Tohr shifted his eyes away for the duration.
“All right, you’re done,” Manello said sometime later. “And before you ask, I’ll give you a ‘yeah, probably.’ Given how fast you guys heal, you should be good to go tomorrow night. For fuck’s sake, you’re like cars—take a beating, go into the body shop, next thing you know, back out on the road. Humans take so damn long to get over things.”
Uh-huh, right. Tohr wasn’t quite ready to put himself in Dodge Ram territory. The exhaustion he was lugging around with him meant he needed to feed—and that these relatively minor injuries could take a while to repair themselves.
Aside from that one session from Selena, he hadn’t taken a vein since—
Nope. Not going there. No need to open that door.
“No walking on this foot,” the surgeon ordered on as he snapped off his gloves. “At least until dawn. And no swimming.”
“No problem.” Especially on the latter. After what he’d just seen floating in the middle of the goddamn thing, he might never go in the pool again. Any pool, for that matter.
The only thing that saved his having walked in on her from being a complete mess was the fact that there had been nothing sexual on his side. Yeah, he’d been shocked, but that didn’t mean he wanted to… you know, bang her or some shit.
“One question,” the doctor said as he rose up and held out his hand.
Tohr accepted the palm and was a little surprised to find himself pulled solidly to his feet.
“What.”
“How did it happen?”
Tohr glanced over at No’One—who looked away so quickly, she turned her whole body in the opposite direction.
“Bottle slipped out of my hand,” Tohr muttered.
“Ah, well—accidents happen.” The yeah-sure tone suggested the guy didn’t believe the fudge for a second. “Call me if you need me. I’m down in the clinic for the rest of the night.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Yup.”
And then… he and No’One were alone together.
ELEVEN
As No’One watched the healer go, she found herself wanting to take a step back from Tohrment. It seemed as if, in the absence of any other parties, he had suddenly gotten closer. And much, much larger.
In the silence that transpired, she had the sense that they should be speaking, but her mind was clouded.
In the meantime, too much of his physical form registered for comfort. He was so tall—inches and inches, a whole foot taller than she was. And his body was not reedy as hers was: Although he was thinner than she remembered from before, and a great deal lighter than his Brothers, he was still broader and more muscled than any male member of the
Where was her tongue? she thought.
And yet even as she wondered that, all she could do was measure the brutal width of his shoulders, and the massive contours of his heavy chest, and those long, viciously muscled arms. It was not because she considered him comely, however. She was abruptly frightened of all that physical power—
Tohrment was the one who took a step back, his face registering disgust. “Don’t look at me like that.”
Shaking herself, she recalled that this was the male who had gotten her free. Not someone who had ever hurt her. Or would. “I am sorry—”
“Listen up, and I want to make this clear. I’m not interested in anything from you. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing—”
“Game?”
His powerful arm shot out as he pointed to the pool. “Lying in wait for me to come down here—”
No’One recoiled. “What? I was not waiting for you or anyone else—”
“Bullshit—”
“I checked first to make sure I was alone—”
“You were naked, floating there like some kind of whore—”
Their raised voices ricocheted around like bullets, crossing paths as they interrupted each other.
Tohrment jutted himself forward on his hips. “Why did you come here?”
“I work as a laundress—”
“Not the training center—this goddamn compound.”
“I wanted to see my daughter—”
“Then why haven’t you spent any time with her?”
“She is newly mated! I have tried to make myself available—”
“Yeah, I know. Just not to her.”
The disrespect in that deep voice made her want to shrink away, but his unfairness gave her a backbone. “I had no way of knowing that you were going to enter herein. I thought all were gone for the night—”
Tohrment closed the distance between them. “I’m going to say this only once. There’s nothing here for you. The mated males in this house are bound to their
“I want no male!” Her shouting shut him up, but that wasn’t nearly enough. “I shall say
“Then how about you start by keeping your goddamn clothes on.”
She would have slapped him if she could have reached that high. Her palm even started to tingle.
But she did not jump up to wipe the terrible expression off his face with force. Lifting her chin, she said with as much dignity as she could, “In the event you have forgotten what the last male did to me, I can assure you I have not. Whether you choose to believe me or prefer a delusion, that is not my doing—or my concern.”
As she limped past him, she wished for once that her leg was what it had been before: Pride was far better served by an even gait.
Just as she got to the anteroom, she looked back at him. He had not turned about, so she addressed his shoulders… and the name of his
As she wobbled to the door, she was shaking from head to foot, and it wasn’t until she felt the cold slap of the air out in the corridor that she realized she had left the rolling trash bin, the sweeper, and her sheath behind.
She was not going back for them, that was for certain.
In the laundry room, she closed herself in and leaned against the wall by the doors.
Abruptly, she felt like she was suffocating, and ripped the hood from her head. Indeed, her body was hot, and not because of the heavy layer she wore. An internal burn had taken root and used her gut for kindling, the heated smoke from that fire filling her lungs, crowding out the oxygen.
It was impossible to reconcile the male she had known in the Old Country with the one she saw now. The former had been awkward, but never, ever disrespectful, a kind, gentle soul who somehow excelled at his brutal endeavors in the war—whilst retaining his compassion.
This current iteration was but a bitter shell.
