I relax, my eyes slipping shut. “Okay. Don’t go.”
I feel his lips against my knuckles as I drift off to sleep. A part of me thinks I shouldn’t let him kiss me like that. But his touchis comforting, like a balm against the pain, and I just can’t find it in myself to object.
When I wake up again,it’s in a haze. I can feel warm healing magic coursing through me. The pain has reduced significantly, and when I open my eyes partially, I see Lucas sitting beside me, his eyes on my face, his hand wrapped around mine.
“Sleep,” he whispers, his voice sounding to me like he’s underwater. “You need to rest more.”
I close my eyes again, and his hand tightens around mine.
My eyes flutteropen to fading daylight. I can smell flowers in the air—lilies, my favorite. The fragrance wraps around me. There’s a hand with thick, strong fingers holding mine. The man attached to the hand is sitting by my bedside, a tablet in his other hand as he reads whatever is on it.
This time, there is no haziness. My head is much clearer than before.
“What are you doing here?” I ask hoarsely.
Lucas turns his head to look at me, and the relief that fills his eyes makes me feel strange. “How’re you feeling?”
I pull my hand away from his as he leans forward, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “Better,” I mumble. “How long have I been out?”
“You’ve been coming in and out of consciousness for the past three days. Today’s the fourth.” He touches my cheek, and I flinch. His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t say anything about it.
“What do you remember?” he asks slowly.
“I—I remember Ethan leaving, and then…” I trail off, recalling Lydia telling me about the lake. The woods. Those wolves.
My heart begins to race. Lucas hears my elevated heartbeat before I can say anything further. “You’re here now. You’re safe.”
“Safe,” I murmur, trying to wrap my head around the situation. “I thought I was going to die.”
Then, I remember. Lucas saved me. I look down at my body, and the bandages are no longer there.
I open my mouth to ask about them, and he tells me, “Your injuries were nearly fatal. Healer Charles bandaged you up to keep the wounds from getting infected. They closed up this morning.”
The tenderness in my abdomen and stomach are gone. I feel normal now. At times like this, I’m incredibly grateful for shifter healing.
“I see.” I look around. “Where am I?”
He hesitates. “My bedroom.”
His bedroom? I don’t know why my brain is so slow right now. I take a few seconds to gather my thoughts, frowning.
“You had no right to bring me here. That’s incredibly disrespectful to your intended.” I try to move my legs off the bed, but Lucas blocks me.
“Stop.” He forces me to lie back down. “You’re not going anywhere right now. And Lydia has nothing to do with this.”
“I disagree,” I sneer. “Humiliating the women in your life may be something you enjoy, but I don’t. I don’t go after taken men. I don’t sleep in their beds, even if I am half dead. I’m leaving.”
His hand on my shoulder is enough to stop me from moving. “Lie still. You may have a clean bill of health, but I’m not taking any chances.”
“I am not lying in the bed of a man who belongs to somebody else,” I snap at him, pushing his hands away.
“I don’t belong to Lydia!” he growls. “I broke it off with her.”
I stare at him, stunned. “What?”
He looks away. “I ended my engagement with Lydia.”
“Are we women a joke to you?” I give him a disgusted look. “You ditch your fated mate for someone you’ve been carrying on with for years, and then you ditch her for Goddess knows what reason—”
