16. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Z ylus

My Misty is so responsive. Did I just call her mine? That's impossible. I've known her for only a day. In one day it's possible to feel affection, to feel lust, to know her intimate taste, to even go so far as to make terrible innuendos about tunneling equipment. It is not long enough to decide she's mine.

I sure do like her, though.

After leaving her side long enough to make a pallet with the sheets and blankets we'd folded and placed on the couch this morning, we're now snuggled together and have even managed to keep Vortex from wiggling his way between us.

I swipe a lock of her brown hair off her sweat-dampened cheek with the dull edge of my claw, and she palms my cheek, not even bothering to hide her goofy, appreciative smile.

Have I ever felt this level of affection for anyone before? Although it's improbable, it's easy to answer—no. What I have with Misty is special.

"So? The tunneling?" She wings her eyebrow up in a suggestive pose. "The deep, deep— "

"Penetration? Coming right up." I try to imbue the word "coming" with all the naughty innuendo it deserves.

"Just one thing…"

Perhaps it's in every male's DNA, but I instinctively know that whatever is coming after those few words has the power to change my world. And with statistical probability, I doubt it will be in a positive way.

"Before the tunneling excursion, I just wanted to check." She actually winces, her small shoulders shrugging to show her discomfort. "You don't think I'm… crazy, do you?"

"Crazy? Why would I think that? Just because you've already bonded with our furry little chitza isn't proof you're crazy."

"But maybe… seeing a ghost two nights in a row does?"

Her voice is so quiet and small. First, she was terrified of my asshole brother, now she's worried I think worse of her?

I wasn't going to tell her about Nivar for many reasons. First, I wasn't ready to discuss my species' ability to spectral shift. She's from Earth, which is well-known for being provincial and judgmental. I thought perhaps I should wait until, I don't know… we've known each other two full days before I tell her I can morph into what she would consider a ghostly form.

Second, I don't want her to know Nivar and I are related. She might assume I'm in on the scam.

How, exactly, do I explain that I just happened to be hovering by her house the morning after her first haunting? Or why I didn't mention my suspicions about Nivar before we bedded down together for the night?

But looking at her now, limply lying in my arms, tracing my abdominal muscles with her finger, gazing at me as if she's worried I think she's crazy? Well, I need to come clean .

"I absolutely don't think you're crazy, Misty. As a matter of fact, I know exactly what happened the last two nights."

After convincing myself she'll certainly understand and will hold me harmless, I explain in a calm, organized fashion how everything fell into place.

Well, let's just say I try to explain in a calm, organized fashion. The moment I tell her I'm an Astralite and explain what that is, her limp body turns closer to stone. When I mention that my brother orchestrated the drawing, then tried to terrify her to get her to leave so the property would revert back to him so he could use it as bait again, she sits up. Her face is thunderous as she clutches the bedding around the beautiful breasts she wasn't afraid to flash me a moment ago.

I feel hopeful as I excitedly assure her that my brother will leave us alone, which I hope is true. As I keep speaking, my mouth making promises I might not be able to fulfill, her face flushes and her fists clench. Her eyes turn to angry slits the moment she realizes I love this place and want to buy out her half when the project is complete. It's not my imagination that her cheeks are as red as Vortex's bed.

"Get. Out." She points dramatically at the front door.

I almost rise to leave, then realize I used the Intergalactic Database to put my apartment out to sublet the moment the paperwork was signed in the attorney's office. A nice off-world couple from Anthen already signed the lease.

I sit up straight, square my shoulders, and protest, "I'm half-owner of the Interstellar Inn now, Misty. You can't kick me out. We own it fifty-fifty."

She sputters, so mad she's unable to form words.

She stands, making a show of wrapping the bedding around her perfect little human body.

"I'm going to my room where I am assuming no Astralites will be shifting from their spectral forms into my private space. From this moment on, we will only speak when necessary, and only about the Interstellar Inn. Any more funny business, and you'll be hearing from my lawyer."

My cock deflated the moment she snarled at me to get out. The rest of my emotions took an extra moment to catch up. Doing the right thing never felt so terrible.