“Good. I was… I was worried about you.” She hated to admit it, but the longer he was gone, the more her concern for him grew until she was pacing the cabin while muttering to herself like a crazy woman.
He reached for her again, but she backed further away from him. She contemplated throwing herself into his arms before taking his hand and helping him to clean up but, even if those Savages were dead, she couldn’t risk touching him. There may be some of his blood mixed in with theirs.
Saxon frowned as he watched her. What little color she had was gone from her face as she gazed at him. In his head, he heard her petrified scream of “Don’t touch me”when they first met. Blood covered him then too.
“It’s the blood you don’t like,” he stated.
“Who likes blood?” She tried to sound airy, but it came out flat. “Except vampires, of course.”
“Of course.”
But he sensed something more as she continued to edge away from him. He pondered the abilities he knew about; mind control, visions, the slowing of time, tracking someone, ESP, and so many others, but none of them involved blood. Maybe the blood had nothing to do with her ability, and she had a phobia of the stuff.
“Do you think any more of them might have gotten away? Do you think one of them could have fled for its friends when you arrived?” she asked.
“No. I spoke with one of them”—he’d done a lot more than speak to it, but he couldn’t tell her that—“and they didn’t have a chance to contact anyone. They’re all dead.”
“How can you be sure? It could have been lying?”
“It wasn’t.”
“Saxon—”
“Trust me on this, Elyse. We’re safe up here for another couple of days, but carrying you into the freezing night isn’t an option. The main part of town is a good fifteen miles away. I could cover the distance in less than half an hour under normal conditions, but it could take hours if the roads aren’t plowed, and I have no idea what other obstacles we might encounter.”
Saxon ground his teeth as he tried to suppress the rage that came with the possibility of anything happening to her; as a mortal, she was inherently weaker. He couldn’t think about something happening to her, or he might turn her now, and she could end up hating him forever. She had to make the choice.Shehad to decide her fate; not him.
“We’ll be fine,” he assured her.
“Okay,” she murmured, but she still didn’t look convinced.
“I’m going to wash this blood off and find some clean clothes.”
She didn’t say anything else as she crept further away from him.
Chapter Nineteen
Elyse spentthe night and most of the next day in Saxon’s arms. It was difficult to think about the possibility more Savages could be coming for her when he was touching her, teasing her, and taking her over and over again. They only parted long enough to eat and sleep.
She’d never known it could be like this with a man, and though she was eager to flee this cabin, she didn’t want it to end. For the first time since coming to the cabin, nightmares didn’t plague her sleep. She was probably too exhausted for the nightmares to creep in; she was definitely too exhausted to do anything other than sleep by the time he finished with her.
When she woke the following day to discover Saxon standing by the window, staring out at the snow, she knew her brief reprieve was over and reality had returned. Neither of them bothered to dress yesterday, but he was back in sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
The sweatpants rode high above his ankles, and he had to hike up his wool socks to cover his skin; they looked ridiculous on him, but somehow, he was still sexy. The stitching of his shirt looked about to burst across his shoulders.
“Saxon?”
He turned toward her and smiled, but she saw the strain in the lines around his eyes and the pinched set of his mouth. She pulled the blanket higher and clasped it beneath her chin.
“I heard the plows go by about an hour ago. We should go soon,” he said.
“Of course.”
She kept the blanket around her as she shifted off the couch. He’d already seen and touched every inch of her, but she tried not to let him see her now. For some reason, she felt more vulnerable now than before.
She hadn’t believed their couple days of passion would amount to anything more once they were free of this place, but she’d hoped for…
For what?For something more?You’re an idiot.
