He was as careful as anyone could be, as he gently cleaned out the gashes. I pushed my face into the pillow to muffle my screams.
“Doing okay?” Weylyn asked, as sweat beaded on his forehead. He slowly removed the cloth from my back, then poured another shot of whiskey.
“Ah, great, I need another—”
Before I finished, Weylyn slugged back the whiskey himself. I stuck my hand out, snapped my fingers, and made a grabby hand gesture. He splashed another shot into my glass.
The one shot turned into four or five over time, which had the intended effect of taking my mind off the pain and the bandages but had the less intended but more expected effect of turning my brain to mush. I plopped my head down on the towel, lazily mumbling whatever to myself as Weylyn worked.
Eventually, the other guys drifted back into the kitchen, cleaned up and looking a lot better than they had earlier. Even Brann’s hangover was already abating. And, I noted, he had not put a shirt back on. I guess I let out a little moan. This got the attention of four very manly men. Sweet Jesus. I feel like somebody just opened up the buffet at Caesar’s Palace, and I’m the king crab legs. Four dudes staring at my buck ass naked bod. Too stimulating. Instead, I turned away from the others, to focus on Brann’s shirtlessness.
“How is she doing?” Orin asked as he surveys my back and grimaces.
Weylyn filled them in on all my cuts, sprains, and flayings. He explained I don’t heal as fast as they do, but “I think she’ll be good as new in about a day or so.”
As the guys continued to talk, I just stared at Brann. The shirt free version made my stomach do back flips. I was so buzzed; I was shameless about letting my eyes roam over his tattooed body. I knew he was insanely attractive before, but my reaction was next level. Maybe it was the whiskey, or the fact that my body was numb to the pain now, but I started to drool a bit. Yes, honest-to-god drool.
“Is she okay?” Keegan asked.
“Huh? What?” Trying to regain my composure, I had to say goodbye to the naked image of Brann dancing around in my head.
“You’re drooling love,” Keegan smiled.
I wiped the drool off my cheek with a handy towel. Then I realized this was the towel that modestly covered my bare ass. Oh yeah. Definitely not my sexiest moment, but at least I wasn’t drooling alone any more.
I tried to push up but instead a sharp pain shot across my back and I winced. “Be careful,” Weylyn warned, resting a hand on my shoulder. “She’s had a few drinks to take the edge off.”
“You,” I mumbled, trying to make eye contact with Brann. “Where did you get your tats? They’re sexy.”
“Places,” Brann mumbled, a bit sheepishly. “A story for a different day.”
I glanced at Orin. What’s he smirking at? Back to Brann, I asked him “Did you get the wards back up?”
“I did the best I could, while Weylyn was cleaning out your wounds,” Brann said. “However, when you’ve recovered, we need you to make a more permanent seal.”
“Me? I don’t even own a caulking gun.”
“The magic of the wards is tied to your bloodline and the land around it. You’re the only one who can bind it tight.”
“Got it. Although, I admit, I don’t have a clue how to do that. Tonight was a fluke. I have no idea what came over me out there.”
“Speaking of tonight,” Brann said, “what were you doing out in the woods anyway?”
“I was… sleepwalking?” I said, somewhat defensively.
“Just like you sleepwalked that first night?”
I recall the first night, and my dream, where the dog protected me from Dub. “Dante was waiting for me. Outside the house. Wasn’t he?”
Brann nodded his head ‘yes,’ and I realized the truth was scarier than the nightmare. “It wasn’t a dream, was it?”
With a grave expression, Brann shook his head.
“Well, that’s fucking terrifying.”
“You know what else is terrifying?” Keegan cut in, “Being woken up in the dead of night by some ragged ass bird, and finding you in a fucking cage match with Evil himself.”
“Darkness,” I corrected him. “Evil is Dothur.”
“Who gives a shyte which one of the Three Stooges was layin’ boots to you? You wandered out and scared the piss out of us, god damn it! You was one thin red baz hair away from some dirty tooth flushing you down the swanie!”
Whenever Keegan gets going, I never quite know what he is saying.
Brann nodded in agreement. “We can’t protect you if we don’t know where you are.”
“And I can’t promise that it won’t happen again,” I answered, stifling a yawn. “I don’t even know it’s happening, when I sleepwalk.”
Keegan slammed his fist on the counter. “Well if that’s how it lays, we have no choice but to be dog wide all night with you.”
Huh?
“We’ll have to take turns, though,” Weylyn insisted.
“Fine,” Orin said. “I’ll stand the first watch tonight.”
“Just don’t doze off and let her sneak out in the middle of the night then,” Keegan warned.
Middle of the night? That cut right through the whiskey and got my full attention. “You don’t mean—”
“One of us will sleep in your room with you,” Brann filled in, “every night until we solve this problem.”
I pushed myself up off my belly, and swung my knees off the table, sitting up. Face to face(s) now, I was aware of four rugged guys, all staring at my very naked body. “They’re just boobs, guys. I’m sure you’ve all seen them one way or another.”
“An A+ pair, too!” Keegan joked, making the OK sign with one hand. There was a general murmur of concurrence. I could vaguely sense a wave of tension in the room. Tension? Okay, fuck. These horny beefcakes were ready to cut
