Page 68 of Bought to Break
‘Gods,’ Sorin growled. ‘And she’s been like this since you found her?’
Kane shifted on his feet, wishing Sorin would hurry up and do something to help her. ‘Yes.’
‘Prop her legs up higher than her head and get me salve. We won’t be able to put the shoulder back in until we’re at sea – she’ll make too much noise – but we can sponge the blood away, see to the bruises and close the cuts.’ He paused as he surveyed her swollen eye, the blood crusted over her skin and the bruises over her breasts. ‘The ones who did this are dead?’
‘Of course. Too quickly, though.’
‘We should have found her sooner. Quin, Mal and Payn will pay for this.’
‘Yes,’ Kane agreed, ‘but not tonight.’
‘Find some extra blankets. She needs to be kept warm.’
Kane grabbed a blanket from one of the other bunks and gestured to the small bed she occupied. ‘Should I …?’
‘If you can keep from beating her or fucking her then yes, the heat from your body would be beneficial,’ Sorin said wryly, mixing some herbs from the medicine pack and rising. ‘I need hot water. I’ll be back. Try not to move her overmuch.’
Sorin left, closing the door securely behind him, and Kane climbed carefully over Lana’s slight form to settle into the small bed next to her, drawing the thick cover over them both. He watched her for a long time and when her eyelids finally began to close, only then did he allow himself to sleep as well.
For the first time in weeks, he dreamed of her.
Chapter 34
Lana
His hands slid up her arms, caressing her skin, moving to trace the cords of her neck before drifting down to knead her breasts. He plucked at the nipples and she sighed contentedly. Her clothes were gone, but she didn’t mind. Her fingers smoothed the coarse hair of his broad chest, feeling the taut muscles beneath. He was as bare as she was. He kissed his way down her body from her navel and suddenly gripped her thighs, spreading them wide.
She gasped as his head delved between her legs. He laved her with his tongue, up and down, leaving nowhere untouched, and she gave a moan, opening herself wider for him. He thrust it into her, making her squirm beneath his unyielding hold before moving up and fastening his lips over that part of her that craved it the most. Her hips rolled as she felt him enter her slowly. He moved within her and she screamed as pleasure suddenly flooded her.
She groaned,becoming aware of creaking sounds that seemed quite rhythmic and then a rocking motion to match. Her body ached and felt so heavy she could barely move her arms. She was on her back. Her head was pounding. She shifted slightly, intending to roll onto her side, and gasped as pain shot through her shoulder and arm, making her want to cast up the contents of her stomach. She grunted, clenching her jaw and shutting her eyes even as she froze, easing back onto the blanket she lay on, trying to breathe through it. Someone was next to her. She turned her head slowly and opened her eyes to look.Kane.
The sight of him filled her with elation, yet despair. She wondered how she could feel such opposites at the same time as she watched him. How could his presence be such a comfort to her after everything he’d done?
He was fully clothed. His eyes were closed and one of his hands was under the blanket – on her, she realised suddenly as his wrist twitched. His fingers, which had been still, suddenly twisted inside her, and she whimpered at the pleasing sensation that coursed through her.
His blue eyes met hers and for a moment he looked endearingly confused. She studied his face, realising for the first time that, beneath the short dark beard, he looked younger than both Sorin and Viktor. When he was properly awake and ordering everyone around, he wore his command over himself like an impenetrable fortress. She’d never seen him like this. Open. He’d been beaten recently. She wondered who had done it and for what. Kane wasn’t the type to take a thrashing lying down, so it must have been someone with as much fighting skill as him to inflict so much damage. One of his eyes was still almost shut and his jaw was swollen. Cuts marred his lips and a shallow one ran down the side of his face; the side that wasn’t already scarred. She wanted to reach out and touch him – as if that would make him feel better somehow – as if he would welcome it.
Abruptly feeling like bursting into tears, she was glad when she heard the sound of a door. She turned her head towards it slowly with a grimace as her shoulder twinged at the tiny movement.
‘You’re awake,’ Sorin said as he shut it with a quiet click.
Kane shifted away from her on the narrow cot they’d shared, and she couldn’t help the small sound that escaped her lips as his fingers slipped out of her.
Sorin’s eyes darted to him suspiciously, but he said nothing.
‘Where are we?’ she asked, finding her voice a hoarse whisper.
‘On a ship bound for the mainland.’ He put a small wooden cup to her lips and she drank thirstily.
Her brow furrowed. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important she ought to remember. ‘Why?’
Sorin shared a look with Kane and brushed his knuckles across her forehead gently. ‘We can talk about that later. How do you feel?’
‘Half-dead. What happened?’
Another look between them.
Lana frowned. ‘What is it?’ she asked, starting to get annoyed with them.
