Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 139178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
The cat extended its paws and arched its back in a luxuriant stretch.
Elena stared at it from her position on the sofa, where she’d just finished feeding Nix ten minutes earlier. “Naasir, that is not a housecat. Not Bengal, not anything.”
“Yes it is. It will stay in the house with the cub and protect it. A housecat.”
Elena looked at Raphael where he stood by the fire for help, but his shoulders were shaking too hard to offer any assistance. “What did you do, kidnap some wild feline’s baby and bring it here?”
The cat yowled up at Naasir, its head turned to expose one very large ear. Pointed and fluffy on the inside, it was not the ear of any known housecat.
“He’s insulted,” Naasir whispered. “Would like me to point out that while he might be a kitten, he would not allow himself to get stolen.”
Elena rocked Nix more because she liked holding him than because he needed it—he was fast asleep. Meanwhile, the cat that wasn’t a housecat looked at her with an affronted expression. “Sorry,” she said, unable to believe she was talking to a cat like it understood her—but then again, it was a friend of Naasir’s. “Blame it on surprise.”
Apparently mollified, the cat padded over to put its—enormous—forepaws on the arm of the sofa so it could peer at the babe. Elena held Nix closer to it, because one thing she knew—whatever Naasir had brought them, it wouldn’t harm their child.
The cat sniffed at the baby before dropping down to prowl around the room, including twining through Raphael’s legs.
“Seriously,” Elena hissed under her breath at Naasir, while Andromeda pressed her lips together and tried to look innocent. “Did you talk a feral creature into pretending to be tame?”
He shrugged. “He’s interested in life in a stronghold, and in a Tower, and he likes cubs. One of his forefathers was a friend to my cubs and didn’t eat any of them.”
Elena swore the not-housecat cackled at that.
Sprawling on the sofa beside her, from where he could boop the baby on the nose, Naasir said, “Don’t worry, Ellie. He’ll protect your cub and be his friend. I promise.”
Sighing, Elena gave in to the idea that she’d be living with a not-housecat for the foreseeable future. “What’s his name?”
Naasir looked over and made some very not-human—but very feline—sounds.
Got sounds back.
“He doesn’t have a name you can say,” he said. “But he’s happy to respond to a name you give him.”
Elena narrowed her eyes as the not-housecat jumped up onto the sofa and curled up on her other side. “I think I’ll call you Bengal, then, since you’re pretending to be one.”
This time the not-housecat definitely laughed a huff-huff laugh, while Naasir grinned, his silver eyes bright against the tiger stripes that rippled under the rich dark of his skin. He’d kept her going for a long, long time about his exact species, but even now that she knew he was a chimera, she preferred to call him a “tiger creature”—that was far more indicative of his personality.
“No more pets,” Raphael said at last, lips curved but in a tone that said he was serious. “Not without checking with us.”
Naasir nodded. “That’s what Andi said when I brought the boys puppies.”
“They were wolf pups!” Andromeda protested.
Raphael turned away to face the fire, his hands braced on the mantle as he struggled not to laugh again.
“Wait,” Elena said, her own lips twitching, “will Bengal be lonely by himself in the city?” He no doubt had family in and around the Refuge—along with a friend in Naasir.
“No. He wants to travel, see the world.” Naasir booped Nix again, who grabbed at his finger with his tiny hands. “He’ll make it clear if he wants to return to the Refuge.”
At this point, Elena wasn’t sure Naasir wasn’t pulling her leg with the sentient cat schtick, but then the cat lifted its head and made a purring sound at her, as if reassuring her it would be fine, and she decided to drop the subject, and instead—after passing the baby to Naasir—began to stroke the not-housecat’s plush fur.
It flicked its tail lazily.
54
We will be staying here. Near our family.
—Majda (Once, on Meeting her First Great-Grandchild)
Their separations during the times Raphael had to be at the Tower during that first year were made easier by the support structure around them on either end.
Elena missed her archangel each and every night they were apart, but to have Eve, and her grandparents, and Zoe—who’d managed to visit more after Aegaeon seemed to mellow following the births—with her over that year…it was a gift.
Zoe rocking Nixie all through the day when he had a bad spell, her long legs eating up the paths around the Refuge with the Legion for company.
Eve swaddling the baby as she told her nephew stories of their family.