“Doesn’t everyone?”
“I don’t think?—”
“Come on, Niki. Chop-chop. Times-a-wastin’ here.”
I rolled my eyes while attempting to button my shirt. My fingers shook alarmingly, making it difficult to fit the small buttons in the holes. I should have simply grabbed a pull over shirt and been done with it. I rarely experienced episodes of fatigue like this. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply, held the breath, and released it in slow measure. I just needed to get through the next couple of hours. Then I could rest and recover. The situation wasn’t ideal, but neither was Martha Phillips’s current condition. There was a very good chance that time was not on our side.
“Nikiiiii.” Hikaru dragged out my name on an irritating whine. “Let’s go. The sooner you take care of Martha’s needs, the sooner you can take care of mine. I swear, this hard-on isn’t going away without your hands or mouth.”
My cheeks flushed. Honestly, the things that came out of Hikaru’s mouth… “I’m coming.”
I walked out of the closet in time to hear Hikaru mumble, “Not yet, but if I get my way, you will soon.”
My flushed cheeks turned into a raging inferno. “I just need to grab a couple of charms.” I didn’t tell Hikaru that one was an antinausea charm. The kitsune refused to believe that tearing apart my atoms and putting them back together again was what made me nauseous and, for reasons I’d finally come to terms with, I didn’t like the thought of upsetting him.
No, hurting Hikaru’s feelings was the last thing in the world I wanted to do.
Twenty-Six
Hikaru
I was getting tired of hospitals. They all smelled the same, making my nose twitch and leaving me with the constant itch to sneeze. I was also more than a little grumpy that sexy time with Niki was interrupted. Not that I didn’t understand.I did. It was just that I was tired of everyone else’s needs coming before mine. It was a selfish thought, but right now I didn’t care and that made me all kinds of sulky.
“You’re rather quiet,” Niki said, a single brow raised as he looked me up and down. “That is an…interesting choice.”
I stared down at my female body. I’d seen a lovely brown-skinned woman outside the hospital. She’d had luscious lips and a smile that put a dent in my gloomy mood. It was a lovely form to base my current appearance on. “What’s wrong with the way I look?” I swear, if Niki didn’t find my preferred body attractive, I’d wonder about his taste.
“Besides the fact that it isn’tyou?”
I huffed. “This is me.”
Niki turned away, looking down the long hall as his strides ate up the distance. “It is not the you I prefer.” Waving adismissive hand, he added, “It’s not so much the body but the choice in clothing.”
I twisted, getting a look at my scrubs. I’d gone for a version of the last pair I’d worn, only this time the little foxes were babies and had multiple tails. I tugged on the bottom of the top, pulling it away from my body so I could get a better look. The cute little foxes made me grin. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”
Niki pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled deeply. “Nothing. It’s fine. Everything is fine.”
“That’s taking it a bit far.”
Niki just grunted and kept pacing forward. We rounded a corner and found a nurse’s station. Niki kept going. We were on a mission and I, for one, could get behind his urgency.
No one stopped us. It was amazing what a little confidence could do. It might have been Niki’s stature too. Warlocks were tall, broad, and broody. Niki was the epitome of what a warlock typically looked like, only he did it with a lot more style.
Pushing my sour mood aside, I smiled brightly at the nurses and doctors we passed. A friendly wave and greeting also went a long way to soothing worries. Niki and I both looked and acted like we belonged. There was no reason to question otherwise.
Niki’s forward motion stopped when we reached room 1466. While the whole floor was consumed with the noise pollution of beeping machinery, the room we stood outside had even more sounds. Walking through the door indicated why.
Looking like a medical professional and truly being one were two very different things. I might not understand all the tubes and wires hanging from bags and trailing from machines to the small woman tucked underneath heavy blankets, but I did understand that that much hardware typically didn’t indicate a promising prognosis.
Sitting beside that frail, bed-ridden figure was an equally petite woman. Head down and cradled within her cupped hands,the woman’s short, bobbed blond hair stuck up messily around and between her intertwined fingers.
The scene was sobering and deflated what was left of my waning libido.
Clearing his throat, Niki’s deep voice rumbled through the room. “Belle?”
The blond lady’s head snapped up, revealing puffy, red-rimmed eyes and pale, blotchy skin. Her brown eyes were equally reddened and looked like they could use a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. Lips drawn tight, Belle’s eyes hardened as she looked Niki up and down. Most humans were intimidated by a warlock’s stature. Belle seemed more angry than concerned.
“Warlock Holland.” Niki gave a quick nod. Belle’s attention immediately went to me. “And who’s this? I don’t recognize you as one of Martha’s nurses.”
