Page 43 of Raven in Midwinter

“I’m not sad that you don’t have a solution right this second. I’m just so happy to have you to talk to again. I missed you terribly.”

“Take off your clothes, Xan, and get in the tub.”

I stripped quickly, so ready to be clean.

“Jesus,” he groaned.

“What? I’m gross now? You don’t want me anymore?”

“I will drown you in the tub if you don’t take it back.”

I was snickering as I got in, but then moaned as the warm water enveloped me.

“God, you’re covered in bruises and scratches….”

“Yes, but at least the werewolf bite will not turn me into one, so nightmare averted.”

“Way to see the silver lining,” he praised me.

“Thank you.”

He shook his head at me, and all I could do was smile back like a simpleton.

I scrubbed, washed my body and hair, rinsed, and repeated. I missed my shower. I had never been a bath person, not much of a soaker, but Lorne loved them as long as he could shower first. We were of the same mind that baths were no way to actually get clean. But he’d borrowed a wooden bucket from the kitchen days ago and filled it up and then dumped it over me so I could thoroughly rinse myself. I returned the favor after he took his bath, dumping water on him a final time even after he’d said he was good.

“What was that?” he asked, raking his fingers through his damp hair.

“You look really good wet, so…let me do what I want.”

He laughed, all flirty and husky, and I got a towel for his hair and took my time drying him off.

“I miss that oil you cover me with after my bath,” he told me, his eyes warm as he stared at me.

“I miss it too, because touching you all over is one of my favorite things in the world,” I whimpered, my eyes filling.

“You’re about to pass out right here,” he murmured, taking my hand and leading me to the bed. “Get under the covers. I’ll be right there.”

“Come now,” I insisted, and heard the frustrated whine in my voice. I was being unreasonable, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“We’ll freeze if I don’t get a fire going. Get in bed.”

Argos leaped back onto the bed then—he’d been walking around a bit—and I saw the nest of smaller blankets Lorne had made for him. It was the semblance of normalcy, whispers of home, Lorne checking the cottage at night before he got under the covers with me.

But everything here was different. In this bed, the mattress was too soft, the sheets were silk, so they stuck to my damp skin, and the room was freezing, not cozy like the cottage, always protecting us, sheltering us. Usually, I could feel the nurturing in the very air.

“Nothing’s the same,” I said under my breath.

But then Lorne climbed into bed and spooned me, and the comfort of his touch, his sleek, warm skin sliding over mine, made everything instantly better.

“I take it back,” I said under my breath. “As long as you’re with me, I’ll be all right.”

“We’re gonna get back. You’ll see.”

I hoped with my whole heart that he was right.

SEVEN

Something warm nudged my cheek, and though my eyes were heavy, I opened them to see what it was. It took me a second, even lifting up, bracing myself on my elbow and focusing, to realize what I was seeing on the balcony.