6. BLTs on Toast with a Side of Giggles
Chapter six
BLTs on Toast with a Side of Giggles
KADI
W atching Shasta sleep, I take a deep breath and thank all the Gods for bringing her into my life. I was starting to think I would never meet my mate. She’s perfect. Brown eyes, dark roots and brows. She obviously dyes her hair blond. You can tell she is at least part Indian. She has some beautiful Hindu and Sanskrit tattoos on her body. That tells me that her heritage is important to her. Full pink lips, mid-sized breasts, just a little over a handful.
I lick at the bite on her neck. It’s mostly healed, and this should be the last lick it needs to finish the job. She stirs a little in my arms. Opening her eyes, she looks into my face and smiles a shy smile.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she says softly.
Chuckling, I shift her just a little bit in my lap. I think my barbs are starting to loosen so they should break away soon. “You can fall asleep on top of me anytime.”
“Does the bond always feel like this?” she asks. “Like I’m lying just under your skin feeling all of your emotions?”
“I honestly don’t know. They say that you eventually learn to be able to share what you want, instead of everything at once. I think it just takes some time to learn and get used to it. I can feel you the same way too, but a little milder since the bond isn’t complete on your side. You still feel a little nervous, but I can also feel contentment. You’re a confusing woman, my Little Lioness.”
She laughs and says, “Hey, even I don’t know how I’m feeling sometimes. I’m just a little nervous about Ethan I guess.”
I grunt and nod my head. Yeah, he’s going to be a problem. He needs to get over his prejudice against all witches. Lumping them all in together, when it was just a select few who did what they did to his parents, isn’t fair to the other witches that don’t practice dark magic. It's also been a long time since it happened. I would never tell him to get over his parents’ death, but the hate has to end soon.
Then, there’s also what Joaquin said earlier about thinking there’s more to Ethan’s emotions than he’s letting on. If he is feeling something for her, he is definitely going to be confused considering his prejudice.
“Don’t worry, I'll take care of it. Joaquin is going to take the first shift in the morning so that I can go home and sleep. We were going to have Ethan come for the first watch, but I think talking to him beforehand is best, now that we’ve learned we are mates.”
Feeling my barbs loosen, I lift Shasta up off of me and lay her back onto her pillows. She whimpers a little as I release her.
“It’s okay, I’m not leaving yet. Do you want me to clean you up or do you want to shower?” I ask, gesturing to her ensuite bathroom.
“Shower, definitely,” she sits up and scoots over to the edge of the bed. “Will you shower with me?”
Will I ever?
“Anytime you want me to,” I say, wagging my eyebrows at her. “Consider me your living loofah.”
She laughs and stands on still shaky legs. Guess she didn’t have a long enough power nap. After the shower we need to have a snack and some liquids because I know we both lost a lot of those just now.
I feel a low level of tiredness in her. She probably works a lot and pushes herself too hard. We’re going to have to have a talk about that. I will never take her independence from her, but I will make sure she takes care of herself.
Taking her hand, I lead her to the bathroom and start the shower. “Hot hot or somewhere in between?” I ask.
“I want to look like a lobster when I get out,” she says, laughing.
“Satan’s balls it is then,” I say, turning the handle.
It doesn’t take long for the water to heat and we both step inside. We wash each other's bodies slowly, taking our time so that we can learn the different dips and curves. She touches each of my tattoos as if she is trying to memorize them, and I do the same. One of these days we can sit down and talk about what they all mean.
I want to learn everything I can about her, but first, we need to get rid of whoever is tracking her and trying to cause problems.
Getting out of the shower, she hands me a towel and grabs one for herself along with some kind of terry cloth wrap for her hair. After drying off, she wraps herself up in one and pads into her bedroom and I hear a drawer open and then close. I finish drying off and follow her out, grabbing my clothes off the floor as I go.
She has another set of those pajamas she was wearing earlier, except these are silky and cover just a little bit more skin. She’s fucking adorable. Smirking at me, she leans over and pulls the terrycloth towel off her head and rubs her hair to dry it a little more.
I finish getting dressed while she goes to hang her hair towel, and she comes back grabbing my towel and hers and throwing it over the side of the laundry basket to dry.
She walks over to me holding her hand out, so I put my hand in it expecting her to lead me out into the hall. Instead, she turns my hand over and inspects the inside of my wrist. It’s one of the only places I don’t have some part of a tattoo covering it.
“Witches obviously don’t bite for our mate mark. But we do have a symbol we use. It depends on the Coven you’re from or who your family is. My father gave my mother the symbol for togetherness in Sanskrit and I’d like to give you the same one if that’s okay? He died in an accident when I was young and I feel like this is a way he could give his blessing,” she says with tears in her eyes and a small smile.
Pulling her close to me, I hold her for a moment, letting her feel the calming vibe I send her way through the bond. It must have been hard for her when he died. “Shasta, I’ll always be here if you want to talk about it. I’d love to have any bond mark you want to give me, and I will treasure it, just like I will treasure you. Always.”
When she pulls back, I see her swallow as I hold my wrist out for her to take. Pulling in a shaky breath she uses the tip of her finger to draw the symbol. Then underneath it, she also draws an infinity symbol to finish it off.
Gritting my teeth, I look at her to see her giggling under her breath. When she finishes, I snatch her up in a fireman's carry and walk into the living room, spanking her ass all the way down the hall. Little brat. “You could have told me that was gonna hurt like hell, Shas. I can see you’re going to be a handful.”
She laughs and sticks out her tongue as I toss her onto the couch. She sits on her knees and props her head on her arms over the back of the couch as she watches me moving around in her kitchen.
“What are you looking for?” she asks.
“I’m going to make us a snack, but I’m also just looking to see where everything is in here so I can familiarize myself with it,” I say over my shoulder to her.
“Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense,” she says. “The only other people who come here are Grams, my mom, Emmett, and Josiah occasionally. Usually, it’s just me and Emmett though. He was my roommate until him and Josiah moved in together, but he stays over occasionally when we have movie nights and stuff. Which was actually what tonight was supposed to be, till all of this happened.”
“How long have you and Emmett been friends?” I ask, finding a pan and pulling BLT makings from the fridge, along with some orange juice and water. Juice to give us a bit of sugar and water for replenishment.
“Since we were kids. His parents live next door to Grams’ house. We’ve been inseparable since they moved in when we were like three years old. Before my dad died. When we graduated high school, we both went to the community college for business and then opened up the shop together. We share it fifty-fifty,” she says.
I nod. “It’s pretty much like that for me and Ethan too. Our parents were of the same pride. When his parents were murdered, mine took him in. They would’ve never let him go anywhere else. We had been together most of our lives. When you’re an only child it helps to have a friend always there. My parents gave us a pretty good life and our pride has always been close, but it was still rough for him, Shasta.”
Bowing my head, I take a deep breath. I want her to understand why he is the way he is. I love him like a brother, and I want her to love him too.
“I won’t tell you the whole story, because it’s his to tell. But I can say this, it was horrific. Being a witch I’m sure you’ve heard stories of what the black magic users do to shifters. He saw it all. That’s all I’ll say. So please be patient with him.” Swallowing, I go back to flipping bacon.
Shasta comes up behind me and wraps her arms around me, running her hands up inside my shirt and lays her head on my back. I reach up and cover one of her hands with my own. Fate really did give me a good mate, I think. We don’t know each other well yet, but she is compassionate, sassy, smart, and sweet, all in one tiny little package. From the little bits of her magic I’ve seen so far, I believe that she is extremely powerful. I also don’t think the black magic users would be after her if she wasn’t.
She moves away so I can continue to cook and starts pulling glasses from the cabinet and pouring the juice. She also grabs the mayo from the fridge and begins to toast bread for the BLT’s. Huh. Most people don’t do it that way. I love my BLT’S on toast. It gives it that extra crunch that I love so much.
Smiling to myself, I turn back to the bacon.
“It’s not as if I’m going to give him the third degree,” she finally says. “I want to get along with him too. Do you think it would help if we took him around my Coven? So that he can see how everyone really is?”
Thinking about that for a minute, I nod my head. “I’m not going to tell you that he will be the most polite guest, but one of the times he takes a shift protecting you, you should find a reason to go by your Grams’ place to do a little immersion therapy. Just let him see how everyone gets on together and how they act in general. I don’t know that he’s ever actually spent any time around witches at all, save for on a job.”
She nods. I finish up the bacon and plate it, cut the tomato, and pull off some lettuce, setting everything on the table. She has the toast done and slathered some mayo on it and it’s waiting on two plates for us to add the BLT parts.
Biting into my sandwich after I build it, I moan. Shasta flicks her eyes at me, raising her brows.
“I love that you like it on toast too, it’s so crunchy,” I say with a huge smile on my face.
She giggles and bites into her own sandwich again, closing her eyes in pleasure. I could watch her like this all day. Swinging her legs under the table, laughing, being at ease. I have a bad feeling it won’t be like this for long.
After we eat, we head back to her room and I sit in the chair while she sleeps, hoping everything stays calm.