Chosen One (Forever Evermore #6)(120)
“He’ll be fine now.” Cain grabbed the back of his neck, yanking on his ruff. “That’s enough apologies, Brann.”
Brann growled a little, and ducked his enormous head, bopping me under the chin with his snout before pushing off the couch—rocking the damn thing with his weight, letting Cain pull him back, and headed to the balcony…where he howled loudly once before lying down…peacefully.
I blinked slowly, and then jammed a finger at Cain. “I’m ordering you to shift before you fucking lose it, too.”
Red lips lifted subtly, a small cocky grin, as he crossed his arms in front of me. “My control is aged with experience. I can handle the longer stints much better than the pup can.”
“I’m not saying you can’t.” That much was obvious. I ran a hand through my hair, head tilted back, staring up at him evenly. “But you haven’t shifted since we’ve been here, much less went running. You’ve been cooped up in hotel suites and a hospital room for the last eight weeks, the only relief you’ve gotten was riding a damn horse. I understand why neither of you have left to do what you need, but for you to be as lethal and focused as I need you to be, you need to shift regularly. Way before you both get to this stage where you’re damn fidgety and off balance.” There, that was part of the reason. The other part I wouldn’t mention because I felt damn guilty. I should have realized this, and he only needed to hear the tough reasons, the reasons to make himself stronger, not my weak emotional ones. My jaw set, and I pointed my finger again, waggling it when he didn’t move. “My Lajaks need to be the best, and right now, you’re not at your best because I’ve been ignorant to your needs.” My finger flicked to the Vamps. “They know they need blood, so they’ve made due with what’s here.” Finger back to Cain. “You’re just going to have to do the same. It might just be a hotel room, but shifting will help. And if I’ve been sloppy enough to miss anyone else’s needs,” I glanced at the group, “please let me know.”
“Actually, you spirits are fairly tasty,” Elder Bridges supplied.
King Zeller grunted. “Definitely diverse.”
“Thank you.” I think. Not really worried if I needed to guard my veins while I slept, since they had never asked me to donate, my eyes flicked to Cain, and I waved a hand. “Just do it.”
One black brow cocked. “I’m fine.”
My lips pinched. “I’m not arguing with that point, I’m simply stating you will be even better, even more lethal,” lift his ego a little more, “that much more honed and deadly, better able to protect me, that much more intense…after shifting.” My head tilted to the Vamps while I held navy blue eyes, putting weakness on others. “How do you think they would be without blood?” Everyone knew the fighters of our Mystical world were the Vampires and the Shifters, but it didn’t come without some weakness, which I was sure they hated, whereas, Elementals and Mages were more well-balanced, but not as physically resilient. “It can’t hurt to be at the top of your game, right?”
Arms still crossed he stared for a long moment, and then ran a hand through his curls, muttering, “Fine, I am that much better after shifting.” He put his hands behind his head, grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it off right there in front of me, all types of strung tight muscles rippling, my eyes flying wide open, especially, when he started to unbutton his pants, seeming now to be in a damn hurry to get undressed and shift.
“Jesus,” Elder Samson muttered, waving a hand. “Just for once, can’t you people do that elsewhere?”
“Perhaps,” my King flicked a finger to the side, even as he placed his other hand over my eyes when Cain only continued undoing his zipper, “not right in front of us?”
Or, maybe they could all leave, and he could keep undressing in front of me?
Cain’s voice was half wolf. “Close your damn eyes if you don’t want to see.”
I heard the rustling of pants, my King muttering a quiet grumbled complaint, keeping his hand over my eyes, like I was a damn child, but it wasn’t like I could push his hand away to stare, so I sat perfectly still until his hand lowered. I flicked him a withering glare, but it didn’t have much gusto behind it because my attention quickly swung to the enormous wolf in front of me, and I froze completely. Black fur slightly wavy, it flew about as he shook himself, stretching languidly, hind quarters in the air, then his chest up, massive paws pattering on the ground. He rolled a couple of times, stretching on the ground, lying on his back, arching, rubbing the top of his head on the carpet, like he had a scratch he couldn’t reach, not acting as I had remembered while I watched with wide eyes, since the last time I had seen him in his wolf form…well, he had ended up hurting me…badly.
I jerked back against the couch when he rolled swiftly back onto his stomach, navy blue eyes lifting to Elder Samson’s foot by his nose. He sniffed, and lifted, huffing quietly. Moved on to King Zeller, sniffed him a bit, growling quietly when King Zeller nudged him with his knee. His next culprit was Elder Bridges, who showed a bit of fang when he sniffed heavily at his hand. Elder Farrar ruffled his fur on top of his head when Cain leaned heavily on him, smelling his shirt, producing a huffing growl from Cain, smacking his jaws at him. Sin held perfectly still as Cain made a slow stalk around his chair, sniffing him at every angle, but he eventually moved on, and in wolf form, managed a swagger, swinging his tail as he moved toward us…looked at King Collins’s pant leg, not smelling him, but his black nose wiggled a bit.