“My saliva has healing properties.” He lapped her injury again.
God.She shut her eyes. His tongue felt so good on her hurting flesh. Another lick, and the burning sensation eased, but a wave of dizziness gripped her. “Nik…” She clutched his shoulders. “I don’t feel well. Something’s wrong...”
“I have you.” He swept her into his arms and dematerialized them, her cry lost as her molecules scattered. Moments later, they took corporeal form again. A pulsing wave thrust at her like a force field, shredding her entire being and adding more intensity to her torment.
“No,” she panted, “this place hurts…” She pushed at Nik, trying to get away. “I can’t stay here.”
“Shadow, the castle is the safest—”
“No. Nate,” she breathed. “Please. Need him. He-he’ll—” A ripple of agony tore through her, stealing her breath, her mind, and hauling her into darkness.
Chapter 8
“Shadow?”Nik gently shook her. Her head flopped back, revealing her far too pale, tear-streaked cheeks. She’d lost consciousness.
Fear took hold, he’d healed her wound, so what—
The truth clocked him cold.
This place hurts her?
Dread like he’d never experienced before punctured his icy shields. She had another injury.
The giant front door flung open. “Sire, I sensed a disturbance in the—” Hedori’s brow creased as his orange-green eyes settled on Shadow.
“She’s been marked by a demon. It’s what caused the disruption in the wards. Lower it.”
“Of course.” With a wave of his hand, their butler and all-around bodyguard for the mated females dropped the castle’s mystical protection.
Nik strode into the foyer. “Get the healing salves and potion,” he called out and flashed to the first-floor corridor. With his mind, he opened the door into one of the spacious guest bedrooms then carefully placed her on the bed.
Hedori reappeared a moment later and set a metal box on the nightstand. “I’ll fetch the Oracle.” He vanished.
Nik eased Shadow out of her jacket and top, and his breath jammed in his lungs at her gore-smeared chest. A deep open wound ran vertically alongside the three ruby stones in her sternum. The middle one spotted a macabre bloody ring as if someone had tried gouge out the stone.
And she hid this from him?
Anger, dark and furious seized him by the throat. Later, later he would deal with whoever the fuck had dared to harm her.
He flashed to the bathroom, dampened a towel, and hurried back. Gently, he dabbed at the bloody mess on her chest and cleaned away the gore, revealing a four-inch seeping lesion. He tossed the towel aside, then applied a thick layer of the moss smelling salve over the wound and around the warm, middle jewel stone. Gently, he stroked the thing…and it trembled beneath his finger.
Nik froze, feeling as if the air had been knocked out of his lungs. These things weren’t decorative stones but pulsing nodes. They were a part of her!
What the hell had caused this, because her very essence glowed brightly, indicating her humanity. Frowning, he studied her delicate features framed by her abundant dark hair with the purple streaks at the front.
What happened to you, lígo machitís?
She moaned, her brow creasing. Carefully, he touched the wounded node, and her agony punched him like a fist to the gut. He drew her discomfort into him, and her pain lines eased. The wound on her had left breast had already closed from his saliva healing, forming a red line.
Sounds of approaching footsteps reached him. Nik swiftly drew up the light green throw from the foot of the bed and covered her. He didn’t care for Hedori—or anyone—to see her naked.
The door opened, and a petite brunette with tan skin hurried inside. The new Oracle appeared more like a teenager than a powerful seer in her jeans and a t-shirt. Her glowing aura indicated her humanity, too. But human glamour covered a multitude of otherworldliness as Lila, their previous Oracle, had proven. Hell, she turned out to be one of the most powerful beings—an Ancient—and no one, not even Michael, had known shit.
He only hoped this Oracle proved to be as good as Lila.
“Guardian,” she greeted. Feline green eyes met his briefly before shifting to Shadow. The woman carefully moved the blanket lower, revealing Shadow’s breasts and injuries.
He fisted his fingers. Powers swirled beneath his skin at the sight of the brutal wounds on her sternum. He would make the fucking scourge beg for death for this sacrilege.
