Page 14 of It’s A Little Bit Bunny (Fangs on Ice #4)

Thirteen

Nikolai

“Y ou came back.” A cautious smile spread over Jules’ face.

“Well, I said I would.”

Didn’t he want me to?

“I’m so glad.”

“You are?”

“Yes, Nikolai. There is so much I want to show you. And it was nice to have a conversation with someone who can reply.”

Oh, sweet baby boy.

“I’m sure it can get pretty lonely out here.”

“Sometimes, yes. Come.”

He gestured to the path he’d come down, and we walked back to his house.

It was a lovely walk and felt much shorter than the last time. The fragrant forest air cleared my mind, and I felt lighter here. Sunlight dappled the path ahead of us. When it hit Jules’ red gold hair just right it shimmered.

It’s beautiful.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you told me,” I admitted after a while.

“About what exactly?” He stepped over roots as if he knew exactly where they were, his heavy boots barely made a sound on the needle strewn floor. Not once did he stumble—unlike me.

“How you live your life and do so much yourself. I’m probably romanticising it, but it sounds like such a good way of living.”

Head tilted at me, Jules stopped.

“What?” I squirmed a little under his scrutiny.

“You live a good life yourself, don’t you? You have a job you like, your mother, your friends, and supermarkets...”

I chuckled. “Well, if you put it like that.”

“My life is good, yes. I love living in symbiosis with my forest. I protect it, and it keeps me safe and alive in return.”

“What exactly are you, Jules?” I asked in a whisper. I hoped he wouldn’t be angry or offended by my question.

“I suppose you would call me a forest god,” he said simply. “I am the, for lack of a better term, heart and soul of this forest. The shepherd.”

Don’t fucking faint, Nik.

The cute ginger I’d been dreaming—and wanking—about was a freaking god ?

“Okay.”

“My answer surprises you,” he stated.

“Yes, no. I don’t know. Okay, yeah, it does surprise me a bit. I knew you were magical; we’ve established that.” I shrugged. “But a god ? I mean, I have zero doubt about it, but it’s not something I would have expected. Meeting an actual god.” I suddenly felt super aware of how rude I sounded. “Don’t get me wrong, please.”

Please don’t hurt me.

“It makes perfect sense. You are so gorgeous and regal, like, I believe you are a god, but—”

“Nikolai?” He interrupted me with a little laugh. “It’s okay. I didn’t tell you to intimidate you. You asked, and I didn’t want to lie. I’m bad at it, and it doesn’t make sense to me at all. And I did not want to lie to you .”

“Yeah, same.” I huffed. I had always sucked at lying. It made me feel like shit. I ended up spilling all the beans literally two minutes later. It ate me alive.

“I told you I am of Elven blood,” Jules explained, inviting me to keep walking. “In terms of my people, I am a sapling. In terms of your kind I would be considered a young man, like yourself, maybe.”

Oh wow, okay. He could live for what, sixteen hundred years, then?

That’s a bummer.

He’d still be young and hot, and I would be old and grey and wilt away without him caring too much.

“I see.” What else could I say?

He heaved a sigh.

“I would like to show you my home, unless you are too tired and would prefer to sit down somewhere.”

“What? It’s barely half ten in the morning. No, I’d like to see whatever you want to share with me.”

Let me have this silly hope that you and I could be more than friends for another couple of hours.

Although… even that might be a stretch. Why would a mighty creature like him even bother with a friend like me?

I wasn’t so sure about that when a giddy Jules dragged me around his homestead by the sleeve. He gave me ‘Look at my pretty pebbles’ vibes.

He’s like a cute, century-old penguin.

“Here’s my chicken coop. Do you want to meet them?”

“You have chickens? Oh my god, yes! I love birds of all shapes and sizes.”

Jules paused with his hand on the door in the fence around the chicken pen. “That is so sweet.” He pursed his lips as if to stop himself from smiling but failed, giving me the cutest pouting grin. One that could bring me to my knees.

I didn’t know why I reacted to Jules the way I did. I’d felt an instant connection to him, and not out of sympathy.

God, I wish it were just sympathy. Thoughts of him had surfaced so much over the past week, it had been disconcerting.

“Come in, they don’t bite.”

I flinched when his voice pulled me back into the moment. He held the door open for me, and I joined him in the pen.

Eight fat chickens surrounded us, clucking and cooing.

“You can give them a few of these if you like.” With a timid smile, he offered me an old-fashioned metal pot filled with grain.

Shy Jules is so sweet.

“Here, hold your hand out to them. They are gentle.” He crouched low, and I joined him, taken by his smile and the way the sun shining through the canopy of leaves glinted on his hair. He was so soft and delicate compared to me. There was no gentleness in my life. I worked hard and played harder. As one of the two enforcers on our team, I couldn’t afford to show any weakness.

That was until you lost your footing.

“Okay.”

I can try to be gentle for you, Jules.

I took a handful of grains and offered them to the chickens. Their happy clucking made my heart squeeze in my chest.

“Yes, that’s it, Nikolai. They won’t peck you.” Jules’ voice was a soft caress in the clearing.

“These are Cassiopeia and Lyra.” He indicated first a red and green, then a chocolate brown chicken.

“She’s so pretty. Aren’t you, Lyra?” The bird cooed and took some grains from me.

“Hecate, and this is Mania.” Jules rested his hand on my forearm. “Go slow. She’s a bit shy.” I didn’t hear the rest of his chickens’ names. His touch sparked feelings in me I’d never felt before.

Is this his magic?