Chapter 8
Lucian
Why the fuck does she smell like my best friend?
My hound’s irritation increases whenever Cara uses that new name.
He’s territorial as fuck. He and I may not agree on everything at the moment, but we both despise that she’s unknowingly calling out my best friend’s name while smelling like him.
Each time it passes her lips, it makes me wish I could go back in time and shift right then and there to tell her that we absolutely do not want that fucking name.
I’d rather she call us any of the other ridiculous ones she suggested before.
I should have just taken Spike.
If Coop ever finds out about this, I’ll never live it down.
Except he won’t, because I have no intention of telling my pack about any of this shit. I’ll gather what I can about how much she knows and then go on with my life as if our paths never crossed.
It’ll be fine.
Except the feelings seeping in from my hound tell a different story.
Like a dutiful pup, I eat the new food Cara puts into a bowl for me and try not to beg for scraps while the girls eat their delicious-smelling Thai food.
They talk about little things at first—shopping and beauty shit that doesn’t interest me—but then the topic changes to something a little closer to home.
“Look, I’m sorry, babe, but that’s just how it is. He caught you ogling, and now he knows you find him attractive. It’s good to get it out of the way so early in the semester. Now you can focus on the work and leave the ogling for the rest of us.”
I know some students call me “Hot Prof” behind my back, and frankly, I’ve never really cared, but with Cara… for some reason I’m eager to find out what she thinks. She finds me attractive—that much was obvious today. I spare her a glance, but she doesn’t notice.
“You can have him,” Cara says with a roll of her eyes. “It doesn’t matter how hot he is because he’s kind of a dick for embarrassing me like that. I’m sure I wasn’t the first student to stare, and I doubt I’ll be the last.”
She’s just the only one whose stare affected me. I both craved her gaze and resented it. When she looked at me, all I wanted to do was look back. To see into the very depths of her being and learn everything about her.
And that terrifies me.
I feel the disappointment radiating from my hound at her words, but I know it’s for the best. We don’t need her fawning over me as a man.
She does enough of that in this form already.
Turning back to my bowl, I take another bite of the dog food.
It’s not terrible, and we’ve certainly had worse, but it’s the principle.
I’m not actually her pet. I’m only here to learn more about her.
So far, I haven’t found anything to prove she’s dangerous. Hell, at this point, I suspect she’s completely in the dark about what she is, and if that’s true, I really should just leave.
Even as the thought flits through my mind, I know my hound won’t let us. He’s attached.
Mating bonds are common among our kind, and I have heard of at least one instance where a hellhound mated a demon, but I’ve never heard of one of us mating a human or an angel.
And I’ve certainly never heard of one mating a nephilim, which is why I’ve been vocal with my hound that what he’s feeling is probably just indigestion.
With what she is, it can’t possibly be anything else.
So lost in my thoughts, I don’t realize that the girls have finished their supper.
“I still can’t believe you’re actually keeping that mammoth,” Reagan tells Cara, eyeing me warily.
“Shhh,” Cara whispers. “Don’t let him hear you call him that.”
Reagan snorts a laugh. “Well, just know if he eats me, I’ll haunt you as a reminder not to bring home any more strays.”
First she calls me a mammoth and now a stray? What does Cara even see in this human? She’s distasteful.
“He won’t eat you,” Cara assures her.
Damn right I won’t. The thought of putting my mouth, canine or otherwise, anywhere near the human who once called me a bear is enough to make me lose my appetite.
I stretch and head toward the window, still limping a little, though it’s barely noticeable now.
Cara blocks my path before I reach my destination.
She sits up on her knees, her face perfectly in line with mine. Her soft hands run over my face and around my ears. “He’s just a big softie, aren’t you, Cooper?”
Ugh. That fucking name will be the death of me. Yet still, my hound melts at her embrace, tail wagging and making me inwardly roll my eyes.
Fuck, she smells good, though—once I get past the scent of my best friend.
No, don’t fall for it.
She’s just a girl. A nephilim and none of our concern.
“I think he’s just a softie for you, harlot. I swear he’s been giving me the stink eye since I got here.”
Good. So she did notice. But I’m more interested in the nickname. That’s the second time she’s called her a harlot, but from everything I’ve learned about her so far, I can’t see how it fits. Is she that good of an actress?
“He’s just shy. He’ll come around in time.”
Reagan’s phone buzzes, interrupting the inane conversation. I expect Cara to return to her spot on the couch, but she grabs a throw blanket and drapes it across her lap as she settles in to sit with her back resting against the wall. Then she pats the floor. Once.
Twice.
God, the look in her eyes is pure, unreserved affection. Maybe she does have powers because I find myself sitting my ass down on the spot she tapped and resting my head in her lap. The sigh I let out comes from the very depths of my being.
I still don’t think she’s our mate, I tell my hound, who only offers a contented rumble in response.
Reagan gets up to go, saying something about her boyfriend waiting downstairs to pick her up.
She only takes one step toward Cara but then glances at me.
“I’d hug you, but…” She gestures to where my head still rests in Cara’s lap.
I grin, though I’m sure to Reagan it looks more like I’m baring my teeth.
Cara notices and laughs, then rubs my belly. “He’s just smiling, that’s all.”
“Right. Well, if you fall and he eats your dying corpse, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I lick my lips, wondering if Cara tastes as sweet as she smells.
Stop it, I warn my hound, but the damage is done. With my head resting in her lap, all I can think about is what it would be like to devour her.