was her home.
He was where she belonged.
Rolling to the side, she encouraged him to follow her, and he came with her as easy as water, as hot as fire. It was his turn to feed … and given the way his eyes zeroed in on her jugular, he agreed with her.
“Let me seal you first,” she said as she went for her puncture marks.
He took her wrist and held her back, shaking his head. No—I want to bleed for you.
Xhex closed her eyes, her throat tightening.
It was hard to say where this was going to lead them, because she never would have predicted their split in the first place. But it was so damned good to be home … even if this was just a short stay.
Hours passed, the night waning and dawn arriving; and then the sun rose from the lip of the horizon, ascending to its noonday heights, washing the snow-covered mountain with light.
Autumn was unaware of any of this—and that would have been true whether she was down in the clinic or up at the mansion … or out in the snow.
In fact, she might as well have been directly in the sunshine.
She was on fire.
The blazing heat in her womb reminded her of the birthing of Xhexania, the agony rising to heights that made her wonder if death wasn’t coming for her, before easing off just enough so she could catch her breath and prepare for the next peak. And as with labor, the cycling persisted, the moments of relenting becoming farther and farther apart until the pain of the need filled out the contours of her body and took over all movement, all breath, all thought.
It had not been like this before. Back when she’d been with that symphath, the needing hadn’t been half this strong. …
Or half this long …
After however many hours of torture, she had no more tears left, no more sobs, not even any twitches. She just lay in stillness, barely breathing, her heartbeat sluggish, her eyes closed as her body was yet assaulted internally.
It was hard to pinpoint exactly when the tipping point came upon her, but gradually the throbbing between her legs and the burning in her pelvis drifted away, the rigors of the needing replaced with an abiding soreness in her joints and her muscles from all the straining she’d done.
When she could finally raise her head, her neck cracked loudly, and she groaned as her face hit a wall of some sort. Frowning, she tried to orient herself … oh, indeed, she was at the foot of the bed, pressed up against the short board at its end.
She laid her head back down for a while. With the boiling heat easing to a mere simmer, she began to feel cold, and she fumbled around for a sheet, or a blanket, or a cover of any sort. There was nothing—all was on the floor: She was naked on a bare mattress—clearly she’d ripped off even the fitted sheet.
Summoning what little energy she had, she attempted to push her torso up and lift her head. She made little progress. It was as if there was glue holding her down …
Eventually, she rose up.
The trip to the bathroom was as arduous and treacherous as a hike up a mountainside, but lo, the joy with which she beheld the shower and turned it on.
As temperate water fell generously from the spout anchored upon the wall, she sat down on the tile beneath it, tucking her heels up against her bottom, hugging herself around her knees. As she laid her head to the side, the gentle spray washed away the salt of her tears and her sweat.
The shivers turned violent shortly thereafter.
“Autumn?” came Doc Jane’s voice from the room beyond.
Her rattling teeth prevented her from replying, but the shower said enough: The other female appeared in the doorway, and then ventured further into the bath, until she pulled back the cloth curtain and knelt down so they were eye-to-eye.
“How’re you feeling?”
Abruptly, Autumn had to shield her face as she began crying.
Hard to know whether the outburst was because the needing had finally passed, or because she was so tired she had no boundaries left … or because the last thing she remembered before everything became a blur was the sight of Tohr driving those two needles into his thighs and falling to the floor.
“Autumn, can you hear me?” “Yes … ” she croaked.
“I’d like to get you back in bed if you’re