𝙰 𝚅𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜'𝚜 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕...

Coincidence? I Think Not...

Dedicate to:  fantasyplaces17

When Boots and I reach the group, we see them all sitting around a now blazing fire. There's an open seat in between Harley and Nina so I start to move towards it. Nina spots me first and jumps up.

"Oh my God, he's gorgeous!" She squeals and I smile, figuring my brother must have already told them to avoid shocking them when I showed up with a predator that looks like he belongs in The Jungle Book. I grin as she gestures me over. I see Kimberly glance nervously at Boots which makes me kinda wish he would shift into something a little less intimidating. As if hearing my thought, a puff of black smoke explodes and when it clears, a small ebony fox sits in the place of the panther. I smile, deciding to read up on Sÿvi's more in case they can communicate telepathically or based on feelings. Or if it was solely coincidence. However that seems unlikely. Coincidences like that, that on point don't happen. I smile at Boots as I walk over to Nina, Harley, Kimber and Jaya and move to sit down in the space between Harley and Nina. However, just as I'm about to Nina shifts over so she's next to Harley and leaving the only empty space on her left now. The space next to Kade. I look at her, eyes narrowed and she shrugs,

"I was getting too hot by the fire."

"You said you were cold two seconds ago." Kade's voice is steely and Nina turns to him,

"Well now I'm not."

Kade's eyes narrow, "How convenient."

Nina grins as if sarcasm wasn't clothing his words. "Well I'm glad you think so. Now come on Lexi, sit down hmm?" She pats the log and I sigh but decide making a bigger deal would make her tease me more so I do sit down, inching more near her than to Kade. However, turns out Boots had a different idea. He hops onto the log and straight into Kade's lap. Kade's eyes widen as he looks down along with everyone else to see Boots, still in fox form, lie down, stretching out so his neck and head are on my lap while his hind legs and most of his lower stomach is on Kade's.

"Why..." Kade starts but I don't have an answer for him. 

"I don't know. I think Boots just does weird things sometimes." I shrug, and Kade looks down at Boots, then back to me, eyes shining with amusement and something else.

"You named him Boots?"

I open my mouth, trying to think of a witty mean comeback but no sound comes out. Luckily Nina says, "Well, clearly he likes you bro.'" I look over to her, starting to smile because she had saved me from answering Kade. However then she adds, "Coincidence? I think not. I mean, Boots is  like his owner after all."

My eyes widen and I feel my gratitude slip away. So much for saving me... I close my eyes and decide to just ignore that comment.

I hear Kade choke slightly too but he turns his attention to just playing with Boots's ear, placing one long slender finger behind it and stroking the fur in a way that causes Boots to make a soft purring sound. I can't help smile and Kade grins too. I look to him and my breath catches in my throat. He's looking at the fire and it's causing the lime green flecks in his eyes to glow, sizzle and burst to life, as if a roaring fire itself existed in them. As if the only thing that's separating it from escaping is the thin clear green casing of his iris. It's the type of fire that looks warmer than the one we're sitting in front of right now. The one he's staring at. In his eyes there seems to be a fire that looks constant, as if even in the strongest wind, the heaviest snow storm, the worst tsunami — it would survive, it would keep burning, it would keep the world warm when everything turned to cold. I almost have the urge to reach out and touch it but even though I'm the girl that grew up playing with fire, those fires aren't the type that I can control. Those are fires that I shouldn't go near. Just then Kade turns his head and looks to me. My eyes widen as I avert my gaze, biting my lip and shutting my eyes. Damn. He totally caught me staring. I feel a tap on my shoulder and I peak an eye open to see Nina. Her gaze sparkles with happiness.