Chapter 6 #2
While chatting with Alissa, he quietly cut his green beans into smaller pieces and nudged them to the edge of the plate, closer to me.
I trilled happily and started in on them, happy as a clam.
This meal was much better than what I’d been eating.
No offense to the meals Alaric had laid out for me, but I’d been craving something more substantial for days now.
He glanced down at me with that same fond look I’d caught from him earlier, and my heart stuttered.
I didn’t know why I was behaving so badly. I wanted to blame it on my raven instincts, but honestly, I thought I was just feeling... free.
For the first time I could remember, I wasn’t stressed. I wasn’t in pain. I wasn’t sick. My brain was clear. My thoughts were lined up like polite little ducks in a row, not tripping over each other for once, or floating away from me.
And being in bird form? It felt like a masquerade. Like I could laugh, dance, talk—be myself—and no one would know who I really was when the night ended. It was freeing in a way I couldn’t even describe.
As the meal wound down, Alissa popped up and began clearing the table, but Alaric insisted she leave it. She cooked, after all.
I nearly rolled my eyes. She may have cooked, but she’d also invaded his privacy and space, even after he’d politely refused her. At the very least, she was rude.
“Well, this was a nice dinner. I should cook for you again in a few days,” Alissa said, grabbing her jacket and purse.
Alaric’s face was an unreadable mask. “I’m sorry, Alissa. I’m very busy this week. Thank you for dinner, though.”
In other words: get lost, lady.
“Oh, well...” Undeterred, she stepped closer and ran a finger up his chest. “I can always stay the night? We could... watch something together, maybe snuggle on the couch?”
Alaric, still with that blank expression and dead look in his eyes, gently took her hand and removed it from his chest.
“Alissa,” he said quietly, “I’ve told you before—I’m not interested.”
She reeled back like he’d slapped her. “I thought you were joking!”
“I never joke about intimacy.”
His voice was firm but gentle. Alissa’s chin wobbled, and suddenly I wanted to be anywhere but there, witnessing this.
“But, we’d be so good together!”
I cringed. Lady, have some dignity. The dude said no. Walk out with your head high.
“I’m waiting for my mate,” Alaric said, voice as firm as adamantine. There was no mistaking what he meant.
Her laugh was high and brittle—no longer bell-like.
“You’re over a thousand years old. You can’t tell me you’ve been waiting for your mate that long? That you’ve been celibate that long?”
A thousand years?
I tipped over into the remains of the baked potato, and landed in the garlic butter from the steak, splattering it all over myself and the table.
Alaric, ever-attuned to me, jerked his head toward the noise, saw my predicament, and quickly came to my rescue. Despite the potato and garlic butter mess, he gently scooped me up into one hand and brought me close to his chest—probably to help me feel secure.
I knew I was getting his shirt dirty, but I was too lightheaded to care.
How was he over a thousand years old?
I couldn’t even process it.
I blinked stupidly at his thumb as it gently rubbed my feathers. Curled in his palm, I felt like a fainting goat recovering from emotional whiplash.
And she’d said over a thousand years old! Like, how much over were we talking? Thirteen hundred years? Fifteen hundred? His thumb kept stroking me gently, as if he knew I was quietly spiraling and he was trying to calm me.
“I have, Alissa. And I don’t care if anyone else believes it. What matters is the truth. I’m not interested in anyone but my mate.”
Alissa’s chin had stopped wobbling. Now she looked furious.
“But you haven’t found her yet!”
“It doesn’t matter whether I have or haven’t. My answer’s still the same.”
Alissa tried a different tack, dropping her voice into a sultry register. “But surely you get lonely, Alaric.”
I hissed. No means no, lady. My feathers fluffed in irritation. It was instinct, I think, but it felt satisfyingly salty as well.
“Of course I do. But I’m waiting for my mate.”
“But what if you never find her?”
Alaric sighed, his thumb now brushing my feathers in calming circles.
“Goodnight, Alissa.”
She gaped at him for a beat or two, then turned on her heeled boots and slammed the door on her way out.
Well. That went well.
Alaric sighed again, and this time, it sounded world-weary.
Alaric was obviously handsome. He was built like a tank, and while his features weren’t perfectly symmetrical, they had that rugged appeal that many women found irresistible.
I understood why Alissa would be after him.
Even in the few days I’d known him, I had also seen his goodness and gentleness.
So, I knew Alaric was a good catch. But after witnessing this uncomfortable night play out, I wondered how many times this exact scene had played out in his lifetime?
Ten?
A hundred?
A thousand?
No wonder he was weary. I was weary just thinking about it.
Alaric looked down at me, and his eyes warmed with humor when he saw the butter gumming up my feathers. I probably smelled like an Italian restaurant. I didn’t know, because I currently couldn’t smell myself. My nose had already stopped working in protest.
“Alright, you little troublemaker, let’s get you a bath.”
All I could think was oooh, a bath!
Alaric smiled and strode into the master bathroom off his bedroom, starting the water.
When he judged it the right temperature, he stopped the flow with the built-in plug and added some gentle liquid soap as the bath filled a little.
When there was maybe three inches of soapy water, he turned off the spigot, and I hopped in gleefully.
A bath!
I hadn’t felt clean in days and days!
He chuckled at my obvious enthusiasm, then leaned against the bathroom counter, his expression drifting far away. It was sweet that he stayed. I knew it was only to protect me.
I wondered if this deeply built in need to protect was a dragon shifter thing, or maybe just a shifter thing? I shook my head when I puzzled for a moment. Nope, I didn’t feel any more need to protect than before. Maybe, it was an alpha thing.
Was that the reason I’d been called to him? I mean, he could probably protect me from anything the world could throw at me, and he’d been kind enough to bring Shay in to examine the magic on me, which helped me to understand a lot of what was happening. Those facts were hard to refute.
In fact, he might have been the exact right person to ask for help. After all, how many people knew a powerful warlock? I’d bet, not many.
Turning into a raven had been scary and confusing, but here, I didn’t feel any of that. I felt supported and safe.
I bathed for probably twenty minutes before I finally felt clean. If I were human Everly, I would have been all pruney.
Alaric toweled me off gently, then set me down while he cleaned up the bathroom. I’d splashed quite a bit in my enthusiasm.
We went back to the kitchen where he set another plate of food onto the table for me. “I’m sure you’re still hungry.”
I was, but I wanted something sweet. I didn’t know how to communicate that to him, though. I hopped across the table and flew to the top of the fridge. Bending over, nearly bent in half, I used my beak to try to nudge the freezer open.
Alaric came to my rescue and opened it. “You want something in here?”
Using him as a springboard, I flapped down to his shoulder, then landed on the ice-encrusted innards, using my beak to sort through what was inside. I found what I wanted in the back and pecked at it.
“You want ice cream?”
Yes! Give me the good stuff!
“Can ravens even have ice cream?” Alaric asked with a frown. He pulled out his phone, no doubt googling if I could safely eat it.
No, don’t google. Trust the bird!
He made a face at his phone, and my stomach dropped.
Don’t say it.
“Sorry, Everly. You guys don’t have the enzyme to break down dairy. It’ll upset your stomach.”
I gaped as he put away my precious ice cream and shut the freezer with a final sounding thump.
No ice cream?
But... but...
He gently picked me up. “How about some berries instead?”
Oh yes, because berries taste better than ice cream, I grumbled.
Alaric was fighting a smile at my grumpiness. “No berries? Are you sure?”
I turned my back on him, lifting my beak into the air, and he chuckled.
“How about a movie, instead?”
Ugh, no. The very idea of all the swirling colors on the TV was enough to make me nauseous. I reluctantly shook my head. I couldn’t ignore him entirely—that would be rude.
“How about a walk?”
Like I was a pet? Like he was walking a pet! I didn’t need walks, I wanted ice cream! Rocky road! Cookies and cream! Peanut butter cups and chocolate!
I turned back to him, vocalizing my indignation, and he laughed, gently scooping me into his hand again, and holding me against his chest. “It’s a nice evening, and it’ll probably feel good to get outside for a bit.”
I grumbled but submitted to being walked like a dog, chortling when he grabbed his wallet and keys.
Why did guys do that? I mean, the keys made sense.
I was terrified of locking myself out of my apartment, so my keys went everywhere with me—even if I was just taking out the trash—but his wallet?
Why on earth would he need a wallet on a walk?
I shook my head. Maybe it was just habit.
Habits could be so strange.