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“They would go after everyone if they could, sweetheart. Sam, Merritt, maybe even Desi because she’s dating Hardin’s sister.”
“Don’t,” I say, pointing at Gideon. “Don’t you fucking dare use a threat against my sister to try to weasel your way out of this! What it comes down to is you don’t care enough about me to have eventried. You couldn’t risk your coven, the same fucking coven that is trying tokillme.” Tears form in my eyes, spill down my cheeks. “God, do you realize I would have been there if it had been one of you tied to that chair? Nothing would have kept me away.Nothing.I’ve been a witch for a handful of months. I have no genuine power, and I would have run in there to save you. Any of you. Regardless of the danger to me or my family. After everything you did to me, everything you put me through, I would have been there.”
I shake my head, and then hiss when pain erupts in my head, radiating down my neck and to my shoulders. Kohaku shifts against my ribs, like he can feel the pain himself, like he wants to soothe me.
“I can’t do this. I can’t. Not again.” I spin on my heel and head toward the stairs. “I need a painkiller and a shower, and to sleep for about a million years.”
“Sweeney, we aren’t finished.” I ignore Fielder. I ignore the hurt in my heart and the tears on my cheeks. My entire body feels like one big bruise and until I heal somewhat, I can’t have this conversation with them.
I just can’t. It’s not really fair of them to ask me to, either.
I limp up the stairs and then stop, realizing that I have no clue where the hell I’m supposed to go. I’m not familiar with Cohen’s house. Luckily, he appears behind me and guides me forward. “You can use the bath in my room. It’s the biggest. I have some bath salts that will help with healing your bruises and relieving any aches.”
I nod. “Thank you, Cohen.”
His lips press into my temple as he guides me through what must be the main suite—decorated with light grays and deep purples—and into a nearly all white bathroom. I stand there awkwardly, fingering the hem of my filthy shirt and avoiding looking in the mirror as he turns on the bath and dumps in a generous amount of salt crystals. The scent of citrus and vanilla reaches my nose and some of the tension in my body eases from that alone.
“Do you need help?” Cohen asks, drawing my gaze up to him. “Not that I’m trying to get you naked or anything, but if you’re too sore to get your clothes off, I can help with that.” He frowns. “So I guess Iamtrying to get you naked.”
I let out a surprised laugh and nod. “Yeah, I’m not sure I could raise my arms enough to get off my shirt on my own.” I had been thinking about just climbing in fully clothed until the aches eased enough to allow greater movement.
Cohen steps up in front of me, and his hands nudge mine out of the way. “Arms up, wildcard,” he murmurs. His knuckles brush along the skin of my belly as he carefully peels the fabric up. I wince as my arms lift, but he’s pulled the shirt off in a matter of seconds and it’s only temporary.
“Fuck,” he spits out when he sees the bruising on my skin. “If Kohaku hadn’t already killed all of those assholes, I would go back and do it myself.”
God, why is that a comfort? Why does that make my heart glow like a damn candle? I’ve never been one for death and destruction. Never been one to think about revenge or retribution. No, I prefer the much more mature ‘forgive and forget.’ My best revenge is usually to succeed. To shut down all the trolls with my success, but here in this world? Having this man tell me he’d kill the people who hurt me? Yeah, that’s enough to make my chest all warm and fuzzy.
It probably doesn’t help that my four boyfriends couldn’t be bothered to come to my rescue. If they had, I would have been out of there so much faster, I’m sure. Cohen wouldn’t have had to use so much of his energy, and neither would have Kohaku.
But no, theirreputationsare more important than my life.
Cohen drops to his knees in front of me and carefully unties my sneakers before slipping off one and then the other. He stays down there as his fingers undo the button on my jeans, followed by the zipper. “Is this okay?”
I swallow and nod, telling myself there is nothing sexual about this. He’s helping me because I’m injured and he’s just making sure that I’m fine with his methods. I don’t need to feel guilty about this.
I don’t know if he can feel my internal debate or not, but he glances up at me as he slides my pants down my legs. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I grip his shoulder to keep steady as he helps me step out of the fabric. “About what?”
His lips twist into a smirk. “Suzie.”
My face flames. “Not particularly, no.”
He laughs and then eyes my underwear. They’re white, cotton and have green t-rexs on them. So sexy, I know.
“I heard every jealous thought you muttered, wildcard. I know you want to talk about it.” His fingers hook in the waistband of my panties and he keeps his eyes firmly on mine as he slips them down and off.
Sweet baby kittens, that’s sexy. That he doesn’t let his attention wander, even as he’s baring me. He stands up, still staring right at my face, and unclasps my bra, letting that fall to the floor. Then he takes my hand and guides me to the tub, helping me sink in while still maintaining eye contact.
As soon as I’m settled, he moves to the counter and hops up onto it. “I met Suzie a few years ago, when I was still learning how to become as awesome as I am now.” I roll my eyes at this smug tone. “She didn’t know I was a witch, and I didn’t know she was a witch hunter. I’d learned to block my power signature by then, so even if I did minor spells around her, she never would have noticed. We dated for ten months before she realized what I was.”
I sink lower in the water, tip my head back against the lip of the tub. Letting the hot water soothe all of my aches and pains. I know it’s only temporary, that as soon as I shift, stand up, move again, I’ll be in pain, but for now, it’s absolutelyblissful.
“It was my fault. I got cocky, did too big of a spell without taking the necessary precautions. She showed up near the end of it, witch hunter guns blazing. She thought I was being attacked because of what she does. That some witch had worked out we were dating and was trying to hurt me in order to get to her.”
I frown. “How could she tell you were doing a spell?”
I hear him shift. “They have ways of tracking large uses of magic. It’s like an alarm system. It blares and indicates a location. They run in, eager to capture our kind.”
