“I think each new development will be an adjustment and take me time to master, but I’m an arach, which means I was born to handle these gifts.”
“Very true,” he murmured as he kissed her temple.
“What about you? How are you doing after what happened in Verdan and with the shadows?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? I saw the shadows in Verdan and you. I saw some of what happened; are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” he insisted again. “Don’t worry about me.”
It was impossible not to worry about him and those shadows, but she wouldn’t push him on it either. He was keeping the shadows under control, and that was what mattered most. He was a good man with a good heart, and in the end, she believed that would win out over the darkness of the shadows.
When they reached one of the shower rooms, he opened the door and held it for her as she slipped inside.
CHAPTERFORTY-SIX
When the doorclosed behind them, Lexi slumped against it. She was tired, hungry, and disheartened by what she’d witnessed today; she was also more determined than ever to bring the Lord down. They couldnotallow that monster to keep destroying lives like he was.
Cole gently pulled the blanket away from her. She shivered when the cool air caressed her skin and focused her attention away from the blood covering her. She couldn’t stand to look at it anymore.
“Are you okay?” Cole inquired.
“I’ll be fine once I shower,” she assured him, “and get this bloodoffme.”
“Come on.”
Cole guided her over to the shower on the other side of the small room. There were no walls or curtains surrounding the showerhead jutting out from the rocky wall. A sink and toilet were ten feet away.
He rested a hand on her shoulder while he turned on the water. Although the outer realm was a barren, forgotten place, the water was always warm; she didn’t know if it was magic or a giant water tank, but it was blissful.
She sighed as steam rose around them; her body quivered in anticipation of the clean, warm water. Cole adjusted the temperature before holding his hand out to her. She took it, and stepping beneath the warm spray, bowed her head as the pounding water soothed her aching muscles.
Blood ran in rivulets down her body before vanishing into the drain set in the floor. She examined the wound in his side; it had mostly healed already, but a long scratch remained.
Lexi bent her head and relished the loosening of her tense muscles as Cole moved behind her to stand beneath the spray. Water pooled over and between them as he lifted a soap bar from the rocky ledge set into the wall.
With tender hands, he worked the soap through her hair. The tenderness of his fingers as he massaged her scalp and the warmth of his body further eased her stress as he moved around her, cleaning her as he went.
He made it impossible to feel afraid, even of the shadows, when he was so strong, powerful, and loved her so much. But the feeling was mutual.
There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for him, and he knew it. Just as she knew, there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her.
The water was starting to run clear when she felt the difference in his touch, or maybe it was her who changed things as she leaned closer and moaned when his hand skimmed her breast. Needing more than the comfort of his fingers as he helped clean her, she swayed into his caress.
Everything was so brutal around them,somanywere dying, and they could very well be next. The atrocity of Verdan lingered in her mind, but as his fingers slid down her belly, the memories faded.
Their time together could be coming to an end, but here and now, nothing could tear them apart.
When she lifted her head to take him in, the black was gone from the whites of his eyes, but they still burned a brilliant silver. Her gut clenched, and it was more than the water running between her thighs that made her so wet.
He must have sensed or smelled a change in her as a low growl rumbled from his throat. When his hand glided down her body again, Lexi leaned into him. Even if it was only for a few hours, his touch could shut out the memories and the rest of the world.
When their chests brushed against each other, her nipples hardened. Electricity sizzled across her skin, and her nerve endings tingled.
He could always make her come alive in ways she’d never dreamed possible, but something sizzled in the air between them. It crackled and pulsed until she swore she could feel it, but nothing tangible was there.
More of her abilities had been unleashed earlier as power continued to pulse inside her. She didn’t know how to harvest that power yet, but it swelled as it sought more ofhim.
