Page 127 of Beasts of Mine

“That was over there, wasn’t it?” I asked Malek as I nodded toward the bend, recognizing the shape of one enormous tree through the surrounding vegetation.

“Yes.” Malek followed my gaze toward the bend, his voice quieter as cedar sharpened beneath the wet-earth note of his scent.

“Do you want to see it?” I asked Malek, watching him rather than the creek.

“Yes.” Malek considered the question for a moment before standing and holding one hand toward me. “I do.”

I looked at his hand before taking it. The walk downstream only took a few minutes. Everything looked different from this side of knowing. The roots were still there, dark with moisture and tangled against the bank, but without a massive injured leopard wedged beneath them, the space seemed smaller than I remembered. I stopped several feet away.

“You were right there.” I told Malek as I pointed beneath the roots, the memory returning with surprising clarity. “And you looked completely miserable.”

“I was injured.” Malek reminded me as he stood beside me, his thumb rubbing slowly across the back of my hand.

“You also looked offended by everything I did.” I corrected Malek, remembering those golden eyes watching every bandage, every piece of food, and every attempt to make him rest.

“I was not offended by everything.” Malek replied, though his mouth betrayed him.

“You were offended by the chicken.” I told Malek immediately.

“It smelled terrible.” Malek answered, his voice defensive enough that I laughed.

“It was raw chicken.” I reminded Malek as I squeezed his hand. “You were a leopard.”

“I was a leopard with standards.” Malek muttered while looking beneath the roots. Hearing it in his human voice made me picture the stubborn leopard beneath the roots beside the man holding my hand now. I studied the side of his face.

“Why did you keep coming back?” I asked Malek after a moment, allowing the humor to fade naturally. “Really.”

“You asked me to.” Malek looked at me as he gave the simplest answer first, and I knew immediately there was more behind it.

“I asked if you’d be there the next day.” I reminded Malek as I turned fully toward him. “That doesn’t explain every day after that. Especially once you were healed enough that you didn’t need me anymore.” His thumb stopped against my hand. For several seconds, he watched the water moving beyond the roots.

“I liked hearing you talk.” Malek admitted finally, his voice quieter than before. “You talked more when you thought I was only a leopard.”

My face warmed before I could stop it.

“I have already decided not to revisit everything I said in front of Cat.” I told Malek, though the heat in my cheeks probably destroyed whatever dignity I was trying to preserve.

“You complained about your boots for twenty-three minutes one afternoon.” Malek told me as his mouth curved.

“They were rubbing my heel.” I defended myself, lifting our joined hands slightly as if that somehow strengthened my argument.

“You explained several emails to me even though I had no idea what an email was supposed to be.” Malek continued, unmistakably enjoying himself now.

“You could have stopped me.” I reminded Malek, giving our joined hands a small swing between us.

“I didn’t want you to stop.” Malek answered, and the teasing disappeared so quickly that my next response died before I could say it. For a few seconds, neither of us spoke. The creek rushed past beside us.

“You helped me because I was hurt.” Malek turned back toward me, his thumb moving over my hand again. “You didn’t know what I was. You didn’t expect anything from me. At first, you didn’t even know how much I understood. You simply saw something injured and decided it mattered.”

I didn’t have a joke ready for that.

“Malek…” I started softly, my fingers tightening around his, but the look on his face told me he wasn’t finished.

“The first few days, I told myself I was waiting because you were treating the injury.” Malek kept his eyes on mine, cedar deepening around us as the memory unfolded. “Then I was healed enough to leave. I still went back. I knew roughly when you would arrive, and I started listening for you before you were close enough to see.”

“You waited for me.” I said softly, the memory of finding him beneath the same roots again and again suddenly carrying a different weight.

“Yes.” Malek answered as his fingers tightened slightly around mine. “And once I started expecting you, I started thinking about the day you wouldn’t come back.” His fingers tightened around mine, but he didn’t argue with the fact that I would leave. He only looked worried in a way I hadn’t seen from him before, and I leaned one shoulder against the tree beside us.