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Isaiah didn’t pose a threat. Nox had rolled the man’s scent on his tongue, watched for the slightest sign of deceit, anything that hinted Luca was in danger, and there’d been nothing.
When Isaiah had injected Nox with the Rakta, it had been clear he understood Nox’s silent demand. If this didn’t work, if the ichor purged and took Nox with it, Isaiah had to keep Luca alive.
Nox looked at the bruise marking the place where the needle had broken his skin. The Rakta definitely changed things. Otherwise, the tiny wound would have healed.
Pins and needles tickled the crook of his arm, radiating down to his hand and up to his shoulder. The Anubis rolled in Nox’s chest before falling still under the spreading numbness.
Warm sunlight danced from between the branches of the tree. Nox inhaled. Cold air, grass, the scent of smoke, but muted. Unlike the surrounding colors, they brightened. Not with the sight of the Anubis, but as if lacking a filter that had changed their appearance.
The wind whispered through the grass, people talked in the distance, and a door on an RV opened and closed. But again, without the harshness of the Anubis’s heightened senses.
He touched the glowing patches of light on his arm, and every nerve in his skin responded. It wasn’t a new feeling, but one he’d forgotten because he hadn’t felt it in over five years.
Nox might not have forgotten what it was like to be the man, but he had forgotten what it felt to be alive.
“Nox?”
Luca stood on the other side of the table.
And Nox hadn’t even sensed his presence.
“I think it’s working.”
“What?”
Nox couldn’t stop himself from touching Luca. The warmth of his skin, the tiny hairs on his arms, his clothes, his hair, the curve of his mouth.
All things he’d experienced a thousand times with the Anubis. Every moment so intense because the Anubis took control.
Now it was just him. Just him with Luca. Just him and not the creature.
“What’s the matter?” Luca put aside the tub of supplies. “Nox?”
He shook his head because his voice wouldn’t work.
Luca wiped Nox’s cheeks. Tears glistened on his fingers.
“You’re scaring me.” Luca’s words broke.
“I’m okay. It’s just… I can feel you.”
“Of course you can feel me.”
“No. I meanme.The Anubis isn’t here.” He pulled Luca to him, bathing in the firmness of his body. His tawny muscles, the strength of his bone, the beat of his heart. All at a level of comfort and not in a frenzy for pleasure. He breathed in Luca’s scent. Just him, just sweat, musty clothes. No scent of the food he’d eaten. No scent from where he’d been in Isaiah’s RV.
Just Luca.
There was also silence.
The hum in Nox’s mind was gone. No rushing emotion. No wash of thoughts. No tide lulling his emotions to a calm. Nox hadn’t realized how quiet it was until he had Luca in his arms.
He held Luca tighter, reassuring himself Luca was there even though his mind was closed off.
“Talk to me…” Luca combed his fingers through Nox’s hair.
Nox let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d held. “I was wrong. I did forget what it was like.”
“What?”
