Dear Tempting

Splinters

Reid had just finished pulling herself up onto the dock when she heard footsteps coming up behind her. In a panic, she dove back into the water and peered up at the surface. Xavier's head popped into view with a smirk on his face, distorted by the water's surface, and Reid sighed in relief.

"Sorry," he said quietly when she resurfaced. He watched her tail flick in the water behind her like an agitated cat, emerald shimmering in the morning light like stars.

"It's okay," Reid said placing her hands on the dock ready to lift herself out. Her ivory skin dripped with cool salted water.

As her body came into view, he couldn't help but notice how the water fell away from her body like something out of one of his sister's Cosmo magazines. Her red hair looked like blood running down her creamy torso, her skin slick with water and her rounded breasts almost visible under the layers of that red, red hair. She seemed chilled he noted with a flick of his tongue against his fangs.

They hadn't spoken since his abrupt exit last night but the tension between them was almost audible. It reminded Reid of swimming in water rather than walking amongst the air, thick. Every time they passed one another or were in the same room they would avoid looking at one another for too long. Xavier seemed to radiate irritation.

Reid had been staying in Beka's room but she knew she had felt Xavier outside her door a few times throughout the night, watching her through the crack in the door. She didn't roll to meet his eyes during any of his visits. She had spooked him last night somehow and he was merely trying to figure out what about her was bothering him. Curiosity would kill the cat.

Reid noticed Xavier watching her intently and she looked away from his blazing eyes. They scorched her skin like molten hands. There was a type of kelp that on the ocean floor that was just that shade of green. It was normally used to cause paralysis.

She sat on the end of the dock, back to him, and Xavier watched her carefully as she tried to maneuver herself. She smiled inwardly at herself before pulling the robe off of the post behind her and fastening it around her waist - her green tail still out and laying on the dock.

"About last night," Xavier started but Reid cut him off. She pulled her hair out from under the robe flicking droplets of water against his low ridden jeans.

"Is this one of those, it's not you, it's me, kind of things?" Reid said raising an eyebrow and peering at him over her shoulder. Her emerald eyes caught the light.

Xavier looked away, "I guess it is."

Reid smiled at him, "Coward." She proceeded to ring out her hair.

Xavier looked at her sharply. "Coward?"

Reid nodded, the water from her hair soaking the dock.

"How am I the coward?" Xavier asked, skeptical. "You just leaped off the dock like a panicked seal." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"And you ran because you touched my face?" Reid asked getting more serious.

Xavier looked out over the water. He couldn't concentrate when she looked at him like that. "No," he said shortly.

"Then why?" Reid pressed on, turning to face him more, searching his face for answers. Now she was the curious one. But she wasn't a cat. She was a lion.

"I don't want to hurt you, Reid," he said, chastising.

Reid found this statement kind of ridiculous. She was the more gruesome creature, and she was the one being hunted for throne and blood. In any situation, she was more likely to cause more harm to his family and him then he could ever cause to hers. Hell, he couldn't swim deep enough to catch a sand shark.