“Do you think that will work? I was never told that I could do it.”
“No, I guess he wouldn’t tell you that. Trenton wanted you to become like him.”
“I did become like him.”
“No, you kept your humanity, Ali. There is nothing wrong with that at all. I know it must have been hard for you, but I will get you something very soon. I will be right back.”
She didn’t know where he was going, but Ali looked around. They were back in his bedroom where all those memories were, and she sighed to herself. Ali knew that if this was a dream or ruse like last time, she didn’t want to wake up. Ali couldn’t have withstood waking up back at the mansion the coven stayed in. She just couldn’t.
Laying back on the bed, Ali started to realize how tired she was. Running through the woods for hours took a lot out of her, and she hadn’t had anything to feed on all night. She’d not even been able to get some animal blood before she left. She’d been so afraid of not getting there in time that she had pushed herself way past the point that she was okay.
Ali closed her eyes, and she was sound asleep by the time that Cal got back. He started a bath for her because he knew she would feel better after she had washed some of the crud off her. Calum knew that he would feel better at least. He didn’t like to see her in the current state she was in.
By the time the large tub was full, he picked her up in his arms, and she woke up looking up at him.
“I’m so glad this wasn’t a dream.”
Calum didn’t know what she was talking about, but he couldn’t think with that smile on her face anyways. She just had this look to her that was hard to ignore, and he didn’t want to.
He bent down and kissed her, not only because the mood struck him but because he could. It had been too long that he wasn’t able to touch her and now that she was there, he wanted to be with her every minute. He already dreaded having to leave her side to take the meeting later. But he must, and Ali wasn’t in any condition for him to have his way with her. It was going to be hard to look at her and know that he still wasn’t going to be able to touch her in the way that he truly wanted to.
“Let’s get you in the bath.”
Ali didn’t agree or disagree. She was limp in his arms, and he set her in the water before getting the bag of blood from the infirmary. Since fighting and getting hurt was part of life for the shifters, blood was kept on hand if needed. They healed faster than humans, much faster, but sometimes the wounds were just too deep, and blood was needed. It was going to be a big help now because she was eying it like she needed it very badly. He didn’t know what to say as she drank down the whole glass. Her eyes closed, and she leaned back in the round garden tub.
“How is that?”
Ali couldn’t think because she had too many feelings going through her at once. She got a rush when she drank animal blood, and she got the same kind of rush this time, but this time it was so much more. The human blood was ten times as potent, and she felt almost drunk for a time.
She watched Calum get undressed, and her eyes took in all his hard body. When they’d first met, and she’d seen him naked, it had scared the holy hell out of her, but now Ali felt something completely different. Now she was turned on, and she tried to ignore the pulse in between her legs.
“Are you getting in?”
Calum shook his head and was relieved to see that she was already starting to look better. It was like the blood was the fountain of youth and it took five years and a rough couple of weeks off her. He also noticed that she was healing already. He could see it in the deep scratches that had been on her shoulders. There was a red tint to the bath water, but there wasn’t a mark on her.
“Yeah, how do you feel?”
Ali was already feeling so much better, and she couldn’t believe that it was all from a little bit of blood. She didn’t know what to say to Cal, how to describe it. Better didn’t seem like the right word. She felt almost like herself again, just stronger now.
“I feel pretty good, I must say. I can’t believe the difference that it made.”
Calum was thankful that everything had worked out. He liked to see her looking like she did, but he was still trying to caution himself that she wasn’t ready yet. He was going to have to have a little more patience.
She was horny, Cal could tell, but she wasn’t ready, not yet. He wanted to get her checked out by one of the elder healers before he was going to let himself have his way with her. If he touched her now, he wasn’t going to be able to control himself, and that would be a disaster.
As he got in, she moved towards him with a naughty grin on her face. “I’ve missed you, Cal. I thought that you didn’t want me here and that you were going to let your family rip me apart, but I still wanted to come back.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to be back in your arms. It was all I could think about during the long days. You know I can’t go out in the daytime anymore, right?”
“Well, that’s not completely true, but we will talk about it later. For now, don’t worry about a thing. Turn around, and I will wash you off.”
“You don’t want to do something else?”
It was no secret what was on her mind, and he groaned as she gave him this look. It was hard for her to ignore the way he made her feel. She wanted him back inside of her and wanted to feel his hands on hers to wash away the touch of Trenton.
“More than you will ever know, Ali, but you need to get stronger. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not as delicate as I once was, Cal. I can handle it.”
He growled at her. “You sure aren’t making this easy, are you?”
“Do you want it to be easy?”
