A Fox's Love (American Kitsune Book 1) (34 page)

A smile and a pat on the cheek was her answer. "Don't worry about it, Beloved."

Kevin frowned, but Lilian changed the subject before he could inquire further.

"So how are you feeling?” Her concerned gaze moving across his body to check for any lingering injuries that she may have missed had Kevin blushing even more surely than if she were giving him a look that promised unfathomable amounts of pleasure. “Are you in any pain? Does it hurt anywhere?"

"No, not really," Kevin actually had to think for a moment before he answered. His body felt kind of numb, so it was hard to tell if anything hurt. "Just tired." His stomach then rumbled loudly, alerting them both to another problem. Kevin's face began to heat up like an oven while Lilian giggled at him.

"You're also hungry it seems," she commented lightly, "Why don't I make you something to eat?"

Before Kevin could answer, Lilian climbed off him and left the room. The door closed behind her, leaving him alone.

With nothing to do, Kevin was pretty much forced to stare at the ceiling, counting the patterns he could make from the lines in the white plaster ceiling. He had gotten to thirty-five with the last pattern he found being something that resembled a cat when the light “thump, thump” of bare feet on carpet signified Lilian's return. There was a soft “click” as the door opened, and a second later the girl in question walked in carrying a tray bearing a plate of steaming food. The smell wafting towards him told him that whatever the red head had made it was very cheesy.

As in it smelled of cheese, not the euphemism used to describe something. Like, for example, corny pick up lines.

"It's kind of basic," Lilian defended her choice of food as she set the tray over his lap. "But I thought you would appreciate something fast and easy. Sorry if you wanted something else."

After saying this, she helped Kevin sit up because he couldn't do so himself, allowing him to see that she had cooked up macaroni and cheese.

Well, at least now he knew why the food smelled so cheesy, and it was definitely basic compared to her normal fare.

"This is fine," Kevin assured her, "I like mac&cheese." His words caused her lips to curve into a delightful smile.

"I'm glad. Now, eat up."

It was only after Lilian spoke that Kevin realized he had another problem. His entire body, including his arms, were incapable of moving. He could hardly even get them to twitch, much less lift them to grab the spoon she had provided so he could eat. Even his hands weren't working properly.

"Is something wrong with the food?" asked Lilian, concerned whether or not the food would adequately satisfy his palate. What if he didn't actually like it and was just telling her that he did to be polite? Was he waiting for her to leave so he could dump it all out and then claim he ate it?

It seemed that Lilian sometimes had an over reactive imagination as well. At least whenever her mate was concerned.

"Do you want me to make you something else?"

"No, no. This is fine," Kevin assured her quickly. "It's just... my arms..."

"Huh?" Lilian tilted her head to the side, confused. It was only after she took a look at his arms that she realized what the problem was. "Oh!" Her eyes widened, right before a gleam entered them. Kevin did not like the strange glint that entered her eyes at all. "You can't lift your arms to eat, ufufufu." And there was that scary laugh again. It caused a chill to run down his spine. "Don't worry, Beloved. I'll feed you."

"Ah, ah ha, y-you know," Kevin stuttered as she sat down on the edge of the bed and grabbed the spoon she had given him for his mac&cheese. "Suddenly, I'm not really feeling all that hungry anymore. Ah ha! Hahahaha..."

"Now don't be like that. There's no need to be embarrassed. It's just us here." Lilian smiled as she took a spoonful of macaroni and brought it to her mouth. She gently blew to cool it down, her red, moist lips puckering up in the most enticing of ways.

Kevin felt his mouth go dry and his face turn red. That had to be one of the most sensual acts he had ever seen involving food, and he was positive she was doing it on purpose.

She wasn't, in case you were curious. Doing it on purpose, that is. Lilian, despite all her sexiness, was just a bit too pure and innocent to do such an act consciously. Surprising, right?

"I'm not embarrassed." Kevin looked to the side, cursing his own body for giving him away. There was no way Lilian would believe that, and not just because he was a terrible liar. If the way his face felt like it had been set on fire were any indication, she could probably see the megaton blush that felt like it had traveled from the crown of his head all the way down to his chest.

"Ufufufu. You're so cute."

"Okay. Seriously. What is up with that laugh?"

“
Ufufuf, don't worry. That's just a part of my character concept.”

“
What? Character concept? ― eep!”

Kevin squeaked when he turned his head around to look at the girl and found himself staring into gorgeous green eyes that were less than four or five inches from his own. Lilian had somehow closed the distance between them in the short amount of time he had looked away. She was leaning towards him, her face and body close enough that not even the overpowering scent of macaroni and cheese almost right underneath his nose could block out the pleasant, sweetened smell of honey and vanilla that was Lilian's natural scent.

Lilian held the spoon full of Macaroni and Cheese up to his mouth. "Come on, Beloved. Say 'ah.'"

Kevin's mouth clamped shut, refusing to open it even when Lilian prodded his lips with the spoon. The lovely, red-haired Kitsune looked mildly exasperated by her Beloved's stubbornness. She removed the spoon from its position near his mouth and gave him The Look.

"Now don't be like that, Beloved. Open that mouth and let me feed you." More head shaking was her answer. It seemed that even The Look was not enough to compel her mate to do what she asked of him this time. Lilian sighed. "You are being very stubborn. Do you want to go hungry?" When her mate obstinately refused to open his mouth and let her feed him, she decided that it was time to bring out the big guns.

She pouted, and in doing so managed to make Kevin cave like a Goomba after Mario jumped on its head. This wasn't just any pout. Oh no. It was The Pout to End All Pouts. One of the most powerful weapons in a woman's arsenal when it comes to convincing people to do their bidding.

Her eyes grew wide, wider even than the normally innocent “Disney Princess” (or Shōnen fanservice girl) look that seemed to be her natural state. Kevin found himself falling into the depths of those eyes, like two pools of an endless emerald ocean.

If that were all he had to deal with, then he might have been able to resist...maybe. But on top of the large, wide eyes, Lilian's lower lip had begun trembling as it stuck out in a small pout that enhanced the lovely features of her angelic face.

With such a horribly adorable expression on her face, Kevin didn't stand a chance.

The way she was leaning over him, causing those two large, round
things
on her chest to sway enticingly didn't help. Not at all.

"Won't you please open up and say 'ah', Beloved? For me."

"Guh!"

That was the sound of the last bit of Kevin's resistance shattering like a vial of glass after being dropped from a fifty story window. There was simply no way someone like him was capable of resisting a Pout like that. Especially not when that kind of pleading tone was used in conjunction with it.

It was like something out of this one manga he read. Only that one had been about a vampire who used a similar tone and expression on the Main Protagonist, another boy of the Hapless Hero variety, to put him off-guard so she could suck his blood.

At least this girl didn't want to suck his blood. She just wanted to suck him off. Which honestly wasn't much better in his opinion, but at least it wouldn't kill him if she ended up sucking too much.

Unless he died from embarrassment, of course. Knowing him, such a thing was not outside of the realm of possibility.

Slowly, ever so slowly, as if his mind was trying to fight his body's instinctual reaction, Kevin opened his mouth. The smile that came to Lilian's face lit up the room in a way that the light fixture on the fan could never hope to accomplish. It was like a slap to the face. As much as a part of him felt ashamed for falling prey to this girl's admittedly powerful abilities of persuasion, another part felt like a jerk for being so stubborn. Lilian just wanted to help him. Was he really so dead set against allowing her into his life that he would willfully keep her from helping him when she just wanted to be useful?

Yes. Yes he would. Regardless of how kind, pretty and devoted she was to him, it didn't really change the fact that she had barged into his life and destroyed a good number of his perceptions about the world. He would resist her until the bitter end.

Or at least until she brought out her more fearsome techniques. That pout was no joke. Seriously.

In any case, there wasn't much he could do to resist her now, not after she pulled out what he hoped was the most powerful ability in her arsenal.

So he opened his mouth and allowed her to place the spoon full of cheesy goodness inside. He then closed, allowing her to pull the spoon away, chewed, and swallowed. It was a process that repeated several times until the plate of cheesy noodles was nearly gone.

Eventually, he even got used to her feeding him. It even felt kind of nice, having someone take care of him like this.

Not that he would ever let Lilian know these treacherous thoughts. There was no telling what kind of chaos that would unleash.

"Lilian?" He asked after he finished swallowing a bite of food. Lilian, who was mid-process of blowing on the utensil bearing another spoonful of packaged All-American goodness looked at him, her eyes blinking.

"Hm?"

"What happened after I lost consciousness?" When Lilian just looked at him, he quickly clarified. "I mean, I don't remember much of what happened after we ran into that alley. I was just wondering about how we got out of there alive... and what happened to Chris."

Lilian sighed as she put the spoon down and set the tray aside. She had finished feeding him for the most part anyway. And with the tray out of the way, she could move in to snuggle with her mate, which she did not hesitated to do, much to his consternation.

"After you passed out I was so worried... and angry," Lilian admitted after she had gotten comfortable, her body tucked into his side and her head resting on his shoulder. One hand absently came up to his chest and her index finger began tracing patterns against his pectorals. Kevin shivered at her touch. "That damn dog nearly killed you. If I hadn't had my healing techniques, you could have very well died."

As she said this, her finger traced a line where his wounds had been. They were gone now, not even a scar remained, but she remembered how bad the damage had been. How horrendous the four large slash marks had looked. The blood that had gushed from those wounds in such copious amounts that the only reason she hadn't hyperventilated at the sight was because her mate's life had been in danger. That was not something she wanted to see again, to experience again. Never again.

Kevin felt his blood run cold at the words passing Lilian's lips, his face paling. The thought of death was not fun for anyone, much less someone as young as him. He still had so much he wanted to accomplish before kicking the bucket.

Like getting together with Lindsay for starters. He couldn't die, not until he at least told her how he felt.

Makes you feel kind of bad for Lilian, doesn't it?

"So what happened to Chris?" Deciding that the best course of action was to steer this conversation away from his possible death to something a little less unnerving, Kevin asked about the one who had nearly done him in. Which probably wasn't a good topic to discuss with Lilian either, but he was curious.

Lilian sniffed derisively. "He won't be bothering us anymore." It took Kevin a few seconds to work around her statement and realize what she meant.

His eyes widened. "You didn't... I mean, is he...?"

"I didn't kill him, if that's what you're asking," Lilian assured him. Kevin breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want someone's death on either of their hands. "But he won't be in any shape to contest me again. Even the famed durability of an Inu Yōkai won't be enough for him to recover from the wounds I gave him. A good deal of the damage I did to him was internal and will require someone with healing abilities to fix." She gave him a fanged smirk. "And Inu don't have any healing techniques. He won't die, and he'll be able to live the life of a normal human, but his days of torturing others with his immense strength are over."

"I see." Kevin was glad to know he wouldn't have to worry about Chris anymore, especially since they went to the same school. The last thing he needed was to have someone constantly trying to kill him because of his association with Lilian.

He frowned a second later, however, when he realized something else. "Wait, if you could have beaten him, why didn't you just do that sooner? You know, like when he first transformed? Or even before he transformed?"

"Ah, well..." A small tinge of pink appeared on Lilian's cheeks as she smiled sheepishly. "Us Kitsune don't like Inu very much," she admitted reluctantly. "In fact, most Kitsune are downright petrified of them. I'm not!" she hurriedly added, though the way her body seemed to shake as she spoke did nothing to convince Kevin about the sincerity of her words. "But a lot of us are."