Page 37 of A Hunter Cursed
The look Keegan shot him was sheepish. “I may have needed to get that demon to back off.”
He groaned again, this time for a different reason. Guilt flooded him and he once more raised his hand to cup Keegan’s face, his thumb stroking gently over her cheek. “Did I hurt you?”
Her hands gripped his face, her expression fierce. “No, and that wasn’t you.”
Jeremiah growled, attempting to sit up as he angrily muttered, “Bastard was wearing me like a fucking suit. Talk about needing therapy.”
Keegan’s arms wrapped around him from behind, assisting him, helping to prop him up, and he suddenly recalled something he’d heard while struggling to scale that slimy cliff. Beginning cautiously, in case it really had all been a dream, he glanced over his shoulder and asked, “Did you, er…” he broke off, scratching nervously at the back of his neck. “Did you say you love me?”
“I think this is my cue to give you guys some privacy,” the angel said, rising smoothly from his squatted position.
Keegan’s arms tightened around Jeremiah’s chest as she hugged him. “I did.”
It was tough to be nonchalant when he had hope burning like a sun in his chest. “So, was that like you trying anything you could think of to wake me up, or did you actually mean it?”
Scooting around so she sat at his side, her hand lifted to stroke his face, her eyes saying everything he needed to hear before she uttered the words. “I meant it. I love you, Jeremiah.”
The air left his lungs in a rush as astonishment took hold, quickly replaced by an almost giddy wonder. “You do?”
Her laughter was the most beautiful sound in the world to him as he watched her nod her head adamantly. “I do. I love you.”
Lurching toward her, he wrapped her up in a hug, squeezing her tight in his happiness, perhaps too tightly, but Keegan didn’t complain. “I love you too,” he said. “So much. It was your voice that led me out of that hell.”
Still maintaining her hold on him, Keegan leaned back slightly so she could see his face as she asked, “Were you able to see what was going on? Was it like, I don’t know,” her brow scrunched adorably as she considered her words. “Were you trapped in your body?”
Jeremiah was about to answer when more headlights lit the area, approaching fast. The lead vehicle rocked to a tire-screeching halt and Archer came barreling out of the driver’s side of his truck while Destin Jourdain slid hurriedly out from the passenger side.
“You’re late,” the angel pronounced.
The leader of the Order of Witches let out a scoffing sound. “Not all of us have wings.”
More may have been said between the two, but Jeremiah didn’t hear it. Archer had joined him and Keegan, hunkering down next to Jeremiah. The alpha’s eyes assessed him as his palm landed on Jeremiah’s shoulder and squeezed.
Keegan pulled away like she thought they might need privacy, but Jeremiah held tight to her hand, keeping her at his side. She was his mate, there were no secrets between them, no part of his life she couldn’t be part of.
“Are you all right?” Archer finally asked, his voice gruff with emotion.
“I am now.”
His worst fears having been put to rest, the alpha’s face turned fierce. “What the fuck happened?”
Jeremiah shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. I guess I was possessed somehow?”
“You touched that ooze,” Keegan reminded him.
“Yeah, but I cleaned it all off.”
“It left a stain,” she added thoughtfully.
“Simply touching it gave the Smudge a point of entry,” Cam told them as he approached with Jourdain at his side. “Washing it off would have done no good. It may have looked gone, but I assure you, it wasn’t. It was merely waiting.”
The angel stepped aside suddenly and Marguerite, the pack healer, bustled past him. The woman’s face was set in determined lines, though she did slow down to stare wide-eyed at Cam’s wings. Then she shook herself and got back to business, practically man-handling Jeremiah when she kneeled beside him to take his vitals.
Jeremiah let out a beleaguered sigh that had Keegan snickering quietly when she heard it. So much for getting some alone time with his mate after they’d just declared their love to each other. Not that this was the most romantic of settings, sitting in the middle of the road with a crowd gathered around.
Where the hell were they anyway? Nothing looked familiar. “Where are we?”
“Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain.”
