Closed RP Greed, Theft, Telling Lies

This RP is currently closed.
Relief flooded through Todd’s body when Sam took his hand and kissed him, halfway into the living room. Gentle though it was, it was a sign that she could still stand to touch him. Even if it meant she was ignoring instincts that could save her life, that mattered less to him as he selfishly kissed her back. She loved him.

Nahual interrupted before Todd could say anything foolish back.

He looked up when she spoke, and hoped that any subconscious shift of body language could be written off. He was glad that Nahual had gotten the message, even if he hadn’t meant to send one. His attention twitched to her altered ear – a cat’s; more like Adelyn, except she could apparently turn it back. Todd was about to reply to that, when he felt Sam’s hand tighten around his, smelled the wave of anger roll off of and through her.

Then, it went away, and Todd felt himself turn bright red as Sam echoed Nahual’s sentiment of mate. She met his eyes for a second, and he turned even redder. Mate was almost as deep and primal as mine. Of course she’d think it was funny. He turned even redder when she mentioned she knew Nahual had showered in Todd’s apartment. Obviously– well, the shower had run while Todd was at the window; Nahual’s hair was wet, and Todd had borrowed clothes that Nahual had showed up in. It was a reasonable response.

The idea of Nahual sleeping in the same apartment where Sam might be vulnerable made him uneasy, especially with the request for more food. Sam would feed her, not knowing what Nahual was beyond weird. Maybe she assumed she was like Adelyn, or like Connor. Connor would call them mates to their faces. That had to be why she took that in stride.

He debated adding anything, but after a moment’s consideration, he decided silent deference to Sam’s decision was the best response. Mates. That meant they were supposed to be equals. Even if he was sure they weren’t, she was the stronger one in this relationship. Deference to her decision was natural, and it would give Nahual the right impression. He hoped it would, anyway. He gave Sam’s hand a little squeeze back, communicating his agreement without words.
 

'Sammy' had a, well, reaction to Nahual. It was the sort of thing she typically saw in her prey right before she started going in on tearing them apart. However, the face she made was gone fairly quickly so Nahual decided to ignore it. Maybe she should've said something, brought it up, made a fuss, but she wasn't sure she cared enough yet.

Her sharp, thin eyes darted over to Todd as Sammy finished speaking, watching his every movement and listening for if he had anything to say. To her surprise, he said nothing, and his body language seemed as though he held Sammy's opinion as holding just as much, if not more, weight than his own. Suddenly, everything Todd had said before about Sammy seemed to make sense. How this was her building, her apartment, how Nahual needed to thank her.

She wasn't Todd's, Todd was Sam's. Nahual nearly smacked herself with the revelation. Todd possessed a natural deference to strong females! Of course! That was why he sought to help her in the beginning instead of attempting to remove another predator from his hunting grounds, Nahual was a strong female and Todd knew that instinctively. Fortunately for Sammy, Nahual was not in the market for a mate at this time, so Nahual had no intention of fighting her for Todd.

Smiling at Sammy, Nahual responded, "I like it! Not a problem, your desires are totally ok with me! Stay here, no showering or staying with Todd, ok! But this place is free an open, nicey nice. What do you have in mind for food? W- I have no preference, of course, ha, haha." The laugh was a little nervous and awkward, Nahual knew she barely caught herselves from referring to the wrong number. It felt so weird though! Nahual didn't feel like a single thing, she felt like many things! But whatever, if humans liked single pronouns better then that's what she would work with.
 
Sam felt Todd’s hand squeeze around hers and she felt some of the tension in her body leave. She saw something flash in Nahual’s eyes, but the girl only agreed to her demands, seemingly only interested in eating as soon as possible. Sam nodded to herself and, impulsively, turned to Todd and once again leaned into him. She wrapped her arms tight around him, ignoring her ribs screaming in pain, and then just as quickly let go.

She said in a soft voice, “You can go do your thing, and I’ll keep an eye on her. I’ll have food when you come back, okay, dear?”

Then, she turned back to Nahual, her head tilted slightly. Her fingers still itched for her hammer, to fight. She was going to have to get that under control. Todd was clearly feeling some kind of responsibility toward the thing, maybe because he thought she was like him. Maybe he thought she was another wendigo? No, no, he had to know she wasn’t. But she was still a predator, a monster, something that ate people. And Sam wanted to have a conversation with the girl, before Todd came back from his shower.

“I’m making Mexican. Fajitas. Sound good?”

She looked between the two predators. Despite the position she was in, one that was as dangerous as any other she had ever been in, she wasn’t scared or tense in the slightest. Her stance was loose, relaxed, though she still held her side with one hand. Her ribs now burned and throbbed intensely. God, she did hurt herself more than she thought, or maybe she had just aggravated it. Whatever the case, they fucking hurt.

She looked Nahual over. She had taken note of the ears, saw the way her eyes had gone back further than they should have. She was clearly shifting her body in the moment, altering her form. But she was doing far more than what Todd had insinuated he could. But she was small, fragile looking, but Sam had to expect that she was stronger than she looked. After a moment, Sam nodded.

She could take her.​
 
Through their respective layers, he could feel the tension in her body around her injuries. She was broken, had been broken by normal humans who had probably gotten away. He swallowed back the anger, and instead offered her a little smile.

“Thank you.”

He kissed her hair, closing his eyes and breathing her in. He leaned back, but put his hands on the side of her face and turned her head gently so she’d see his smile and his gratitude. And, hopefully, not his fear. He wanted his eyes to have all the warmth his words never could, to say all the things he couldn’t bring himself to lie about.

He pressed his forehead to hers, then broke away and left without looking at Nahual again. Not because he didn’t want to – but because now he had to trust Sam with her own safety. He could leave long enough to take a shower and put on clean jeans, instead of these sweatpants, and he’d feel better. He trusted her. He had to.

He closed the door behind him, and tried not to eavesdrop.
 

Nahual watched the two of them and their body movements more than she listened to anything Sammy had to say. Todd was infatuated with Sammy in a way she was unused to, was this a more 'human' trait? Perhaps she should copy this bit of Todd's devotion and pick a human male to use it on, a pretend 'mate' might end up as a great cover story and alibi should she need to excuse her presence somewhere.

Then there was Sammy and the way she looked at Nahual. It was the look of one predator to another, the sizing up before violence occurred. After that look, Sammy seemed pleased with herself. Grinning in response, Nahual ignored the internal decision it seemed that Sammy had come to. With a little giggle, Nahual stated, "Not sure what that is! But food is food! I'm good either way~"

Nahual set her fingers down on the couch and watched them twitch. She was hungry, but Nahual was always hungry. Flipping her sweet smelling hair with her free hand, Nahual flipped her feet up on the couch and wiggled her toes. She didn't say anything else until Todd left and, after she believed he was out of earshot, she added casually, "Not a lot of humans fight through that level of injury. They crumple over and cry mostly, weird that you're not. Could it be you're more than human?"

Of course, she had sensed Sammy's injury, she had noticed it almost immediately upon entering the apartment. With Todd's reaction and everything after that, it was almost impossible not to notice. Nahual had already decided not to physically take advantage of it or Sammy, but that didn't mean she wouldn't poke at it verbally.

Then, with a sing-song tone as if she knew a secret, Nahual added, "Are you a heeero~?"
 

Sam raised an eyebrow at Nahual’s questions and waited until she could feel Todd’s feet at his door, opening it. Then, she decided, it would be best to keep quiet. She knew Todd could hear well, and she didn’t want him to overhear the conversation that was about to happen. In a low voice, one that seemed to rasp more than before, she started to take steps toward Nahual and started to speak.

“I’m not a hero. What I am is a monster. Not like you are. I’m the kind of monster that will do anything I have to to keep that man in the other apartment over there safe. I’m the kind of monster that won’t hesitate if you try to fight him. I know what you are. And I’m the monster that kills other monsters. Monsters like you.”

She stopped moving once she was on the other side of the coffee table from the young woman. She looked her over with a harsh eye, a smile still on her face, her lips curled in a way that was anything but pleasant. She let go of her ribs and crossed her arms, Her weight was shifted onto one leg, her body tense like she was ready to move, to deal with the woman if she made any movements to attack her.

“I don’t want to fight you. I don’t want to have to kill you. Todd seems to like you, or at least he wants to help you. And I trust his judgment. I trust him explicitly. And so I’m going to trust that he didn’t just bring a cannibal into my home without good reason. Yes, I meant it when I said I know what you are. Now here’s the deal. We don’t have to fight. We don’t have to be enemies. I’d prefer if we don’t. But if you lay a hand on a single curly hair on that man’s head, I won’t fucking hesitate to put my hammer through your skull.”

With that said, her face relaxed into something softer, but still cool. The ice in her eyes never quite melted away. She was surprised at herself, at how calmly and coldly she was handling this. It wasn’t in her nature to be angry in a way that wasn’t an explosion, nor was it in her nature to be cold and hateful. But for Todd’s sake, and for the sake of this young monster, she would control herself.​
 
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Perhaps it was not Sam's intention, -no, it most certainly could not have been Sam's intention- but her intimidation tactic seemed to affect Nahual in a way Nahual hadn't expected. Crossing her fingers together and resting her chin on them, Nahual began to grin. It was not a smile of indifference or a defense mechanism, but the reaction to a new emotion rising in the thin little beast.

Desire

Sam was a predator, just like Todd, just like Nahual. To Nahual, what- or who- someone ate wasn't what made someone a predator or not. It was that instinct, the innate drives and desires that all predators had, that song of the hunt that played in their dreams. Sammy clearly dreamt of it too, whether she realized or not, and her powerful, imposing posturing had done nothing more than make herself an object of desire to Nahual. Todd hadn't presented himself as someone worth mating with, but this woman?

Nahual could see why Todd wanted to be hers.

Holding up a finger and breathing deeply, Nahual attempted to control herself. She needed to shove aside her feelings so that she might respond to Sam calmly and without heated breaths of lust. Feeling she held herself under control, Nahual spoke, "I would love to be, ahha, ahem, not enemies. I have no intention of harming Todd, no intention! I think he wants to help me, something about good something about bad, I don't know. Maybe I'll learn! Haha!"

Then, crossing her legs and wiggling her toes, Nahual continued, "Though, I think I should explain- I am not a cannibal. Cannibalism- noun. The eating of human flesh by human beings. I am not human. I am-" Nahual paused, her smile fading for a minute, "Not, sure, what I am. But I know I am not human. I was not born of human flesh, nor raised human, I have no tribe nor pack. I am alone..."

Nahual stopped speaking as she realized she made herself sad. Frowning, she tried thinking of something to make herself happy. 'Eating eating eating eating eating eating-'
 

There was something about the way that Nahual started looking at Sam that made her incredibly uncomfortable. She wasn’t entirely sure what it was. Maybe it was the way she folded her hands under her chin. Maybe it was the wiggling of the toys. Or maybe it was the way that Nahual was looking at her–

Oh, god.

She was looking at her the way she looked at Todd. She was looking at Sam like she wanted to fuck her.

Sam immediately took a step back, her body tensing and almost recoiling. Her face scrunched up into a look of fiery disgust. There was the fire, the rage, the heat. It melted away the ice in her eyes and replaced it with a forest fire, burning bright and hot. There was not a chance in hell. Not a single fucking chance that Sam was going anywhere near Nahual now. She narrowed her eyes and sneered slightly, her lip curling up at one corner.

“Listen to me, and listen to me now. Whatever it is you’re thinking about, whatever is making you look like that–”

But then, she stopped, as Nahual started to list off some interesting information. Then, she seemed to suddenly lose her smile. Sam swallowed and tried to decide if this information changed anything for her. Even if Nahual wasn't human, she looked human, and that was enough for Sam’s brain to rebel against her. The young thing was still a predator of humans, and that made Sam violently angry.

“I don’t know what you are, but you still eat people. And that’s something that on a bad day, on any other day, I’d kill you for. Are we clear?”​
 

"Look at you-? Like whaaaat~?" Nahual giggled, her joy returning after thinking about eating and thinking about Sammy. Then, thinking about what Sam was asking in her final statement, something in Nahual shifted. Maybe it was the way Sam talked, maybe it was the fact that Nahual could still smell that weakening injury, or maybe-

Maybe Nahual just wanted her.

No matter what the origin was, Nahual stood up and flicked her arm to fling back her sleeve and expose her right wrist. She grinned, but there wasn't joy in her voice as she spoke. Calmly and cooly, Nahual explained, "Clear? Are we clear? Don't act like all -humans- are the same value. Eating people, you say it like it's different than anything else! Someone tried to kill me once, I killed them dead first. What difference does it make if we leave the body for rot's consumption or if we consume its mass for ourselves-"

Her voice had shifted, multiple vocal chords combining and twisting in her throat to speak in many tones. Nahual's wrists lit up with bio-luminescent light, her blood starting to glow from chemical changes she crafted in its composition. Nahual was using biomass unnecessarily, but she felt as though there was a point to be proven here, Sam needed to understand. Specifically, Sam needed to understand what Sam was. Her chords merged once more, slipping into soft, sultry tones as Nahual's glowing continued.

"You are same as us, you just don't seem to think it. You're a hunter, and we want that, but we-uhg, I know you're dangerous. I'm not going to come for you in the middle of the night, I'm not going to hurt you, or Todd. I'm going to watch though, and I'm going to wait. Sooner or later you'll come to hear the hunt's song. Until then, I will wait for you, Sammy~"

A wave of exhaustion hit Nahual, whether from the biomass conversion or the accumulation of stress, and she fell back on the couch to rest. Waving her hand, she added, "Go make food. Todd will return soon, don't want him to get the wrong idea, right? Hehe."

 

Sam held her ground, despite the shiver she had to suppress while Nahual spoke. She licked her lips as the voices overlapped, but she didn’t move, didn’t flinch, didn’t shy away. Sam listened, and part of her… heard what Nahual was saying. Part of her wanted to rise to what Nahual was saying and show her what she really was, show her how she responded to the “hunt’s song”. She was pretty sure it wasn’t the way Nahual wanted her to be responding.

The more civil part of Sam, the part of her that was in control, that part stopped her from baring her teeth and lunging. Instead, she straightened out and sighed. This creature wasn’t trying to threaten her and was promising not to hurt Todd. It could harass her all it wanted, but she could take that. She could handle being harassed. She very carefully and deliberately turned her back on the girl without looking at her again and walked slowly into the kitchen.

Now that she had the space to feel it again, her ribs stung painfully, were throbbing and radiating pain through her. She had fucked them up bad. Really bad. When she lifted her arm, a dizzying amount of pain shot through her and she immediately lowered it, turning her head in such a way that she wouldn’t be sick. That was bad. Bad bad. She reached for the ice pack again and then tied it around her with a kitchen towel, for once happy with her small frame. At least she could easily attach ice packs to her body.

With the ice pack secure, Sam went about the cooking process almost on autopilot, breathing out little hisses of heat every now and then. She chopped her vegetables and threw them in the pan to saute, then threw her seasoned meat in the other man. She let them both cook down while she made her tortillas– fresh and not bought– heating them up on the stovetop directly. After it was all ready, she loaded the table high with bowls and bags of chips and bowls of salsa. She had prepared almost double what she intended to, having planned on bringing Todd some later. But the girl said she needed several pounds of food.

So double the food it was.

She returned to the living room from the kitchen, having sufficiently calmed down throughout her cooking. She gave Nahual an almost tired look and then nodded toward the table. “Food’s ready. Todd will join us when he’s ready. Come eat.”​
 

Nahual watched Sam work for a moment, observing the pain in which she moved and the perseverance through it. Then, a thought occurred to the little monster. Sam was in pain, Sam was injured, and Sam would likely remain injured for a while. The natural healing process of the body was something Nahual was deeply familiar with, she manipulated her own all the time with ease. But for someone like Sam, she may be weak longer than simply an hour or so...

Nahual could leave, gather enough biomass to overpower Sam and, upon Nahual's return, Sam might still be injured. That was a wild thought. Nahual decided to put that out of her head for now, return to it later. Unnecessary dwelling on thoughts wasted biomass, and so much had been wasted already.

Then came the food, steaming hot and with many additives all in separate little bowls. It was quite cute! Standing up, Nahual made her way over to the table and sat down while Sam talked. WIthout hesitation, Nahual immediately dug her hand into the hot stack of meat, grasped a fistful, and shoved it into her mouth. Her mouth unhinged itself like a snake, bending and twisting to allow the food in while Nahual's other hand grasped a fistful of some soft yellow stuff and down that went too.

It was a surprisingly civilized way to eat, Nahual thought of herself, and she couldn't help her little twinge of pride that she wasn't bending her stomach open to consume everything all at once. She had to savor the hard work Sam had put into- heating up the biomass? Yeah, that.
 
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Sam watched with a mix of horror and fascination as Nahual started to eat. She took careful slow steps over to her chair, realizing belatedly that Nahual was in Todd’s chair. She sat down in her usual seat regardless and just watched. She started plating up her food, slowly. She wasn’t sure what else to do. It was either that or stare. And staring wasn’t going to fix the fact that she was starving.

So she scooped up food with the utensils that Nahual was ignoring, placing mounds of meat and vegetables on her tortillas. She slowly started to eat, barely paying any attention to her food as she watched Nahual continue to shovel food into her unhinged jaw. Finally, she put her food down and just watched. “What the fuck are you doing?”​
 

Nahual looked at Sam for a minute, looked at the things Sam was holding in her hands, then looked back at Sam as she asked what the fuck Nahual was doing. Nahual waited yet another minute, though she did not stop shoveling food, before realizing something.

'Oh, oh this must not be how humans eat. Oh no.'

Slowly, Nahual released the handfuls of food from her hands and corrected the shape of her jaw. Picking up the nearest piece of cloth she wasn't wearing and wiping her face, Nahual sat up straight and responded with dignity, "I am eating. What are you doing?"

'Oh yeah, turn it back on them, humans love that.'
 
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Sam nodded her head slowly and then gestured to her plate. She moved slowly when she did it, as though trying not to disturb the air, or maybe like she was weirded the fuck out. Oh god, does Todd eat people like this? I hope not.

She licked her lips and swallowed as she gestured to her perfectly wrapped fajitas. “I’m eating, Nahual. This is how people eat.”

She picked her fajita back up and took a bite out of it, chewing slowly, as if trying to make an example. As though if she could show Nahual what it looked like, the girl would emulate it. She swallowed it softly, and not in a huge gulp. Then she set it back down and looked at Nahual. “If you want just the meat, I can get you a fork, at least. Just don’t put your hands in the food, okay?”​
 

Very carefully, Nahual copied Sam's movements. Grabbed a tortilla, added so much meat, cheese, and additives that she had to grab a second and third tortilla to wrap all up, then took a bite. Then, bite by bite, ate the entire thing.

Looking at Sam, Nahual grinned and asked, "Why do people eat like this? Incredibly inefficient, and humans have very efficient biomass utilization mechanisms built into their bodies. Oh- I can eat anything, but meat is most efficient."

It was just all so confusing to Nahual, but Sam was interacting with her in a 'positive' way, like one predator showing kindness and affection to another. Yes, that's exactly what this was. Sam would be Nahual's yet. Unconsciously, that face slipped itself back on Nahual as she looked at Sam and smiled.
 
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For a half second, Sam smiled. Nahual was trying to do what she had done and make a wrapped fajita. She just about commented on it, to tell Nahual how good she was doing, when she kept piling more food on the tortilla. And more. And eventually had to wrap it up with a few extra tortillas. Sam sighed and watched. But Nahual, at least, ate it bite by bite instead of shoveling it into her mouth.

She frowned, about to comment on Nahual’s choice to eat humans anyway, when she looked up and saw the young woman’s face. The food in her hand was slapped back down onto the plate, barely keeping together. She glowered in Nahual’s direction and pushed herself to her feet, her shoulders tensed and raised. The fire was back in her eyes as she turned a frustrated and disgusted look onto the girl.

If this had been a normal girl trying to flirt with her or hit on her, Sam would have let it slide. She had never cared about a person’s gender before, and still didn’t, but there was no one for her but Todd now. Even that was beside the point. Nahual was a human-eating monster that for some reason seemed very interested in her. Sam was not interested in return.

“That’s it! You’re sleeping at Todd’s tonight!”​
 
Todd still had a towel in his hands, but he’d entered the apartment almost silently. Something wasn’t sitting right about leaving Nahual alone with Sam, but Todd needed to clear his head before he just acted on his instincts.

Now, he wasn’t sure that was a good idea. Sure, the shower had done him a lot of good. He felt clean, refreshed, like he could approach the problem of whatever it was he’d decided to bring home with fresh eyes. Sam had given him an open invitation to her apartment, so he felt like he didn’t need to interrupt the two of them by knocking. He’d come in quietly when he heard both voices, assuming it was a good sign, but as he turned into the dining area his gut twisted in a way he didn’t quite understand.

“She’s what now?”

They were both facing him, but his eyes fell on Nahual first. He expected the sweet expression she’d given him, the exterior of childishness that was meant to disarm people the same way his feigned shyness could. But when he looked at her face, he – well, he didn’t really understand it, not at first. It wasn’t what he expected, and it rankled, for some reason. The animal – or whatever it was – under his skin pushed its way closer to the forefront. Without thinking, he straightened his posture, shoulders squaring. His eyes turned sharp as they looked at the creature he’d brought here.

She wanted Sam. And after a second, he processed the rest. She didn’t want Sam as food.

This thing saw his mate as a potential partner.

Then, and only then, did he notice Sam was on her feet. She practically glowed in her fury, which was good, because it probably meant she wouldn’t see the sharpness at his edges. A smile twitched his lips, almost against his will, but he let it.

“Ah. You’re right.” He strolled in, the predator visible in his movements, and he kissed her forehead as he came past. “This was my idea. Of course she can crash on my couch instead.”

Then, he looked at Nahual. Really looked at her. His blue eyes were unwavering, as they clicked into place, meeting the other monster’s if she didn’t look away first. He never quite lost the smile, and he didn’t move away from his mate. His Sammy.

“By the way, you’re in my seat. Mind moving down one?”
 

Nahual frowned, Sam was upset. Had Nahual done or said something- oh, no, she realized with annoyance she might've been making a face. Human emotions were so volatile and Sam hadn't shed that part of herself yet, Nahual would need to get back to mimicry until later. Nahual could wait until Sam saw Nahual in a better light, that wouldn't be too difficult.

Nahual had been mimicking all her life, a little more couldn't hurt.

Todd arrived shortly after the shouting, or perhaps during, Nahual hadn't noticed. She did notice the change in his body language, power, possessiveness, and an unspoken threat. Nahual might've laughed if she hadn't just finished wrangling control of herself. Meeting Todd's eyes as he stared her down, Nahual's face changed to a more casual smile. Nodding, she stood.

"Of course, sorry these things are all just, so new to me. Thank you both for hospitality!" Then another grin, appearing perfectly genuine and innocent at the same time. Moving down a chair, Nahual allowed Todd to take his temporary place at Sam's side. Then, tactfully filling another tortilla, Nahual added, "So how long have you two known each other?"

As casual as if absolutely nothing in the world had ever been wrong.
 

Sam didn’t hear Todd come in, but she heard when he spoke, and felt him when he walked in. His heartbeat was upticked for a few moments but then evened out, although it remained stronger than usual. Some of the tension drained from her shoulders. They lowered and flared back instead of up. While she knew she could handle the girl on her own, having Todd there was reassuring. She went to say something snide, something about the fact that Nahual would molest her in her sleep if she stayed there maybe, but stopped. Todd’s lips pressed to her forehead briefly, and she watched him move.

His usual slouch was gone, and he was raised to his full height, shoulders back. There was a smile on his lips that wasn’t a real smile at all. There was something in the way that he was watching, that he was moving–

That’s when it hit her, and a furious blush rose to her cheeks, highlighting the growing collection of freckles. Todd knew what Nahual wanted from her, and he, her wendigo, was five seconds away from tearing into Nahual over it. God, was that hot? Was that attractive? She watched the way he moved to take his seat and her lips parted in surprise when he kicked Nahual out of his usual chair. She shivered, not bothering to suppress it, nor the smile that followed as she took her seat again. Whatever was going on, whatever this territorial kick was, Sam was finding herself very into it.

She very casually reached a hand out toward his, and he took it without shifting his gaze from Nahual at all. Sam wasn’t stupid, and she didn’t think this time that he was looking at Nahual with anything other than malice and disdain. He had seen the way that Nahual had been looking at her, and his response was silent aggression. They’d gone out and she’d been hit on in front of him before, but he had never responded to it like this. Was this because Nahual was a predator? Because she was a creature in the same vein as him, and therefore a threat?

Whatever the case, she enjoyed the feel of his stronger-than-usual grip on her hand as she laced her fingers through his. Another small shiver ran through her, but she suppressed it this time, so it wouldn’t vibrate down and into Todd’s hand. That might ruin whatever this was.

Sam vaguely heard what Nahual asked and turned it over in her head for a moment before fully registering it. Then, in a voice that barely did anything to hide whatever strange thing she was feeling, she replied with, “Long enough.”

She gave a pleasant smile to Nahual, though her cheeks still burned with their flush. Her eyes only stayed on the girl long enough to smile before she turned her eyes as subtly as she could back to Todd.​
 
Nahual moved. He was glad; he didn’t want this to come to blows. Not between predators, not in front of Sammy.

There was a difference between Sam and Kosuke, or even Sam and Nat. Sam knew Cryptid, knew this side of him that could unfold and carried the undercurrent of violence with him. He wasn’t afraid, right now. He wasn’t afraid of what she might think. His nose gave enough context to know she wasn’t angry. Far from angry, almost the opposite from angry. So this meant that she wasn’t seeing anything new here. She’d just never seen him act like this without the mask. He felt his face get a little warmer with that realization, but he didn’t look away from Nahual. He’d hold her eyes until she looked away first.

He didn’t serve himself any food. Just held Sam’s hand.

“Two months, give or take,” he purred, adding on to Sam’s estimate of long enough. “Sammy invited me to live here after a week. We’ve been together almost every second since then.”

Two months wasn’t long, to be sure. Not for a human relationship, not for Sam to be as close to him as she was. Maybe between two humans, it’d be different. But this was Sam, Sam who’d claimed him as hers and who he’d claimed as mine. The one line he’d drawn for the smaller predator, the one thing he’d asked Nahual to observe. He was making it as clear as if it was written on the wall. If this kept up, Sam or not, there’d be a fucking problem.

And he hoped he was making it clear that it wouldn’t be a problem for him.
 
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