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The room was suddenly filled with too much man!
Okay no– not man. Male- yes. Man- no.
Jo had been around far too many ‘monsters’ in her day to not recognize when she was in the rather intimate company of one.
Still—
It wasn’t like she was betraying all hunters, or the human race itself if she – just— peeked a little. Right?
Eyes slide slowly to the side, catching sight of more muscles than she knew a body could contain, and flushed slightly before clearing her throat.
Fuck!
“Ahem– “
Folding her arms over her chest, she attempts to give off an indignant look.
“Right. Because what? Blood baths are just ‘old hat’ for you?”
There’s a beat and she’s then holding up a hand as if to say stop.
“Never mind. Don’t answer that.”
She didn’t think she’d like what she heard, and it wasn’t as if she could do anything about it anyway.
She’d killed a man for him. He’d killed some monsters for her.
That had to count for something. Even if she was fairly certain that fella who was trying to get the drop on him wasn’t really a threat to a big ass beast like him anyway.
Refusing to fully look at him, she purses her lips and once again folds arms over her chest, just knowing she was probably walking into something with this, but being unable to resist—
“Oh yeah– like what?”
Listening to her, a small but constant grumble began as the sing of blade over coarse flesh joined in unique concert. The scowl on his lips wordless but not strained, as he dipped the blade into the bowl of water to clear the hair from its edge.
He was aware of her nearness, like a lion aware of a gazelle within striking distance. It was the heat of her body; the subtle warm tones of pheromones and oils that perfumed the space she stood. Her very heartbeat a warm and wet thud, that pulsed with the ebb and flow of her body temperature in the room.
Kazu was aware of it, even as he tipped his head and drew the blade’s edge across the upper edge of his jaw. Tidying up the overgrowth of his beard.
He liked it a certain way, when he fancied its adornment. Being a beast, one might think the menial and repetitious task of such a thing, beyond him to consider.
Yet it had very little to do with appearance.
No. Kazu simply enjoyed the process.
His nostrils flared and that low grumble was back, only this time an unnatural rattle began in his chest, expanding what was already large into what could only be described as near bursting. But then the rattle stopped, Kazu swallowed, and his task resumed.
So clearly the words danced on his lips, coiled on his tongue; ready to be spoken even as she bade him not to. A small, but grim, smirk curled the corner of his lips. Adjusting that ever present scowl into a momentary grin that might scare her.
Dark eyes shifted in her direction, finding her form and lingering. Allowing his gaze unhindered by glamour to take her in from toes to crown in a single, leisure and ravenous appraisal. He wondered, even as he met her stare----how she might smell to him, trembling in fear. Would she repulse as many had in her place, under the scrutiny and regard of the feral fox who bore his being with skill and unabashed relish. Or would she surprise him?
Gold so bright it was in yellow in the shade of his brow, and the amusement in his tone as he looked straight at her and raised the blade again to his jaw, matched that shine of otherworldly gleam. A clean swipe and he wondered how long it would take for her to avert her gaze; or if the glimpse of a spine he often saw sprout from her back, might make an appearance. Not many held his gaze, and fewer still, for very long.
But then, he wondered too if she might ever ask him any question of relevance or substance, being that as of now, she formed a habit of asking ones she desired no answer to. Of course, it could be argued that it was a mark of strength to push for your limitations and boundaries.... Yet she ran from them.
Ah, but to be young and stupid. Infantile. Impressionable. Inexperienced.
A loathsome stage.
Softly, and if she hadn’t been near, she might not have heard him at all, and the final look he gave her was frigid and antagonistic, “Like things you are too YOUNG to handle. Such as the answers to your questions.”