Page 116 of Lifebound

But Rune let go of me and moved away too soon. “Clean up quickly. I’ll wait here.”

Fuck!

My eyes closed and the memories rushed through my mind. I swallowed hard and stepped back.

“You, um…” I looked down at his pants. “Are you going to clean up, too?” I’d come all over him and even though I couldn’t see it because of the dim lights and his black pants, he had to be a mess as well.

“I’d rather not,” he said, eyes gleaming, that almost-smile on his lips. Then he reached for the leather ties of the cloak and whispered, “Turn around.”

I did. He took the cloak off my shoulders slowly. Without it I felt so damn exposed, and the buttons of my dress were still undone.

Just as turned on and embarrassed as before, I went to grab a pitcher. Every inch of my body was aware of his eyes on me. My cheeks were on fire when I finally went to the stall and started to clean myself up. The water was cold, but I didn’t even notice, didn’t consider asking Rune to warm it up. And when I was done washing my hands, too, he put the cloak on me again, tied it over my chest like we had all the time in the world.

All the while he looked at me, and my own eyes didn’t even blink, afraid I’d miss a single second. Afraid I’d forget just what he looked like the moment I looked away.

I wouldn’t, though. The memories of him had taken over my mind completely and in such a short time.

“She will go back to the cage now.”

Again, I looked up at him, certain I’d heard him wrong, but no. That was exactly what Rune said to the incubi waiting for us outside the bathroom door.

Behind them were two vampires—the men whom that red-headed incubus had been jerking off at the same time earlier, and fuck, they looked like they could hardly stay awake as they leaned against the wall and waited for us to move away. They were probably here to clean up, too.

“Only her?” one of the incubi asked Rune.

“Only her,” he confirmed.

I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything. He knew what he was doing. I was going to trust him and keep my mouth shut.

So, the guards nodded ahead. “Move.”

Rune walked with me, and the vampires finally stumbled into the bathroom. By the sound of it, one of them fell as soon as they entered, but the guards and Rune didn’t seem concerned. I kept my head down as we went deeper into the corridor, trying to imagine if there was any way I could escape from that cage by myself if Rune really was going to leave me alone. The closer to it we went, the more my anxiety took over, but at least I wasn’t as turned on as before. Mostly I was just scared shitless of being all alone in a cage in that basement.

Then one of the incubi opened the door, and we were walking down the stairs, and those cages were right there. The part of me that thought I might have imagined the whole thing died quickly.

The closer to them we got, the more my legs shook. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I turned to look at Rune, tobeghim with my eyes not to leave me here all alone. I was terrified of who else might come downstairs while he was busy, terrified that nobody would hear me scream.

But Rune wasn’t looking at me. He was looking down at his hands, the light in them.

The shadows that suddenly sprouted out of his fingers pushed me back and created a wall in front of me before I’d taken a full breath.

I must have passed out momentarily because I don’t remember exactly how I ended up sitting on the floor with my hands around my head, while people screamed nearby.

Men screamed and bones broke and the sound of something heavy falling against metal rang in my ears.

It was over so fast for me, which was another reason why I thought I hadn’t been awake for most of it. It was over, and the thick wall of shadows that had been in front of me for who knew how long faded away all at once to reveal Rune.

A bloody Rune with his shirt torn as he reached out his hand for me. “Time to go, Wildcat.”

I put my hand in his. He pulled me to my feet. “Don’t look,” he told me because I was looking. “You don’t have to see?—”

He meantsee the body piecesof the three incubi all over the floor. Seethat.

My heart almost beat out of my chest. There was blood and a cut off head near a body and one with the face so beaten in I couldn’t even tell who it was. My hand closed over my open mouth.

“You…y-y-you did that?”

Rune pulled me toward the stairs. “Yes. Look up. Keep moving.”

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