“I told you things about me. I want to know you.” If we really were dating, and I wanted that so badly it was an ache at this point, I needed to get to know him more.
“My brothers call me Speedy or…” a long garbled growl sounded, “in my language. I told you that already. I was given that endearment by my eldest brother, Hallonnixmin. I don’t remember when he started calling me that, but Dontilvynsan likes to tell the story, occasionally.”
I frowned at his older brother’s name, still irrationally jealous.
He laughed. “Don’t be mad. You are mine, and he is my brother.”
“Did I say anything?”
Laughing again, he rested his lips against my scalp and breathed. “You are my flower.”
I blushed. I shouldn’t have liked that, but I did. It was annoying. “Finish the story.”
“When I was young and full of energy,” he started, and I scoffed. Mindy was still bursting with energy. He ignored my noise and continued, “I chased Hallonnixmin, who is five years older than me, all the time. He got annoyed with me always running back and forth, tripping over everything, until one day he called me Speedy. It was not a compliment. Now, it’s different. We are very close. But the endearment remains.”
“Hmm.”
“Are you close with your family? You seem to be when you talk about them.”
“I am. We don’t live close to each other, though.” I sighed, thinking of the last time I’d talked to my moms.
“What?”
“I fought with my moms the night before…” I couldn’t finish that thought, because my stomach churned and fear turned to ice in my veins. “They wanted me to move back to my hometown, and I didn’t. The last thing we ever did was fight. I hung up on them. I was frustrated they weren’t listening to me. It seems so trivial now.”
He didn’t say anything and rubbed my back, one of his fingers slipping into the wing slits in my shirt again.
“Maybe when I go back, I can apologize.” If I went back. I didn’t know if that was possible. Did I even want to go back with the horde of ghosts following me? But maybe Earth would be better? I’d get some separation.
Serlotminden tightened his hold until it was on the edge of painful, and he rubbed his forehead on me, almost frantically. His tail strangled my calf as he groaned and grabbed one of my hands, pushing it under his shirt.
I frowned. He’d done that before. I tentatively stroked his side, and he relaxed under my touch. I asked, “Why do you do that?”
“What?”
“Nuzzle me.”
His expression turned distinctly uncomfortable, which made me realize the answer was probably weird, by my standards at least. I didn’t fight his tight hold or wiggle my leg away from his tail and continued to rub his side in an effort to calm him.
“I’m scent marking you.”
“Like a cat?”
“Cats do that? Seth has not mentioned that about his Lucy.”
Seth had a cat? No. I refused to be distracted. “Why are you scent marking me?”
“I’m desperate for you to smell like me. I have scent glands in my forehead, on the sides of my neck, and my sides.”
“Ah.” That explained him shoving my hand under his shirt. It was a claiming thing. Like cats. I wasn’t sure how I felt, but I guessed it was instinct. We were dating, so I guessed he was feeling possessive. I could be creeped out or let it go. I decided on the latter. It was easier, and what did it hurt if I smelled like him?
“What was it like to grow up with so many brothers?”
I felt him relax at the question. I stroked his side, lightly tracing his injury, and felt him calm even further. A powerful feeling swelled in my gut.Iwas the one who made him relax. Me. It was nice. Weird, but nice.
“It was interesting. I don’t know what to say. I’ve never known anything else. I’m the middle brother, and sometimes, I feel left out.”
“How so?”
