I’m jerked alert by the sound of crashing, and I blearily register Ethan rushing toward me. In the momentary confusion, the assassin loosens her grip on the hilt. To his credit, he doesn’t hesitate as he twists her hand off the sword and throws her to the ground in the same motion. It draws a howl of pain from me, but he had to seize the upper hand to neutralize the enemy.
“Sunny, are you okay?” Ethan takes his eyes off her for only a second, but that’s all she needs.
No.
She twists out of his hold with a sickening crunch. Her arm dangles at the wrong angle, but she still moves faster than Ethan and lunges toward him with a dagger aimed at his heart. My sword is by my feet where I dropped it. It’s too far away. She’s going to kill him.
I grab the blade in my shoulder and pull it out with a guttural growl. I move faster than I’ve ever moved, but the point of the dagger is already against Ethan’s chest. I hear a distant scream. It’s coming from me. How am I screaming so loudly with my messed-up throat? The red assassin, however, doesn’t make a sound when I bury her sword in her back, piercing through her heart. She twitches once, then stops moving. I collapse and watch her body disintegrate into a pile of red dust.
“Don’t move.” Ethan’s eyes are wild, but he runs to the kitchen and whips a towel off the oven door. He folds it into a lopsided square and pushes it down on my shoulder. The pressure makes blood gush from the exit wound. “Shit, she sliced clean through you.”
My shoulder hurts like hell, but the good news is my throat is healing. No, wait.Ethan.I rush to my knees and run my hands over his chest. He’s hurt. The assassin stabbed him. How is he okay? I find a small slash in the center of his shirt. I tear his shirt open to check for the wound, but there is none. Not even a scratch.
“But I saw her stab you,” I say weakly, his face swaying in and out of focus.
“You stopped her before she got me.” He gently settles me back onto the floor.
“No, I wasn’t fast enough.” The room is spinning. I’ve lost a lot of blood.
Ethan rips off his torn T-shirt and uses it to stanch the blood from my back, pressing down on both sides of the wound.
“Fuuuck . . . ,” I moan.
“Stay still.” His face is taut and pale. I probably look like I stepped out of a horror film, with bruises around my throat and blood matted to my skin and hair. “I need to stop the bleeding.”
“There’s no time.” I try to sit up, but he restrains me with a firm hand on my good shoulder. I swat at him weakly, and a smile twitches his lips.
“You can fight me after we get you patched up.” He lifts a corner of the kitchen towel and winces.
“I’m serious, Ethan. We have to get out of here.” I struggle to sit upright, and this time he helps me.
With an aggrieved sigh, he gives up trying to tie his shirt around my shoulder and compromises by draping the towel over it to cover both wounds. He lifts my good arm and places my hand over the towel. I obediently press my palm against the entrance wound, gritting my teeth.
He wraps a protective arm around me, and I allow it. The warmth of his body, holding me steady, soothes my shattered nerves. I hate to admit it, but it’s been a while since I engaged in mortal combat, and I’m pretty shaken. I can’t believe he jumped into the fight like that. Doesn’t he know he’s only human? He could’ve been killed. I should shove the idiot away, but I stay put and grudgingly admit I feel more respect than anger toward him.
“Do you know what the hellthatwas?” he asks, eyeing the red dust.
“Later.” I have no idea how to explain any of this to him yet. But I sound weary enough that Ethan lets it go, probably too worried about my injury to push. I know it won’t last, though, especially since I heal at inhuman speed.
I lean against him for another moment, then struggle to my feet, with Ethan doing the bulk of the work. He’s shockingly strong, even for a big guy. A quick glance tells me I only come up to his collarbone. He must be at least six feet four.
It’s only when I’m standing that I remember my state of undress. I shake off his arm and stumble back a step, heat rushing to my cheeks. Maybe I should’ve invested in nicer underwear. I peek at Ethan and realize he’s shirtless. I guess the dress code for this event is seminude. I feel faint and nauseous, but that doesn’t stop my eyes from roaming hungrily over his broad chest and cut abs.
My gaze snags on the quarter-size jade disk hanging from his neck. He never used to take that thing off. I guess he still doesn’t. Ben told me once that it was a gift from his mother. I secretly envied Ethan for having something of his mom’s to keep close to him. The thin, black leather cord, though, is new—and indecently sexy against his tanned skin. I press my hand against my cheek. How do I have enough blood to blush?
“I need to put some clothes on so we can leave.” My eyes skitter across the living room. I needhimto put some clothes on so I can stop ogling him. But something else niggles at me. I really don’t want to do this. It’s not that I’m not grateful, but it’s just embarrassing. This is why I hate peopling. Blushing even harder, I mumble, “And thank you. For ... you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” A quicksilver grin flashes across his face. “But you shouldn’t be standing.”
“Hey,” I squeak when I’m lifted off my feet. The bare skin of my side presses against his naked chest, and I practically sizzle. “Put me down.”
“Okay.” Ethan carries me to the couch and gently sets me down on it. “I’ll go find you some clothes.”
Relieved to have a moment apart from the distractingly hot man, I take a deepish breath, careful not to jostle my shoulder wound. Butit does nothing to calm my frantic pulse. How can I even feel like this right now? I mean, it fucking hurts everywhere.
I lift the corner of the kitchen towel. The bleeding has slowed to a sticky trickle. I sigh with relief. Then I notice for the first time that I cut my hand from pulling the assassin’s blade from my shoulder, but it’s a shallow gash and is closing up already.
Ethan comes back and hands me a loose black shirt and a pair of dark jeans. Smart choice. The blood won’t show through as easily. But also, pretty much everything I own is black. He takes in my pale upturned face, and his lips press together until the edges turn white.
