“I came in at a side angle and kicked it hard enough that the rifle went flying out of the tree. I landed on the branch hard though, and he was on me with a knife. Wraith rolled and kept rolling, so we fell and landed on the ground below. It was a good forty feet. We hadn’t shifted, not even partially, and neither had he. He dropped right in front of me, and I swept his legs out from under him. As he went down, he slashed across my ribs.” She lifted her palm to show the blood spreading on her shirt.
Gorya’s eyes met his cousin’s over her head, and then he looked at Gedeon.Send for the doc. The one we can trust. She’ll need a shit ton of antibiotics.
Gedeon nodded. There was only one shifter doctor Gedeon allowed any of his men to use, and it wasn’t one from the present lair. They didn’t trust anyone from there yet. The doctor would have to be flown in from New Orleans. It was a relatively short flight, but still, it would take time. Gorya wanted a doctor in residence, at least until he cleaned up his territory.
“We’re going inside, Maya. I’ll see to your wound, and you’re going to rest until the doc gets here. The others will do cleanup and burn the bodies.”
“You know I can’t stay, Gorya.” Sorrow dripped in her mind.
“We’ll discuss that inside.” He was very firm with her. “I want to see that laceration.”
Timur paced alongside them. “Maya, I owe you an apology.”
“Not now, Timur. We’ll sort things out later,” Gorya said. “I appreciate that you want to make things right, but I just want to make certain this wound isn’t too deep and I can clean it out immediately. I think Ashe is eager to say a few things to you.”
Reaching around Maya, Gorya opened the door for her, giving her no other choice but to enter, using his larger, heavier body to physically push her inside. He closed the door firmly behind them and walked her briskly down the hall to the primary suite.
“They saw me. I didn’t hide who I was from them. Ashe and her bodyguard. Kyanite. All three of them saw me. There is no way I can explain what happened.” She spoke in a low voice.
When he touched her mind, Gorya read guilt. Shame.
“For fuck’s sake, woman, you saved my life. You can’t be upset at how you had to do it. You’re the superstar here. The rock star.Myrock star. I wish I’d been there to see it and to see their faces.”
He carefully peeled off her shirt, drawing it over her head. Frowning, he bent to examine the long, thin gash in her flesh. “Let’s take this into the bathroom.” He didn’t wait for her consent but grabbed the bloody shirt and, taking her hand, led her into the primary bath.
“That’s too many people knowing I’m different, Gorya.”
“Wraith is Rogue’s mate, Maya, and you and I belong together.”
For the first time she gave him a little half smile. “You’re so arrogant. You just had an assassination team come after you. You’ve had how many challenges for leadership already? You may have to kill ninety percent of the shifters in this lair, and yet you think because we’re together no other male will decide he can claim me.”
Gorya couldn’t help himself. “Brace yourself, baby. I’m coming in for step two.”
Her head snapped up and her eyes went wide. “Wait. What? You can’t. I have swamp breath. Gator breath. The green vapor of death. After saving you from snipers, I’ll kill you with poisonous breath and your obnoxious cousin will find a way to murder me after all. Most likely through one of his vile superior-male lectures.”
She tried her best to backpedal away from him but came up against the long marble sink. He’d always thought that sink would come in handy. Now he was very fond of it. He captured her chin in his palm. Her eyes went from green to blue—that blue he was coming to love.
“Stay still, my little assassin. This isn’t going to hurt. We’ve established that already. And if you’re worried about noxious swamp breath, remember, I fought Punisher, the treacherous leopard, for you and then gallantly ran through the swamp to save you from my foulmouthed, overbearing cousin. I have to say I loved it when you went hellcat on my cousin. That brought on the need for step two, so consider it your fault this time.”
Her mouth quirked, just as he knew it would. One eyebrow lifted. Those light-colored, innocent eyebrows that made him want to brush kisses over them too. “Foulmouthed and overbearing? Didn’t you just use the F-word? And you’re arrogant and bossy most of the time.Dictatorial, I think, is the word you might be looking for to describe yourself.”
“Clearly he rubbed off on me. He’s such a bad example.” Gorya kept a straight face. His thumb shaped her cheekbones and traced her lips. They were trembling. She looked like a wild animal on the verge of flight, even though she had that hint of laughter in her mind.
“Are you certain step two is a good idea, Gorya?” There was anxiety in her tone.
His smile was genuine, because she made him genuine when he’d been a deceiver for most of his life. He brushed kisses over her innocent eyebrows and then along her nose. “Step two is the only idea, my little hellcat. Right now, if I don’t kiss you, I won’t be able to continue breathing.”
“Well then, we can’t have that after all I did to keep you alive. That insufferable cousin of yours nearly did me in.”
Her hand came up to shape his jaw. A whisper of a touch only, but he felt it all the way to his soul. It was terrifying how much she could reach inside him and shake him like the worst earthquake, yet he was getting so used to the feeling, the terror was receding.
He turned his head to kiss her fingers as they retreated. “You have to curb your penchant for running away. If we ever need to run, we’re going to do it together. That’safterwe clean this lair up. Frankly, this place stinks. Someone has to get rid of the riffraff. It may as well be us.”
She sent him another small smile, and it was too much for him to resist. He bent his head and took possession of her mouth. Her lips parted under his. Turned soft. Melted. She seemed to come alive. Every cell in his body reacted and he came alive, as only Maya could make him do. Heat rushed through his veins and fed his addiction.
Maya felt soft and pliant, her body made for his. Part of him. Then she winced. He felt that just as starkly as he felt the flames rolling through him. Instantly he pulled back. He glanced down at the wound and then crouched low to really look at it. It was going to take more than a trip to his bathroom and the small medical kit he kept. He straightened, kissed her again, much more gently, and then lifted her to take her back to the bedroom.
“Kissing you is kind of like taking a trip into another world, Gorya,” she whispered, one arm circling his neck. “I feel like I’m flying.”
