Chapter 22

Katsuro’s eyes widened, and he went still for a moment, as if he’d not expected me to make any sort of move right now, possibly ever. I stayed where I was, giving him a moment to decide how he wanted to react. After a small eternity, his lips curled, and his eyes crinkled into a smile. He ran one hand up my arm, fingers tickling along my skin before cupping my shoulder.

He gently cradled me with his arm, applying just enough pressure to let me decide if I was going to let him change my position. I yielded to his strength and let him roll me until I lay on my back on a bed of Nimbus’s tail fluff with the vampire over me.

“Are you sure?” His voice roughened.

“That I want to kiss you? Yes.”

He touched his lips to mine, hesitantly at first, but more confidently as I responded. His lips were smooth and firm. I opened at the press of his tongue, his hungry groan going all the way to my core and sending tingles of heat through me.

“Your skin tastes like apples smell,” he murmured as he kissed along my neck. “Sweet, crisp, delicious.”

“I’m sweaty and gross,” I protested.

“Also that,” he agreed, barely pausing as he continued to examine my available skin.

I laughed, but my humor didn’t ruin the moment and, clearly, he didn’t mind the sweat. I dared to slide my hand up his arm. His muscles were firm under his silky shirt and the contrast felt good under my palm. He rumbled in appreciation and worked his way back up my neck with his kisses until his lips found mine again.

For a time, we simply kissed, exploring each other. I enjoyed the feeling of his weight pressing me down, and the almost delicate way he touched me. It was as if he savored a fine wine.

It could have been only minutes or maybe hours of us touching and kissing and holding each other, before Nimbus huffed and shifted his tail. As I was lying on top of his tail feathers, this got my attention. Katsuro smoothly rose to his feet and helped me to mine so we could free Nimbus’s tail.

Once unrestricted, he stood and shook.

I covered my face as dirt from the forest floor that had caught in his fluff pelted us.

“Okay, so some disadvantages to having a giant dog. I swear he got bigger.” I shook off the dirt and peered out into the twilight.

The sound of rushing water, then the pungent aroma of urine made me wonder what exactly he was drowning in giant-sized dog amounts of pee. I almost felt sorry for whatever it was.

And then the trees groaned, and the underbrush crackled as he trotted farther away, and after another moment an even more pungent smell wafted back toward us.

“I can’t decide if my eyes are watering because I’m trying not to laugh, or because I need a gas mask.”

Katsuro chuckled, though it sounded a little pained. “It is a good thing he didn’t fart while we were sleeping. Perhaps we can get him to shrink down again before we have to feed him?”

“Yeah, he’s probably starving.” I scrubbed at my face, trying to figure out how we could even feed a giant cloud puppy.

Katsuro put his arm around me and pulled me close. “If we have to, I’ll take down a deer for him. I also need sustenance before we rejoin the others. I’m sure Nimbus would share.”

It took me only a moment to understand Katsuro was talking about the blood. He could drink deer blood, good to know.

“Yeah, if he doesn’t shift back soon, that may be necessary. Thank you for the offer.”

The vampire bowed slightly.

Nimbus returned at a jaunty trot, tail curled up over his back and wagging happily.

“Feel better, buddy?”

He rooed softly.

I caught Katsuro’s wince out of the corner of my eye. A few disadvantages to having a giant dog, but the cuddle opportunity still outweighed them in my mind.

“Do you think we have time to go back to our cuddle session?” I glanced around as the sky darkened into true night.

“As much as I would like to say yes, I sense the wolves in the distance, and I suspect we were simply lucky the enemy didn’t bring human weapons to bear during the day. I did my best to shield our presence with my powers, but they aren’t the best under the sunlight. Nimbus may have assisted.”

“Why didn’t you hide us last night?” I tried to keep all blame out of my voice. I was sure he had a good reason.

“Bridger’s wards interfered at his property, and by the time we were free of them, they were already well on our trail. By myself, I could have gotten away. However, I certainly wasn’t going to leave you.”

“Thank you for that.”

He stepped in front of me, his hands going to my shoulders. “I will not leave your side until I’m well satisfied you can protect yourself.”

“That’ll make it difficult to pee,” I pointed out.

Katsuro smiled. “You know what I mean.”

I thought I did, and I smiled back. “Thanks.”

He kissed my forehead before releasing me. “We should find the others.”

Nimbus play bowed in front of me, which put his massive head at my level, and sniffed my nose like he often did, except he was huge, and I thought I’d get blown down. His wet exhalation wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but I was a little concerned about his giant size.

“Hey, any chance you can return to normal, buddy? We need to get caught up to the others.”

Nimbus sat on the ground with a thud and cocked his head to the side as if he were thinking. Then he shut his eyes, ducked his head, and… grew.

“Wrong way, buddy.”

Now he towered over me, the tips of his ears even with the tops of some of the mid-sized trees.

He huffed.

“Well, just think about it.”

Katsuro started the ATV and pulled it over to me. “How about I drive for now, as I can see without magic?”

“Sure.” Happy enough to let the vampire drive, I hopped on behind him. It wasn’t hard to convince myself to mold my body to his and put an arm around his waist, though the ATV had handholds in the back. He certainly didn’t complain.

Nimbus trotted along behind us, crashing through the trees.

I didn’t even worry about how loud the ATV was. The dog was louder.

The reality of our situation came back to me, and I sobered. Having myself wrapped around Katsuro was extremely pleasant, but we were in danger, and I had no idea how we were going to get out of this.

The sharp bark of a high-powered rifle and a spray of dirt pulled a scream from my throat.

“Nimbus, hide!” I shouted as Katsuro gunned the engine on the ATV.

We were so fucked.