The Hunt (By Kiss and Claw #2) - Melissa Haag Page 0,100
walking right up to me to playfully lick the tip of my nose. My eyes flickered. He grinned.
“Miss me?”
I could sense the confusion and hurt emanating from the girls coming up from behind him.
“Be nice, Fenris.”
“I am.” He moved to stand beside me and glanced at Emory. “Ready for another Game Night at the Roost?”
“My ears are still ringing from the last one. Might not be a good idea.”
Fenris waved away the giant’s concern.
“If the Council is willing to ignore the banshees’ warning, then so am I. Why not have fun while we can?”
Emory nodded slowly.
“You have a point.”
No, Fenris usually had a purpose behind everything he did, and I worried what one lay behind his desire for a repeat Game Night.
“Mom’s thinking about doing a special opening night at Club Blayz for Uttira’s youth,” I said, shivering lightly. “Maybe that would be better than a Game Night?”
“Much better,” Fenris said with a widening smile.
“I heard about the club your mom’s building,” Jenna said. “Adults only and really fancy, right?”
I could still feel the confusion and hurt coming from her, but she wasn’t looking at me with anger.
“As fancy as she can make an old sawmill. It looks nice. A lot nicer than the Roost.”
“And she’s letting us see it first?” Willow asked. “Why?”
Jenna elbowed Willow, and the girl immediately flushed.
“Uh, I mean, when?”
“I’m not sure. It looked close to being finished the last time I saw it, so probably soon.”
“We can’t wait,” Jenna said with a kind smile.
Uncomfortable with all the attention and growing colder by the second, I glanced at the door.
“I really need to get inside. I wanted to catch up with some stuff before class starts.”
“I’ll come with you,” Fenris said. “I’ll see you girls later.”
They didn’t try to follow us as we headed for the doors. I wanted to ask Fenris so many questions, like if he’d said anything to them beforehand, but knew it wasn’t the time or place.
Once we were inside, he surprised me by threading his fingers through mine. When I glanced at him questioningly, he winked, which did nothing to clarify what he was up to. Holding hands was definitely outside of the scope of our existing relationship. However, it was something couples did, and I’d agreed to be his girlfriend in truth as long as he respected my boundaries.
His thumb stroked over mine.
The sensation wrapped around me, and I reveled in the simple touch. This was the first time in my life I’d allowed someone to hold my hand as a casual sign of affection. I liked it far too much. That thing inside me emanated a satisfaction that worried me. It was fine for Fenris to stake his claim in order to win a reprieve from Adira and his father. It wasn’t okay for me to do the same. Fenris wasn’t meant for me, no matter how tempting I found him.
“Remember that no touching boundary?” I asked quietly.
“You mean the one we got rid of with the unconditional honesty deal?”
“A deal I didn’t agree to.”
He arched a brow at me, and I huffed, knowing what he wanted. The truthful reason for my question.
“You’re making me uncomfortable, Fenris.”
“That’s nothing new.”
I almost snorted because he was right.
“I’m worried you’re going to push too far if I continue to let you get away with the little things.”
He tugged me to a stop and turned so we faced each other.
“You have one ‘Fenris, stop pushing me’ a day. Do you want to use today’s for this?” He lifted our joined hands between us and used his free hand to trace over the backs of my fingers.
My stomach clenched, and my vision flickered.
“I don’t think you want to,” he continued. “I think you like this. You said you trusted me. Trust me not to push too far, too fast. You can handle this.”
“Your confidence is my worst enemy,” I grumbled.
He grinned and lowered our hands, his hold secure.
“I can smell your nervousness. When are you going to realize that’s not something you need to feel around me?”
This time I did snort.
“There’s my girl. Now, let’s go find your druids.”
The muffled sound of raised voices echoed in the hall before we reached the pool.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Fenris said a moment before I spotted Eras and his mermaids facing off with the druids just inside the pool area.
The group stopped yelling at the sound of the door opening. Eras’s angry face turned a deeper shade of red at the sight of us.