the blood for a moment before he sighed against my flesh. “You could have made a sound, baby girl.”
Jerkily, I shook my head. Making a sound when you hurt—
Shoving that thought back inside its closet, I glanced around. “I need to wrap this, huh?”
He continued to lick me. “Probably.” He groaned a little. “You taste amazing, though.”
“Stop it,” I muttered, shoving at his head and easing off his lap. I was on my feet and looking around for something to wrap around my wrist when he emerged from the bathroom, holding a hand towel.
“We’ll use this,” he said quietly. “Get dressed. We’ll find Es.” A grim look settled in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
As he wrapped my wrist, I noticed the odd tension in him. It called to the instincts buried in the back of my mind and I could feel myself getting edgy. My right hand heated. Readied itself. “Nothing,” he murmured. “It’s just…” He shot a look at the phone lying by the bed. “She’ll be calling again soon. I can feel it.”
“Is that a gut instinct or more?”
He stared at me. “More.”
Chapter Twenty Two
Kori led us to the healing hall without speaking. There was an odd look in her eyes when she first looked at Damon, but she said absolutely nothing, which was weird, I thought.
Es was in the hall with the two girls and when she saw me, that gentle smile curved her lips. “You slept.”
“Yes.” I didn’t mention the odd dreams or anything else. As I tried to figure out how to explain what I needed, she rose from the chair where she’d been seated and came to me.
“Ahhh…” She unwrapped my wrist and studied the punctures. They still bled. “You realize, of course, there are several ways to heal this.”
Damon’s hand curved over the back of my neck.
I stared at her pale eyes and waited.
“A full healing would remove any scarring but it’s more invasive and you’d need rest. A day, possibly more, since your body has already been rather taxed.”
As one, Damon and I said, “No.”
She flicked a look at Damon. “Cat, I understand the significance, but I need her answer…hers alone.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “You heard my answer. I know what the damn thing means and I want it there. No full healing.”
“Because you can’t take the down time?”
“No.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Because I asked him to put it there in the first place. Why ask him to do it if I’m just going to have you remove it?”
Now she smiled again, and the look on her face was oddly pleased. “Wonderful. A minor healing spell, then. You’re probably familiar with it. I can accelerate the healing—it will be like it’s months old, instead of minutes.”
“Ah…months?”
Any time Colleen had done such a spell, she’d just been able to ramp it up for a few days, a few weeks at best.
Es smiled at me. “I’m the mother of this house, Kitasa. I have a bit more skill, a bit more power at my disposal than some of the witches you’ve known. And you’ll need all your strength for when you go back out.”
I felt the hot power of Damon’s energy slam in me, the burst of his anger flaring.
Yeah, pal. I know you don’t want me going back out.
But I couldn’t wait quietly, either.
Es had her hands on my wrist and the wonderful, warm crawl of her magic was spreading through me when Damon’s phone rang.
I tensed.
It was her.
Annette. The Queen Bitch. The Alpha Cat. And Damon’s Lady.
Bile knocked at the back of my throat but I swallowed it down as I turned my head and stared at his wide shoulders. He held his phone for a moment, staring at it before he lifted his head to meet my gaze.
Then he answered it, his voice falling into that flat, familiar tone. Even just two days ago, I’d thought that tone signified reverence. It didn’t. It was just…emotionless.
What had Es said—
…notices everything and she’ll notice more about you than you could possibly imagine, including what you had for breakfast, the fact that you’re in rut, and the fact that you hate your Alpha…
I studied him closer.
Did he hate her?
“He does,” Es murmured, her voice low, very low.
I jerked my gaze to her, my mouth opening. She shook her head and mouthed, “Later.”
Then she let go of my hand. I looked down. The pain was gone. She wiped away the blood and I stared at the pale, scarred skin of my left wrist.