I walk to the bed and place her on it.
She hasn’t flicked a muscle since I teleported out.
Her features are ashen. I look at her arm and see the twisted flesh. It’s burned all the way down the side. Then I notice that the cloth is stuck to her chest and singed in places. I place a finger below her nose—there’s no sign of breath.
Sweat drips down my spine. “No,” I swear aloud. “I will not let you die. I cannot let you go, not like this.”
I scoop up her body in my arms and hold her close to my chest. I am not aware of the tears running down my cheeks, not until one of them plops on her forehead.
I know now what I have to do. I don’t even hesitate. I drop into myself, into that core of me that every Fae has. Some call it magic, others simply say it’s our connection to the shared consciousness that unites all the Fae. A portal to the other world, perhaps, or simply a parallel reality that exists with the one we live in. I drop into it and search for her spirit. The silver-green pool that shimmers and which feels just like her.
I reach out to it and draw her essence through me, twining it with my soul.
A part of me warns that if I do this, there is no going back; we will be mated for life. I accept it, then push it aside. I’d known she was my mate from the moment I’d laid eyes on her, felt her, scented her, wanted her. I can’t live without her. I will not let her die. I need her. Will do anything to keep her anchored to this plane. I open myself up, body, mind, and soul. Her silver-green mixes with my blood. I let her essence fill me, drawing what she needs from me. Letting her spirit take what is needed to heal her flesh. All my past, my experiences, my hopes and dreams, that part of me I’ve never shown the world, never shown anyone else, I let her spirit invade that and take of that simple goodness.
It’s as if her soul knows exactly what it needs to restore her back to health.
It pulls from me, merges with me, draws on everything I am inside, and I let it. Then the silver-green essence, now streaked with blue, draws back, right back into her. I sense the energy fill her veins, flowing exactly to where it is needed. Filling in the holes, repairing her flesh.
Sweat pops on my forehead, streaks my skin. My T-shirt sticks to my back. My head spins. The energy drains from me and flows straight into her. Still, I don’t let go of her.
Sinking back onto the bed, I hold her close, folding my body around her as if trying to shield her from the elements while her corporeal body restores itself.
My last thought is that if I survive this, I will have changed, and so will she.
11
Gia
I awake to the sense of heat surrounding me.
Yet I still feel cold. A shiver racks my body. There is a ball of sensation lodged against my rib cage. It twinges, squeezing down on my lungs. I take in a breath, and my throat burns.
Every part of my body aches.
My shoulder throbs, and my stomach rolls. I try to move my arm and almost scream as pain mangles my nerves. Sparks explode in my head, and I gasp.
Arms come around me, pulling me close to a hard chest.
His scent fills my senses. The scent of the first rain spiked with that dangerous edge of dark chocolate. Forbidden, carnal, and so familiar. My insides quake. My thighs clench.
I reach for the source of that warmth and that life-affirming essence, even though a part of me already knows it’s him.
The man with the blue eyes I’d met at the bar. He’d appeared again at the swearing-in ceremony. He’d shot me, and he’s Fae.
My arm twitches in remembrance. Another surge of white pain tightens my skin. I try to moan but find my throat is dry. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. “Water,” I gasp out.
Then I am being raised with an arm around my shoulders.
The feel of cool glass against my lips makes me open my mouth. I drink of the water, letting it pour down my throat.
He eases me back against the cool sheets and straightens as if to leave. My throat closes.
“Stay with me.” I reach out my uninjured hand and close my fingers around firm flesh. I sense his muscles coil under his skin, feel him hesitate.
“Please,” I croak out. “I need you.” Tears prick the backs of my eyes. I feel so weak like my bones have been broken and put back together. Like I am weighed down and I can barely move, can’t even carry the weight of my own body.
The mattress dips. He crawls in and fits his body to the back of mine. Heat bleeds into my skin, warming my bones again. He snakes an arm around my waist, the other under my neck, pillowing it. I sense a soft touch ruffle my hair, but I can’t be sure.
“Sleep,” he whispers.
I come to again to the sound of steady breathing.
I simply lie there and listen to it. It’s somehow calming and reassuring. A sign of life, a sense of affirmation that I am still alive? Maybe. I find my breathing adjusts to the rhythm, in-out-in. Realization sinks in. I am with the Fae male. He brought me here from the stage. What does he intend to do with me? He’s taken care of me; I know that by how my body feels. Rested. Almost relaxed. How strange is that?
I am in bed with a stranger, but I don’t feel threatened. Well, not a complete stranger, he’d had his hands all over me. He’d shoved his fingers inside me.
My belly tightens.
I try to move, but a weight pins me in place.
I look down and see his arm is around my waist. I can’t change position without waking him up, and strangely, I don’t want to leave the safety of his embrace.
Not until I’ve had a chance to figure out my thoughts.
Why did he bring me here? He’d tried to kill the new leader of Moscow.
“Amara.”
I hear the sound of my own voice in my ears and only then do I realize that I have spoken aloud.
The rhythm of his breathing quickens.
“She’s alive and no doubt being fussed over by her team. Your Chief of the Bureau especially seems to be quite taken with her.”
His voice rumbles against my back.
The planes of his chest flex as he moves. My shoulders go rigid. I stay quiet and keep my eyes closed.
“I know you are awake.”
My muscles go solid, and my pulse pounds.
I turn my head then raise my eyelids to meet his gaze. Brilliant blue eyes stare at me. There are shadows under his eyes as if he hasn’t slept for a while, yet his gaze is clear.
“You’re an assassin.” O-kay. Hadn’t meant for that to come out quite that way, but hell, I could be forgiven, right? After all, it’s not every day that I am made to climax by a stranger before being fired at by him.
“Not only, and yes.” He tilts his head.
I frown. “You tried to kill her.”
“I saved your life.” His gaze flows over my features, down to my arm.
I follow the direction of his gaze and stare at the unbroken skin. “I could have sworn that’s where you shot me.”
“I did. And it was pure energy, not bullets that hit you.”
“How do you do that?” I try to focus my thoughts. I am asking too many questions. I sound more curious than I should be, but how else do I try to make sense of what happened to me?
“The telekinetic energy is part of what I am.” He doesn’t even blink as he says it.
“Hold on, back up a second.” I swallow. “You teleported in, tried to shoot the leader of Moscow, then instead wounded me and teleported us out of there?”