I blinked slowly, shivering a bit. “I’m cold.” I blinked again, but my eyes didn’t open, very heavy. “Nap…now.” Not sure how long had passed, but suddenly, my eyes snapped open when I felt the bite of gnawing teeth, Shifter magic zapping my body. “Ow! Shit!”
“Stay awake,” Cain ordered gruffly, now gripping my shoulder. “Or I’ll do that again.”
“Jus’…wanna…sleep,” I slurred, glaring up at him, my teeth chattering. “Asshole.”
“Whatever, spirit bitch, just stay awake,” he growled. I jerked, my eyes flying open, not even realizing they had closed, when he zapped me again, and he glanced up, barking, “How much longer?”
“He’s coming,” a pause by the male voice from before, “The principal’s bringing him back now.”
Yeah, we had been at a children’s function, reading to the damn kiddies when the pull to the Barren had occurred for us. Not very timely, but luckily, they had a playground out back we were able to access the darkness on. Didn’t sound right, but it’s not like it left any lingering effects of evil behind…I blinked, slurring, teeth chattering, “Make sure…to…ges’ rid of…my blood stain.”
“She’s lost way too much blood,” Elder Bridges muttered from above me. “She’s not making any sense.”
“It’s a fucking kid’s playground,” Cain muttered harshly…then zapped me again, my eyes shooting wide as I grunted. “Do the damn math.”
“Were’z…Sin?” I asked groggily.
“He’s inside with the kids,” Cain stated evenly, his thumb running soothingly over my cold flesh, even though he was staring off somewhere else. “He and Brann are entertaining them.”
“Good,” I muttered. “He’d…freakz.”
“Make room,” Leric ordered gruffly, also watching where Cain was, snapping his free hand’s fingers at the Guardians. “Let him through.”
Elder Farrar instantly moved, and a moment later, I dimly saw an older spirit man kneeling in his place, listening as Leric explained what had happened, and he started rummaging through a platinum medical case he carried, stating evenly, “We need to get her to the hospital.” He pulled a syringe out, quickly shooting me up with medicine in my arm. “Call ahead and have them wait for us at the doors.”
“Where’s it at?” Elder Bridges asked instantly. “I can get her there faster than any of you.”
I inhaled sharply as a bolt of medicine hit my brain like a lightning bolt, and then grinned sloppily, feeling no pain whatsoever, “Tha’z…nize.”
The doctor ignored me, telling Elder Bridges, “You won’t be able to give her any peace, anything to soothe her, so don’t even waste your power on it…”
He went on with what seemed like endless directions until Elder Farrar cut him off, stating, “For fuck’s sake, she’ll never make it there. Give me the name of the doctor, and I’ll take her there myself.” He maneuvered, lifting me into his arms. “Name, people. Give me a damn name.” He was given a name…and we were instantly floating in a shrouded mist of golden entity…and reappeared in what looked like a surgical room, which was in use, scaring the medical staff, but not the poor sedated bastard on the table who got sliced by a startled nurse with a scalpel. Elder Farrar stated calmly, and pleasantly, while they screamed, “Hello. I’m Elder Farrar, a Lajak.” He lifted me a bit in his strong arms. “This is the Chosen, and if you don’t want the One to kill you, I would suggest you fix her.” He smiled pleasantly when they quieted, expressions shocked. “Or I could kill you now if you don’t move your asses and do as I say.” He dipped his head. “I’ll leave that choice up to you, since you’re all so fond of them here.”
I chuckled, slapping his face with a bloody hand. “You rock.”
“Yes, and since I’m not the only one who likes you, do try not to die.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I don’t want a goddamn scar!” I shouted three days later at the arguing doctor, then held my stomach, grimacing at the fiery burn that produced, pressing my hand against the hospital gown I wore. “Find me a plastic surgeon to fix it!” My cheeks flushed beet red. “It’s embarrassing enough it happened. I don’t want a permanent reminder of my own senselessness.” After all, I hadn’t even seen the idiot coming at me. That was mortifying in itself. One minute I was killing two others, then the bastard had snuck in and gutted me with my own sword before Leric killed him. “Plus, I’m too small a woman who is unhealthy, lopsided, and has mothering hips.” I sniffed delicately. “The last thing I need is something else to feel inadequate about.”
Everyone blinked, my Lajaks staying blessedly mute around the fringes of the room, Leric just staring silently with a hand over his mouth, but the doctor did not. Instead, he inhaled heavily, stating with extra-insincere patience, “Ms Jules, you are a very lovely woman,”
“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit.” I tossed a cup of ice at his head, which produced a pained grunt from me, and a ducking move from him. “I. Want. It. Fixed.” And damn, if my chin didn’t tremble…and it was actually true, because I didn’t want to be scarred, the cut hideous.
Elder Farrar sighed heavily, leaning down where he stood on my right side of the hospital bed, murmuring, “You really are a pain in the ass when you’re sick.”
I growled, my embarrassment quickly turning to anger, my gaze snapping to Sin across the room. “Quit telling them this shit about me!”
“He didn’t have to,” Cain rumbled on my direct left of the hospital bed, reaching down to flick an ice chip off my blanket. “I believe we’ve all figured this out on our own by now.” Navy blue eyes met mine through thick black lashes, and he stated evenly, voice deep and rough, “And the incision isn’t that bad.”
Instantly, I hissed, “It’s hideous.” I hated anyone, much less him, had even seen it when the nurses cleaned the healing wound. “I want it gone.” My eyes flicked back to the doctor. “I don’t care about all the medical jargon you’ve been spouting for the last half hour, the minute chances of something happening while I’m put under again. I just want the damn thing gone, so quit arguing, quit listening to Leric.” I pointed at myself. “I am the damn patient. Me. My body. And it is my damn choice, so find someone to make it happen.” I slammed my finger at Leric. “And you, just shut your fucking pie hole. I already know what you think of my body. You don’t care whether I’m scarred and uglier than I already am compared to your Miss Perfect. You only care that I don’t die in some rare occurrence, so just shut it.”
Leric gazed at me patiently. “Kitten, you know for a fact I find you attractive.” He sighed heavily, then dropped his hand from his mouth, and told the doctor, “Do as she says.”
“Oh,” I waved an irritated hand as the doctor turned, walking through the room, nodding his head, “sure, run off as soon as,” my nose scrunched, “The One orders it, not the damn patient.” The door shut behind the doctor. “Goddamn prick.” My narrowed gaze landed on Leric. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I wanted him gone. He was annoying the shit out of me, hovering as he was for the past three days.
“Actually,” he bent, rifling through his bag, “I thought I would teach you how to play chess, seeing as you’re not going anywhere.”
I blinked slowly. “Leric…get out of here.”
His gaze flicked back to me. “No.”
I counted to ten before I stated gruffly, “I realize you’re going all protective possessive on my ass right now because I’m injured, but you need to leave. I need a break. Go see…her. Get out of my hair for a little while.”
He straightened. Inhaled heavily. Then chucked the bag he held, which conveniently slammed against the wall right where Cain had stood before he rotated his body. Furious silver eyes stared at me in the silence. “I realize you don’t trust a damn thing I say, but I’m here because I care about you. It isn’t all the damn bond.” His tiger growled at me, pissed off, as he ran his hand through his rolls of hair. “You scared the shit out of me when you got hurt, but fine…you want me to go see Lissa
, not be here while you recover…I will.” The door slammed behind him as he left.
I blinked slowly at the door, then inhaled slowly, and closed my eyes. “My life’s a big pile of shit.”
Elder Farrar hummed quietly. “Maybe, if you were a little nicer to those around right now it wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Doubtful,” I muttered, pulling the blanket up higher, carefully rolling, moaning quietly at the ache, toward the scent of a forest before a rainfall. “How the hell I continuously get paired with unobtainable or uninvited men is beyond me.” I shook my head on the pillow, blinking my eyes open. “It’s a damn cursed life I lead.” I yawned huge, the drugs in my system making me drowsy. “I’m gonna sleep now, but if you see me start to glow, wake my ass up. I really don’t want to end up in bed with Leric and his bitch.”
Cain grunted, bending down to ask, “What was that?”
King Zeller answered steadily, stating, “When she has nightmares, she somehow calls out to him in her sleep, and ends up next to him when he answers her call.”
I flicked a glare to King Zeller. “That was private.”
He held up his hands, even as Cain straightened, lids hooding his frosty gaze. “I was just explaining fact.”
I sniffed. “It hasn’t happened in a while, but anyway, like I said, just make sure to wake me up. If I try to kill her, I’ll probably rip my stiches out, possibly tear my incision even worse. I’d hate for it to be any uglier than it already is.”
Cain’s wolf huffed. “You did tell him to go to her.”
“Thank God he did,” I muttered, closing my eyes again. “He was getting annoying as hell.” I shrugged a shoulder. “But I’d rather not get in a fight now, so make sure to wake me.”
Three long, oh Christ, long weeks later—after my surgery for my cuts on my stomach and back, my sword having sliced clean through me, I was released from the hospital with a regiment of pills I had to take to fight off infections, plus, a shit load of sedatives for when the pull to the Barren occurred, since I was unable to fight, Leric having to do it all in my absence. Elder Farrar took me through the golden mist of nonentity, so I could travel easier back to the hotel. When we landed inside the airy hotel suite, no real partitions in this hotel room unlike the others we had stayed in, I blinked, wondering how he had done that, but I tilted my head and saw Cain sitting on the recliner, reading from a book, wearing only a gray t-shirt and a pair of worn jeans, feet even bare, understanding Elder Farrar had used him as a reference guide. Elder Farrar practically dumped me on the bed I shared with Sin, muttering to Cain, “No one will be here for an hour, so you have some time alone. And for the love of God, make her less cranky, since we’re stuck here for another three weeks until she’s fully recovered.” My eyes widened enormously as the suite’s walls suddenly shimmered with a Mage privacy magic before he grouchily slammed the door shut behind him.
I blinked slowly, fully comprehending this set-up, sitting up on my elbows, my gut instantly warming, because it had been bone fucking dry in the sex department ever since my bedroom back at the Temple way too many weeks ago. Cain and I hadn’t found a damn time to do anything sexual, the sharing of the room with the Lajaks not seeming like a wise idea now, plus, my overly extended time in the hospital debilitating, so with my body humming in warmth, and anticipation, I watched as Cain put the book down, and stood fluidly, moving to the door, locking it, and I murmured, “I haven’t been that bad.”
Cain’s shoulders shook the barest bit as he turned to face me, his red lush lips trembling. “Honey, you have been enough that the sedate Elder Samson is now carrying a flask of vodka he chugs heavily on while you’re asleep.”
I eyed him as he began a slow stalk toward me. “You never complained.”
He chuckled quietly, staring at me from under his hooded lids, head dipped the barest bit, appearing like a hungry wolf stalking his prey, his voice a deep rumble. “I guess you could say I’m partial to the patient.” My breath caught in my chest as he slowly removed his gray t-shirt, revealing lots of lovely, muscled olive flesh. “And I’m going to make it my duty for the next hour to make sure the patient is well cared for.” My heart started pounding as he dropped his shirt, continuing his slow stalk, undoing his pants slowly. “God knows, my last,” his wolf huffed as he slid his zipper down, “caring of you was too damn long ago.”
“Agreed.” My voice was throaty as I watched him lower his pants, and I groaned quietly, seeing he had gone commando, and was already hard and heavy. I spread my legs for him, and his gaze instantly flared brilliant navy blue as he stopped at the end of the bed, not really hating the hospital gown I wore right now so much. “Maybe I can take care of you, too?”
His pink tongue peeked out, gliding over his bottom lip, gaze avid between my thighs, inhaling heavily. “I could definitely use some of that.” He flicked a finger, glancing to the gown, kneeling on the foot of the bed. “But first, we need to get rid of that.”
Instantly, I held a hand over my stomach, feeling apprehensive. “Actually, could we leave it on?”
Black brows slammed together when he saw I was serious. “No.” He grabbed my ankles, the action gentle as he spread my legs further, moving up between my legs. Navy blue eyes held mine steadily. “I want to see you and touch you and feel you under me.” He slid his fingers under the gown, holding the bottom of it. “I don’t want this between us.” My lips pinched, but I let him lift it, but quickly placed my hand over the incision’s small thin mark above my belly button before and after my hands were free from the gown. The mark would eventually disappear as it finished healing, the surgeon having done a wonderful job, but it was still red right now, a blemish I didn’t care for.
“Caro…” Cain dropped my gown off the side of the bed, his expression patient, but his eyes were fierce with desire, glowing down on me brightly. “Don’t.” He placed a gentle hand over mine, leaning over me with his other, his heat penetrating, his scent all I could smell, both equally potent. He shook his head softly, black curls dangling on either side of his handsome face. “I don’t think you’re too small a woman or malnutrition or lopsided or have overly large hips or think this,” he squeezed my hand gently, “is hideous. All those things I said before were to hone you into a killing machine, doing my job to keep you safe.” His gaze ran down my body like a flame touching every part of my naked flesh, making me want to bow to its touch, my body beginning to tremble, his tone guttural, and breathy. “In fact, much to my dismay, I much prefer your body over anyone else’s.”
Even with my body warming like a kindling flame under him, nipples hardening, aching for his touch, I still needed the added confirmation, asking quietly, “Promise?”
“I give you my word I prefer your sweet body over any others.” His wolf huffed quietly, even as he tugged at my hand gently. “Although, I still wish you were a Shifter.” My lips lifted a little, still seeing that banked simmering hatred in his gaze, and I let my own show for his unscrupulous, bastard self, knowing that hadn’t changed for either of us, both of us too stubborn, and troubled, for that quick of a change with something we truly reviled. Another tug on my hand as he placed gentle kisses around the edge of my slightly parted mouth, nibbling the barest bit, and he murmured, “I want to see all of you, my spirit bitch, so don’t try to hide from me.”
“Cain,” I whispered softly, a needful echo to the yearning inside me, as I let him pull my hand away from my stomach, his fingers intertwining with mine to hold it against the bed by my head. One hand still free, I ran it through his silken soft curls, tugging a bit as he teased me gently with his soft caresses. “Kiss me.”
His wolf sounded quietly, a soft purring growl as he only continued to nibble the edge of my bottom lip, taking a long lick of it, his tongue moist and warm, whispering, “Say please.”
I grinned softly. “Screw you.”
“You can, if you,” another long swipe of his tongue over my top lip, his dangling black curls tickling my face, “say…please.”<
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I moaned quietly, bowed a bit—still not able to move as much as I liked—and rubbed my aching nipples against his chest, the soft black curls there an added abrasive, but he only raised his chest, not letting me touch him, just out of range, and I glared up at his hooded eyes. “Fine.”
Lush, warm lips curved against mine, one husky demand. “Say it.”
I tilted my head back, pressing my lips firmly to his slightly smiling ones, and managed to stare down my nose at him, stating gruffly, “Please, my manipulative asshole.”
He chuckled quietly, the sound vibrating against my lips, his sweet hot breath fanning in a duel seductive touch. “Why, of course, my spirit bitch.” His eyes dipped down to my mouth, tone gravelly. “I’ve been dying to kiss you for weeks now.” Eyes flicked up to mine, a twinkle in his dilated dark eyes, grinning a bit, stating on a whisper, “I would have done it without the please.”
“Oh, you goddamn,” But, then I stopped griping. A soft moan taking its place as his lush lips pressed against mine, gentle and coaxing, our lips melding seamlessly. Fire erupted from the kindling flame inside me, and I groaned heavily, holding his curls tighter, stroking his lips fervently, needing him like I need air, but his touch stayed gentle, and I ordered against his lips, “More…”
“No,” he whispered, gliding his tongue softly into my mouth, touching mine on an easy slide, rubbing sensually, my core heating, producing a wet warmth between my thighs before his tongue retreated. He nibbled on my bottom lip, tugging gently. “Your doctor said no strenuous activity, so this is going to have to be,” an unhurried stroke of his tongue against mine, “slow,” a gentle brush of his lips, “and soft.”
I blinked my eyes open, staring up at him. “We don’t do slow and soft.” Hell, I had never done that with anyone.
He grinned against my mouth, his free hand cupping my cheek, his thumb rubbing gently on my jaw. “Yet.” He tilted his head, eyes closing slowly, curls brushing my cheeks as his lips continued stroking mine gently before opening them to speak against my slightly parted mouth. “Just because we haven’t before, doesn’t mean we can’t try, and if that’s what it takes to be with you, inside you, I’m sure as hell going to put forth the effort.”
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