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“You’re so hot,” Grace whispered, her lips moving against mine, hands cupping my cheeks.Hell yeah, I am.
Probably the Philotes magic at work again.
Riot chuckled. “You’re bold today, Gracie. Is Dare bringing out your naughty side?”
“I don’t mind,” I told her, my tongue feeling weirdly thick and heavy.
“No, Riot, he’s literallyhot,” Grace said, her voice taking on a decidedly more urgent, less sexy tone as she pressed her hand to my forehead. “He’s burning up.”
“What?” I laughed, moving my hands to Grace’s shoulders to keep her steady as she swayed. “No, I’m fine. I feel great. We should kiss more. You just need to… stay… still—”
“Fuck, Dare!” Riot cursed, diving off the bed and hooking an arm around my waist before I flattened Grace.Whoops.She dragged one of my arms over her shoulders, and the two of them clumsily flopped me onto the mattress on my back, the impact making all of my injuries flare to life once more. The adrenaline that had gotten me out of bed and through the agonizing drive to this place was fading, making all my aches and pains rise to the surface.
Gods fucking damn it.
I didn’twantthis. I wanted to have this big, romanticmomentwith Grace, one I’d barely let myself dream about, but noooooo.
The Philotes touch starvation I’d been fending off for months had been easing off slightly with Grace in my arms, but now it was back with a vengeance, burning under my skin. It hadn’t felt this unbearable stateside, but having Grace just out of reach seemed to exacerbate it.
“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered softly, and I exhaled in relief at the feel of her hands all over me, checking for injuries. Just that small amount of contact calmed my racing heart while making it pound harder at the same time.
Shit, everything hurt.
I’d been in less pain at Jack’s place. The adrenaline that had kept me going on the rough drive here was rapidly fading.
“You need a doctor. Or at least first aid. Someone here must know first aid, right?” Grace asked desperately, pushing my overlong hair out of my eyes and checking my temperature again. “Riot, he has afever. What if it’s an infection? We need medication!”
I tried to open my mouth, tried to tell Grace not to worry, that no stupid infection was going to beat me when we were finally so close to being together, but the only sound that came out was a very unsexy zombie groan.
“I’ll go ask if anyone has medical knowledge,” Riot replied instantly, the mattress shifting under his weight as he rushed off the bed. I heard the door shut quietly behind him, leaving Grace and me alone for the first time.
“I’m so sorry, Dare. I’m so, so sorry.” Grace sniffled, her probing touch turning soft and soothing.
Another weird set of unintelligible noises came out of my mouth as I tried to soothe her. Grace’s distress was so acute, I swore I physicallyfelther anxiety.
“You’re hurt from the crash, but you should have never been on that plane,” she replied vehemently. “You should have been with us. It’s my fault you weren’t. These injuries are because of me.”
Her fingers ran through my hair again, and even though she was kind of bumping against a sore spot on the top of my skull, I didn’t want her to stop. My thoughts were hazy, but there was a weird sense ofwrongnessabout her words that I couldn’t explain, even to myself. All I’d wanted for weeks was to meet Grace. I’d felt left out, resentful even. But now that I was here—despite how garbage I felt physically—it felt exactlyright. Like everything had been building toward this moment, this meeting, this point in time.
Maybe the bitterness would come back later, but for now, it felt as though the Fates had laid out this path just for me.
Through the haze of pain and desire and the strange suffocating press of destiny weighing down on me, I wondered if that feeling was my own, or some weird side effect of Grace’s gift. Of Grace, in general.
Before I could attempt to articulate my confusing thoughts, Riot returned with a human I didn’t know, as well as Grace’s other two bonded.
Ahuman. Why was there a human here? I mean, I guessed after Grace’s vlog, our kinds weren’t as secretive as they once were, but it was still weird.
“Marek is a nurse,” Riot said hesitantly, shoving the guy forward and flicking on the ceiling light, practically blinding me.
“A nurse with a very basic first-aid kit,” Marek mumbled in a thick eastern European accent, cataloging my multitude of injuries. “Too basic for what he needs.”
Riot shot the guy a death glare so impressive, evenIgot chills, and Marek hurriedly made his way over to me, digging into the first-aid kit as he went.
“He’s got a fever. Should I get a cool cloth for his head?” Grace asked, sitting up on her knees, all business. It wasn’t exactly how I envisioned our first time in bed together to be. I mean, she had been kneeling over me in all those fantasies, but usually with her thighs straddling my face.
“I’ll do it,” Riot offered, disappearing from the room.
“Please bring back a bowl of warm, soapy water!” Marek called after him, grimacing as he unwrapped the makeshift bandage on my arm. “Oh, this is definitely infected,” he muttered under his breath.
