Chapter Thirty-Six
“Morning,” Nick mumbled as he adjusted his grip on Kit’s waist. Daylight streamed through the curtains in narrow slits.
He tried to remember getting into bed with Kit.
Couldn’t. The last thing he recalled was Kit explaining to Connor that he’d given Nick strong painkillers so the stitches wouldn’t hurt.
As he woke up more, he remembered the threatening way Adonis had been sneering at Kit.
Kit had stood there, tail lashing, feet planted, and expression stern. He’d glared right back, ready to fight.
Nick groaned. “They didn’t give you too hard a time, did they?”
“Nothing I cannot handle,” Kit replied. He rolled to face Nick, his eyes glinting with determination. Nick was certain there was very little that Kit couldn’t handle.
“I didn’t want you to come after me like that,” Nick said. “I didn’t want you anywhere near Desre.” Not that he was surprised Kit had. After all, Nick had already seen the way he chose to protect those he cared about—by putting himself in harm’s way in their place.
“I promise you,” Kit said slowly, “that I wanted you near her even less.” His eyes slipped to Nick’s arm, and he ran bare fingers lightly against the edge of the bandage. Worry flitted across Kit’s expression, darkening the blue of his eyes.
“She’d only just cut me seconds before you arrived.”
Kit swallowed.
Nick turned up his hand on the sheets between them, asking. Kit caught him by the wrist, guided Nick’s fingers open and pressed his cheek against his palm. Nick purposefully kept his eyes open, drinking in the sight of Kit safe and stretched out next to him. Allowing, inviting, physical touch.
“I can’t even put into words how glad I am that you’re free of her,” Nick said, slightly hoarse. “That Mini’s such a little psycho, and he’s got your back.”
Kit’s mouth twitched up, amusement growing in his eyes. “You are the one who taught him the spells.”
“And you taught him how to fight. He’s okay? After we left the ship, they were all…”
“Desre did not leave her cabin for the rest of the trip,” Kit confirmed. “Evie relayed all instructions.”
A bird landed on the windowsill and tapped on the glass. The cadence was just like Nick’s alarm clock back home. It reminded him that though he wanted to just rest and put things off, time was running on regardless.
“Once my family gets here… We’ve been gone for weeks.
Laurence has school exams, and so do I.” His exams seemed like such an inconsequential thing.
Their importance paled in comparison to the man stretched out before him, listening closely to Nick’s every word.
But Laurence was doing his Leaving Cert, and that could decide whether he got enough points for college.
Not that he’d want to go, but Nick wanted him to have the option of it at the very least. “Dad has work that he’s missing.
I don’t know if they went back long enough for him to arrange for his assistant manager to take things over.
I very much doubt it, given the circumstances.
” He bet Trevor hadn’t considered returning for even one second without Nick.
Kit’s grip on Nick’s hand tightened, cheek digging tighter into his palm. “You have obligations you must return to.” He sounded upset.
“Yes.”
“I must find my crew and tend to them,” Kit said, that upset note growing. “That will involve securing a source of food. Restoring order to the city now that the council is gone. All the children on my crew are orphans; they do not have any parents to support them. I cannot leave.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
Kit’s tail wrapped tightly around Nick’s leg. “Give me three weeks. Two. I will get things in line.” There was an agonised note in Kit’s voice.
“I think you need to stay and make sure they’re taken care of,” Nick said. “You’ll spend the entire time worrying about them if you come with me now. And I don’t think that we necessarily should stay glued together either. Some time apart –”
The distressed sound humming from Kit’s chest became louder. Nick pushed on.
“Not only do I fancy the hell out of you, Kit, I care about you a whole lot too. And being apart from you for a few weeks, or months, won’t change that for me.
But. The way we got together…” Nick sighed.
“It was rough, Kit. You were my only source for feeling anything other than fear, and to you, I was this promise of salvation, the first glimpse you’d seen of someone able to oppose Desre. That isn’t nothing.”
Kit’s brow creased. “Why does that matter?”
“I don’t know the exact phrase. Trauma bonding? It’s when people are in a shit situation, so they end up getting really attached to each other.”
“And why does it matter?” Kit insisted, his agitation growing.
“I don’t want a relationship where you’re only with me because of some random symbol my brother happened to draw on my arm.
I need to know we’re more than that. And for that, we need space from each other.
” Nick rubbed his thumb against Kit’s cheekbone, feeling the warmth of his agitation-reddened skin.
Nick’s leg tingled as pins and needles spread beneath the band of Kit’s tail.
“How long must I wait before I can go to you?” Kit asked, his voice low.
“I’ll come to you. I have to sit my exams, and then I need to train someone to take over for me at work. I can’t leave Dad hanging right before the summer holidays. And then I’ll find out from Connor when he’s free to bring me back, and we’ll take his boat here.”
“How many weeks until your exams?”
Nick worked it out in his head. “If it takes the same amount of time to get home as it took to get here, then I’ll have two weeks to study before they start. They take place over two weeks then.”
“How long does training take?”
“It depends on how fast we can find someone suitable. If they’re good, three weeks.”
Kit’s top lip twitched. “Just shy of four months.”
Nick blinked. He hadn’t actually worked out the exact timeline. “Yeah. Around that,” he agreed.
Kit stared at him unblinking.
“It’ll fly by.”
“Too long.”
“You’ll be so busy you won’t even feel it.”
“Too long.”
“I need the space. I need us to be apart and re-establish what our normal is before we’re together. I’m sure you’re well aware by now, but I get anxious. I’ll worry forever if we don’t.”
Kit abruptly pulled away from Nick, leaping off the bed with an upset growl. Nick was dragged right to the edge with a yelp. “Tail!”
Kit’s tail immediately went slack. A soothing purr replaced his growl, and his hands slid over the bare skin of Nick’s thigh, rubbing against the red band.
“I am sorry,” Kit hummed. Then he seemed to remember that he was upset with Nick and abruptly turned away.
“Given that you take pleasure in pain, perhaps I should not be!”
Nick grabbed Kit’s tail as he stalked towards the door and yanked him back onto the bed.
Kit fell into a sitting position, back bumping into Nick’s chest. Kit snapped his teeth at Nick.
Nick glared. “I will point out exactly where I live on a map for you, and I’ll put you into contact with Goldilocks’s mate, Sam.
And to be perfectly clear, I enjoy pain when we’re in a situation where I’m getting turned-on.
Mid-argument is not one of those situations.
” Nick paused. Kit was leaning into his chest, his tail wrapped all the way up Nick’s arm, his head twisted so he could meet Nick’s eyes and match his glare.
Given that Kit was five times stronger than him, if he hadn’t wanted to get dragged back onto the bed, he would have just stood there when Nick grabbed his tail.
Kit’s top lip twitched. He twisted more, leaning in until his nose was brushing against the column of Nick’s neck. He breathed in deeply.
“Kit.”
Kit pressed an open-mouthed kiss to Nick’s throat, sucking the skin into a gnawing, non-gentle kiss.
He grumbled, “Stay. Or let me come.” Then he abandoned kissing in favour of rubbing his jaw over Nick.
Then his tongue. His musk tickled Nick’s nose.
His scent-marking. Valor said the kind Kit was doing to Nick indicated lifelong intent.
“I promise,” Nick said, “that I will come back.”
Kit’s breaths were loud against Nick’s ear. “I have lost many people. My parents, teachers, friends. I do not wish to lose you too.”
“You won’t.”
“Promise me,” Kit insisted. He pulled back and cupped Nick’s jaw, making their eyes connect.
“I promise you won’t lose me.” The promise felt as important to Nick as the one he’d made to keep Kit safe from Desre.
Though where that promise had been vicious, this one was soft.
Hopeful. Nick had been struggling to visualise his future, but now Kit stood at the precipice of a dozen different paths forward, inviting Nick to join him.
Kit studied Nick’s face in great detail. He slowly nodded. “Very well,” he whispered. “I trust you.”
Nick pressed his forehead against Kit’s. “I have a list too,” he shared. “And I can’t wait to get started on it with you.”