“You’re hurt,” I growl. “How badly?”
Mor’s beautiful face flushes a deep red in the glow of the porch light. “You’re naked.”
“Here.” Jack, who I didn’t realize had stepped away, strides out the front door and tosses a blanket my way.
I wrap the covering around myself as I trot up the stairs toward Mor, cataloging all the injuries I can spy on her.
Cut on her nose.
Gash on her left cheekbone.
Bruise forming on her collarbone.
Scratches on her left arm.
“Those need to be disinfected.” I herd her inside, and thankfully, the witch lets me. “Ame, do you have a first aid kit?”
“On it.” The smaller witch jogs through a side room as I direct Mor toward the kitchen and plop her down at the table.
“Did you really cover the hole in the roof? All by yourself?”
I grunt and shrug. Then I realize she’ll probably want more clarity than that. “Yes, I did. It should hold till the morning.”
Ame appears at my side with a plastic white case that sports a Red Cross on it.
“I can take care of my own cuts,” Mor insists.
And she can argue all she wants while I make sure the abrasions are clean and cared for.
Besides, a grumpy, wet Mor is kind of cute.
I’d appreciate her in this state more if I wasn’t panicking over how close she came to truly getting injured.
That branch could have gone fully through the roof and landed on her.
Crushed her.
Impaled her.
And I wouldn’t have been able to stop it from happening.
I tear open the disinfectant wipe a little too aggressively and remind myself to rein it in. Thankfully, despite her earlier protestations, Mor is willing to let me play doctor. She sits still as I clean her wounds and cover them with Band-Aids.
The Band-Aids have bats on them.
“I don’t think you need stitches,” I mutter. “But you should get checked out by a doctor.”
I toss the bloodied wipes on the table and turn back to her, only to find myself enveloped in a warm, soft, decadent hug.
Mor has plastered her top half against mine, her arms encircling my neck, our faces pressed cheek to cheek.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“Uh, sure. Of course.”
“For saving the books.”
I gape, watching over Mor’s shoulder as Ame smiles and Jack rolls his eyes.
