Chapter 2 #3
“How’s it going, Aelia? Enjoying the celebrations so far?” He rolled the pastry between his fingers, the sugary coating falling onto the perfectly white cloth covering the table.
“What do you want, Shiva?” Aelia had never had time for his games.
He was a Lynx, one of several in the village due to their proximity to the mountains.
Typically, smaller towns and villages tended to hold families who changed into species that could be found in the local environment.
Of course, there were a few families who had migrated and settled from other areas, but most families in the forest had been there for generations.
Aelia had heard that cities were completely different, with artemians of all shapes and sizes living harmoniously, but the nearest city was far farther than she had ever travelled.
“Why would I want anything? Maybe I just wanted to see if you needed any help.” He smiled, a smug, oily thing that just begged to be knocked right off his face with a well-placed right hook. But now was neither the time, nor the place. So, she just smiled a saccharine sweet smile.
“I wouldn’t need your kind of help if you were the last man left in the forest. Now stop messing up my table and kindly fuck off.”
Shiva tutted, feigning disappointment as he threw the pastry into the undergrowth. “You have such a filthy tongue. One of these days you’re going to have to let me see what else it can do.”
Shivers literally rolled down her spine at the thought, and she made no attempt to hide it.
“Baby, I’d rather blow a pinecone. Now, where do we stand with you fucking off?” She crossed her arms and waited, her expression carefully neutral.
“Another time then.” He winked, completely unfazed, and sauntered away to become someone else’s problem.
Aelia started brushing the worst of the mess he’d made off the tablecloth. Shiva had been obnoxious even as a child, but when his second form turned out to be an apex predator, he became outright insufferable.
Sure, he might want to get into Aelia’s pants, but she knew it was only because she’d be a particularly challenging notch to add to his already heavily chipped belt.
She’d never slept with anyone in the village, and nor did she intend to.
She didn’t need anything long-term, and it was far too small a place for things to get awkward if feelings got in the way of anything casual, so she had whatever fun she could with visitors passing through.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and her eyes shot up to see the man with the fire standing across the clearing, staring right at her.
He was no less imposing in the daylight; the aura of the man screamed danger at anyone brave or stupid enough to look his way.
The trouble was, once she’d looked, she found it nearly impossible to stop.
She had no idea how long they both stood there, neither of them moving, but it was far longer than it was socially acceptable to stare at a stranger.
Yet she couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.
Every cell in her body was trained on him, taking in the way his inky black hair tumbled over his ears, the way his brows pressed together in a frown.
His dark, devouring eyes burned into her with an intensity that had every nerve in her body screaming at her to get away—and yet she didn’t, she couldn’t.
Whatever it was making her brain glitch shattered as a crash behind her made her jump out of her skin.
“Look what you did?” Shiva was yelling. His clothes were covered in food, brown chunks dripping down him onto the floor. Mirra stood open-mouthed and horrified in front of him, a tray hanging empty in her hands.
“I’m so sorry,” she muttered, leaning to help him wipe it off. He recoiled.
“Don’t touch me.” He spat. Mirra withered under his look of pure disgust. “As if you haven’t done enough, you filthy freeloader.”
Aelia’s blood boiled. She rushed across the clearing to get to Mirra, fully prepared to tear the contemptuous moron limb from limb. Fortunately, Otis beat her to Mirra’s side.
Even with one arm, he was a force to be reckoned with. He grabbed Shiva’s hand and twisted harshly, slamming him face-first into the table and pinning him there with his arm wrenched painfully behind his back.
“No one in this village uses language like that.” His voice remained calm, but fury flashed in his eyes.
“It is vile and beneath us all, even someone like you. If I hear so much as a whisper of such sentiments from you again, I’ll make sure you join me in the one-armed club.
” He leant on the arm meaningfully and Shiva hissed through bared teeth.
Aelia bit her cheek to control her smile, moving to stand next to a shocked Mirra.
Point well and truly made, Otis released Shiva. He whirled around, but when he spotted Otis’s hand on the dagger at his hip, he froze. Shiva looked around at everyone watching and curled his lip in a snarl, before slinking away to lick his wounded ego.
“You alright, Mirra?” Otis said gruffly.
She nodded, smiling shyly, aware of the scene they’d caused and the many eyes on them. Aelia gave her a quick hug, and neither of them spoke another word about it. As usual.
When Aelia glanced back to where the man with the fire had been standing, he was gone. She clenched her jaw against the rush of disappointment. She had to get a grip.
The hustle and bustle picked up around them as the people drawn by the incident got back to work, and Aelia tried her best to forget about the whole thing, menacing stranger included.