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But I nod because there’s no advantage to telling him he isn’t my type. Probably because if I was the evil form of myself, this guy--a little old maybe--would be right in my wheelhouse. But it’s sort of like seeing a hot picture of a murderer on TV. The first time you see him, you might think, “Oh, nice!” But the second you hear his list of crimes, your vagina feels like it closes like a steel trap.
And I’m a steel trap right now, in every way. No, I definitely don’t want this guy. He scares the hell out of me, and I’m pretty sure whatever the guys were trying to warn me about, this man is a lot worse.
A cold shiver passes through me.I need to escape. But how?
There’s a small sound behind me. Like I’ve dreamed him into being, Onyx comes exploding from the dark cloud, splits through the crowd of monkeys, running like he’s taking the ball into the end zone, and throws his arms around me. I barely have a moment to gasp, when he drags me backward and away from the king.
I see the king’s shocked expression as we’re bolting to our escape. The monkeys go wild, but Onyx punts the ones that cross our path away. A roar sound behind us that seems to echo through the entire world, and I see a giant dragon made of smoke rising into the air like a demon of vengeance.
“Onyx!” the king roars.
The trolls advance, and one has a staff. It’s long and curved, like a cane but with a bladed end. He launches it, and I see it coming straight at me and twist in Onyx’s arms. He reacts in an instant, shielding me with his big body before I can stop him.
The cane is a blur of motion above us, and then Onyx stumbles like he’s drunk and about to hit the ground. I can see the blade sticking out of him from behind, but the man just keeps stepping forward in an unnatural way. I look in front of us to see how close we are to our escape and see that we’re nearly at the wall of smoky tar.
I can almost see outside of the cloud to our own world. And I might be imagining it, but I think I can hear the whistle of wind.We’re so damned close to getting free of this nightmare! I need to get Onyx out of this place.Now!
His face is pale. His feet seem to be moving more and more slowly, and he’s leaning on me so hard I think we might fall over. He’s heavy, but I wrap both hands around his waist and drag him. The screeching of the monkeys’ grows louder. The ground shakes as the trolls approach us, and I hear the shadow king scream something although I’m not sure what. And then, suddenly, we’re through the wall of black tarry smoke.
“We made it,” I whisper, but my voice shakes.
I keep dragging Onyx as far as I can, even though he seems to be getting heavier and heavier, but I don’t want to stop. Not until I can’t see the cloud of black any longer. But when we’re almost out of view of it, Onyx crumbles to his knees.
His eyes keep fluttering closed. I kneel in front of him, trying to catch his eye. Trying to get him in a position so he can read my lips. “I’m going to heal you, okay? You freaking brave man! I’m not going to let you die because you tried to save me.”
While I’m speaking, his eyes close, and my heart races.
“I got this. I got this. I can do this.” I know he can’t hear me, but I need to say the words, even just to myself.
Awkwardly, I try to reach around him to work on the staff. Normally, I know it’d be better to leave the staff where it is until we could get to a hospital. But since there’s no hospital anywhere around, and we only have me, I know we need to get the staff out before I can try to help him. Pulling it out slowly, an inch at a time, I grit my teeth together. Onyx moans and makes a few sounds of pain that make my gut clench. But as much as I want to stop, I know I can’t.
So, I just keep working, inching it out, but the damn thing is in deep. But finally, it works free, and as I toss it aside, he falls, then coughs, and blood spatters the ground beside his head.
It doesn’t take a PhD in internal medicine to know this is bad. My heart hammers.
“You’re going to be okay. Remember my glowy hands. They can fix anything.”
I try not to notice the blood that spreads beneath him onto the ground, or the way it seems to be expanding faster than it should. Because no matter how bad things are, I can’t let him die. Not after he risked his life to come in after me.
After he saved my life.
I’m going to do whatever I can to save him. But I have to do it quickly.
Trying not to look at his pale face, or the way his chest rises and falls erratically, I breathe in slowly. I try to center my thoughts the way I had before. I try to focus on healing him.
As I concentrate, I feel the power inside of me vibrate. It feels natural, almost the way I imagine it feels when someone is an amazing athlete and catches a ball, without even knowing it was coming. My hands begin to glow and I close my eyes, then lay my hands on his wound and let the healing force surge from me to him.
It’s working!
Almost before I’ve finished, Onyx is moving on his own to sit up. I try to gently push him back down, but he sits up fully, and my hands drop away. He looks at me, then down at the blood that stains the ground.
“Thank you,” he signs.
I sign right back at him, “Thank you.” Then, because I don’t know the other words, I say, “For saving my life. For going into that place after me.”
Even though he still looks pale and exhausted, he nods his head, a small smile curling his lips. I’m surprised when he takes my hand covered in his blood and squeezes it. As I gaze into his eyes, such a dark brown they’re almost black, warmth flows through me followed by butterflies in my stomach. This man is so damned handsome. And when he smiles, he’s absolutely breathtaking.
“You should smile more,” I say.
