“You have no right to be near me when I’m sleeping,” he growls.
“You stopped making noises when I was near you, and your face stopped bleeding.”
He squeezes tighter, and my knees would buckle, but he’s holding me up by the back of my neck and my hair. Bending my knees just creates pain in new places – so I struggle against the urge.
“Never go near me when I’m sleeping. Promise me.”
“No,” I manage around another whimper. “You were having nightmares.”
“I always have nightmares,” he growls, his words shredding through clenched teeth.
“Then I’ll always be near you,” I gasp.
He lets go of my hand and grabs the bicep on the broken arm instead, lifting my arm out and up for inspection. I don’t need to inspect it – the thing hurts like bralls. Like two Brahmans are constantly headbutting each other, and my arm is in the middle.
“I broke the other bone in your arm – and I didn’t even notice.”
Oh, is that what happened? The Brahmans make sense now.
“How many bones do I have in my arm?”
“Two,” he shouts.
“Then what’s the problem if they’re both already broken?” He’s not getting out of this that easily.
He’s been having nightmares bad enough to rip the scars on his body open and slice the memory – probably of watching his mother die – through his soul again and again. Next time I won’t try to wake him; I’ll just stay close. If I don’t try to wake him, he won’t throw me across the room. Easy. Simple.
He drops my arm, and I quickly pull it securely to my chest, while his hand moves to my throat. Gentle, his fingers barely touching the skin.
“I bruised you,” he whispers, closing his eyes, searching for something. “I barely remember you being there.” Then his eyes snap open again. “And you can’t forgive me for this.”
“I wasn’t blaming you,” I bite back.
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Of course, I do. Listen to me very carefully, Killian.” I wait for the barest second, watching his chest, neck and jaw harden back up. “Chuck’ you – because I don’t blame you.”
Everything about him goes tense, and as his hands very slowly pull away from me I consider kicking him in the balls as a distraction from whatever emotions are warring inside him right now. Anger – of course; regret – perhaps; disappointment – maybe.
The scent of roses dances underneath my nose, strong and close. I am going to find that plant and rip the damn thing up if it doesn’t stop blooming. I’ll deal with the fact that I haven’t seen a single rose yet later.
He leans down, his hand on the back of my neck pulling me closer to him. I should be uncomfortable with the dry blood on his skin, but I’m not. It smells tangy, which is a stupid observation, but I’m trying not to focus on his lips, so any observation will do.
They part, and mine want to part in anticipation as a cool blanket of power descends over me. Pushing the pain in my arm down deep.
I sigh in relief, his face about a dart length distance from me.
So close.
I’ve wanted to kiss Killian since that night in the forest – but he pushed me back.
Hasn’t quenched any of my desires though. He runs his tongue over his lips, then growls, “I’m going to kill Seth.”
Not what I was expecting.
He releases me, turns, and starts stalking toward the house. I struggle and stagger behind him, pain bubbling to the surface with every step I take. My feet are sinking in the wet earth, and my legs were shaky to begin with.
“I’m going to kill Seth,” he repeats.
“Seth. Why Seth?” I demand, forcing my body into a jog and trying to get in front of him.
The cottage door slams open, and Pax storms to the edge of the veranda. Wolf-intense anger shimmers over his bare chest as he glares at me and then Killian.
Shit, they’re all going to kill each other.
I stumble into the stream, then run-stumble out of it. Jumping in front of Killian and then throwing myself, good shoulder first, into his chest.
“Stop,” I say - actually, I gasp.
“He can’t hurt me. He’s on a leash,” Killian rumbles. “But I’m going to kill Seth.”
Pax leaps down the stairs, one jump, and lands half-crouched and eyes glowing. “What happened?” he growls, teeth starting to descend.
At this point, I honestly don’t know if he’s asking me or Killian. But I answer anyway, “Nothing. Nothing happened, and everyone is going to forget that nothing happened.” Crap, that didn’t make sense. “No, you’re going to remember that nothing happened and forget everything else you think happened.” A bit of Allure would be helpful here, so I try again. “Walk away,” I command.
They both ignore me.
“Walk away, please?”
Still ignoring me. Where’s that Allure gone?
“Beautiful,” Pax growls.
“Shadow.”
“Move,” they say in unison.
Seth wanders out of the house, shirtless, stretching, yawning and oblivious. “What’s going on?” he asks when his first yawn finishes, followed promptly by a second yawn.
“You,” Killian growls.
Killian steps towards Seth, Seth’s eyes go wide with alarm, and Pax moves toward me, or Killian. Probably Killian, but it can’t possibly have been ten minutes already.
Which means if Pax gets between this, he’s going to get hurt.
Everyone is going to get hurt!
Twisting, I do the first thing that comes to mind.
I kick Killian in the balls.
I’m immediately surprised that he doesn’t stop me then break my leg for trying, as my muddy foot presses against fabric and then soft flesh. I’m more surprised that Killian’s in-pain face looks the same as anyone else's. For some reason, I thought Darkness would have a more angry-in-pain face or even happy-in-pain face. He doesn’t. His eyes go wide in shock, then slam shut in agony. Teeth grinding together. Lips pressed into a pinched line. Groan escaping his throat, even though he doesn’t appear to be breathing.
No one else moves.
It’s like I just pressed the stop button on the
