“I’ve got time," Knox smiles.
My brain stutters and then freezes, as I stare at that smile. Luckily Ryker rescues me.
“Let’s focus on the healing first and then we can move on to the interrogation.”
I move past Ryker and the twins, but now I don’t know where to go. I spin around, stuck in between the side of my bed and the sitting area. I swallow as Ryker closes the distance between us, an excited light in his eyes.
“All I have to do is touch the areas that are injured and then use my magic to heal them,” he tells me casually, making it sound perfectly normal.
“Can I see your side?” he asks, gesturing to my ribs.
I nod, not trusting my voice with his close proximity. Ryker takes the bottom of my tank top and raises it up over my head. I wasn’t expecting him to take it all the way off, but he does, and the intimacy of it makes my breath hitch. I’m trying to ignore my body’s reaction to him, and I have to consciously slow my lungs as he leans in and looks closer at my side. He turns me just a fraction and looks at my back.
“Where did these come from? They look older.”
“Which ones?” I twist around to see where he’s pointing. I turn around, my back now facing the other boys and more than one of them hisses.
“Holy shit. What happened to you?”
I twirl back around and take in the shocked and angry looks.
I point to my side and then the scratches on my face. “This is from whichever one of you is Bastien," I point at the twins. “This is from some lamia," I point at the gouges on upper part my back. “And this...” I gesture to the rest of the bruises on my back and neck. “Is from Lachlan. The asshole blindsided me when he realized we were related.”
“He attacked you? Why?” Ryker asks quietly.
I look up into his bright blue eyes. “Your guess is as good as mine. He clearly has problems," I reply just as quietly, and I have to look away from the intensity in Ryker’s gaze.
He continues to look me over, running the back of his hand over the slight bruise on my knuckles. I look around, and everyone is watching Ryker examine me with ferocious intensity. Knox keeps leaning in closer, and the twins are absently running their thumbs over their bottom lips. The synchronicity of it is mesmerizing. One of them busts me staring and smiles.
“Why didn’t Evrin heal you?” Ryker asks me, his eyes growing stormy as he looks over the marks on my neck.
I shrug my shoulders, not sure of an answer. Whydidn’tEvrin heal me? They told me he had Healing magic. I didn’t give much thought to what that meant, and he never offered. Ryker bends over and strokes the runes on my side, causing me to shiver. I look down at him as he looks up at me, neither of us saying anything. Slowly, he does it again and breaks eye contact to watch goosebumps trail his touch.
“What are these?” he asks, his breath caressing my skin.
“I guess they’re runes, at least that’s what the paladin said.”
The other guys get closer, running their eyes over my visible runes.
“They’re hot,” Knox declares, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Thanks.”
“Ready?” Ryker asks me.
I nod anxiously and wonder if this will actually work. Ryker places a large hand on my left side and another on my right hip. The air in the room charges and his palm heats up against my skin. After a couple of minutes, it cools down, and Ryker pulls his hand from my side. I look down, and the skin is unblemished, no bruises or scrapes in sight.
I look up into his eyes in awe. “Holy shit, that’s incredible," I stammer.
He rewards me with a gorgeous smile. “Next time you won’t fight me so hard," he teases.
Ryker takes his time and thoroughly heals all the marks and bruises on my neck and back. When he places his hand between my underwear and the sensitive skin of my hip and lower abdomen to heal a bruise, I almost lose all my self-control and start rubbing all over him like a needy cat.
The atmosphere in the room is intense. No one speaks or moves as we all watch Ryker put his hands all over me.
“Now your face,” he directs, tilting my chin back with one hand and putting the other on the scrapes on my cheek.
His touch on my face feels intimate and sensual. The way he positions his hands makes me feel like he’s going to kiss me. I stare unabashedly into his blue eyes, and I feel his hand on my scrapes heat up.
