Chapter Eight
~Nikolai~
Cruuuuunch. Nikolai let out a groan as someone chewed something in his ear.
Smack. Smack. Smack. Nikolai peeled an eye open and glared at the ruby eyed child stood beside the bed.
She said nothing. Apple in one hand, open mouth chewing, she pointed at Barnibus with the other.
He grumbled before untangling the arm rest from his chest. The girl immediately beamed and frolicked away with his little buddy.
Time to get up anyway. They didn’t have to be at the shop, but Nikolai had plans to work on their project car today.
There was no telling what other shenanigans they’d get up to, so he wanted to work on the car early enough.
The kid’s supposed to go to school today.
Which meant he might actually have peace and quiet while working.
Nik sat up in the bed, glancing at the snoring Jessie beside him.
Gonna sleep through a storm, that one. Nikolai was always jealous.
He was a light sleeper, waking every few hours to toss around for a bit before falling back asleep.
Jessie found one spot and knocked out for eight hours minimum.
Climbing to his long legs, the bugbear slouched into the bathroom.
His eyeballs were still blurry, and his teeth were fuzzy, but he was sort of alert.
Enough to notice that the bathroom was recently vacated.
Right. He glanced around to make sure she’d actually left before draining his bladder.
Then the teeth; can’t survive with gunky tusks.
After brushing himself to sparkling, squeaky clean, Nikolai realized he didn’t think last night to grab new clothes.
Fuck. He was running his fingers through his fur, contemplating what to do.
He’d slept in boxers, so he wasn’t naked.
But Jessie’s hips and his were different sizes.
He couldn’t just borrow some pants and call it good. Fuck, fuck.
Nikolai tiptoed out into the hall, hearing the sounds of the child talking to Barnibus.
Hopefully that means Katarina is there with her.
He slid into his room and grabbed his dresser drawer handles.
The world stopped, however, when he caught movement from the corner.
Clad in only a pair of panties and an oversized t-shirt, Katarina was bent over, scrunching her hair with product.
Nikolai couldn’t help it. His gaze dropped to where the cotton pressed against her backside.
A cute little rose-pink tail swished back and forth.
Succubus tails were skinny, silky, and had an upside-down heart at the tip.
I wonder if the stories are true… Nikolai almost let the intrusive thoughts win as he reached out.
Just to poke the pointy end. They’re supposed to paralyze victims, like a scorpion.
He stopped as she stood back up, flipping her hair behind her.
He froze, a deer in headlights, hands rushing back to his sides.
Katarina glanced at him and clearly swallowed her tongue. She choked on her own air. “Oh, shit—Nikolai.”
“Sorry,” he grimaced, unsure how to explain himself. I definitely wasn’t staring at your ass or thinking about snatching your tail.
She waved it off, laughing softly under her breath. “All good, sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
“Bella’s downstairs,” he blurted out, twisting back to the dresser.
“Yeah, she told me,” she laughed sheepishly as she moved around in the room. He kept his back to her, ignoring the way his body prickled beneath the fur. Katarina continued, her voice closer than before, “She showed me Barnibus. Thank you for letting her carry him around.”
“He needs socialization.” Nikolai pulled open a drawer to grab anything from the inside.
Katarina giggled and his body relaxed. “Yeah, poor thing’s been cooped up here with two mechanics. Needs a good few laps with a preschooler, ought to socialize him plenty. I’ll get out of your hair, I just need to find my shorts and where the heck my child lost my phone…”
He was fishing out a pair of pants and a T-shirt, trying not to turn around.
It almost worked till he heard her grumble and hiss from somewhere in the room.
He glanced over his shoulder. She was on hands and knees, reaching for something under the bed.
Nikolai crept across the room and knelt beside her. “You got it?”
“Yeah—uh…no. No, I don’t. I see it, but I’ve got these tiny arms and I think… fuck.”
“What’s wrong?” Nikolai glanced at her but saw the problem.
Her t-shirt and hair were caught on a few of the many springs for the bedframe.
Cheap frame; took five seconds to put together, and Nik got what he paid for.
While it was good for his back, he lost chunks of fur to those damn springs. “Hold still, I got you.”
“Dragon’s breath, today is just not my day,” she huffed, going slightly limp under the bed as Nikolai picked at pieces of her damp hair.
The t-shirt would be easier to untangle, but she had so much hair.
So much as a tug and she’d lose a clump of hair.
From his current angle it wasn’t all that great.
He let out a sigh. She called out from under the bed. “What?”
“Uh, just hold still,” he grumbled, crawling behind her. The only way to see where all her hair was to lean over the back of her and pick it out. Unfortunately, that put the front of his thighs against her backside.
Katarina let out a bark of a laugh, “I swear to all the fucking dragons in this realm and the next, Nikolai if you pull a porn move on me—”
“You want out or not?” He swallowed hard as she shifted against him.
It immediately went where it shouldn’t and he was trying everything to keep it down.
Grandma’s feet, sticky fingers, ducklings, anything.
His body hummed as he untwisted her hair from around the cheap coils before he could finally untwist the fabric from the metal.
The second she was free, Nikolai grabbed her by the hips and tugged her out…
lest she get tangled again. She was cackling the whole way as he immediately dove under and snatched up the traitorous device from under his bed.
Unlike Jessie who probably had dirty clothes and other lost things under his, Nik kept his room pristine.
The only thing under his bed was her phone and a bracelet, likely belonging to one of them. He dragged both of them back out.
“There,” he huffed, dropping the items into her shaking hands.
Katarina still trembled from laughter as she glanced up at him through that fringe of hair. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you. It’s just…”
“There wasn’t a better way,” he grimaced, scratching the back of his head. “Needed a good angle at it.”
“Mmm, so the best angle was from the back? I agree, good for leverage too. But, you know, next time, take a girl to dinner first.” she teased, her ruby eyes glowing with delight as his body ignited.
Katarina plopped both the bracelet and phone on top of the bed.
He watched with hunger as she climbed to her feet.
She offered him a hand that he took more for politeness than out of need.
His knees cracked, echoing off the walls.
Katarina moved, like she was going to give him back his hand, but something changed.
Her face fell and Nikolai eyed her with worry.
In an instant, her skin paled and her eyes were glassy.
She wobbled on her own legs and Nikolai swooped in to catch her.
Like she’d lost all the blood to her head, she sank into his arms.
“Katarina?” He whispered.
She let out a woozy wheeze, a hand to her forehead. “Whoa, yeah, that was a doozy. Must have stood up too…fast… Hey, does anyone tell you how good you smell? Like really good. I mean, you smell like oakmoss, and those expensive colognes with woodsmoke and…and…”
She trailed off as she pitched her body forward into his chest. Nikolai held still, his body rigid and hunched, as she pressed her face to his throat.
Inhaling deep, a low moan came out of her mouth and that’s when he lost control of his precariously concealed cock.
Her body was too warm, like a roaring fire pressed against him.
There was barely a thing between them, and he already knew how soft she was.
Fingers curling in his fur, she clutched him tight and pressed her face firmly against his jugular.
Her second moan, soft and guttural, was enough to pitch him into oblivion.
“Why do both of you smell so fucking good,” she hissed under her breath.
“I…bathe?” He swallowed over his tongue, hoping to any deity that would listen that she couldn’t feel the iron rod forming against her belly.
Katarina giggled, “Not like that. Sorry, I must be hungrier than I thought. I really…shit, I really need to make that appointment. I’m so sorry.”
Nikolai swallowed hard as she pulled back, hands to her face with a gentle rubbing motion. He opened his mouth several times, but nothing came out. Not until she finally dropped her hands and stared up at him with those glittering rubies. It was a nearly strangled, “Appointment?”
“Yeah, uh, to see my healer. I haven’t been feeding enough and it’s starting to take a toll. I’m not saying it to guilt you, or anything, I’m just not thinking straight. I’m so sorry.” She brushed her hair back, away from her face.
Nikolai blinked once, not eating enough? There was no way, he fed her twice yesterday and knew for a fact that she’d eaten. He stammered, “Do you want me…to make something? We have eggs, those are good protein.”
Katarina sputtered, hands rushing to her mouth to cover up her laughter.
Nik chuckled nervously, unsure what he said.
Only after a long minute, the lightbulb went off.
It was only after he saw her tail sticking up and her little horns, that he even thought about it like that. Oh! That kind of hungry! “Oh! I—”