Creatures

ELEVEN

When Sloane and Micah came back with food, Chrissy decided that was her cue to leave. She walked back to Tristan's house along the dirt paths, and stopped at the front door, taking a deep breath before she walked through.

She made her way to the kitchen, where it sounded like Tristan was cooking something.

Chrissy saw him and swallowed hard. Heat like she had never known bloomed in her stomach. He was looking remarkably handsome without a shirt, his hair pulled away from his face, looking contemplative and stern.

"How's your nose?" She asked softly, leaning against the counter.

His jaw tensed. "Fine."

She fidgeted with a salt shaker. "I'm sorry, by the way. If I didn't say it earlier."

Tristan didn't respond.

"Last year, my dad... He was drunk. Like, really drunk. Came into my room, tried to... Tried to do things." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "And then he did it again. And again. Finally, the last time, I couldn't get him off. I had to scream and Luke had to pull him off of me. So.. So this morning, it's instinctual. I'm sorry. Luke only knows about that last time. No one else knows about the rest."

His face softened somewhat. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

She shrugged. "He didn't really do anything, but it was some scary shit."

He was quiet.

"Um, you know Jasper, right?"

He nodded. "My right hand man. He kept the fort down this last time I was overseas."

"We kinda need Katheryn. Ryn."

His brows furrowed. "We?"

She purses her lips. "You are now entering the vow of sibling secrecy."

He chuckled. "Okay. I can do that."

"Sibling secrecy is even deeper than pinky swears." She told him.

He shook his head. "I am a sibling. I know."

"Alex is gay."

He laughed. "Very funny, that player-" Tristan looked at her, cut himself off. "You're not kidding." He tried to grapple with that statement. "I-um..." he rubbed his forehead, looking down at the counter. "It's not unheard of in this world, if a little complicated. I'm assuming this is a mate thing." He looked back up at her.

She nodded. "He thinks that my best friend Ryland is his mate. But A, we're not entirely sure because Alex met him when he was eleven, and B, we don't know what he is because he was adopted as a baby."

He contemplated for a moment. "And why do we think Ryland is his mate?"

"They kissed." She responded.

She sighed. "Yeah, that's pretty indicative. We can get Ryn, keep it on the down-low."

Chrissy's face felt warm. She ignored it. "What is that?"

He shrugged. "Steak. It was easy." Tristan looked at her and smirked. "Getting hot?"

She sneered at him. "No."

"It only gets worse."

Tristan finished up with dinner and they talked about mostly trivial things while they ate. She had lots of questions about life here, mythics, the book.

He started to clean up and Chrissy collapsed on the couch and picked up the book. She read a few pages before Tristan came over and told her to move. She was too scared as to what might happen if they actually touched that she sat up at his first request.