I’d barely been able to sit in a room with Lou yesterday, but right now I couldn’t seem to stop looking at her. Was it progress, or was I still half asleep? At least I wasn’t freaking out. “Ferrets.” I rubbed my face with one hand. “Okay.”

“Are you afraid of ferrets?” Trick asked. “Is that why you screamed like a small child?”

Trick was my friend and I loved him and I absolutely was not considering picking him up and tossing him out of my room.

Lou and Van watched me carefully, and even in my muzzy state, I knew I had to respond carefully here, lest my living situation devolve further. I didn’t want to be a lone wolf living out of my SUV while I found another place to live, and I couldn’t go back to Portland.

“I just wasn’t expecting them,” I said. “On my pillow. Right when I woke up.”

They continued to watch me.

“They were…staring very intently.” I tucked my blanket closer around me.

One of the ferrets crawled up Van’s shoulder and started burying its nose in her hair. “I could see how that would be unsettling.”

“At least they didn’t go anywhere delicate.” Lou held one hand up in front of her in a grabby motion. “Little claws.” Her gaze dropped to my lap and she smirked.

I don’t blush easily, so I was surprised when I felt the heat creeping up my face. Lou’s smirk faltered and she dropped her gaze. I cleared my throat. “Little claws?”

Van patted my head. “Poor buddy. We broke your brain.” She held one of the ferrets out to me. “This is Kodo.” She held out a second one, and I swear they looked identical. At least their scent signatures were slightly different. “This is Podo. I’ve made them promise to never go near your delicate bits with their little claws.”

The ferrets stared at me, and somehow I didn’t trust that promise at all. I reached out slowly, petting their heads. “Okay.”

Trick snickered as he took another sip of coffee. “Usually it takes us a whole week to break new roommates.”

“I’ve always been a fast learner,” I said, staring at them all helplessly.

Lou finally took pity on me and ushered everyone out with her bat. “Come on, team. Let’s leave the confused naked man alone and maybe go make another pot of coffee out of pity.”

I tried really hard to not look at the way her shorts hugged her ass as she left the room.

I failed.

I spent the next few days applying for jobs and partially avoiding Lou. Which made me feel like a coward. During my introductions to the ferrets, I’d managed to keep my cool. I didn’t want to lose ground, so I figured if I didn’t see her much, it wasn’t courting another episode.

It also gave me time to get used to the animal mage part of her scent. If I could start associating it with home and safety, with friends, that would be a huge step in the right direction. That didn’t mean I wasn’t passively gathering information about her. I tried to tell myself it was because the more I knew, the less I’d be afraid…but I was worried that it might be more than that. Being attracted to Lou would obviously be complicated. I didn’t want complicated.