He needed her near just as much as she did. His thoughts were frozen, and he became useless if he couldn’t look at her. All he wanted was to see her, to hear her voice – to know that she was his and she was okay because he was hers.
She didn’t say anything. She just stepped a little closer, and breathed in the scent of him. He hugged her and took in the smell of her shampoo.
This was his, and he was never going to go without it – without her – again.
They didn’t do much else after that kiss. They went to Cain’s room and went to bed. Nora hardly looked anywhere away from Cain, not that he would let her our of arm’s length.
Cain couldn’t help but think that she fit perfectly in his arms against his chest. Their bodies were like two puzzle pieces only meant to fit with each other. Even his dragon purred happily.
I want more, it begged.
Not now. Later, when we’ve had time to explain things. Cain compromised with the dragon.
In the morning, Cain woke early to make breakfast. He wanted everything to be perfect, to give Nora every reason to come back. It wasn’t until Ashton bounded into the room that Cain realized he would have to explain the reason for Nora’s staying the night.
Cain was beginning to the set the table when Nora came down the stairs. Ashton saw her and, wide-eyed, said, “You’re still here?”
Nora laughed. It was the sound of a wind chimes blessing the atmosphere. “Yes, I did.”
“Where did you sleep?” Ashton looked between his dad and Nora.
Nora ruffled Ashton’s hair. “It looks like you’ve already made your guesses.”
Ashton flattened his lips to think about what this might mean, but he dutifully nodded his head. “Okay, but don’t make things weird for me at school.”
“Okay,” Nora said laughing.
It was a breath of fresh air to watch Nora and Ashton interact. He was thankful Ashton accepted the situation. He went with it easily, and Cain was happy he didn’t have to explain things any further.
Breakfast was the easiest meal the three of them had had together. Nora slowly started asking question, and Cain would answer as truthfully as he could. He wanted to be honest with Nora, and he wanted her to know everything.
“What happened to Ashton’s mom?” she asked, only looking askance at Ashton.
“She passed away. I do not like to recall the circumstances of her death.” She dove in without any hesitation.
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking down at her plate.
He reached across to touch her hand. “Don’t be. Someday, I’ll tell you, just not right now.”
She smiled, pleased with his answer. “What is it that you do?” she asked next.
“What do you already know about it?” he countered.
“Ashton told me it’s super private and secretive.” She winked at Ashton.
“I’m a private investigator. It goes a little deeper than that, but that’s the super private and secretive part that I can’t tell you about.” He winked at her.
Nora laughed. “Alright. Fair enough.”
The conversations were easy and normal. Cain was surprised by how easy and open he was able to be. He liked it.
Telling her about being shifters was not a breakfast conversation, though. In fact, it was never a conversation Cain had had to have with a non-shifter before. Ashton’s mom had been a dragon, and all of Cain’s friends were shifters of some kind.
The time he told Nora about it would have to wait. She began scarfing down her breakfast and dashed to the door. Cain and Ashton were quick to follow behind her.
“My car; I’ll take you today,” Cain said.
“What?” Nora looked at him, wondering if that was okay.
“I can’t risk you choosing not to come back for dinner.” Once it was said, Cain realized that was a legitimate fear he had. What if she chose to make last night a one-time thing?
“Okay,” she said. She had chosen to return; Cain felt hope swell in his chest.
When they arrived, Cain walked them to the door. He wasn’t sure if he should hug Nora, kiss her a good day, or if he should have stayed in the car, but he wanted to be in Nora’s presence for as long as possible. Instead, he put his hands in his pockets, and smiled to say goodbye.
“When should I pick you both up?” he asked.
“Five?” Nora looked down at Ashton. “Yeah, five should give us time to do some homework and lesson planning here.”
Before Cain could say okay, a student walked up with a small shoebox under her arm. The girl said, “Miss Nora, someone asked me to give this to you.”
“Thank you, Mary,” Nora said. When she opened the box she dropped it and backed away with a gasp, clutching her hand to her chest.
Cain was quick to grab Ashton’s arm and pull the boy behind him. Looking down, he saw a bird with its neck twisted and a note tied to its ankle. He bent down and took the scroll off to read.
It was written in a child’s scrawl and said, ‘Maybe now you’ll get the message!’
Cain looked up at Nora. “What does this mean?” All of his affection for her was quickly overridden by worry and anger.
He watched as Nora shook her head, gasping for air, and to find the right words to say. “I don’t know. This hasn’t happened before.”
There was more? “What has happened before?” Cain closed the box and stood up, keeping it tucked under his arm.
“Oh god, throw that away,” Nora begged.
“No. This is evidence. We need it.”
“Nora!” Principal Morrison walked out waving four white envelopes in his hand. “Leaving these on my desk will not convince me they are worth looking into!”
Cain snatched them from his hand and opened each one. As he read the same message four times, Nora said, “What are you talking about? Mine are in my desk?”
“Show me,” Cain said. He grabbed Nora’s wrist, frantic to see what else she had received.
The walk through the hallway to her office seemed like miles. The halls dragged by and grew as if they were walking on the inside of a worm’s belly. Cain felt cramped in the school. It only made him angrier. He felt all of the heat within him was being compressed and would explode at any moment.
Nora was quick to pull the letters from her desk. Cain laid them all out on a student’s desk and looked at each one. They were identical, so he knew it was only one person targeting Nora.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” he growled.
“Why should I have?” Nora folded her arms and looked at him. “Nothing gave me enough reason to worry.”
Principal Morrison rolled his eyes. “Please, you’ve brought every single letter to me more worried than the last one.”
“Why haven’t you reported these?” Cain glared daggers at the principal. How come he didn’t take these seriously?
“I assumed they were just a joke,” he said.
Now fumes were rising from Cain. “A joke or not, each threat like this should be reported.”
“How would you know?” Principal Morrison crossed his arms, looking smug as if he was the smartest man in the world.
“I know because I’m a PI.” Cain grabbed the letters and put them on top of the box.