How many of you are Callum fans?
I'm thinking of making this month's extra about him...
As I was coming home from work, I had a pretty good idea of how my evening would go: instant meal for dinner with the TV on for background noise, go for a jog with Bear, come home and take a shower, go to bed. I anticipated some impatient barks from Bear as I'd come home too late the previous night to take him out; what I didn't anticipate was to open my front door and see Aleksei Maksimoff sprawled on my couch in all his inhuman appeal, and - thankfully - clothed.
The paper bag with the four instant meals slipped through my fingers and smashed onto the floor as I stood frozen under the doorframe.
Alec had the gall to raise an eyebrow at me as if I was reacting in some peculiar manner to him breaking into my apartment.
Breaking in.
Willing my limbs to move, I crouched and quickly checked the lock on my door; there were some faint scratches, but I couldn't tell if they were new or not. How had he gotten in?
And how did he know where I lived?
And why was he here?
And where... Where was Bear?
I shot up, frantically looking about my apartment.
That was when I noticed a large, silvery grey cat, sitting on my kitchen counter, its haughty gaze cast down towards my Bear, who was uncharacteristically quiet as he looked up at the feline with unrestrained curiosity, his tail sweeping the floor.
"You brought your cat." Out of all the ridiculous things - having Alec in my home, having him break in - the cat was just the last straw on the pile of 'What the Hell is happening?!'
"Yes, and your dog has been annoying us both," the blond devil remarked nonchalantly. "I barely got him to shut up. He was so excited to see us; some guard dog you have."
"To shut up?" I lurched inside until I was standing in front of him. "What did you do to my dog?"
"I just glared at him for a few seconds, he whined, sat on his furry ass, and shut his trap," he explained in a very disinterested tone.
"You... You glared at my dog?" I groundout through gritted teeth.
"He was annoying me," the devil annunciated slowly, as if speaking to a particularly mentally impaired individual.
"Out." I growled, my hands rounding into shaky fists.
He didn't move.
"Out." I repeated, louder, and got a sigh in response.
"Don't you want to know what I'm doing here?"
The word 'out' almost slipped out of my mouth for a third time in about a minute, but wishing to know the reasoning behind this intrusion, I replaced it with "Speak." Apparently, one-word sentences were all I could muster at the moment.
"I was bored," he said, simply, as if that was a valid explanation.
I gaped at him, my fists loosening in my astonishment.
He was bored?
He broke into people's homes, because he was bored?
I should report him.
No.
I should arrest him. Right here, on the spot.
Arrest him for breaking and entry, and for that God awful, devilish smirk he was aiming my way. And while I was at it: arrest him for that pair of skinny black jeans. They were so tight, they were obscene.
There had got to be a law against that!
There wasn't, of course, and I realized I was being irrational for everything but the breaking in. Still, I wished to punish him, to show him that he couldn't always get away with doing as he pleased.
And apparently, what pleased him right now was to look pointedly at the area below my belt, which, with me standing and him half lying on my couch, was at about his eyelevel.
I cleared my throat and put some distance between us, taking a couple of steps back. Here I was, flustered and blushing again in his presence.
I'd promised myself not to do that. I'd promised myself to build an immunity against that hellish charm, even if that meant...
I huffed.
Even if that meant spending time with him.
And here he was, giving me the opportunity to do just that.
The Sentinel in me demanded that I cuffed Alec and drove back to HQ with him in the back of my car; the me who was tired of being ashamed of my knees going week when the hybrid was around insisted that I invite him to dinner.
That was when I remembered the instant meals. Turning around, I found them where they'd fallen: under the still opened front door. I walked away from Alec, picked them up, and headed for the kitchen area.
"How about I make us dinner and we watch TV?" I asked, not looking back at him as I was unfortunately still too disconcerted to meet his eyes.
Baby steps, I told myself as I put the paper bag on the counter next to the large feline. I'd planned to nudge the animal so it would jump down, but now that I was close to it, my courage failed me again.
The cat and Alec didn't look alike - species aside, their color scheme was different with the feline having a silver coat and vivid green eyes, and the guy almost white blond hair and very pale grey blinkers - but they both exuded superiority and one had the unsettling feeling in the pit of their stomach that either of the two could pounce on you at any given moment, simply because they felt like it.
A low whimper came from the direction of my feet and I lowered my gaze to Bear, who kept switching his attention from me to the cat, one paw extended forward in a plea.
Did he want me to bring the feline down so he could play with it or to remove it from his territory?
Bear being Bear, it had to be the former.
And damn it, this was my kitchen! If I didn't want a cat on my counter - which was most definitely the case - then there should be no cat on my counter.
I lightly pushed the feline, vaguely noting that its coat was far smoother than Bear's, and painfully aware that the creature didn't move an inch.
It just gave me the same arrogant look as I was used to getting from its owner and once again I was struck by how much the two were alike.
"You better not plan on trying to feed me that." I jumped at the voice coming from my side. Alec had gotten up and approached me without my notice, and was peeking into the paper bag, disgust twisting his handsome features. "Luca won't touch that junk either."
I opened my mouth to ask who Luca was, realized that the feline had to have a name - why the devil's familiar was named after a saint was a mystery, but not one I'd ponder now - and so instead I said:
"I'm not feeding your cat. He's an asshole."
"True, but at least he isn't an idiot like your dog." Alec smirked and once again, I gaped at his gall. This time I recovered quickly:
"Bear is pretty smart." I'd intended for my words to come out sure, but instead I sounded defensive. Alec didn't give me time to attempt to amend my tone and countered:
"He was chewing on a shoe when we came in. My Luca would never do that."
"No. I bet your cat only destroys things in a temper tantrum." I crossed my arms over my chest, jeering at him. To my surprise - and annoyance - he chuckled before saying:
"More like in a passive-aggressive, burning cold vengeance."
Why he found it amusing that his cat from Hell was destroying his no doubt highly expensive furniture and decorations was yet another puzzle to solve on a later date. Right now I had to defend my pup.
I looked down at Bear again in search of inspiration, only to see that he had a bit of drool escaping his muzzle. Hard to defend that.
Alec must've noticed it too because he was full on laughing now. I tried to ignore the melodic guffaw and my amazement that such a sound could come out of the mouth of someone so wicked, and searched about for a distraction. My gaze set on the feline and I could've sworn it was sneering at me.
My face heating again, I put the microwave meals in the fridge and took out four large eggs, butter and some cheese. Omelette wasn't a fancy dish, but it was better than the microwave meals and not having time to unfreeze meat from my freezer, I was working with limited ingredients.
I cracked the eggs in a mixing bowl and added some salt and pepper, aware that Alec's eyes were on me as I did so. I had my back to him, but I could feel his gaze almost as sure as if he was touching me.
"You are going to cook for me."
His tone held a hint of curiosity, and even though his words were a statement, not a question, I still nodded. And then he asked something that almost made me drop what I was holding for the second time that night:
"Do you need help?"
I swirled around, expecting to see a grin that said 'I can't believe you bought that!', but his face was rather neutral.
"Help?" I asked, my eyes narrowing at the boy.
He shrugged and turned his back to me, reaching out to pet his cat. The feline didn't pull away, but it didn't lean into his touch either; it was staring at me, green eyes full of suspicion.
"He doesn't trust you not to screw up our dinner," Alec explained even without me asking. "And yes, he better be included in the dinner, because he is one very vindictive bastard."
Looking into the cat's predatory eyes, I had no doubt Alec wasn't exaggerating just to see me sweat. Turning around, I beat the eggs faster than before, telling myself I simply wanted to eat sooner rather than later.
You know, I think I had more request to get Bear and Luca in the same room than Alec and Ian. Anyway, all four of them are together now. I had a scene planned with the pets that I wanted to include in this chapter, but I'm only halfway through what I want to happen in this meeting and we are already nearing my usual length for a chapter, so the visit continues in the next update!
What do you expect/want the boys to talk about as they get to know each other?
Do you think Luca and Bear will become friends?
What did you think of this chapter?
Are you surprised that Ian invited Alec to dinner?
Or that he is terrified of Alec's "familiar"?
Please support this chapter with a VOTE if you enjoyed it!
I hope you all have a great time wattpadding! ❤