With a sigh, she sinks into the chair. She obeys. “Never mind.”
“You don’t get to dismiss me like that.” I swipe iodine over her wound, precise, deliberate. “Every inch of you belongs to me. Your bare skin, your pain, your breath, they’re mine.”
Next, I press the medical adhesive mesh over the cut.
“Fine,” she whispers. “But this first.”
I glance up to find her holding out the non-stick gauze pad.
Time stills. My pulse slows.
We’re a team. For the time being, anyway.
Yes, she could be playing me. Could be waiting for the moment I lower my guard so she can bolt, naked, bleeding, into the dark.
But right now, I’ll take the win. I’ll even call it happiness, whatever the fuck that is.
“You’re patching me up really well.” Her voice carries only awe, no trace of sarcasm. “Do you have medical training? Did you ever try to be something that isn’t…this?”
Fuck.Fuck. The things her curiosity does to my heart. Skylar has no idea.
I’d love nothing more than to fuck her. To kiss her for the next two weeks and never stop.
There are more important things to take care of.
Her.
As I wrap her up with an elastic bandage, I answer, “The living-hides, they fight back sometimes. Can’t have my family dying of infections.”
“I knew it. I knew it. Iknewit,” she murmurs to herself. “No, but wait. Knox.” Skylar swallows hard, throat working in a way that makes my cock ache. “What’s a living-hide?”
“What you were supposed to be.” I give her a look that saysnever. “What that boy and your sister are. We turn people intoleather. But while they’re still breathing, we call them living-hides.”
For me, it’s routine. It’s my life.
For Skylar, it’s a nightmare. It’s the ground cracking open at her feet.
Her scream makes sense.
Problem is, she’s been through too much today. She can’t afford to waste more energy on losing her shit.
Not to mention, she hasn’t eaten. I haven’t fed her dinner yet. I’ve been saving it for later, when she’s rested and bandaged up.
She won’t eat now, when she’s like this.
What’s left to do is give her what only I can.
The comfort of being possessed.
I don’t hesitate, fisting her hair, dragging her mouth to mine.
One breath, and I crush our lips together in a kiss that’s meant to strangle her fear and leave only me behind.
16
SKYLAR
Knox’s kiss isn’t gentle. It isn’t sweet.
