“Yes. An animal friend,” I clarified.
Mari’s bushy brows lowered. “Oh. So she doesn’t speak?”
“She speaks, just not in English.”
The ogre’s head tilted, indicating she didn’t fully understand, and, to be fair, I was stretching the human definition of speech. But her smile widened when Trix, ever the attention slut, pushed her furry head beneath Mari’s huge hand. She, in turn, curled her fingers and ever so gently scritched.
“So lovely,” Mari stated. “Her fur is very soft. I had a Transkit once—her coat was just like this. She was a beautiful creature.”
She didn’t sound like I expected at all—she composed her sentences well. More like an English teacher than an ogre.
Reassured that the giantess wouldn’t accidentally squish my furry accomplice, I dropped the lead and left her to it, dragging my bags—man, they were heavy, how had Matt carried them with one arm in addition to his own?—to the other bed. There were two dressers along the wall between them, and no windows, which made the room a bit claustrophobic.
Mari’s side already appeared lived in, with images of various equally reddish-skinned friends and family plastered all over the wall, a pile of things on her dresser, and a plethora of bright pillows covering the mattress. Some looked as though they’d been embroidered.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Got here yesterday.”
Yesterday? I scanned the images. “Those are of your family?”
“Yes,” she replied, and I detected a hint of something in her voice. Sadness, definitely. And regret? “I miss them already.”
Wowsers. One day, and she was homesick. And regretful? If that was an accurate assessment, it begged the question—why was she here? It wasn’t like this was a boarding school. And if she didn’t want to be here, she was going to have one killer of a time getting through the program.
“I like Trix,” she repeated, scratching her huge fingers along my dog’s back.
I figured much more of that, and Trix might transfer allegiances. But I was too tired to care. My mind buzzed as I yanked the elastic free from my hair and pulled back the covers. They were soft, like high-grade cotton or silk. With a sigh, I slid beneath them.
“Don’t mean to be rude,” I told Mari. “But if I don’t lie down, I’m going to fall down.”
Her hand hesitated on Trix’s back. “They are serving end meal in a few minutes. Are you not hungry?”
I was more tired than hungry. Well, both, really. But my body vibrated with exhaustion. “Think I need sleep more than food.”
“I will bring you back something to eat,” she declared as she rose.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It is no issue.”
Trix sensed the scritch session was over and jumped up beside me on the bed. The door clicking shut signaled Mari’s departure. The ogre—Dorinthian, wasn’t that what Amadeus called her?—moved quietly for someone so big.
I yawned, and closed my eyes.
9
Matt
I finally let my smile slip as Anna disappeared behind the door.
Strewth. I was right buggered, and that was the truth of it. My beast pushed at me to stand between this womanI’d just metand the entire world. And if there were really that many Dires recruited for this program—she had no idea of what she was up against. She could be a martial art master, and it wouldn’t matter. No human could stand against a shifter.
Except accordin’ to Cara, Anna had.
That was more confusing than reassuring. At least Anna hadn’t seemed to notice my perpetual stiffie. Despite my every attempt to squelch it, my bloody body stood at rock-hard attention for almost the entire time. How the hell was I goin’ to work with this woman when all my beast wanted to do was screw her?
I sighed and slid the key into the doorknob. By the way the handle turned, it wasn’t locked, and I pushed my way through the door.
