Page 23 of A Touch Of Death

I tear my shirt off and climb onto the bed beside her. “My bed is huge. Enough room for five people. You can share mine until Spencer makes your room for you.”

Silence greets me. Her eyes widen, and her head snaps to face the end of the bed. My eyes begin to close, sleep creeping up on me, but Novia’s soft whisper keeps me awake a little longer, not that I mind. “My room?”

“Mhmm. Your room. You’re staying with us. This is your home now, so Spencer will do his wizardy shit and make your room.” My words are slightly slurred but easy to understand. She still doesn’t lie down, just stares at the wall opposite her. It’s a different story for me, however. Now that I’m lying in the comfort of my own bed, sleep finally wins out, dragging me under in seconds.

Just before I’m completely unconscious, though, I hear sweet voice whisper with awe, “My room.”

I fall asleep with a smile on my face and the woman I’m going to make my mission to claim beside me.

Chapter 12

Novia

I don'tfall asleep straight away for several reasons.

Reason one: there's a large, muscled, very shirtless man fast sleep right next to me. He's lying close enough that his body heat is warming me from head to toe, and his nearness is his sending my heart into a weird pitter-pattering state. With every breath he takes, his chest tightens, making his pecs stand out more. Did he have to take his shirt off before lying down? It's all I can do to stop myself from staring at him like a perverted creeper.

Reason two: he just nonchalantly announced that I'll be living with him and the others. Living here. He dropped a bomb on me and then passed out straight after it. He called this place my home, told me I'd be getting a room to myself, and then just... fell asleep. I knew he was exhausted. He'd been falling asleep during the last movie we all watched together, then he tried to hide a yawn from me. So, did he mean what he just said? It feels like he meant it, and my power doesn’t sense any lies, but he’s tired and almost asleep. They could have just been the inner musings of a sleepy shifter. Does he even know what he was saying? How does one announce something like that and then fall straight to sleep? It's making me question the authenticity of his words. What if he wakes up and doesn't remember he said them, or remembers and regrets what he said?

Reason three: if he meant what he said, it means I have somewhere I belong now. It means I won't be alone. It means I'll have people in my life, and I won't have to wander through life by myself. I don't know how long it'll last, or if it's only until I get back on my feet and get my bearings, but I won't be by myself while I figure that out. I'll have a home, a place to stay. My own room. Something I haven't had for five years.

I really, really hope he meant those words. They feel like my lifeline. I know I shouldn't be relying on these four strangers. I know very little about them, if really at all, but for the first time in a long time, I finally feel safe. With them, I feel protected, like nothing can hurt me anymore. I don't understand why I feel that way, why I feel like I know these men, and trust that they won't hurt me or let anything else hurt me. It's like something deep inside of me is telling me that they'll always protect me, and I'll never be unsafe with them around. How I can possibly feel that about four strangers beats me, but I'm holding on to that feeling so tightly as though I'm afraid it'll slip out of my fingers.

I sit in the bed a little while longer, my brain running a mile a minute. Could I really stay? Make a home here, for however long they want me? I'd like to think I could. As much as it pains me to remember, I have nowhere else to go, nowhere else to be. Right hereseems like the best place I can think of, even if it's somewhere unknown and incredibly far from where I used to call home. I'll make a new home... with them.

With a smile on my face, I lie down next to the giant beast of a man when I realise he didn't even bother taking off his shoes before crashing onto the bed. He really must have been tired. Why did he stay up watching another movie with me, then? He could have gone to bed a lot sooner. In fact, now that I think about it, they all looked pretty beat at the end of that last movie. Spencer was already nodding to sleep twenty minutes before the credits started rolling. Why didn't they go to bed sooner?

I shake my head, deciding the confusion that's brought with that question can wait until morning. Instead of pondering it, I shuffle carefully out of the bed. The throw over comes with me and tangles at my feet, but I land close enough to the shifter’s sneaker-covered feet, so I ignore it. I sit at the very edge of the bed and lean in to untie Nix's shoes and slide them off his feet.

Just as I reach his second foot, he wakes up slightly. His words are just barely tangible and slightly slurred, but I make out what he's saying. "Whatcha doin', babe?"

My chest does something weird at the term of endearment, and my cheeks flush. I vaguely remember hearing Spencer call me 'sweetheart', and I think Ezra called me 'love', but this is the first time someone's called me something like that when I'm lucid enough to hear and understand what's being said. It doesn't matter that the man is mostly asleep; the word still warms me from head to toe.

"Taking your shoes off. You didn't take them off before getting into bed. Go back to sleep," I whisper back. I don't get a reply, so I assume he's drifted back to sleep, and I remove the other sneaker. He's already in loose-fitted sweatpants, so I leave him as he is and wrap the comforter over his legs more fully. I climb back into bed, tucking myself under the comforter since I left the throw at the bottom of the bed.

Once under the cover, I turn onto my side so I end up facing Nix. The moment I do, my gaze collides with half-lidded ocean blue eyes. He does nothing but watch me silently. The intensity of his gaze isn't lost on me, and my body flares to life like it did when he kissed me.

With a deep, roughened voice, he says, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He smiles quickly, and then his eyes are closing again. His arm rises to wrap around my waist. He doesn't pull me closer, only rests his arm over me like he needs to be touching me. Hesitantly, I lay my hand on his bicep, placing my arm over his while I tuck my other hand under the pillow beneath my head.

And that's how I fall asleep, warm and safe in the partial embrace of a shifter.

****

I wake up with my body lying on something firm instead of soft. The pillow under my head seems to be thudding steadily, sounding faintly in my ear. The entire front of my body is incredibly warm, not enough to be uncomfortable, but enough to know that it's definitely not my body heat causing all the warmth.

Without moving, I open my eyes and look to the left. Bronzed skin meets my gaze, and the thudding suddenly makes sense. I'm quite literally lying on top of Nix, whose arms are wrapped snugly around my back, keeping me secured to his body. When I look down, I see one of his legs is raised, bent at the knee, and his foot’s placed on the bed by my thigh. I can feel his other foot tucked under my hip, so I know for a fact that I'm lying on the entire length of him, very literally, and in more ways than one. I'm lying between his legs like I somehow belong here, my upper body draped over his like it's within my right to do so.

How the hell did I get in this position?

Better question, how do I get out of it without one, kicking him in the junk, and two, this entire situation being incredibly awkward and embarrassing?

That's something that is taken care of for me when I feel Nix move beneath me, and a growl that sounds very similar to a purr vibrates through his chest under my ear. His arms tighten around my back before they loosen. The fingers on his one hand trail up and down my back while his other hand sneaks under my shirt and sprawls over my lower back, his thumb rubbing the sensitive skin there.

I practically melt on top of him with his fingers tickling the entire expanse of my back through the shirt. My eyes close, and I rub my face into his chest like a damn cat before I even realise what I'm doing.

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