Floofers continued to rub his nose, his face, his ears all over my neck and shoulder. Occasionally he would nip at my shoulder, and then the most wonderful smell entered my nose. It was a concentrated version of his scent, the scent that covered him and Grim. The deep forest, the nature, the untouched portions of the earth that humans hadn’t encountered. It was stronger now, like I was sticking a damned Yankee Candle up my nose.
I hummed, delighted at the newfound scent he was rubbing on me.
“I am happy you are here and that I can talk to you.” I wrapped my hands around Floofer’s neck. “But where is Grim? I’m worried about him.”
Floofers sighed and kept his nose buried in my neck. “He is tired. He has barely slept since I found you. Now that I am strong enough, I forced him back, and now he sleeps.”
“He’s inside you, sleeping?” I asked, trying to understand. “And you found me?”
Floofer grunted, and his tail wrapped around my waist.
“It was my nose that found you. When I smelled your scent under the bed, I knew you were ours. It took time for me to regain my strength, but now that I’m here, I will never leave. You are mine, as I am yours.”
“This would make such a cute romance movie,” I giggled. “But why is Grim sleeping now? How long was I asleep?”
“You slept a long time, a sunset and a sunrise.”
My stomach growled angrily, and I gripped it.
“You are hungry. I’m failing as your mate.”He stood up on the bed, caging me in with all four legs.“I will hunt for us. You must stay in our den. I will return shortly.” Floofers jumped off the bed, his claws clicking across the floor.
“Woah, hang on!” I jumped from the bed and ran to the fridge. It was stocked full of raw meat for Grim and Floofers, and it also had enough vegetables and fruit to sustain me as well. I could make us a meal here.
“I can cook, don’t leave. Not unless you need to go use the potty?”
Floofer raised a brow, his head tilting in bewilderment.
“Pot-ty?”
“Yeah, the bathroom?” I hooked my thumb, pointing back at the bathroom. “Unless you figured out how to squat and not make a mess?”
I hid my smile.
Floofer’s, on the other hand, radiated embarrassment in the link we shared.“I am an animal. We do not use human stone seats.”
He scratched the door, and I padded over to let him out. “Do not leave this den, mate.”
“So bossy,” I muttered and put my hand on my hip, waving him off.
While Floofers was outside, doing gods know what, I pulled out hunks of meat from the fridge. Most of it was wrapped, a lot of it was still bloody, and when I put it on the counter, I looked at my hands to find them covered in blood.
Grim may have been organized and made our apartment a den, but it still needed a woman’s touch. And lucky for me, I was that woman.
I picked up all the meat to remove it, found plastic to re-wrap the meat and clean off the now dirty shelves of the fridge. If Grim was that worried about me, he probably didn’t have time to clean and make everything perfectly organized and sanitized.
And poor Grim? He hadn’t been sleeping because of me? He was that worried? There wasn’t anything to be worried about, now. I was to become a wolf, and he wouldn’t have to worry as much anymore.
I wouldn’t get sick or have the same ailments as a human. I’d be able to run in the forest, be more like him. And I would fit in with the club, not just as the only human that tags along. I’d actually be helping, taking care of those that would need to find their mates.
I’d be a part of something great.
Once the fridge was clean, I took the largest piece of meat and set it aside. Floofers probably wanted it raw, but when Grim woke up, I was going to have a nice steak dinner for when he was ready. I don’t think I could bear him eating raw meat in front of me while he was human. Even if he was part animal.
Did that mean I would eventually want to eat raw meat, too? My stomach churned at the thought, and I wiped the sweat from my brow. It was warm in here. For the first time, I felt really warm.
I grabbed the cloth and ran it under the water, then placed it on my forehead. As soon as I did, Floofers barged in and kicked the door shut with his back leg.
“Mate, what is wrong?” he growled.
