Claws // Colby Brock

💫25 💫

☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎

"Colby?"

He hummed in response.

"What were you doing before my heat kicked off?"

His head twisted away from his mirror toward me, his hands still working the buttons of his shirt. I'd been in the shower for the last twenty minutes, so how he wasn't ready by now, I had no clue. But I was stood across the room from him in comfortable clothes — a hoodie and sweatpants — because I simply couldn't be bothered to dress up in any way whatsoever.

My hands were in my hair, tying it up into a ponytail as I'd spoken.

He seemed to stare at me for a long moment before pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes clenched shut. "Shit."

I frowned, about to ask but he zipped off out the room. I flung my arms in the air in frustration and just finished with my hair, which was unreasonably difficult to tame every single day. I walked out after him in no rush at all, casually strolling down the stairs and twisting for the living room, where everyone's scents were the strongest. Colby wasn't here, nor was Reggie.

Trying not to make it too obvious, I sat on the arm of the couch by Cassie and kept my voice low as I spoke to her. "Where's Reggie? I never see you two apart."

She smiled, seeing right through my question, and replied, "They are restocking the blood bags. Or, they were about to before... well..."

I already knew they'd heard. I wasn't stupid enough not to realise that, but I didn't want to face it with everyone in one room. Jake and Kevin probably didn't think it was a big deal but I'd scratch their eyes out if they said a single word about it.

"Did Reggie go on his own?" I asked.

"No. You're the only person who doesn't listen when Colby says something, Amira." She was chuckling to herself in amusement.

I frowned. Just over two months in and the whole reason I was able to stay here was still calling me Amira? It didn't sit right. "It's Amy."

The humour was zipped from Cassie's face as she raised her brows in surprise. I just stared back at her seriously, conveying that I wasn't joking around at all. I wanted her to understand she was closer to me than anyone else.

Slowly, her lips curled up. "Alright, I won't say no to that."

"Good."

The front door slammed open then shut again, and I naturally turned my head to see two figures flying across the hall into the kitchen. After a couple of light bangs, those figures appeared in the entryway and stopped. Reggie slowly — at a human pace — made his way over to his seat beside Cassie, while Colby took his place on the loveseat. He raised his feet onto the coffee table instead of draping them across the cushions like he usually did. I was silently grateful.

I didn't know where we went from here, but I got up to join him anyway, copying his pose. I didn't have my phone stupidly, so I was forced to find something to entertain me instead.

When my nose caught a whiff of the cat again, I immediately got up. It wasn't the first time I'd abandoned everyone else as soon as I realised it was nearby. In fact, every time it came to visit, I was straight outside sitting on the floor. Usually, I ended up talking to the Goddess, too, but she was mostly leaving me to my devices now. I supposed that was because she knew things were happening, progress was being made. She didn't need to intervene so much anymore.

I crossed my legs as the cat jumped down from the wall, and something caught my eye. It dropped a little ball of fur on the ground a few feet away from me then sat down. As I narrowed my eyes, I realised it was a mouse — and the cat was staring at me like a child bringing a drawing to their parent wanting to know if it was good enough. I found myself smiling, almost giggling, as I held out a hand for it to come toward me. As normal, it purred as it rubbed itself against my fingers, slowly crawling into my lap. This was normal for me now.