He smiled at the image of her head poking out from beneath the giant ox coat. It was dark in the den, and well he could see the shape of her, and the lightness of her face against the dark, shaggy coat, he felt secure in the knowledge that she could not see his expressions.
Her ‘thank you’ was soft, and in truth he thought he might have preferred a touch more bite to it - it would have indicated she was recovering from her ordeal. He still couldn’t fathom why she was out in the night if storms terrified her, would she not have been better staying in the safety of her den?
He lowered his head to rest against his heavy-set paws, ears raised to listen to the soft sound of rain outside, as he wondered when the next flash of lightning would strike. He was half afraid his little guest would flee the den when she heard the next boom of thunder.
His ears twitched towards her when she spoke, commenting on.. His den, he could only guess. A thought that was confirmed when she mentioned the size. “I’m building it deeper” he explained, his voice left soft, falling more into its natural rhythm. He no longer spoke like she was a frightened rabbit on the verge of running - even if he wasn’t quite convinced that was the case yet.
Her awkward question gave away plenty, and he sighed softly as he realised her need to speak, and be distracted. The truth was, she had provided him with a distraction once, even if she did not realise it. “For fun?” he repeated, before falling back into silence. He wasn’t certain any of the tasks he set himself to counted as fun, and then, he smiled. “I do like to wind up this small, blue slave girl” he admitted.
Bloodletter
