She tried not to blush at the reminder but couldn’t stop it. Damn her fair complexion and tendency to embarrass far too easily. After all this time and all the intimate moments they shared, she should be beyond embarrassment.
It was something she had to work on.
“How do you feel?” he asked as he stopped beside her bed.
With him beside her, she was reminded of how large he was. He possessed the black hair and ciphers of the dark fae but the impressive size of a lycan. It was an alluring combination that grated on every one of her bruised nerves.
“Fine, thank you,” she replied stiffly.
When he frowned at her, she focused on the window behind him. She couldn’t see anything out of it, but it was better than looking at him.
“Lexi.”
The way he said her name was like a caress against her. Shehatedit.
“Lexi, look at me.”
She couldn’t sit here, stubbornly refusing to do so. It was childish, and she refused to back down from him or Malakai or anyone else ever again. She lifted her chin as she stared defiantly up at him.
Those blue eyes warmed, but when they slid to her throat, they hardened again. When he reached out to touch her, she recoiled from his fingers. His hand froze between them before falling to his side.
She hated the hurt look in his eyes but having him here again was worse than not having him here. The sooner he left, the better off she’d be.
* * *
Cole saton the edge of her bed. He’d expected her to be upset with him; he hadn’t expected to walk in on her brutal attack. He wasn’t sure if it was the attack or the fact he’d been gone so long bringing such sadness to her eyes, but he hated seeing it there.
And those eyes. It took everything he had not to smash the walls as he took in her battered face and throat. The whites of her eyes were completely red, probably from being strangled. Sahira’s potion had made her voice better, but the welts and bruises on her throat were worse.
The swelling in her slender nose caused it to be twice its normal size, but a few of the freckles dotting its bridge were still visible beneath the bruises. In her hunter green eyes, the emerald flecks were more vivid against the red that had filled the whites surrounding them.
He longed to pull her into his arms. He needed her warmth and comfort as badly as he wanted to shelter her from the world, but she wasn’t going to allow it until he explained what happened.
“What are you doing here, Cole?” she asked. When she spoke, the tips of her fangs glinted in the fading daylight.
“I came back for you,” he said.
“Why would you do that now?”
“I never meant to be gone so long,” he said. “The Lord called my father and me to him, and when I say called, I mean heorderedus to attend him. I wanted to send you a crow and considered sending Brokk, but the Lord’s man was there, and the Lord can’t know about you.”
Her mouth pursed. “And why is that?”
“Because you’re a weakness to me, one that hewouldexploit.”
“You think I’m a weakness?”
“I know you are, and I’m going to do everything I can to protect you from him.”
“I don’t need your protection, and I’mnota weakness.”
He took a deep breath. “I’m not explaining this well. You’remyweakness, Lexi. If something happened to you, it would destroy me.”
She looked like he’d told her dogs could fly and sing the alphabet by burping it while in flight.
“If the Lord learns that, he will use you against me every chance he gets. It’s only a matter of time before he learns about you, there’s no stopping that, but I’m going to keep you from him for as long as possible.”
After what happened with his father….
