Page 18 of Blade

“Um, if I’m reading the situation right, he’s not going to move while he thinks his…friend…is in danger.” The ranger was finding this entirely too funny for my taste. “No one is ever going to believe this.”

“I’m not worried about other people, just my new friend here.” He wouldn’t eat the ranger, would he? Killing him would be self-defense but what would eating fall under? “He’s very smart but I’m not sure how much of the situation he’s comprehending.”

Even the best button cats didn’t understand everything…it was just a matter of perception, not their intelligence.

Petting Blade’s sides since that was what I could reach, I ignored the nearly giggling ranger. “I’m safe. Rangers don’t hurt humans. They just get mad at us for doing stupid things.”

Ugh.

He knew that word.

The way Blade turned his head and looked at me like I was an idiot had the ranger nearly shaking with laughter. “That’s rude. You can’t hold one problem over me forever. Partners just don’t do that. It’s not nice.”

“Oh, gods above. You.” Coughing through his laugher, the ranger shook his head. “That’s what happened. You called him your partner.”

Most of the nonhuman people I’d met were generally very polite but whatever he was seemed to not follow theeveryone has mannersrule.

“I wanted him to understand that I wasn’t going to leave him on his own anymore. If I’m his partner, he can’t kill me in my sleep and eat me. Duh.” Great. Now I sounded like I was a kid again. “He seemed to agree with me because he stopped looking at me like I was lunch.”

That had Blade turning to me again. “It was understandable. I wasn’t offended.”

“You just. He.” Shaking his head, the ranger finally took a deep breath and got his odd sense of humor under control. “Okay. We can figure this out so no one gets hurt.”

Besides my ribs.

Ugh.

“Blade.” I gave up being sweet to the pain in the ass and tried to push him off me but all it got me was strained muscles and a huff from my murder kitty. “This is not dignified.”

“He’s not going to move until he thinks you’re not in danger any longer.” The ranger paused and nodded as Blade growled but seemed to be less angry. “That’s right. You know that much at least. You’re going to keep your mate safe.”

Mate?

No. One weird problem at a time.

“Why does he think I’m not safe?” Yes. That was a much better question. “What did you threaten him with?”

I knew more about the Bigfoot community than I did whatever he was.

They were incredibly chatty and could explain things much easier than the ranger seemed to be able to.

Hell, the raccoons that’d been high as kites made more sense.

“Nothing but it might not sound that way to him.” The ranger let out a breath slowly and seemed to be doing his best not to project anything that would upset Blade. “When he was originally…changed, they hypothesized he might not know who he was any longer and would just be operating like a regular animal.”

Well, that explained his dietary habits.

“He’s very smart, though.” He hadn’t killed me and he’d gotten me out of that stupid tree. “We just need to find the right explanation.”

It would be like finding the right combination of buttons.

“He’s been feral for longer than you’ve been alive.” The ranger’s arms came down but were still held out from his body. “Youare the only thing that’s affected him in seventy years. He understands keepingyousafe. Other than that, we can only guess.”

No.

I was not going to ask any questions.

It wasn’t the time to look stupid.