Bitterroot Valley Enter, Pursued by a Memory

twitch froze like he’d pressed a thumb to the back of her neck. hun. the endearment, however innocently he means it, hits her harder than any teeth ever had. it goes clean through her, warm and wonderfully disarming in all the ways she was painfully susceptible to. her ears flicked, gaze stuttering away as she minded herself to be calm.

her tongue kisses her teeth as a warming smile creeps along the corner of her lips. “couldn’t sleep,” she said, tail sweeping behind her, “figured I’d go for a walk.”

she watches him the same way a doe would eye a hunter; wary but curious still. that smile of his was unfair—dangerous—and even when he has her, he dips his head to try to soften his own size. it makes her chest tighten with something embarrassingly appreciative. her pulse flutters once in her throat and she blames it on anxiety.

callahan, he introduces. it suits him. he asks for her name in turn, and she gives freely. “uh- twitch is fine,” she offers, voice low.

twitch cocks her head as if in consideration to his words, humming like she is mulling it over in her mind—“pleasure’s mine, i think, but thank you.” she retorts—too honest, too warm—before she cleared her throat. “you’re new, i take it? sega picked you up?”