Approaching it cautiously, I wondered how difficult it was to get into one. I heard it was good to sleep in, but all I could picture was me flipping over. And how were we supposed to have sex in it? Because I had a lot of plans to have sweaty hot sex with Alijah. While I was all for adventure, I wasn’t up to falling out and hurting my butt or back.
“Screw it.” I went for it and tried to climb up. It was rocky, and I kept feeling like I was going to flip. Just as I was getting settled, I must have shifted wrong because it went to topple me over. Arms grabbed my waist, and Alijah pulled me away before I landed on my face.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Playing with your hammock.” I smirked and wiggled my eyebrows at the silly innuendo. “Why do you have one?”
The corner of his mouth curled up into a boyish smirk. “Helps with insomnia.”
“I bet it does.” I probably should have been embarrassed or something, but the huge grin on his face made it all work it. “And sex? How does that work?”
He flashed teeth in a challenging smile. “Would you like to find out?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even hesitate. I really really wanted to find out.
“Then maybe, if our date goes well enough, you will.” He reached up and grabbed a strand of my hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “I know at least ten different ways, and I’m open to exploring more.”
“Damn. You don’t play fair.”
“Well, since you have control over the date, I need control over something.”
“Oh? Is this how it works?” I asked.
“It is for me. Shall we go?”
I could only nod because I was dangerously close to pushing him onto the hammock to jump him. Of course, I’d fail because it could only end in disaster if I attacked him now.
After he locked up, I managed to time it perfectly so that I could open the door for him. He paused, stared at me, then at the seat with a frown.
“My date,” I reminded him.
He nodded and jumped in. Before he could reach for the door to close it, I did it for him. As I climbed into the driver’s seat, there was no way to get rid of the triumphant grin on my face.
“Why are we headed back toward your house?” he asked.
“Because there’s a spot I want to take you to.” We turned off onto a dirt road I had found shortly after moving into my new home. The sun was low in the sky so I grew a little nervous, worried we were going to miss it.
“Please tell me you didn’t come out here on your own,” Alijah said.
“Okay, I didn’t.”
“You just lied.”
I shrugged. “I only said what you wanted me to say. Not my fault if it ended up being a lie.”
“This is dangerous.”
“Whose date is this?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Mine. That means I get to choose the location. Be glad I’m showing you something that made me think of you. Don’t spoil it with your overprotective mumbo jumbo.” I parked and turned off the truck. “Besides, I put up a ward. Anything with bad intent won’t make it past it when we get there. We’re going to be safe.”
That seemed to help him relax.
Acknowledging his release of control, I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. I promise, you’re going to like it.”
His expression softened. “If you say so.”
I grinned and hopped out, going to the back seat and grabbing everything.
He went to grab the basket, but I turned away so he couldn’t take it from me. “You get to carry the blanket.”
“Let me carry the basket. It’s heavier.”
“Which is why I get to carry it.”
“Aren’t you going a little too far with this?” he asked.
I frowned at him, my expression going serious. “Not at all. I need to know that when I need it, you are capable of relinquishing all the control to me.”
My words had him pausing and considering what I was saying.
“Okay. Fine.” He moved back, and I pulled out the blanket, handing it over to him. Without any more grumbling or complaining, he dutifully carried the cozy blanket and followed me.
“After moving out here, I made it a habit to go for a walk to make sure I knew the area well. I accidentally found this place when I heard an animal’s cry for help. Turned out a baby tree needed help escaping a trap.”
“A baby tree?” Alijah asked.
“Yeah, those little sapling looking trees. This one moved around.”
“It was a tree spirit.”
“Maybe so, either way, it called out, I answered.” We walked down a narrow dirt path. It was one worn down by animals rather than people. “I came out into this small clearing. It’s gorgeous there and it made me think of you.” I paused and turned to face my date. “Alijah, do you accept this little piece of myself I wish to share with you?”
His expression was serious as he replied, “Always.”
I smiled and continued down the path. “The animals here aren’t as wary with people as they were when we went west. They can be shy, but after a while, when they realize the threat isn’t really a threat, they come out of their shell so to speak. In case you scare them more than normal, I packed some treats that should do the trick.”
“Are we feeding the wild animals?” Alijah asked.
“Yes, we are. Don’t worry, I’m feeding you too.”
It took another fifteen minutes of walking through wild plant life before I found the small clearing I’d been searching for.
“Oh, good, we aren’t late,” I whispered and moved out to the middle of it. The ward I was able to erect tickled my skin as we stepped across, but we both made it safely through. “You can put the blanket on the ground.”
It took a few minutes to get settled, but once we were, I lay back and blinked up at the night sky. Alijah joined me a moment later.
“This is nice,” he whispered, and I could already feel his body relax. The prickliness to his energy smoothed out, softening around the edges.
“Yeah. I feel like I can reach right up there and grab the stars. Though this isn’t why I brought you here.”
“Then why?”
“Relax. Enjoy the view. They need to realize you won’t eat them. You are a predator after all. Hopefully, with me here, they won’t be as scared.”
“How often have you been here to have them come to you so easily?”
“I’ve been really frustrated lately. This place helps.”
“Laila—”
“Not tonight, Alijah. Tonight, enjoy my gift to you, enjoy this piece I’d like to share with you.”
He blew out a breath and shifted over so his arm brushed against mine.
“Siitha likes to come with me. If they’re willing to come out with him around, then they’ll come out with you here too.” I gave him something to help calm the protective side of him, and it worked as he calmed more.
“Fair enough.”
After a few more minutes, I sat up, and with slow, deliberate movements, opened up the warmer that held all the food, and pulled out a small clear baggy full of warmed raw meat. My senses picked up on the creature as she slowly emerged, eyeing Alijah warily.
“Meet Ulla,” I whispered, not wanting to spook her. The gorgeous creature was a cross between a deer and a horse with its tall winding antlers. At the very ends of each branch was a small light, no doubt to lure in their prey. The rest of her reminded me a bit of hyenas with the way their hair traveled down their silvery body. She had a short tail and patterns of swirls on her fur.
“She’s a mihali.” The awe in Alijah’s voice drew a smile from me.
“Yes. From my research, there are less than a dozen of them left on this planet. At least that we know of. There’s a male nearby, but they haven’t mated yet like their caretakers were hoping. Considering they mate about once every fifty years, I’m not surprised.”
“They’re predators,” Alijah said.
&nbs
p; “They also eat berries if they want. Do they hunt and eat animals raw? Yes. But so do you when you feel like going on a good hunt.” I lifted my hand out with the raw meat, trying my best not to look grossed out. “They go for smaller prey. So as long as we remain bigger than bunnies, I think we’ll be okay. We’re too much work for them.”
Ulla approached slowly, keeping her wary eyes on Alijah. I opened the bag and pulled out the meat. It was hard not to think about how I was handling bloody raw meat. After putting it on the ground, just outside of the blanket, I moved next to Alijah and settled into his side.
“She’s beautiful,” he whispered. “I never thought I’d see one.”
“She’s the brave one, but if you look behind her very carefully, you’ll see the male. He watches over her.” I looked up at him and smiled. “Makes me think of you, always watching over me. Even when I don’t expect it, you’re always there.”
Alijah’s smile was priceless as he looked down at me and then back at the mihali as she came closer and sniffed at the meat. She licked it, eyes still on us. Then she drew it into her mouth and backed away, wary of the possibility of us taking away her bounty or using it as bait to hurt her.
When she was far enough away, the male stepped out and she turned, giving us her back as he glared at us. She disappeared into the shadows and after a moment, he followed after her.
They may not have mated yet, but when it was time, I had no doubt it was going to happen.
“Laila?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you tell me something about your childhood? You don’t talk about it often and when you do, you talk mainly about the good parts before changing topics.”
I shrugged. “There isn’t much to tell. I was moved around a lot.”
“You’re going to be twenty soon. It’s easy to forget that. How did you get to where you are already?”
I thought about his question for a few moments, and he was content to just wait me out. I finally said, “Atasha said elementalists have amazing memories. I guess that’s part of it. But also, with the uncertainty of where I was going to sleep on any given night, I threw myself at school. I picked it up fast, tested out of what I could, and kept fighting to just finish. I had a silly thought that if I could graduate quickly, I could get out of the system faster. They can’t hold me if I have all the knowledge required from school or if I’m able to provide for myself. They couldn’t say anything. So while I was bounced around from home to home, I took the reins on my education and made sure to absorb it all as quickly as I could.”
Ticking off my education in my head, I said, “I was traditional up until I was twelve, then I went the advanced route, tested out what I could. I finished the curriculum by the time I was sixteen, went right into college, testing out of a good chunk of it, so when I was seventeen, almost eighteen, I was able to go right into the PhD program. I already had my thesis in mind, and under the help of Dr. Talven, I was able to finish the program.”
“That’s right, when we met at the park, you had just graduated, right?”
I nodded. “And trying to figure out where to go from there.” I smirked and looked him up and down. “You looked good in the BMS uniform, and I had already heard all about the company. I thanked the Goddess that day that I met you. It motivated me to apply to your company.”
“Glad to be of service.”
After snuggling into Alijah, I was content with just watching the stars. Every so often, a creature approached us, and we were patient as they came closer and I laid out the appropriate foods. The creatures were gorgeous, and my respect for Nature grew. We munched on sandwiches packed for me by Atasha.
A kitty-like creature approached and Alijah stiffened. I patted his chest, slowly moved to the bag and pulled out a massive chunk of meat, easily double what I fed Ulla, with the bone still with it.
“Is that a liger?” Alijah asked in barely a whisper.
“Yes,” I replied.
“You feed a liger?”
I tried to hold back a laugh from the incredulousness that had slipped into his voice.
“We’ve come to an agreement. He gets food from me, but the moment he tries to attack me, his ass is scorched.”
“Laila, he’s a fucking liger. They’re dangerous.”
“Remember the ward I have up,” I said. “Anyone or anything with bad intentions cannot cross. He’s hungry. After our first run-in, I looked up his kind. He’s a runt, probably should have died as a kit. The other ligers are easily twice his size. But he’s a survivor.”
After placing the piece of meat down and moving back to Alijah’s side, I watched him.
Alijah wrapped his arm protectively around me. The liger stiffened and crouched down.
“Relax,” I said in a soothing voice. “No one here wants to harm anyone. Alijah, calm down. He’s just hungry.”
“Then he can go hunt.”
“He tries. I don’t think he does as well as he should. Like I said, he’s a runt.”
Alijah drew in a breath, his chest rising. “He’s a submissive.”
“I think his family left him to die.”
Alijah didn’t respond, but I felt the fight leave his body. The liger took that as an opportunity to approach and take the meat. He backed away until the shadows ate him up.
“See, that wasn’t so hard.”
Alijah didn’t respond, and I looked up at him. His eyes were still focused on the spot where the Liger had disappeared.
“Alijah?”
He shook his head. “Just thinking.”
“About what?”
After pulling me closer, he said, “Seems felines in general have the same instincts, even when they’re different species.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was a runt.” He sighed. “My family was not kind, and I got away as soon as I could. Being a runt leaves you vulnerable, not just because of the weakened state you were born in, but also because the family decides they don’t want to waste resources. I didn’t grow up in a city, I grew up in Asia, in Nature. My whole family was more comfortable in their tiger form than they were in their human form. Living like that, being so close to our animals, it’s wonderful, but dangerous too. My older sister had completely lost her humanity, and if she’s still alive, I’m sure it is as only her tiger.”
“If she’s still alive? When was the last time you saw your family?” There were a million questions I wanted to ask him. He was finally giving me insight into his past, into a piece of him no one knew. I wanted to push, and it took every part of my control not to do it.
“They still live in Asia somewhere. My father was able to claim a nice chunk of territory out there. As soon as I was of age, I took off and made my way here.”
“You think if you stayed, he would have killed you?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in his voice. Nor was there any anger either. For Alijah, it just was, and I found that kind of sad.
I pushed up enough to kiss his jaw. “His fucking loss then because you’re mine now and even if they come here begging on their knees, they don’t get you.”
He kissed me long and hard, his energy dancing across my skin, making my body come alive with his simple touch. When he pulled away, his voice was deeper as he said, “I can get on board with that.” He kissed me again, and we didn’t stop for a while.
I pulled away from him, breathless, my body on fire, needing more. “Time to return you home,” I said. “I promised myself to get everyone home on time.”
He chuckled. “There’s no one who would know if I missed my curfew.”
I kissed him again, loving the feeling of his lips against mine, the way my lips tingled from his touch. “I would know, and while I’d love nothing more than to take your hammock for a ride, that isn’t what tonight is about. Unfortunately.” I groaned. “Why did I make up these silly rules?”
“And why are you following your rules. You’re good at breaking them.”
Narrowing my eyes,
I said, “I don’t break them. I merely find ways to bend them.”
“You break them. Come on then, take me home, Laila.”
“Do I get a goodnight kiss?”
“You definitely deserve one. Tonight was nice. My tiger hasn’t been this relaxed in a long time.”
“Oh darn, I nearly forgot.” I reached into the basket and pulled out a kitty toy, one of the ones that was a feather plush toy on the end of a stick.
“What is that?” Alijah asked.
I smiled. “Just in case your kitty decided to come out to play.”
He blinked a few times and stared dumbly at the toy. I gave it a shake. The thing even had a bell on it to get his attention. He tracked it for a moment, and I snickered.
He blinked and narrowed his eyes at me. I gave the toy another wiggle, and his eyes flickered to it briefly. He caught himself and glowered. “Did you seriously just buy a cat toy for me?”
I gave it a shake again. He crawled toward me.
“I can think of a better toy.” His focus was completely on me, and before I could even make a noise, he had me pinned down, his lower body pressing up against mine. I shifted so he lay between my legs. “You make a much better toy.”
“No.” I squealed as he kissed my neck and then bit down gently. Then he ruined it by blowing a raspberry into my neck. I laughed and shoved him away, wiping at my neck. “Not cool.”
“Not cool is you buying me a toy meant for a house cat.” He got up and then pulled me to my feet.
Packing up was quick, and I giggled through the whole thing. Before I knew it, I was driving him back to his home. When we pulled up to his place, I turned off the car and waited. He sensed I had something to say and waited me out instead of hopping out.
I licked my lips, nervous. “I want to apologize,” I said carefully.
“About the cat toy? You don’t have to.”
I fought a smile. “Alijah.”
He really took in my expression and all humor dripped away from his face. I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. Why were apologies so hard?
“I want to formally apologize for the breach in your privacy. You are right, what I did was wrong. I shouldn’t have taken your files, especially without your knowledge. I promise, I’m going to work on it.”
Magical Collision Page 9
