Chapter 14

Fourteen

I didn't understand why,but I was excited to meet Remi's wolf. Well, that probably wasn't the correct terminology. It was still Remi, and he obviously knew me already, it wasn't like his mind changed into an animal or a different person. It was still him. He'd just look different.

I hadn't been lying when I'd said I'd never been up close with a shifter before.

Shifters were technically part fae, but they were treated as equally as humans here. The humans and other magical creatures decided that they were victims of the fae, despite the fact that a shifter would live a very long life—hundreds and hundreds of years—and that they were stronger, faster, and had better senses than their human counterparts.

It also didn't matter that I'd never fathered a child before. All shifters were considered just as much my fault as the fae who'd actually bedded a human generations ago.

A shifter came about when the fae blood in a human had been dissolving over the generations, enough so that most families didn't even know they had a fae in their bloodline. So if my little cousins had children of their own with other humans, and those children had kids with humans, and so on, in a few generations, there was the possibility of having a shifter in the family.

But if they had kids with another fae or someone else in the supernatural community, the blood wouldn't dissolve enough through the generations. It had to be fae with human.

The strange thing I always found was that those families didn't realize they had access to their fae magic. Not much, not if they had a lot of human in them, but it was there. Most didn't realize their skills were actually their fae magic.

Fae magic was potent.

Even a halfling, like Ker and the girls, typically had enough fae magic in them that they could rival any full-blooded fae. Keryth was just as strong magically as I was. Many fae would never admit that, but I didn't mind at all. I was happy they were all magically inclined—I was happy that I'd been able to teach them how to wield their power when they were younger. All five of them were strong and had magnificent control.

So shifters were all a part of the anti-fae campaign, just like everyone else, and therefore, none of them would get close to me.

Well, none of them before Remi.

After we finished eating—I couldn't remember the last time I'd had this much food in one day before—Remi moved his dining table out of the center of the room.

"What are you doin'?"

"Making room for my wolf."

My eyebrows rose, staring at the mess he was making. "You really need that much room?"

"Um, yeah. I'm not even sure if this is enough room."

"You can't possibly be that big."

He shot me a grin that did something funny to my belly.

After he deemed it good enough, he started undressing without warning, and I whipped around to give him privacy. Although I was very tempted to turn back and take my fill of him.

"You don't have to face away." He sounded amused. "I'm not shy."

I bit back a groan because this man was seriously goin' to be the death of me. "N-no. I'll just wait."

He chuckled, and then I heard a very gross noise and couldn't help but turn around.

My eyes widened in surprise as I caught the last glimpse of Remi's shift. He was fast at shifting, faster than I thought possible, and fluid. It felt like one second, he was standing there, and in a blink, he was on four paws.

Four gigantic paws.

He was ginormous. I'd known he'd be bigger than the average wild wolf, but I hadn't expected him to be this fuckin' large. Good grief, he could probably rival one of the bear shifters I'd seen walking around the city.

He was right. He hardly fit in the dining room in this form.

"Ho-ly shit."

His huge head turned in my direction, and I swore it looked like he was smiling.

He walked toward me, and it took everything in me not to back away. Normally, I'd run from anything that big comin' at me, so I reminded myself multiple times that it was only Remi. That he wouldn't hurt me. That he was a nice person.

That this was. Just. Remi.

Likely sensing my fear, Remi stopped a few feet away, and to my surprise, he dropped to the ground, lyin' on his belly with his head down on those giant paws, sweet eyes staring up at me. Those same kind eyes I saw every time he looked at me in his human form.

"H-hi, Remi." My voice shook even though I tried to make it stop.

He let out a small whine that almost sounded pathetic, and if I wasn't so nervous, I probably would've thought it was super cute. Well, even being scared, I could admit it was cute. And that Remi was actually really gorgeous in this form.

He let out another small whine, and I felt it in my chest. A strange urge to comfort, a need to move closer. It felt like it called to me. Before I knew what I was doin', I was walking the few feet of space between us and dropping to my knees with my hand out.

Remi didn't hesitate to sniff my outstretched hand before he gave my skin a lick. It made me laugh, and I chanced puttin' my hand on top of his head. He closed his eyes and sort of nuzzled into me, and I let out a breath of relief.

His fur was softer than I expected, like silk beneath my fingertips. It made me want to bury my face in it.

Which was… such a weird reaction that I startled a little.

Remi let out another soft whine, and I settled on my ass, saying, "Sorry. Don't mind me. My mind keeps driftin'."

He hesitantly scooted closer to me, doing a sort of wolf army crawl, which was actually cute. He kept his head lowered, obviously trying to be nonthreatening, so I sent him a small smile and placed my hand on his head again.

"You're softer than I expected, wolf boy."

He made a face that I was pretty sure was a smile, then lifted his head, scooted a bit closer, and rested it on my thigh. He stared up at me as if checkin' I was okay with it, so I nodded and continued to pet him.

Eventually, I started gettin' bolder with my pets, running my hand all the way down his back as far as I could reach—probably about halfway down since he was so huge. Remi made himself more comfortable, snuggling further into me and turning on his side. Like this, I could easily reach his belly, and when I chanced it, he let out a huff of happiness and rolled a little more on his back so I'd have better access.

I couldn't help but chuckle. "You like belly rubs, do you?"

He huffed again, and I grinned at his blissed-out expression.

We stayed that way for a long time, and I was happy simply to sit and cuddle with the giant wolf. He didn't move until his cell phone started ringing. He grumbled a bit but didn't climb off me.

"Don't you want to get that?"

He let out a small growl that I took as a no.

"What if it's important?"

I didn't know how, but I swore his expression said Then they'll call back. And even though I knew it was impossible, those words played through my mind in Remi's voice. I blinked. Clearly, I had a great imagination.

"Do you want me to grab your phone so we can at least see who it is?"

All he did was open one eye to peer at me before he snuggled further into my leg.

Well, okay then. I'd take that as a no too.

Unfortunately for Mr. Comfortable, his phone started ringing again. He sighed and lifted his giant head off my thigh, and I swore I heard his voice ask, Can you get my phone while I shift back? But I knew that was impossible.

Still, once he was clear of my legs, I hopped up, saying, "I'll grab your phone while you shift. Maybe you'll be able to catch it before it stops ringin'."

His phone was on the breakfast buffet, so it was easy enough to find while I ignored the sounds of his shift.

After retrieving the phone, I put my hand over my eyes so I wouldn't see any naked bits—even though I was really tempted to peek—but I moved my hand off my face enough that I could look at my feet to prevent any tripping. I hadn't been in this apartment long enough to know the layout that well, so this worked.

Remi's amused voice said, "I'm decent, may'ezza."

I dropped my hand and almost let out a screech when I saw him. Was he decent? Yeah, I guess so if you counted only wearing pants as decent.

I swallowed thickly as I took in his buff torso that was filled with hard muscles. I'd seen hints of that body beneath the clothes he wore, but what surprised me the most, what really had me staring and gawking at him, was the fact that his torso and arms were absolutely covered in tattoos. I'd be hard-pressed to find an uninked patch of skin anywhere.

Many of the tattoos were runes and clearly held magic in them, but Remi had turned his body into a piece of art. He, or rather his tattoo artist, had drawn designs around the runes, using them in the piece and making them look like a part of the overall picture.

There was a dragon, a manticore, a unicorn, a phoenix, a cat, a hellhound, an eagle, a pegasus, and who knew what else. It was beautiful and intricate, and I really, really, really wanted to get my fingers on his skin so I could explore. My fingers, and my tongue, if I was being honest. Although I wasn't sure that would ever happen.

A man could dream, though.

"Bel?"

I blinked and finally seemed to snap out of my tattooed torso-licking daydream. I turned to Remi with the most intelligent response of, "Huh?"

He chuckled and held out his hand. "Can I have my phone, please, may'ezza?"

It took me a second to comprehend his words, and when I did, I cringed. I'd been so distracted that it'd gone to voicemail again. As I passed it over, the ringing started up again. Geez. It must've been really important.

Instead of rushin' to answer it like I thought he would, Remi gave my fingers a tight squeeze. "Thank you for meeting my wolf and for… not being afraid of me." He stepped closer, still ignoring the ringing phone. "I will never, ever hurt you, Bel. You hear me? You have nothing to fear from me."

His words rang like a promise inside my heart. Not an obligation, not exactly, but I could feel the truth of it in my suddenly hard-beating heart. The words rang true, and I sucked in a breath as they hit me right in the feels. Mother of All was his aim perfect.

His finger gently tilted my head up, and I realized I'd been lookin' at the ground instead of at him. He was hard to look at right now when my chest felt tight and emotions were swirling through me. But I swallowed thickly and met his gaze.

His brown eyes were soft and filled with somethin' I didn't quite understand… a fondness, maybe? But I couldn't imagine he was fond of me of all things.

His thumb ran along my skin, his closed fist under my chin, keeping my face tilted up so I wouldn't look away.

When he spoke, his voice was quiet and rumbly but full of sincerity. "You will never have anything to fear from me, my may'ezza. Never."

I sucked in a breath and stared into his eyes, letting that promise fill my chest with a warmth I wasn't used to. After a few seconds, I gave him a small nod, then cleared my throat and whispered, "You better answer that. It's the fifth time they've called. Must be important."

"Not as important as this." He gave my chin a small shake. "Not as important as you."

"Fuck," I breathed out as another one of his shots went straight to my heart. What the hell was this guy doing to me? "I… I don't… fuck, I don't…"

He sent me a small, sad smile. "It's alright, may'ezza. You don't have to say a thing." For about five seconds, I thought he was going to kiss me, but his lips aimed higher, and I felt a small peck on the tip of my nose.

Of all the places he could've kissed me, he picked my nose?

But… admittedly, it felt intimate as hell.

He rubbed his thumb over my chin one last time, then backed away and answered his phone. I was so dazed that I only half paid attention to his conversation. From the sounds of it, he was talking to one of his dads, and it didn't sound like whoever was on the other side of the phone was very happy. I was glad I didn't have to deal with that. Sheesh.

Since I wasn't sure I could handle anything else at the moment, I grabbed my bag and guitar from the ground and headed for my room. But I paused halfway there, turned around, and walked over to Remi. His back was to me, and I hesitated for a few minutes before finally reaching over and giving his hand a small squeeze.

Remi froze and turned to me, but I'd already dropped his hand and was fleeing to my room.

I thought that maybe my heart would be safer in here, but as soon as I shut the door, all I felt was loneliness. And I desperately wanted to go back out there to that wolf shifter and see if he… if he wouldn't mind cuddlin' with me in his human form the way he had in his wolf one.