My eyes slid south over his bulging thighs down to strong calves and humanoid feet, then back up.
“I’m going to take a shower, princess.“ His voice sounded huskier than before as his body suddenly began to move towards and past me.
Oh no, I cringed back. He’d totally caught me staring.
I stood rooted to the spot until he’d vanished in the bathroom and the door had clicked shut behind him, then I flung myself down on the couch. I briefly contemplated going to bed, but I was way too high-strung to sleep now.
When Agnar exited the bath and disappeared in his bedroom, I kept my eyes fixed on the flatscreen TV. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing I wanted to check him out as soon as he was in the room. Yet the knowledge that he had to be clad in barely more than a towel made a blush creep over my cheeks.
Before my inner eye, I saw Agnar standing across the room again. Agnar covered in blood, all hard muscle and smooth scales.
“Want a drink?“ Oh shit, I flinched hard and turned so abruptly that I creaked my neck. He’d pulled on black slim sweatpants and a dark grey frayed pullover much like the one he’d given me. It had been artfully destroyed and made him look more like a supermodel than someone who had just killed three people.
“Drink?“ he prompted again, moving to the fridge and throwing the door open. “Yeah,“ I muttered. He took two bottles out, flipped the overhead lights off so that only the indirect light strips behind the TV illuminated the room, and strode over to where I sat. He flopped down on the sectional, a little away from me but not on the other side like he’d done before, two bottles of cider clutched in his scaly fingers
He wrenched the top off one bottle with his bare hands and held it out to me. My hand brushed his fingers slightly when I took the bottle from him, and a shudder that had nothing to do with the fear I’d felt before travelled down my body. Taking a swig I pulled my feet up on the cushions.
“Are you alright?“ I remembered him asking the same question before, and I hadn’t answered it. “I am, a little shaken, but okay.“ “They’re taken care of, I doubt they’re going to be the last one who’ll come looking for you, but these three are taken care of. You don’t need to worry about them anymore.“
“Did you kill them?“ My voice was barely audible. “Yes,“ he said simply and looked up at me. A slight tremor passed over his upper lip, curling it in a tiny snarl. “You heard what they said about you. They begged me to end them.“
Another shiver travelled down my spine, this time Agnar noticed. “Don’t grieve yourself. I know humans love that. This is what baffles me about your species, you drink down your grief like it is fine wine. Personally, I’ve never liked wine much.“ He drank deeply from his bottle of pear cider, then took a deep, shuddering breath.
