The days for him had been eventful. Between running, more running, the occasional run-in with Djinn, and of course brisk healing from the nice stab wound to his ribs. The man found a peaceful day to just do nothing but cat things. He needed to unwind. Not only was the man pent up but so was his cat. Djinn refused to even acknowledge his need for contact so that was utterly dreadful. He fed off of the energy of other people. The bodily contact kept him going but now he didn’t have it and he wasn’t sure what to do about it because his Lucia was gone and his Djinn was stuck in a funk…. So that meant for a restless Killian.

So he took the time to himself and did his best to keep his mind off of events. Long legs were stretched out in front of him as back legs pushed his dark sleek body out and across the tall grass. Purrs resounded loudly as light eyes closed, rubbing the side of his cheek and top of his head against the ground. He needed touch. He craved it and the best he could do for now was to roll around on the ground to try and satisfy contact. No less it wasn’t the same not that he thought it would actually work but between the sun and the grass he had hoped it would make him feel at least a little better.

Flipping around he rolled over onto his back and he wiggled around before settling. The large cat's whiskers twitched as he hears rustling in the grass making him flip back over onto his stomach and sit up. Tail tapped impatiently by his side and with a hefty push, he stood on all four large paws. Round ears pushed forward on the tip of his skull as he started to move through the grass. Keen eyes spotted black crickets jumping out of the way of large paws and natural instinct told him to chase. Batting at a couple of them he became engrossed in his game until something slammed right into him.

He tumbled completely unprepared for such a contact. Rolling back upright and correcting his dizzying vision the voice caused him to stiffen. ”Lucia!?” And then he spotted the smaller silver cat who came leaping and bouncing towards him. Large black paws quickly scooped around the smaller feline wrapping her in tightly as rough tongue slipped between jaws and brushed lovingly over his companions fur. ”Lucia it's you! It’s really you!” over the top mews, growls, and purrs escaped the large beast as he rubbed and nipped at her. ”I have been lost without you! Where have you been? What happened?! I thought Felix did away with you. I have been looking for you for so long. I never gave up.” his words came in a rush and he wasn’t sure she would be able to keep up but he couldn’t help it as he bumped the top of his head into her, arching his back as he rubbed every inch of her body that he could in pure affectionate rough cat love.

”I…-- “ Truly he was a mastermind at escaping not so much fighting but he could escape most things. He just never did because his friend had been there even when she escaped she was always brought back. ”Djinn--…” his voice cut off. ”I just ran.” he said not really knowing how to explain his situation. His last meeting with the man he was falling pretty hard for didn’t really want much to do with him. Sadly they didn’t end on the greatest of conversations. But for now, that didn’t matter. His Lucia was here and she was alive, he couldn’t wait to tell Djinn! Not that he probably would care but he didn’t really have anyone else to express his happiness to. As she arched her back and rubbed under his chin, he tipped his head and rubbed up and down her body both times.

Part of him wanted to go into human form just to better express his love for the other feline but he supposed it would be a little weird right now. ”I was out here because I really have nowhere else to go. Just been hanging out in cat form for the most part. Easier to sleep outside and only ever shift when I need to go closer to people and you are owned?” his asked confusedly. ”How did that happen?” it seemed odd to him but who was he to ask questions. He lowered to the ground now as she finally sat down from wiggling back and forth but her body remains in complete contact with him and he was perfectly okay with it. He was starved for touch. ”How did he save you? What happened?” he asked again. He wasn’t sure if she even knew but surely this Maddox had told her something right? ”Do you remember?”

Ears pinned against his skull as she spoke of Djinn being the ‘crippled fae’. ”Jealous?” he asked before lift a large paw, without claws, swatting at her. ”Don’t call him that. He’s not crippled.” well he was but he didn’t like the view she put on him. He was a lot more than just some crippled fae. ”With him mostly… yeah. He got me out of a sticky situation when I went looking for you. I just kind of hung around him since.” more on and off as the both of them would eventually separate a day or two later but they always wound up back in each others company soon enough. It was nice to have a companion after Lucia was deemed officially gone…. Even if Djinn certainly didn’t seem to want him in the same way Killian did for right now. Eventually when he worked up enough bravery he would do his best to try and change his mind but for now, he would leave the matter alone.

In a very lazy fashion, he was leaning on his shoulder on the ground, body sprawled out but his head remained off the ground as he listens to her speak. ”I knew he did it. I smelled it on him.” a possessive growl escaped the large cat's chest as ears fastened tighter to his skull. ”When he came to retrieve Larkin that night, he was clean but the smell still hung on his skin. He couldn’t get rid of it and he knew that I knew about it.” His tail slapped the ground hard in a very angry fashion as a pair claws dug into the ground. He hated the wolf. Though he had never seen him again after that night he took off with the rabbit. Ears finally drift up off his skull as she spoke about this Maddox and he was very curious about him. ”Not that I am complaining but I wonder why he wanted you half dead? Seems like a silly thing to purchase.” Even if he was thankful for the fact he healed his Lucia but that just seemed like there was some kind of double motive there. ”What is he like some creep who keeps human trophies in his basement or something?” He leaned up and about that time he allowed his cat form to just melt away. Wrapping an arm around her slender waist, he moved his lips to the soft tanned skin of her shoulder. ”Sounds to me he doesn’t want prying eyes. Just…. Be careful. I lost you once. I don’t want to lose you again.”

It was worrisome to think some man was keeping her and sounding suspicious or at least in his mind he was sounding suspicious. Soon his lips trailed up the top of her shoulder towards her neck and then her ear. ”how true that statement is.” he purred, grinning against the skin along her neck. ”So what is your plan now that you are ‘free’?” he asked as he sat back a little. ”I mean you aren’t but you are. He let you wander as you please without him tailing after you unless you snuck out?” his brows then furrowed. ”Did you sneak out?” she always was a troublemaker. It was a fair question.

”Shut up, Lucia.” He couldn’t help but feel defensive. She didn’t know Djinn like he did and it ruffled his feathers that she judged him. She had no right to. His claws were tempted to unsheathe and dig into her skin from the overwhelming feeling to protect what was his but of course wouldn’t that be counterproductive considering… wasn’t she his also? ”at least I am not stuck with a psychotic wolf for a mate.” he countered. He could have said more but he refrained from doing so. He knew she was only just being who she was on top of her own feelings towards the situation. He felt the same when she admitted to even having feelings towards Felix. ”I guess we are both pretty fucked…” he finally said deflating almost instantly of his aggression.

However she spoke the little rabbits name and he nodded his head but he didn’t quite know the whole ‘chosing her over lucia’ ordeal. ”He what?” His brow arched. Now that he had switched between skins he could properly feel Lucia against him. Skin on skin was far better than fur between them. There was something intimate about it that he reveled in. She leaned into him speaking about Maddox and how he was odd which worried him but he supposed he couldn’t be that bad since Lucia was free to do as she pleased. Her next set of words caused him to close his eyes and flinch. ”I’d rather not live without you, regardless.” His words were small but held an heavy amount of truth behind them. ”You are my soulmate and I need you.” It wasn’t a romantic- lover confession. It was a type of soulmate that meant their lives were intertwined on such a deep and concentrated level. Their love surpassed romantic fancies. They were bonded on a deeper level than that.

He nibbled and kissed on the exposed skin, hearing her purrs that encouraged him. It was hard not to. Though she brought up once more Djinn. He paused for a moment and glanced up at her with intense hazel eyes. ”Smitten?” he echoed. ”why do you say that?” He was pretty dumbfounded when it came to the obvious romantic infatuations primarily because he didn’t really think much on them or experienced it before. He leaned backwards on the ground again as she loosely wrapped her arms in around his waist feeling her lips trail along his neck as she spoke once more.

His mate?

”Maybe, I don’t know..” He said. There was a strong pull there. He was in love but was that enough to claim he was mated? He didn’t honestly understand any of what he was feeling or even how to put it into words. He just knew it felt like home when he was with Djinn. A type of flutter he got when he looked at him or how he felt like he was floating on air when he did something as simple as saying his name. Just the mere ideas of being without him made him feel sick. ”Even if he was, I doubt he would feel it. I don’t think humans feel it like us shifters do.” He said. ”So I guess it would be kind of pointless if he was.” He wasn’t entirely sure how it worked with non-shifters. He was lost in thought now. ” I never thought about it that way.” But that wasn’t something you asked especially to someone who didn’t have connections like ‘mates’. Aside that he doubted he would get a straight answer from Djinn. Djinn could be so cryptic about things. He wanted him to know things and yet didn’t or couldn’t say them. It was left to clueless Killian to figure them out. ”Do you think Felix will search you out again?”

Killian wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer but he was pretty sure he knew the answer. ”Or you tell him to fuck off?”

The flinch caused immediate guilt . He knew he shouldn’t have been so callous towards her or her situation but yet the intense gnawing feeling of being protective of Djinn was enough to send harsh words flying from his mouth that could have easily been followed up by more. As she spoke it took a while for the deflation to come but eventually it did. It stunned him that he could even do that towards her. She soon explained the situation with Larkin and he quietly shook his head. ”I didn’t know he chose her over you though.” he said. ”But I guess it was kind of obvious when he took her that night and you were gone.” he commenting on his slow thinking process but that night had turned into a horror story for him and he wasn’t thinking of what Felix and Larkin were doing. ”I was too busy looking for you.”

If it were humanly possible he would almost merge with Lucia. Her smell, touch, and the sounds of her purrs were invigorating. Though they weren’t the same kind of addictive feeling like Djinn had they were still enough to send him soaring with ultimate affection. He nibbled and teased, purring right along with her. ”I think I prefer that too.” he said nodding as he glanced up at her. ”Soulmates is more of a cosmic phenomenon as though it’s otherworldly and less sticky with romances.” He grinned into the skin of her shoulder as his fingers started to play at the curve of her hip and leg. That was probably why he didn’t think too much of his feelings for Djinn nor tried to understand what they meant. For him love wasn’t supposed to happen, neither was mates, and nor was a happy ending. He loved people and sometimes several at once every day. To him it was fleeting and he was sure that his feelings for the fairy were just that. Eventually they would go away only for him to fall in love with someone else. However her next statement brought forth some kind of light.

She was right.

Now there was a far more complex expression on his face. ”I don’t usually… Sorry.” he leaned back as she rested in against him, feeling the deep vibrations of her form against his own which lulled him in a far more relaxed state. ”He’s just confusing.” he said with a shrug. It was probably why he never paid much attention to it. He was too busy trying to figure out Djinn’s cryptic meanings or perhaps taking them too literal. The lingering last kiss still numbed his lips a bit causing the mere thought of it jolt his heart into a quickened pace. Maybe he was in love? But it seemed weird to think of it that way since he didn’t really know what love was. She continued on and said that non-shifters didn’t feel it and that he had to agree with. He doubted Djinn felt anything remotely like he did but that didn’t mean the fairy didn’t have feelings of his own, that grew into something identical to a ‘mate’ feeling. As she spoke about Felix once more he found himself frowning a bit. ”I think he does love you, Lucia.” he didn’t often speak kindly of Felix. If anything he wished the man would drop dead somewhere but he had to be accepting to the fact he was Lucia’s and Lucia was his whether he liked it or not. ”Now don’t get me wrong, I utterly despise him and even more so for what he did to you…. But I think he’s getting swallowed up by his demons and he doesn’t wanna take you down with him.” though the more he thought about it that’s what partners were supposed to do right? To help one another?

”IM not him so I don’t really know but he’s always been the tortured type nor does he seem willing to let someone sacrifice themselves for him. Those have to be the worst types to deal with… believe me.” He had to roll his eyes at the thought of Djinn. His fairy was very much like Felix except they weren’t fighting a wolf… they were fighting this deep seeded belief that Djinn didn’t deserve happiness. ”I think when it comes down to it the person has to want something to fight through whats going on in their head. If they don’t want it. They will remain not only fighting themselves but you too.” It was as if something in his head clicked in his own mess. If Djinn wasn’t ready to face whatever new future step they are going in, he won’t, no matter how hard Killian could try and say he would be there. ”All you can do is hold their hand and hope for the best.”

It was as though worldly knowledge was somehow blessed to him when it came to speaking to his companion, Lucia… but when it came to figuring out his love life with a fairy it was a completely different story. He listened as she spoke the complications of the matter and he just nodded. He would hate to lose her to Felix but he also knows that no matter what happened he would be there for her till the end. She nuzzled into him and he gave a content sigh. ”I have missed you too starshine.” he purred. ”More than you will ever know…. I was awful broody… and broody doesn’t look good on me.” a cricked grin played on his lips.