Bound Trilogy: Bound: A Supernatural Story (WLW)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Pen stood in the coffee house with Glenn as they waited to have their order taken. She watched as Glenn kept sneaking glances toward a fox that sat over at a far away table. The fox was one of the nurses from the clinic and kept glancing up at him as well, but neither seemed to notice one another's burning curiosity.

Pen nudged his side and he snapped out of his stare, peering at her with a deer-like stare. She smiled and pointed at the fox. Glenn glanced over his shoulder and she was staring back at him, then bashfully looked away, nibbling on his bottom lip. He blushed and clenched his jaw, his adam's apple bobbing in his throat.

Pen gave him a nudge toward the woman and he sent her a nervous sidelong glance. She gave him an encouraging nod, trying to ignore her own sorrow, and he returned it, then made his way over to the fox's table. Pen watched them from deep within her own thoughts that carried her elsewhere, saddened her romantic life didn't mimic their definite budding soul bond.

She never thought it would hurt so badly to watch others mingling like she wished she and Bast could, but knew they never would. Bast was just so quiet and reserved. She didn't speak about herself or much at all, really. When she had spoken of her past, it was nice to hear more about her, but she wanted to hear more than just that. She wanted to know everything about her, yet couldn't bring herself to ask and their daily conversations were filled with Bast's education of her people and what they had done while apart during the day. Staying on the first layer, or maybe even the second into Bast's heart, Pen was distraught in the knowledge she would never pierce through that third and thickest.

Bast's desires and her thoughts.

Yet, Bast just wasn't offering up those things at all.

Not that Pen could tell, nor that she had done any better. It was all so new to her, to them both, and it felt like neither of them knew how to act consciously. Sure, Bast always snuck into Pen's bed and in her sleep she snuggled up to her every night, but that was the extent of their bonding. Despite the fact that Xenia had gone out of her way to set up a room just for Bast, she still managed to spend almost all her evening time in Pen's instead. Along her sheets and her clothes, Bast's scent lingered. A mix of adventure, lust and comfort.

It reminded Pen of home and the lovely breeze that wafted through the air each scarce time she rose from the Aquatic City. Still, nothing more had come of it.

It wasn't even Bast's fault. Pen couldn't blame her in any way. Bast was at least trying, even if in her own little way. However, Pen was just so afraid of losing her, of her leaving again, that she felt the only intelligent course of action was to not get any further involved with Bast. What if she said the wrong thing and Bast turned tail and ran once again?

She'd replayed the night of Xenia's duel with Dabrowski over and over in her mind, but still couldn't think of what she had done or said to scare Bast away. Now, Pen was afraid to say anything more than simple sentences or bits of knowledge about the shifters to Bast, receiving whatever she offered in return in concern that she'd set off another act of disappearance.

Pen stepped up to the coffee shop counter, but from behind she felt a warmth coming toward her that snuggled her like a protectively loving cocoon.

"She'll have a mocha latte, extra foam with the chocolate shavings on top and a blackberry muffin. The one with that house special glaze." The warmth cooed. Pen spun around as Bast stepped forward and placed a knowing hand on the small of her back. Bast leaned against the counter and studied the menu. "I'll have an oolong tea with the raw honey, no sugar please, and a blueberry bagel. Plenty of cream cheese on the side." Bast turned toward Pen with a nervous grin, a rich blush across her cheeks. "Would you like to share some of those zesty potato wedges? You like ranch with them, right?"