Secondhand Garagyre

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

LAITHOG

The human male is not to be trusted.

I may have been asleep for millennia, but my instincts about beings were never wrong. The male looks wrong; he smells wrong, and he speaks in hidden innuendos… as well as not so hidden innuendos. His visit visibly alarmed Paisley , even though she hid it well behind affronted bravado, and I need to know why. The human males could not hear the rapid beat of her heart, or smell the acrid scent of her fear, but I can.

I am not at liberty to just kill whomever I want, no matter how much they might need killing. Humans . I sneer to myself, always have attachments. That thought makes me pause as my eyes slide across the female in front of me.

Well , almost all of them.

The fact that she is alone deeply troubled me.

After , what is his name? Ah , after Grady left, we retreat into her kitchen, where she starts preparing our evening meal, after releasing her little, deformed beasts from their cages. Both of the disconcerting creatures are loitering in the kitchen, dancing around Paisley’s feet as she cooks, making her smile fondly at them.

If Ilayahan taught me nothing else, she taught me not to prod a female into action until she’s ready. This pertains to many things.

Talking .

Fighting .

Fucking .

The last thought makes my tail curl, but that isn’t the priority of this evening. I need to ensure Paisley is comfortable with my presence in her life before I attempt to woo her.

I am not human, after all.

Paisley keeps shooting me looks from under her lashes that she thinks I don’t notice as I sit at her kitchen table. The chair I currently reside in gave her a bit of a giggle. She hasn’t ever seen someone with wings attempt to sit in a backed chair. Naturally , I played it up a bit in my attempt to bring some levity back to her face. Making a large display of sitting, fidgeting, and grumbling before I turned the chair around for me to straddle it finally softens the firm line of her mouth.

The silence that descends is comfortable and lacks the strain from earlier. I watch as she flits across the kitchen, and watch with twisted amusement as her wee beast follow her for every single step she takes. Whatever it is she’s preparing smells delicious, and it makes my stomach grumble with hunger.

Regular hunger, not bloodlust.

The two are not the same.

I hear Paisley take a deep breath and smile to myself. She is finally relaxing. The tension she’s carried since the deceptive male left is fleeing her body. Much to my disgruntlement, the diminutive creatures flanking her appear to be helping her regain good mood.

Ilayahan would be proud. I did not barge into a conversation with my little human before she is ready to speak to me, thus creating strife where none should be. My mate literally beat this lesson into me during the early years of our mating, but it never really took. Maybe this is because I enjoyed riling her so.

But .

My little human is not like my Ilayahan is. Yes , she is spirited, but she will not physically attack me and knock knowledge into me by force. Nor can I afford to cause her afront when my welcome is somewhat tenuous. I do not want to offend Paisley , and be consequently kicked out of her home.

It would make my wooing much more difficult.

Who says a male can’t learn new things?