I nodded. "I know. And until he does heal, I'm going to be there for him every step of the way. I'm going to be with him every single minute."
I fully intended to be, but just then, an excruciating stabbing pain seemed to explode in my left temple. The pain was so intense that I fell to my knees, squeezing my eyes shut and letting go of Nick's hand.
"Oh, God. It's so bad this time. It's so bad."
The pain suddenly spread across my entire forehead, and it was so intense that I couldn't hold back a moan.
"Oh, it's so bad. Post-invisibility headache. Think I stayed invisible a bit too long."
I gritted my teeth, unable to even open my eyes. Katie shouted for Sam and the doctor, who'd both left the room, and I soon found myself in a bed in a hospital room across from Nick's, with the doctor telling me to swallow a spoonful of some terrible-tasting liquid that had been put into my mouth.
"It'll help you sleep right through the pain."
A little reluctantly, because I didn't want to sleep while I could be by Nick's bedside, I did as I was told. And almost immediately, I sank back into a stack of pillows behind my head, already beginning to drift off. Right before I fell asleep completely, I felt someone kiss me on the cheek and then heard Katie's voice near my ear.
"You did so well, my friend. I know you were so brave. And Nick is going to be so proud of you when he wakes up."
A long while later, though I had no idea exactly how long, I awoke with a start after having had some vague nightmare. "Nick."
"Shh." Damien, who was standing by my bedside, took my hand. "He's fine. Out like a light. Like you've been." Damien leaned over and brushed a light kiss against my mouth.
"Meanwhile, I've just been watching you sleep, thanking my lucky stars that you're okay. This might expose me as some kind of a pathetic, lovesick fool, but I've become convinced that my heart can't beat without you." He brushed another kiss against my mouth, letting his lips linger a little this time. "I don't think I could even breathe without you."
I winced, but not because of a slight, lingering pain in my left temple. I winced because his kisses had felt so right. Yet so completely, totally, horribly wrong at the same time.
He frowned, drawing his dark brows together. "How do you feel? Are you still in pain?"
I shook my head. "No, that's not it."
"Then, what's wrong?"
I shook my head again, tears suddenly rolling down my face for what felt like the millionth time that day. Or night. Or whatever time it was.
"I can't lie to you, Damien. I do love you...even...even very deeply, I think, maybe. But Nick just endured torture for me. Torture. But he didn't give in; he wouldn't let me be harmed. His love for me was too strong. And, now...that just makes me feel like...." I shook my head yet again, sending more tears rolling down my cheeks.
"I love Nick more than ever. I love him with all my heart. And while he recovers, I need to be there for him every step of the way. It's the very least I can do for him, since all his injuries are from defending me and my life and refusing to put me in harm's way." I took a deep, shaky breath. "And while I'm supporting Nick in his recovery, I don't think I can see you. For any amount of time, for any reason. Even though he and I aren't officially a couple again, it's still just not right somehow. And I ask you please to respect this."
With his dark gray eyes that I loved so much absolutely radiating pain and anguish, Damien just looked at me for a long moment or two before nodding and speaking in a husky whisper. "As it's been from the very first day I met you, your wish is my command." He released my hand and left the room without saying another word.
I sank back against the stack of pillows, tears flowing freely. I knew I'd done the right thing. I could feel it in my gut. But what I couldn't understand was why, if my decision had really been so right, my heart felt as if it had been ripped right out of my chest.
CHAPTER 14
I'd wanted the Halloween party in the town square to be exciting. Several weeks spent taking care of an injured Nick had left me needing a break in the routine. However, I hadn't wanted the party-slash-harvest festival to be the fighting-for-my-life kind of exciting.
And yet, there I was, dodging wolves with baby Lucy in my arms while trying to get us to safety, trying to save our lives. But the wolves weren't making this easy. Every time I'd find a statue, tent, or tree to hide behind, I'd spot another wolf coming right for us and would have to make a run for it again. And eventually, there was no place left to run to. While I stood with my back to a granite statue of a dragon in flight, Lucy intensified her crying, attracting the attention of a wolf who was chasing several of the screaming women around us. He stopped dead in his tracks and began slowly stalking over to us, and I realized that the nearest possible hiding spot, a banquet tent, was now at least thirty or forty feet away. I knew Lucy and I wouldn't make it there. And all the nearby dragon shifters were engaged fighting other wolves.
And so, as the wolf padded closer, dark eyes gleaming, I pulled a small knife from my pocket and pushed a button to open the blade. I'd been carrying this knife around with me for a couple of weeks, ever since the wolves had stepped up their attacks on the town. While Nick had encouraged me to do whatever I needed to in order to feel completely safe, he'd wondered if me carrying the knife was really even necessary, because for one thing, there were usually dragon shifters around to protect me, and for another thing, I could hide myself from a wolf by doing my special "magic trick" of becoming invisible.
But I'd said I wanted to carry the knife around with me anyway. It made me feel secure and prepared for all possibilities. And it was certainly more practical than carrying around my longbow and arrows. And now, I was incredibly glad that I'd chosen to carry the knife. Because now, it was the only thing between Lucy and me and the smoke-gray wolf stalking toward us.
Cradling Lucy in the crook of one arm, I extended the knife with my free hand, staring the wolf down. "If you want her, you're going to have to kill me first!"
The wolf stepped over a candlelit pumpkin, lifting the side of his mouth in something resembling a leer, the expression seeming to say that killing me would be a pleasure.
Despite most of the world and the earth's population being obliterated in some sort of nuclear war over a hundred years earlier, many holidays and traditions that had existed before the war still survived, like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and people in Crystal Falls looked forward to these holidays all year. And up to this point, the Halloween party had seemed to more than surpass expectations. Katie and several other women had worked hard to make this year's party the best one yet. There were dozens of games for all the costumed kids. There was apple bobbing, and over a thousand candlelit pumpkins lined a pathway leading to a dozen massive tents where food had been served buffet-style all evening.
There had even been dancing, which was why I'd taken Lucy from Claire, so that she could dance with a dragon shifter named Eric she'd been spending a good deal of time with the previous couple of weeks. And then, while I'd walked Lucy around the town square, visiting with different people, I'd lost track of Nick. Or, he'd lost track of me. Whichever. But it didn't even matter. I couldn't spot him now, and even if he had been near, I wasn't even sure if he could shift. He was still recovering from his injuries, and he hadn't attempted it yet.
While the wolf advanced, now only maybe ten or fifteen feet away from Lucy and me, I tightened my hold on the knife, hand shaking.
"I swear...I'll stab you right through the heart if you touch her."
That was a promise I wasn't sure if I could keep, but I was sure going to try. I didn't have a choice. Even if I turned myself invisible, the wolf would still be able to see Lucy, and I couldn't let him harm a single strand of the downy brown fuzz on her head. I was going to have to somehow stab him deep enough to stun him, all the while still holding Lucy.
All around us, women and children ran past, screaming. Wolves snarled and snapped, chasing them. Dragons chase
d the wolves, roaring, their massive bodies overturning tables and stacked hay bales. But none of the dragons seemed able to see Lucy and me, not that they could be blamed. The strings of outdoor electric lights that surrounded the banquet tents didn't illuminate the area by the statue where I was standing, and the silvery glow from the moon only provided a very small amount of light in the dimness.
It glinted off the blade of my knife, which I outstretched even further toward the wolf.
"I'll cut you to ribbons. Do you hear me? Don't come any closer."
My quaking voice didn't sound quite as authoritative as I would have liked. Still leering with his white teeth glinting in the moonlight, the wolf continued to advance, one slow step at a time. Flailing in my arm, which was aching with her weight, Lucy wailed. The knife in my hand shook.
"Don't come any closer! You hear me?"
Snarling only a few feet away now, the wolf crouched, as if preparing to pounce. And suddenly, I couldn't wait any longer. I couldn't wait for him to attack. I had to attack him. And so, in one quick, continuous motion, I turned my body, somewhat shielding Lucy behind me, and lunged at the wolf, aiming my knife at the side of his neck.
I most likely would have stabbed him. Seemingly surprised by my attack, the wolf didn't even move while I brought my knife to his neck.
But before I could drive it into his flesh, he suddenly flew into the air, and that was the only way to describe what he did. One moment he was there, and then he wasn't. It took me at least a full second before I was able to process my shock and look up to see what had happened.
And what had happened was that Damien, shadowy gray and enormous in dragon form, had snatched up the wolf in his claws and lifted him into the air.
To my astonishment, Nick was flying right beside Damien, looking as fast and strong as he always did in dragon form. With moonlight glinting off his deep green scales, he was keeping right up.
But suddenly, Damien paused, and Nick did as well. Damien held the struggling, howling wolf out to one side, almost as if offering him to Nick. And Nick didn't waste any time. He backed up a little, his large green wings beating the air, before charging at the wolf and stabbing him through the heart with one of his razor-sharp claws. Then, immediately, he stabbed him through the eye, killing him. Damien then released his grip on the wolf, letting him fall to the ground a good distance away from Lucy and me.
I dropped my knife and cradled a shrieking Lucy, heaving a sigh of relief. "It's okay now. Everything's okay."
Except it wasn't. A low snarling made me lift my face, and I saw the glittering eyes of another wolf approaching, not more than twenty feet away. But before it could come any nearer, Damien and Nick landed and took him out in a similar fashion as they had the last one. All around us, the sounds of howling, dying wolves could be heard as more and more of them were dispatched by dragons.
The sounds of women and children screaming decreased and then disappeared. Even Lucy quieted and set her head on my shoulder. And finally, all the several dozen wolves who'd attacked the Halloween party seemed to be dead.
Damien and Nick both shifted into human form and simultaneously asked if Lucy and I were okay.
Rocking her in my arms, I nodded. "We're both fine. But one of you, please...go find Claire. I'm sure she's worried absolutely sick."
After a brief dark look at Damien, Nick shifted into dragon form and flew off, leaving me, Damien, and Lucy alone. I hadn't spoken to Damien, not even once, since I'd told him in the hospital weeks earlier that my focus needed to be on Nick during his recovery. And I'd missed him. Terribly. Even while at the same time, Nick and I had rekindled our romantic spark during his recovery.
I didn't know what to say to Damien. Other than a thank you for taking out the wolf with Nick.
"The two of you actually made a pretty good team."
Damien shrugged, his full mouth lifting in the hint of a grin. "In this instance, I guess."
A crying little girl being led through the square by her father filled a very awkward, very long silence between me and Damien. The two of us glanced at each other, and then at the ground, and then at each other again. And then pretty much repeated the process. And once the little girl's crying had faded into the distance, Damien cleared his throat, looking at me.
"I hope you've been doing all right."
I nodded, still rocking Lucy, who seemed to be drifting off to sleep. "I have been. And thank you. I hope the same about you."
He dipped his head in the slightest of nods, his expression unreadable, but he didn't answer verbally. Another very awkward, very long period of non-speaking commenced, though this time, without even the little girl's cries to fill the silence. I couldn't help but notice that Damien looked as gorgeous and as sexy as ever, with his dark hair tousled and the outline of his muscles visible beneath the thin fabric of his fitted gray sweater.
Eventually, I spoke, and my words shocked and embarrassed me. "I'm surprised you haven't begged to see me these couple of weeks that I've been taking care of Nick."
I hadn't really meant to say that, though I had been surprised that he hadn't tried to see me. The words had just kind of tumbled out.
Damien lifted one side of his full, delectable mouth in the hint of a half-grin.
"You forget you have competition. I've been busy spending an awful lot of time with Miss Quackers lately. Long, hot baths...lots of cuddle time in bed. She's becoming a better kisser and conversationalist. Things do tend to get a bit awkward between us, though, any time I broach the subject of moving things beyond the kissing stage."
I stifled a sudden, almost involuntary laugh, making Lucy briefly lift her head, fussing, before setting it back down on my shoulder with her eyes closed.
Damien continued, though with his expression now much more serious. "I've wanted to see you, Daisy. Badly. You've been consuming my thoughts, to say the least. But here's something about me. I don't beg. And I'm not about to start with you, even though you're back with Nick. I-"
"I'm not 'back with Nick.' Not...not officially, anyway. We haven't been...physical or anything."
I realized maybe that had been too much info or something, or too much info too freely given, and my face flamed. But it was the truth; other than a few embraces and brief kisses, Nick and I hadn't been intimate even once. For one thing, he'd been too weak and his wounds were still healing. And for another thing, while I'd been missing Damien, I hadn't really been in the mood. Not to mention that I still wasn't certain at all that I was ever going to officially get back with Nick, anyway. Despite the fact that he'd been tortured for me.
In response to me saying that Nick and I hadn't been physical, Damien snorted with his mouth twitching with something like bitter amusement.
"Well, no matter if that's the case-"
"It is the case."
"Well, no matter. Nick is the one you've been choosing to spend all your time with, so you have been back with him in that sense. And as long as that continues to be your choice, I won't beg you to do otherwise. No matter how much I've been missing you. No matter that I've felt almost literally sick from missing you at times. From longing for you at times."
Neither of us spoke for a long moment or two, though instead of glancing away awkwardly this time, we held eye contact. And a little thrill of something indefinable rippled through me while I looked into his dark gray eyes. It was a little thrill I often got just from being in the presence of his potent masculinity.
When it seemed to become clear to him that I wasn't going to respond to what he'd just said, he took a step closer, making us now mere inches apart, and picked up a lock of my long, honey-brown hair.
He held it just briefly, a flicker of something like pain shadowing his handsome features, before letting it slip through his fingers. "God, you're so irresistible. From the tips of your toes all the way up to the very ends of your hair."
His pained expression became replaced by a warm twinkling in his eyes.
"You look amazing w
ith a baby in your arms, too. You'll make one very sexy mama someday."
Heat rose to my face while I tried my best to resist thinking about how a child of ours might look. After giving me a very sexy, enticing half-grin that made my knees a little weak, Damien's expression turned to one more sober once again, and he continued.
"Even though I'm in love with you almost beyond all comprehension, I won't beg for you, Daisy. I'm confident that I'm the better man for you. And I'm confident that someday you'll come to realize this. Hopefully someday soon." Sighing, he paused, looking deeply into my eyes. "I'm not sure what you need...some sort of a sign or a cosmic clue, maybe. Some sign that makes you just know deep down in your heart, like I do. Something that makes you feel certain that I'm the man you're supposed to be with, like I'm certain that you're the woman for me.
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