision.

“Thanks.”

He didn’t reply, instead twisting around and firing the gun. I jumped at the muted sound of the suppressor. I was unfortunately very familiar with the way a suppressed gun sounded, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t startling.

An answering yelp, followed by an enraged roar, had me twisting the throttle as far as I could, even though there was no way I could make this even sort of safe. We were still ahead of them, but not by much.

“Fuck,” I muttered, then swerved as something huge crashed past us, racing toward the approaching wolves. Sensing that the giant thing was Nimbus, I skidded to a halt. That Katsuro didn’t question me, only confirmed what I’d thought.

“What the fuck?”

“Your nimbus has discovered a new power.”

My nimbus was huge. He still looked like himself, just the size of a buffalo or an elephant or something. I immediately thought of the cuddle possibilities as I stared at his fluffy, feathered legs. He crouched as several wolves came out of the forest on the other side of him.

They stopped, clearly startled, heads tilted dog-like.

Nimbus lowered his tail, bared his teeth, and shrieked.

The trees bent away, leaves quaking, and the dried litter on the ground blasted into the air, scattering under the onslaught. The wolves collapsed, howling in pain as my dog destroyed their eardrums. He didn’t do mine or Katsuro’s any favors either, but at least we weren’t on the receiving end.

“Holy crap,” I said, belatedly clapping my hands over my ears.

Katsuro rested his forehead against my back, and I faintly heard him cursing in another language. Well, I thought he was cursing, anyway. I would have been if I had vampire senses.

Nimbus wagged his giant fluffy tail where he’d curled it over his back, pleased with taking out the wolves, before trotting back over to me and lowering his massive head to touch his nose to mine. Except his nose was the size of my head, at least, and I almost ended up in his nostril.

“Buddy,” I said, caught between laughter and pain and a little worry that the puppy wouldn’t know his own size.

Nimbus seemed to understand the hesitation in my voice and backed off, peering at me.

“Good boy, Nimbus. Now, how about that shelter?”

He rooed softly—though at his size it was still a rather large roo—and trotted off into the woods, crashing through the underbrush like an elephant.

Katsuro grunted but put his arm around me when I maneuvered the ATV to follow.

“Are you okay?” I’d lost the sound suppression on the ATV, however I’d accomplished that, but I could still see, though perhaps not quite as well as before. The headache had blossomed into epic proportions.

“I will survive,” he answered loud enough for me to hear.

“Even if we find shelter, how will we stay safe? They can follow our trail.”

Katsuro pointed at Nimbus, and I had to concede his point.

By the time we reached the shelter Nimbus had found for us, Katsuro had to take over driving, and I lay against his back, exhausted and head pounding. I’d lost my night vision, but that I’d even managed as much as I had after literally just unlocking buried powers had me ecstatic despite how bad I felt at the moment.

Katsuro drove the ATV into the cave, and Nimbus backed his fluffy bum into the opening and laid down, effectively sealing off the entrance. The vampire helped me get off the ATV, then picked me up and carried me over to the bed of fluff Nimbus’s curly tail had made and laid me down in it. The giant fluffy bed was everything I ever could have dreamed of and more.

“Wow,” I murmured.

Nimbus wagged his tail as much as he could with me laying on some of it, letting me know he was happy to have me there.

“I just hope he doesn’t fart,” I murmured. “We’d need a gas mask to survive.”

Katsuro burst out laughing, probably not something the vampire did often.

“Let us hope. Do you require anything?”

“Something to drink, a massage, aspirin, and a solid cuddle.” I blurted out the last before I could stop myself.

“A giant fluffy dog ass isn’t enough to cuddle with?”

I snorted, then winced as pain lanced through my head. Groaning, I pulled Nimbus’s tail around me. Katsuro moved away for a few moments, returning with a bottle of water and some painkillers. I downed the water and pills, then glanced over at the vampire when he sat down behind me.

“You wanted a massage.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded, expression solemn. “I’ll even behave myself.”

Shocked, I rolled over onto my stomach, head rested in fluff, while Katsuro’s powerful hands kneaded my muscles into submission. It was as near to a professional massage as I thought the vampire could give. His touch was a bit more than professional, but not by a lot, and he didn’t once try to make any sort of suggestive move or comment. That and the soft bed of nimbus tail feathers were as close to bliss as I was going to manage, especially once the pain in my head eased.

“Thank you,” I murmured as I drifted toward sleep once he’d turned my body to jelly.

“Of course.”

Then he shocked me further by pulling me into his arms and holding me while I drifted off to sleep.

Waking curled up with Katsuro and surrounded by my dog’s fluffy tail was so comforting, I almost forgot the danger we were in, and I wasn’t talking about the possibility of a giant fart from my currently enormous dog.

The vampire curled his fingers in my hair and stroked gently as I worked my way to full consciousness.

“Did you hold me the entire time I slept?”

“Of course. We’re safe enough with Nimbus keeping watch. I felt comfortable indulging both our desires to be touched.”

I shifted in his arms until I could look up at him. “You like to be touched?”

“Very much. I simply have few opportunities to indulge in that desire. I’m picky about who I let close enough.”

It had not occurred to me that such a powerful man would have needs that weren’t being met. Surely he could have anything he wanted, including someone to cuddle with that he trusted. I got the feeling he wasn’t talking about being touched sexually, either.

“Werewolves are very unconscious of their need for physical contact. You may have noticed that Davin touches you quite a bit and doesn’t seem conscious of personal barriers. Believe it or not, he is more restrained than many of his kind.”

“I had noticed. Now that you put it like that, it makes sense. Canines are very tactile.”

“Yes, I believe they tend to sleep in giant puppy piles, even when they’re not romantically involved.”

“That almost makes me jealous.”

Katsuro kissed my forehead. “Yes.”

I very briefly allowed myself a fantasy of my own version of a puppy pile with the men I was beginning to care about, then banished it. There was no way they’d ever want anything like that. I supposed they’d all have to be okay with Nimbus, however. No way would I kick him out of my bed for a man. Not unless we were having sex, and the nimbus had already shown that he would leave the room for that.

“What about Oliver?”

“I believe shades are quite physical, as well, if significantly more reserved than werewolves. I don’t know about Bridger’s preferences.”

I returned my head to his shoulder and held him tightly. “How long until the sun goes down?” A little sunlight filtered around my dog’s rump where it blocked the entrance to the cave.

“A couple of hours.”

Shifting around, I rose up on my hands and leaned over Katsuro so I could look at him.

He gazed back at me, one eyebrow arched curiously. “Yes?”

Screw it, I thought, and pressed my lips to his.