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“Fuck,” he mumbled. “Alright. I think we’re about out of time. I need you to listen to me, alright?”
34
THE CARRIAGE RIDE
SYLVAN
I thought there would’ve been a little more time. At least another day. I was hoping to be able to convince her to leave the next night before the sun set. But here we were with patrols across the city to ward off these so-called lycan attacks and Aura about to spiral into full-blown Heat. The timing couldn’t have been any worse.
She was burning up, her right eye not quite glowing at the moment but permanently gold instead of red. “Sit on the bed,” I told her. “It’s going to be alright. Try to think of something else. Tell me about the process of making your draft. What happens after you extract the antivenom? Do you just combine all the ingredients?”
“I … The antivenom. It …” She let out a pained groan and doubled over at the waist. She clutched her lower abdomen, the sweet scent of her perfume filling my nose. I lifted her into my arms and deposited her on the bed. She clung to my shoulders, even as I set her down, and I had to pry her hands off me. The scent of her arousal left me dizzy and wanting.
“Why aren’t you touching me?” she asked. Pained. Offended?
“Aura, listen to me.” I kept my voice calm. “We need to get you someplace safe. We don’t need people knowing there’s not one, but two lycans here. And one in Heat, nonetheless. You’ll be more vulnerable. You are more vulnerable. All I want to do is keep you safe, alright? Nod if you understand.”
The clarity in her eyes was a surprise, the gold fading to bright red. That stubborn look that I’d come to know so well fell back into place. “I’m not an imbecile,” she snarled. “Of course I fucking understand. And I’m not vulnerable. Say that again, and I’ll show you just how invulnerable I am.”
I laughed. “There you are.” I wasn’t sure for how much longer. She was certainly fighting this when she shouldn’t have to. She should be comfortably in her nest and free to do whatever the hells her body craved. “Is Magdalena working at the university tonight?”
She nodded, confusion wafting from her. Her heart was starting to race again, her slick present in the air.
“Godsdammit, Aura,” I said.
There was that gold in her eye again. She started to scratch at her arms, to tug on the neckline of her dress. She was utterly miserable. I couldn’t leave her this way. I swore under my breath and said, “Alright, do you trust me?” I got onto the bed, sitting behind her with my legs on either side of hers. I tipped her head forward and open-mouth kissed the nape of her neck. She let out a soft sigh, and I kissed up the side of her neck while she pulled her dress up. “We’ll make this quick,” I told her. “And then I’m going to secure you safe passage somewhere.”
She nodded, the back of her head against my shoulder. My hands roamed her taut body, whispering whatever she needed to hear in that moment as she chased her own pleasure.
When she was momentarily satisfied and breathless, I climbed out from behind her and pressed a kiss against her forehead. “I’ll be right back,” I said. As I dressed, I kept my eyes on her. She seemed a lot less frazzled than she’d been at her arrival. I set the shirt I’d been wearing the day before beside her, not saying a word about it, and hoped with all my mind that she’d be alright until I got back.
Fighting the desire to shift, I ran to the university. I was exhausted and sweaty by the time I arrived, but I managed to follow Magdalena’s scent to a classroom and peered in through the frosted window. She was standing on a platform before a full classroom, but her eyes drifted to where I waited. I lifted a hand, and her lips stopped moving. She set down her baton and said something to her pupils.
I stepped aside, and as soon as she left the classroom she asked, “Aura?”
Unsure what would be safe to say out in the corridor, I nodded. “Did she talk to you?”
Magdalena shook her head.
“She needs a safe place for a few days.”
“Is it …” She made a vague gesture, her sepia skin flushing.
When I confirmed with a nod, she let out a breath.
“Alright. I live in the Unclaimed Territory. She should be safe there.” She glanced around. “Where is she?”
“At the inn where I’ve been staying.”
Her pulse leapt.
“Alright, you have to go through the tunnels and across the courtyard to find the stables. Tell the stable hand that Magdalena Jurado is requesting a horse and carriage. He’ll bring it out, but I’ll meet you there and drive.”
I went almost limp with relief. “Thank you!”
I was running before she could say anything else. I rushed outside and through the tunnels, across the courtyard and to the stables. I relayed Magdalena’s message, and soon the human stable hand was hooking up a black Friesian to a stagecoach. By the time the boy was finished, Magdalena was there, climbing into the driver’s seat in front of the carriage. I climbed up beside her and directed her to the inn as I caught her up on what was to be expected of lycan Heat.
Aura was wearing my shirt over her dress when I went to get her from my room. The sight of her in my clothes was strangely enticing, but I gathered my control and in record time, got her out of the building and into the stagecoach.
