Raze (Riven 3)

I motioned him to stay still. There was no way I was letting him scare the kitten away. At least, not until I’d gotten him into the light so I could take a picture.

I opened the dumpster and dropped the bags in nearly in slow motion, since any movement or sound could scare the kitten. Then I slid a hand into Dane’s pocket for his keys and we walked to the end of the alley.

“Felix.” Dane’s voice was strained and desperate. “It’s at my neck. It’s filthy. It’s been living in an alley with bugs and—and…bugs.”

The kitten was curled up right at his neck, and it was absolutely the cutest thing that I’d ever witnessed. But Dane sounded legitimately distressed. He really didn’t like to be dirty.

“It’s okay,” I assured him. “You can disinfect your neck when we get inside.”

I was half joking, but the second we were inside, Dane made a beeline for the bathroom. He paused at his reflection in the mirror, though. In the light, the kitten was even cuter. A tiny, curled ball of black fluff against his neck, only its green eyes peeking out above its tail. I was instantly in love.

“We have to…clean it?” Dane said.

It was clear he had no idea what he was doing, so I pried the reluctant kitten from his shoulder, wrapped it in one bar mop and cleaned it with another.

Dane immediately stripped off his shirt and washed his shoulder and neck, letting out a relieved breath when he’d put on a clean shirt.

Wet, the kitten was even smaller. Her pointy ears and huge eyes looked too big for the delicate bones of her tiny face, and her tail wriggled weakly against the towel.

“Do you have any tuna?” I asked.

“Hang on.”

I dried the kitten as best I could, smoothing down her fur.

“There you go, that’s much better, huh?” I said.

The kitten purred and wriggled against me. Then her little nose moved, and she froze for a moment before rocketing out of my hands and out of the bathroom door.

“Whoa, incoming!” I yelled, running after the kitten.

The ball of damp, spiky black fluff landed on the counter and tried to shove her face against the can of tuna.

“Jesus, you’re a menace,” Dane said.

He put the can on the floor and the kitten tried to eat it, but her tiny mouth was no match for the tightly packed can.

“No, no,” I said.

I plucked the can off the floor and got a bowl, mushing up the mound of tuna and putting the bowl on the floor. I tugged Dane’s hand and we sat on the floor. The kitten immediately buried her little face in the food.

I groaned and leaned against Dane’s shoulder.

“She’s so cute, I can’t stand it. I want her.” I turned to the kitten. “You wanna come home with me, baby? Wanna live with me?”

I felt Dane tense beside me and glanced at him. His expression was blank and unreadable.

“You okay?” I asked.

He nodded, and I immediately got sucked into watching the kitten eat. When she finished, the air had dried her clean fur, revealing a soft cloud of black fluff and a pattern of white markings on its chest and belly that looked like…

“A skeleton. We found a kitten on Halloween and she’s dressed like a skeleton—I can’t stand it.” I collapsed against Dane in joy. “I’m gonna call her Skeleton. Skellie for short, obviously.”

“It’s…a girl? Uh, a female, I mean.”

“Yup. You like the name Skeleton, baby?” I cooed.

“I don’t—” Dane began, then snapped his mouth shut.

“You don’t like the name?”

He shook his head. I knew that look. He wanted to tell me something, but he didn’t think he should.

I slid into his lap, looking right at him. He sighed and leaned back against the cabinets. “Dane,” I said sternly. “What’s wrong? I’m gonna take the kitten to the vet, I swear, so if she has rabies they’ll tell me. I mean, she obviously doesn’t have rabies…”

He shook his head again, but his hands were tight around my hips.

“What is it?” I asked again gently.

“It’s…it’s stupid. Sorry.”

I put my hands on his shoulders and looked at him until he started talking.

“I…I got…You called— Jesus, this is so stupid.” Dane cringed. I had no idea what he was going to say. “You called the cat ‘baby’ and I…that’s what you call me. God, never mind.”

He closed his eyes, clearly mortified, but I melted inside. I cupped his face.

“Baby.” I infused it with as much intimacy as I could, and Dane’s eyes slowly opened. “When I say it to a kitten it just means ‘little cute thing with no name.’ When I say it to you it’s because I love you so fucking much I can’t breathe sometimes when I look at you. It means I want to remind you that you’re mine and I’m yours.”