CHAPTER TWELVE
I came awake to the scent of blood, foul magic and male sweat. A claustrophobic darkness cocooned me. My night vision failed to come. I blinked and opened my eyes wider.
“I cannot see.”
“Give it a minute,” Kobi wheezed, next to my ear. He shifted his body a little to give me space, the two us lying side by side on a small bed. I welcomed the closeness, the warrior’s body heat thawing the chill from my bones. “Probably residual dark magic. It should clear.”
Should? His assurance held more doubt than certainty. What if my sight failed to return? Was this vulnerability how Samuel felt? “Where is Samuel?”
Kobi shifted again and I caught his troubled scent. Our close contact was uncomfortable for him. “Relax. We’re at the clinic. Merlin spelled this room to keep safe while he got someone to heal us. Apparently, even flirting with the Grim Reaper I’m still your best bet against your threat of the day.”
“And what of Savage?”
“Patched up and miserable. Nothing new.”
I exhaled, thankful the warrior had survived. “What was it you pulled out of me, Kobi?”
“A nasty spirit wanting to possess you. I connected with the thing. Powerful.”
“Was it Rheagan?”
“No fucking clue.”
“What about the others? Was anyone else hurt?”
A racking cough took Kobi over and left him gasping for breath. “Sorry . . . too busy coughing up a lung to notice.”
Judging by the liquid rattle in his throat and the fresh wave of blood tainting the air, his quip rang too close to the truth. In the darkness, I followed the contours of his frame snug against mine. He was drenched with sweat and blood, his body trembling with fever or mayhap the aftermath of saving my life.
“Kobi, what can I do? I am no healer, but after working with Jade, I might be of some aid if you tell me what your injuries are.”
He coughed again. “Advil and bandages won’t do it for an incubus, Lia. Samuel’s gone to find what I need.”
I blinked and saw the outline of his pained face coming into focus. Thank the gods. My vision cleared more moment by moment. There was something I could do. I heard the evasion in his voice, smelled it in his protestations. “Tell me. Verily, I wish to aid you.”
Kobi stared at me through half-lidded eyes and cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice was low and rough. “Incubi heal by leaching sexual energy, Lia. You know, crotch mingling, getting horizontal. You still want to aid me? You saw what I am. You want to snuggle up to that monster?”
“You heal during coitus?” My ears flushed to their tips.
He ground his teeth and closed his eyes. “Just one of the perks of being me. And no, I’m not asking you.”
No. Of course not. Samuel’s rejection echoed in my head, you didn’t want that any more than I did. Had being close with me been so distasteful? And now Kobi refused me?
Kobi? The most indiscriminately promiscuous male of all the warriors, would rather risk death than approach me.
My blood boiled hot. “What about me is so undesirable to males? Am I homely or too inexperienced to consider? Am I that pathetic a female you would refuse to touch me even to save your own life?”
Kobi’s mouth gave a bitter twist. “You’re pissed at me? For trying to do right by you?”
“Yes. I am. Verily, I have what you need . . . all the correct parts and pieces which arouse a male, yes?”
“Of course, . . . I mean, you are . . .”
“And does it have to be coitus? Will not some . . . sexual pleasure ease your injuries?”
“Ahhh, I’m not sure. I never hold back.”
Until now. “So, it is me.”
“I am a demon, Lia. Hellspawn. One of the damned. My Pantheon is different than yours. My gods feed on death, conflict and kill to absorb the rush. You saw me back in the clearing. Do you really want that inside you—”
Stupid male. I stopped his protestations with my lips on his. In this dark cocoon of privacy, I seized his rugged, stubbled jaw in my palms and kissed him. He tasted of blood and sorrow, loneliness and self-loathing. His outlook on life may differ, but a Highborne’s attitude toward sexual pleasure differed from other members of the realm as well.
To save a male’s life . . . where was the question? I would give what I could.
His lips started tentative, but as the surprise of my advance wore off and our connection heated, his body met my offering with greedy abandon and claimed what it needed.
Nervous I would fail him with my inexperience, I let him lead. He kissed with passion, the intensity of it stole my breath and fluttered in my insides. Once I grew certain he would not refuse my help, I ran my hands down the contours of his body and the flavor of his kiss changed. The sorrow replaced by hunger.
Strong hands ran the nape of my neck and across my lower back. It was me who closed the space between our bodies, sending a hand down the curve of his spine and to the round of his backside. He moaned and I felt the magic of his healing tingle through me.
My inexperience proved less of an obstacle than I imagined. Kobi kissed a blazing line down my neck, a decadent purring rumbling in his chest. “Gods you taste good, Lia girl.”
Lia girl. My chest tightened hearing Samuel’s voice instead of Kobi’s. Though I wished it was Samuel pulling my braid loose and combing through my hair with strong fingers, it was not. Kobi needed this. Kobi needed me.
And what a wondrous thing, to be needed, to have purpose—no matter how small.
The magic tingling over my skin ceased and the pain of his injuries remained rife in the air. His healing stalled. He was aroused. I could smell his desire, but his caress and attentions remained politely restrained.
In the past year, there had been little within my control, but I would be damned if I let this male’s sense of propriety inhibit his health. If there was some situation I might affect for the better in my life—I intended to affect it.
To that end, I ran my palm down the front of his leathers. His hips thrust forward and he groaned close to my ear. “Fuck yeah . . . oh, gods rougher. That’s it.”
The magic zinged over my flesh again and I continued my exploration with a surge of triumph. I pulled his shirt up so I had access to his skin. I had never touched a male, but the excitement of it burned in my blood. He moaned as I found the little hoop piercing his nipple and toyed with it.
With my bodice ripped down the front from the attack, Kobi’s hand slid up my ribs and over my breast unimpeded. At the same time, his teeth nipped the sensitive tip of my ear and I shuddered against him. He hissed as the pulse in my neck jumped against his thumb. “Like that do you?”
I did. Undeniably. Uncontrollably. I tilted my neck so he had better access to my ear and sighed when he brushed back my hair and continued. Gods, if the preamble to relations with a lover felt this good, what would it be like to share body and soul with another?
He kissed me a long while, caressing with a honed touch. The combined scents of our arousal created an intoxicating aroma in such an enclosed space and since sexual energy was the balm Kobi needed, we were in good stead.
After a long while, Kobi made a male noise deep in his throat and pulled away. He kissed me once on the tip of my nose and sighed a long and languid sigh. “That, my sweet, young Highborne, was just what the doctor ordered.”
It took a moment for the adrenaline rushing through my veins to slow enough so I could speak. “Are you healed? Why have you stopped?”
He drew a deep breath looking puzzled. “Better. Much better than I should be. And as much as my darker demon impulses demand I pin you down and continue, our private time has come to its end. Merlin is back and has brought me a friend. It would be bad form to greet his efforts indisposed.”
He shifted to separate our bodies once more. “Catch your breath before he sees the flush in your cheeks and realizes we weren’t unconscious and dying in here. I may be reckless, but I avoid having high-level wizards wanting to kill me.”
I pulled the sides of my bodice back together. “Why would he care? He regards me as nothing more than his charge. That is why I am grateful to you, Kobi.”
He chuckled and it was a low, sultry sound. “You’re thanking me?”
I brushed his cheek and ran my fingers down the line of nickel piercings in his ear. The male projected an image of cocky self-possession, uncaring of the reputation of villainy that followed him. In truth, he was emotionally isolated. Adrift. I knew that ache all too well.
I bit my lip and searched his face. His eyes were once again smoky, charcoal-grey.
“You saved my soul today and likely my life. You exposed your true self, valuing my well-being above your privacy. So, yes, I am grateful.”
When he opened his mouth to speak, I pressed my fingers over his lips so I could finish. “This interlude has been the only time in near a year when someone treated me as a competent, mature female. You let me make my choice. Your touch held no pity and you let me express myself. I hold no talent or experience with males but, still, you wanted me. It felt wonderful. Liberating. Empowering. You, my brave friend, are a male of great worth.”
“Anytime you need empowerment . . .” Kobi grinned and ran his fingers through his blood-matted, night-black hair. “As for that male of worth stuff, your wires are crossed there. I’ve got an image to protect. Emotionally unavailable bad-boys score more women and scare more men.”
I smiled. “Your secret is safe.”
By the time Samuel released his spell and stepped into our recovery room, Kobi had given me his t-shirt and I had wiped what blood could be removed from the both of us with the tatters of my blouse. I sat, still a little shaken, on the edge of the bed and Kobi stood facing the window.
Thankfully, Samuel looked none the worse for the attack, stressed and flustered, but beautifully whole. His jaw tightened as he glanced from Kobi to me, and back to Kobi. “I expected ye to be in worse shape, demon. Ye seemed to be knockin’ on death’s door a half hour ago.”
Kobi shrugged and the metal ring pierced through his nipple caught moonlight. “Can’t keep a demon down for long. We’re like cockroaches. Resilient.”
Samuel made a disparaging noise and scowled. “Yeah, well, since ye’ve made a miraculous revival, ye should be well enough to cut yer healing session short. Yer lady friend is in the next recovery room, and Jade and Rowan are waiting to check Lia over. When the two of you are well, Reign’s expecting us in the war room. He’s holding the debriefing of Bruin’s ring recovery now and Lia’s attack is up next.”
Kobi nodded and strode out the door.
Samuel frowned at me, his face dark with anger as he headed out to the main part of the clinic.