Bright light and a parched throat dragged Shadow to consciousness. Lethargy swamped her, leaving her feeling as if she’d swam through a bog. Everything hurt inside her, even though whatever she laid on cocooned her in incredible warmth and comfort. No poky springs. No hint of the usual darkness or musty air in her chilly basement.
Bright light?
Frowning, Shadow squinted. Late noon sunlight poured through the windows.
She jackknifed up and winced, pain gripping her chest in a crushing force, and it all came surging back. The demons abducting her, Tolvi hurting her—
Eddi! She had to warn him and get to the garage to alert Nate.
Shoving the covers aside, she stumbled out of bed. Her head spun, her knees caved, and she dropped back onto the mattress. Ugh. She rubbed her fuzzy head and blinked at the overlong white t-shirt bunched around her upper thighs.
“Need help?”
Her head snapped up, her gaze clashing with the pale stare of the man sprawled in the armchair near the window. Crap. With all that brightness, no wonder she hadn’t noticed him.
She shook her head. “I have to go—”
“Where?” Nik rose from the chair and strolled near, his face all hard angles and coiled violence. Cognizance prickled through her, the pull of him so intense she hastily dropped her focus to the gray t-shirt he wore, the soft fabric stretching over his muscular chest, revealing his powerful inked arms and strong neck. Did those tatts cover his torso, too?
“Very well.” He stopped a foot from her. “Go on, then. Walk out.”
And that snapped her out of her foolish thoughts. “You’re impossible.”
“You collapsed in my arms, Starshine. So, it’s my call. You stay in bed.”
Frustrated at him taking over her life, Shadow shoved up from the mattress and swayed. Oh, man—
Strong arms swept her off her feet before she face-planted, and she groaned, her achy head not appreciating the sudden movement. Her gaze settled on the snakehead with the macabre smirk inked on his neck when she realized he was walking, with her in his arms. “What are you doing?” she gasped, then gaped as a white door adjacent to the bed magically opened.
“You need the bathroom, and I’m helping you.”
Oh, Lord. Why? Heat seared her face. “No, put me down!”
“You’ve been feverish and asleep for almost eighteen hours. Of course, you do.”
Nik entered a spacious, elegant cream and bottle-green bathroom and lowered her to her feet. She wobbled and grabbed his arm, trying not to inhale his warm, masculine scent that always turned her mind and bones to mush.
When she didn’t feel as if she would collapse at his feet and could stand on her own, she stepped back. He folded his arms over his chest and waited. Really?
Most would doubtless be scared of his hard stare. Her mouth just ran off. “Jeez, I’m not using the darn thing with you watching. Go away.”
“Since you asked so nicely…” He strolled out, shutting the door behind him.
Infuriating immortal.
Rubbing her burning cheeks, Shadow made her way across the marbled floor. Facilities used, she trudged to the sink. Ignoring her woefully uninspiring reflection in the mirror above, because she couldn’t wave a magic wand and get rid of her wan complexion and sunken eyes, she turned on the faucet.
After a quick wash, she wiped her face with a fluffy white towel then stopped short. Her chest ached way less than it had eighteen hours ago… Hastily, she dropped the towel on the counter and lifted the borrowed t-shirt. Someone had patched her up. Carefully, she eased the tape from one side of her gauzed-covered injury and winced at the sight of the slow-healing lesion. A rush of dizziness swept through her, and she grabbed the counter edge.
When her head didn’t feel as if it would spin off her neck, with shaky hands, she retaped the gauze. Frowning, she pressed the bunched-up shirt to her nose. A faint trace of detergent along with a stomach-curling scent of stormy nights, cedar, and a hint of leather teased her senses. Nik.
Did he put his shirt on her?
Heat flooded her face, and she hurriedly blocked her naked breasts with her arm, which was stupid, considering he’d already seen her boobs. Hopefully, he thought the nodes were body jewelry. Most did so anyway if they ever caught a glimpse of them.
A knock sounded. “Shadow?”
“Give me a minute,” she grumbled. But knowing he waited in the bedroom, her tummy flipped. Man, she wished she didn’t feel this knee-jerk reaction to him every time she saw him. Not only was her attraction pointless, considering what she was, but he didn’t appear affected at all by their too-brief, albeit scorching kiss.
You started it, or he would have never kissed you.
Gah, stupid conscience. Well, she could be mature about this. She simply wouldn’t mention the t-shirt. Or that he saw her boobs. There.
She trudged like a snail to the door—wooziness and her trembling body refusing to cooperate with the purposeful saunter she would have given a kidney to accomplish—and opened it.
Nik turned from the window, his stare going down her body to her bare thighs and back up again. And wouldn’t you know it, her faithless body lit up.
On shaky legs that had nothing to do with being hurt, she lurched over to the bed and collapsed onto the mattress like the invalid she was, breaking her fall with her elbows.
He flashed to her side, reaching out to help her up. “You okay?
She glared at his outstretched palm. Touch him when she was already so aware of him? Yeah, no.
She pushed up under her own anemic steam and sat. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack with your Casper impersonation, popping up right in front of me,” she grumbled, brushing away the hand he placed on her brow.
“Casper?”
“A cartoon ghost. Never mind.” She smoothed her t-shirt over her thighs.
Shaking his head, Nik crossed to the dresser. Glasses tinkled, then he returned, a tumbler with brownish-green liquid in his hand.
She eyed the goop suspiciously. “What is that?”
“It will aid you.” His stare slowly glided over her face like a caress, and all her nerve endings perked to attention. Boy, oh, boy. “Your temperature’s still high.”
That’s because of the way you look at me.
She hurriedly took the glass and gulped down the thick liquid. “Holy mother—” She choked and coughed, the awful-tasting goo sticking in her throat.
He rubbed her back.
Ugh, how would that help? Now she couldn’t breathe with him so close.
Chest heaving, eyes watering, she shoved the crystal at Nik. “What the heck is this? It tastes like tar.”
One corner of his mouth quirked, revealing a single, masculine dimple slashing deep into his left cheek, making her want to reach out and trace it…with her lips. At the devastatingly gorgeous immortal in front of her, her heart tripped painfully in her chest.
Figured it would take something that made her utterly miserable for him to smile.
“It’s a potion to mend injuries like those on your sternum,” he explained, his mirth fading. “The demon marked you to make locating you easy. So, finish the potion, get that wound to heal faster, and the bull’s-eye off you. It’ll take a few days.”
Tolvi had marked her?
Of course, he had. Damn demon.