Page 8 of Taken By the Blood God

He sounded so annoyed that I had to bite back a smile.

I whispered the words of a spell as we staggered to the steps and up to the back porch. The spell made his weight lessen enough that I had no trouble helping him through the kitchen to the front hall.

He paused in front of the stairs, grasping the rail with a trembling hand. “I can do it.”

I didn’t bother to argue. I just walked up behind him, keeping two hands on his lower back. Thank the goddess he was wearing a shirt for a change. I didn’t want to touch his bare skin. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hide my reaction to him. And he would never let me forget it if he saw how he affected me.

As Talant topped the stairs and paused, weaving on his feet, I realized he probably wouldn’t notice anyway. He was barely conscious.

I tried to guide him toward the guest room at the back of the house, but his knees began to crumple, and I knew he wouldn’t make it. Holding back a frustrated sigh, I pushed him toward the closest bedroom—mine.

It spoke to his exhaustion that Talant made no flirty comments or sexual offers. He staggered the few steps from my door to the bed before collapsing face-first on the mattress, his feet still hanging off the bed.

I frowned at the bottoms of his feet. They were dirty, and I didn’t want them on my nice, clean sheets. One look at Talant’s still body and it was clear he was already out.

Grumbling to myself, I marched into the adjoining bathroom. I grabbed the wide bowl I used to give myself pedicures, filled it with warm water, grabbed a bar of my homemade soap, and wet a washcloth.

I carried everything into the bedroom, still cursing Talant, this time in more than a grumble. He didn’t even twitch, the ass.

Kneeling beside the bed, I washed his feet as swiftly as I could manage and carried everything back into the bathroom to tidy up. When I came back, I was tempted to leave him where he lay, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to get him off the floor by myself if he rolled off the bed in his sleep, so I needed to get his legs fully onto the mattress.

It took five minutes of pushing and shoving, more swearing (this time much louder), and some sweat, but I managed to roll Talant’s body toward the center of the bed. He grunted once or twice but didn’t wake up. He also rolled in the direction I shoved him, which was good because I wouldn’t have been able to move him otherwise.

Satisfied that he would stay where I put him for a while, I went back downstairs to make myself another cup of coffee. The one I’d held earlier was still lying on its side in the backyard, all the liquid drained out of it.

As I went about my morning routine, I tried not to think about how strange it felt not to have Talant underfoot. Somehow, in the last couple of weeks, I’d become accustomed to the arrogant ass.

I shook off the thought. I must be missing company in general now that Ally had moved out of my home and in with her gargoyle mate, Dax. There was no way that I wanted Talant’s company. No way at all.

I spent the rest of the day tidying up the house and preparing to leave for a few days. I had no doubt that Talant would wake up and be impatient to leave and free his brother.

It occurred to me that I would have two insufferable gods in my house once that happened, and I decided to do a little magical prep work in the event that they had the bright idea to give me any trouble.

With both of their powers drained to such a low threshold even my magic should be strong enough to combat any mischief they tried to cause.

Once I felt everything else was ready, I went into my still room off the kitchen. It was the place where I brewed potions, mixed dried herbs for tea, and made my candles and soaps. The counters were wide and fashioned out of butcher block, sitting atop heavy cabinets. Open shelves lined the walls above the counters, full of jars of herbs, liquids, candles, cauldrons of varying sizes, and other tools and ingredients I needed to perform my craft.

I was still puttering around in the still room, puzzling out a spell to cage a powerful magical creature without an actual physical circle, when my cell phone rang. I glanced at the screen and saw my niece’s name.

I also saw the time and gasped in shock. I was still in my nightgown, and it was nearly five o’clock in the evening. Losing track of time when I was in the still room was a common occurrence but not this amount of time. I’d lost the entire day.

I snatched up my phone and said, “How’s mated life?”

My niece huffed out a laugh. “You’ve asked me that every time we’ve talked the past two weeks.”

“I’ll keep asking until it sinks in that you’re mated.”

“Sinks in for whom?”

It was my turn to laugh. “For me. The last time I checked, you were still twelve and collecting weird objects that caught your attention.”

“It’s not my fault you aged.”

I gasped in mock outrage, which made her giggle. “I should stop speaking to you.”

“You probably should, but you’d miss me.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I already did miss her, but I held it back. I didn’t want to make her feel guilty about leaving the house we’d shared for fifteen years. She was twenty-six. It was well past time for her to be out on her own.

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