Packless Monsters

Chapter 12

The silly trickster had stolen a kiss! It was a lovely kiss too, for all that it was soft and chaste and perfect. You were going to have to get him back for stealing it, though. And there was only one proper way to do that. You were just going to have to steal the kiss back from him.

You went to finish cleaning up the dishes, but found that Loki had already done it with magic. You smiled at his thoughtfulness and reevaluated your plans for the evening. You had the day off of work tomorrow, and no homework to finish, so you could actually relax and have a quiet evening. So you headed up to your room to find pajamas and a book. The pleasant icy feeling of Loki's kiss was wearing off by the time you made it to your room and your wolf was pacing anxiously in your mind as the heat of too much power and the moon's call flooded back over you. So you dressed in summer pajamas and left your room with your book to take Loki up on his offer.

He never let anyone in his room, not even Thor, but you'd been in there a few times now, always with his express permission, and always with him there, until tonight. You wouldn't betray his trust, but he had told you that you were invited to spend the evening there. You opened his door slowly and felt the relief instantly at the room that was ten degrees cooler than the rest of the tower; Loki was a frost giant and liked the cold. So you slipped in and shut the door behind you so the cold didn't escape.

You laughed when you saw the steaming teapot on his nightstand and the teacup waiting for you. Silly Trickster was of the belief that tea fixed almost everything. He'd known you would take him up on his offer. You did question if he had left the tea for you, or for himself for when he got back from his mission, but there was a note next to the teacup:

Feel better, little wolf ~L

You smiled and sipped on your tea reading in the comfortable solace of Loki's wonderfully cool room.

*

You felt an icy cold hand on your forehead hours later. You had dozed off reading, laying on top of the blankets on Loki's bed. Even that didn't wake you enough. You were safe and comfortable here and the wolf just wanted to sleep before she came out to play tomorrow. "You feel cooler at least," Loki commented softly. You managed to crack your eyes open. "Sorry, love. I didn't mean to wake you, I just wanted to see how you were doing. Go back to sleep,"

"Thank you," you murmured as your eyes closed again.

"Anytime, little wolf," his voice was warm and kind as he covered you with a thin summer blanket, warm enough for Loki's gesture of kindness, but not enough to rekindle the heat of the moon's call. He leaned down to kiss your forehead. "You're safe here. I'll go bunk with Thor. His shrieks of surprise are such fun when my icy toes touch his back."

You actually opened your eyes again at that. "You're not staying? It's your room," you protested, but could hear the exhaustion in your voice. You had to rest before tomorrow. The wolf was quite insistent on that.

He smiled reassuringly at you. "I am not a monster. I would not presume permission to spend the night with a lady. And you, little wolf, are not awake enough to give it,"

"Am too," you protested sleepily. "Stay. For sleep only. There's plenty of bed. I won't kick you from your room. I'll go back to my own room if you refuse to stay," you added. He hesitated, obviously unsure whether to believe you, so you moved to leverage yourself back to a sitting position, feeling the heat and anxiety return the second you moved. The wolf wanted to sleep in the nice cold room that smelled like the Loki she liked so well. She wanted to rest tonight so you could play tomorrow.

"Fine, fine, lie back down, annoying puppy," he grumbled at you, noticing how your face flushed again when you moved. You laughed, but did as you were told for once. A few minutes later he climbed in to the opposite side of the bed, burrowing comfortably under the blankets, like a normal person in a chilly room in November. He needen't have worried, the bed was big enough that you could both lie in it comfortably without even touching.