Pushing his bedroom door open, Kaif’s head snaps up, and he looks at me. I had to reign in my composer, my jaw nearly hitting the floor at the sight before me.
Kaif moves on the bed, half crouched over Marabella, about to pounce and attack me. Swallowing down my fear, I turn my back on him and shut the door, and quickly turn back to face him. His eyes watch my every move as I move toward him.
He sniffs the air, and I look at Marabella fast asleep as he crouches over the top of her. The sheets tear under his claws as he flexes his fingers and growls at me.
“You want to risk waking her just so you can attack me?” I whisper.
“She won’t wake; he knocked her out,” Kaif startles me by answering. I expected a growl or some baring of teeth, maybe being tossed through a wall or out the window, but not actual words from the brute. Seems he is full of surprises when Marabella is around.
“She is mine,” he growls so low and deep that goosebumps rise on my arms and a tremor runs through me.
“Now that’s debatable,” I tell him, stepping closer, trying to keep my movements slow enough that he doesn’t see me as a threat.
His calculating eyes watch me and his upper lip pulls back to show sharp gleaming teeth. “No, mine.”
He moves again as I try to get closer to her, one of his claws pressing into the pillows beside her face as he shifts his weight, getting ready to attack me if I move too close.
“Kaif, let me check on her,” I snap at him.
“She is safe with me; I won’t hurt her.”
“Not intentionally, but your claws.” I point to the pillow.
“I am very aware of where my mate is,” he says, cocking his head to the side to stare at me.
“Kyan?” I ask him, and he growls.
“He does not keep her. He was going to reject her, take her memory away.” I wonder what memory he is speaking of, but I will have to wait to get answers from Kyan.
“Ah, that’s why you are here,” I tell him, and he huffs out a breath. It feels weird having a conversation with the beast that usually tosses me around like a rag-doll.
“Yet, you haven’t marked her,” I tell him, glancing under his arm that is shielding her.
“He thinks me kill her.” I needed to get him a dictionary. He’s missing a few words, but I rather have a few missing words from his vocabulary than his fists.
“And what do you think?”
“I think he wrong, she strong. She has the same power. We are equal.”
“Well, that is something we both agree on. I think so too,” I tell him, and he watches me.
“You think too,” I nod. I step right up next to the bed, and he growls as I reach my hand to brush some of her hair back, but he moves back to the other side, watching me like he is debating whether to rip my arm off or not.
“You tell Kyan I not kill her.” I nod.
“I can tell Kyan,” I tell him, and he nods.
“But I won’t unless?”
“Unless what?” He snarls, moving to swat my hand away, and I smack his nose. He growls, gripping his muzzle in both clawed furry hands and sneezing.
“Bless you.” I chuckle, and he growls at me, baring his teeth. I point to Mara, then hold a finger to my lips as she stirs. Kaif stops growling and sniffs her face before licking her cheek. I blink at him. He is more animalistic than human, but seeing him lick her makes me cringe. Not that Jax wouldn’t, but he didn’t look like a Werewolf, some version of half man, half beast, so it is shocking also to see him be so gentle. I never thought Kaif was capable of being gentle.
“You sniff her butt next and I’m out.”
“You humans disgusting sniffing butts. I not sniff butts. I, not an animal,” says the animal that just licked her, I thought to myself.
“As I was saying, I help you convince Kyan to mark her. I want something in return,” I tell him.
“No, I know you want what’s mine, mine, not yours.”
“No, I don’t want to take her; she can be ours.”
“No, mine,” I roll my eyes.
“You know what your issue is. You were an only child, never taught to share your toys,” I tell him.
“And you, you is thief, you try to covet what’s mine.”
“Ours,” I correct.
“Mine,” I sigh and shake my head.
“See, that’s what I mean, spoiled brat raised with a silver spoon in your mouth when you should have been raised with a wooden one on your ass.”
“You want my help? I want her too. Or-”
“Or?” Kaif says, glancing down at Marabella as she rolls into him. He freezes, watching her, moving his knee and she tosses her arm over him.
“Or I take her. You can’t kill me, Kaif; you and I both know it, so what will it be?”
“No, ask for something else,” he demands.
“It’s a win-win. Either way, you’re stuck with me. I am already bonded with you. Me being bonded to her will help keep her safe.”
“You want blood tie to her?”
“I want a mate bond with her. I want to be her mate with you.”
“Me not mating you, is this why you want put wooden spoon in my ass?” Kaif snarls. Fuck, it is like talking sign language when neither of us spoke the same language, and he is suddenly half baboon. I shake my head.
“No, her mate, I don’t want to be yours, so no spoons going in asses or anything in asses,” I spit at him.
“I not mate you,” he growls menacingly.
“No, I mate her,” I tell him, pointing at Mara.
“Easy Jonah, back off,” Jax warns when Kaif trembles.
“No, mine.”
“You can bond with her first; that’s fine, I just want her. I don’t care how I have her or when, I just want your promise to let me keep her with you,” I whisper-yell at him, and Marabella moves on the bed again. Her eyes flutter and Kaif lifts his hand. He mutters something in a foreign language and gently caresses her face with his claws.
His magic causes black veins to spread across her face. Within seconds of touching her, her face goes slack and her eyes close, and she is asleep again. He appears to think, and I am almost tempted to go back into his head to get a feel for what he is thinking as he continues to watch her.
“You make Kyan mark her?” he asks, glancing at me. He hooks his claw under a piece of hair, pulling it from her lip so daintily it is the oddest thing to see, like watching someone try to pick up a bit of hair with chopsticks. I reach over when it falls from his fingers, moving it and he eyes me.
“Can I?” I ask, motioning to the bed.
“Can you what?” I huff and just sit next to her. After a few seconds, he seems to settle, and I have a feeling I will be sleeping with one eye open tonight. He curls his massive body around hers like a bloody cat, half pulling her on top of him. I sigh and lie down next to them.
“Don’t eat me,” I tell him. He huffs, but eventually, I hear him purring, making me crack an eye open to see if I am actually hearing him and not a mini chainsaw somewhere in the room.
Satisfied it is him, I close my eyes, draping my arm across Marabella. After a minute or so of my arm remaining attached, I figure he is okay with it and I fall asleep.