Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3) - Nalini Singh Page 0,162
why I—and so many of the pack—like hanging out with you.” She tugged on one of Memory’s curls, as the wolf pup had pulled on his friend’s tail. “You’re kind and funny and you take no shit from Alexei and I like being around you.”
Memory hugged the words close to her heart. And when she felt a kiss of wildness inside that heart, she smiled. “Alexei’s coming.”
“Ugh.” Lucy pushed at Memory’s upper arm. “You have that goofy just-mated look on your face. I’m going to throw up any second now.”
Grinning, Memory got up off the rock on which she and Lucy had perched. “Can you hold the fort while I go say hello?” Alexei was on a security shift, likely only in the vicinity for a short period.
“Shoo. Go make kissy faces.” Lucy waved her hand. “I’ll manage the rampaging horde.”
Memory navigated her way through said horde—surviving with only a couple of “attacks” and playfully threatened bites—and made her way into the trees. She knew her mate was nearby. However, when he walked out of the trees, she was surprised to see him wearing his jacket on such a bright sunny day. Not only that, he had it closed over his chest, his arm kind of cradling one side of it.
“Did you hurt your arm?” She hurried closer.
Unzipping his jacket, Alexei brought out a tiny ball of orange-and-white fur he’d had tucked inside.
Memory froze.
* * *
• • •
ALEXEI hoped like hell he’d done the right thing.
Stepping toward his mate, he held out his palm—on which sat the tiniest kitten in the fucking universe. “Runt of the litter,” he said, running his fingers over the damn thing’s body because it cried if he didn’t. “Got sharp claws though. Tiny beast did this.” He pushed aside his jacket to show her the drops of blood on his white T-shirt from where the kitten had clawed at him.
When Memory didn’t make any attempt to touch the kitten, Alexei said, “You’re right. He’s probably too much trouble for a pet. I’ll drop him off in the forest. If he survives, he survi—”
Memory rescued the kitten from his palm and held it close to her body, her fingers already stroking the creature. The azure of her nail varnish was bright against the kitten’s fur. The ungrateful brat began to purr. Alexei scowled. “That rat with orange fur didn’t purr for me.”
Memory glared at him. “He knows you don’t like cats.”
The kitten rose up to put its paws on Memory’s chest. She looked down . . . and her body, it went motionless again.
Alexei held his breath.
And the kitten meowed and rubbed its head against her chest. She laughed that unique, lovely laugh full of emotion that tangled around him, and began to scratch the spot the kitten had demanded.
Her curls bounced around her head.
Wolf and man both relaxed. It had been a calculated gamble, bringing her the kitten. He hadn’t considered it until he’d seen her petting Keelie Schaeffer’s pet. Her grief over Jitterbug wasn’t gone, but it had been tempered. These days, when she spoke about her pet, it was to tell him sweet stories of the fun she and Jitterbug’d had together.
He’d also become aware of the growing pet population in the empathic compound. Jaya was back with Phantom—and both had fallen in love with the blanket Memory had knitted for her friend’s pet. The cat had been known to drag it out of his basket and onto the sunny porch so he could lounge in comfort.
While Phantom was, at present, the only resident cat, Ivy Jane dropped by often with her energetic mutt, three other trainees had dogs, one had a bird that followed the E around of its own free will, and another one had a hamster. He’d also heard that a family of wildcats regularly visited Sascha, each member waiting patiently for their turn to be showered with attention.
Es and pets seemed to go together.
“You keeping the little monster, then?”
Another glare that made the wolf inside him grin. “He’s too small to be out in the forest.”
“I don’t know. He’s a feral thing.” He growled for good measure.
The kitten hissed back at him before cuddling up to Memory. The tiny creature seemed not to realize it was all bone and a bit of fur. Alexei had picked him out of the litter exactly because of that. That litter had been in DarkRiver territory, but he’d been given first pick when he’d told the leopards why he wanted a kitten.