Page 40 of A Hunter Cursed
Keegan shook her head and she held his face between both of her palms. “I’m not,” she told him firmly. “These visions I getarefrightening sometimes, and that one was pretty bad, but if I hadn’t seen that, I wouldn’t have known you were in trouble. I wouldn’t have come looking for you and discovered the state of your cabin and done a locator spell. I wouldn’t have called Destin who then told the angel what was going on.” Tilting her chin forward, she laid a hard, fierce kiss on Jeremiah’s lips.
Pulling back finally, her voice was adamant as she told him, “I willneverbe sorry for that vision and what it led to. That vision saved you.”
Jeremiah’s throat moved visibly as he swallowed, so much emotion filling his gaze, it made Keegan’s heart beat faster. His voice was gruff as he said, “I love you, Keegan.”
Laying her head back down on his shoulder, a smile lifted the corners of her lips as a sense of nearly overwhelming contentment filled her. “I love you too.”
They’d gotten out of the tub soon after that. Or rather, Jeremiah had lifted her out of the tub – an impressive show of both strength and coordination in Keegan’s opinion – and carried her to the bedroom, both of them exhausted after the events of the day and night and no longer able to hide it.
They hadn’t made love, much to her disappointment, but if she was honest with herself, she didn’t think either one of them would have been in any shape to even try. One, or both of them, would have probably fallen asleep no matter how aroused they were. They were just that tired.
Feeling refreshed the next morning, or rather, afternoon according to the clock as well as the bright spear of sunshine streaming in through a crack in Jeremiah’s black-out curtains, Keegan was ready to throw back the covers and face the day. She got as far as throwing back the covers before Jeremiah took one look at her and turned into Mister Snarly Pants.
Her bruises had been pretty apparent when they’d been in the tub last night, but they’d grown worse while she’d slept. Her shoulder and hip were both a deep, ugly, mottled purple, her knee only looking a tiny bit better by comparison. Even she winced at the sight of them.
Insisting she stay in bed, he made her breakfast, which was sweet, even if it was only Pop-Tarts. Jeremiah sheepishly confessed that he didn’t have any eggs and needed to go grocery shopping. He fetched extra pillows to prop her up, and then carried her out and settled her – and the pillows – gently on the couch when she’d griped that she didn’t want to spend all day in bed unless he was going to join her and they were going to have some fun.
She thought the suggestion of sex would have lightened his mood, maybe bring a smile to his face, but it failed miserably, the constant growl in his throat growing even more pronounced. It took her a little bit to figure out what was going on with him. Yes, she was injured, but she’d told him she was fine numerous times, that it looked a lot worse than it felt, which was true. Yet, still, his expression was thunderous. Finally, it came to her. He blamed himself, she realized. He saw the injuries marring her body as his fault and he was mentally beating himself up over it.
When he came out of the bathroom with a hot water bottle, Keegan snatched his hand. “Hey. Look at me.”
His eyes were the amber of his wolf when he met her gaze and she told him firmly, “This is not your fault. Do you hear me? Not. Your. Fault,” she stressed, emphasizing each word.
Kneeling beside the couch, he shook his head. “It feels like it is. It feels like I failed to keep you safe. Those bruises… God, Keegan. They make me crazy thinking you must have been in so much pain.”
“It’s not your fault,” she repeated. As for the pain, yes, she’d felt at times like she’d been hit by a truck, but she’d been too concerned about Jeremiah to let it stop her. And once she’d found him, she’d barely noticed a single twinge, too busy trying to make him fight that demon and come back to her.
“And you did keep me safe,” she told him. “I saw hints of you, of your wolf, fighting back, fighting for me last night. It was magnificent.”
Jeremiah’s butt hit the floor and he laid his head against her belly. “It all feels kind of like a dream now. All hazy around the edges.”
Running her fingers through his hair, she hesitantly asked, “What did you see?” Clearing her throat, she clarified, “When that thing was in control. Did you know what was happening?”
It took him a minute to reply, and his voice was gruff when he finally said, “It was like the demon and I swapped places. He was in me, up here with you, and I was in some sort of hell.”
“Oh, Jeremiah,” she breathed, her heart in her throat, imagining what he must have suffered.
As if reading her thoughts, his head lifted to assure her, “But it really was like a dream. I couldn’t feel anything, so it wasn’t like I was suffering endless torment like they talk about. I could just see it, the hellscape I guess you’d call it,” he said with a distracted frown. Shaking his head as if trying to shake off the memory, his eyes met hers once more. “I heard your voice from above, calling my name, and I knew I had to climb up, climb out, to reach you.”
Her look was one of awe. “So you did.”
He nodded. “So I did.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next couple of days made Keegan feel rather like a pampered princess. She and Jeremiah spent a lot of time cuddling on the couch watching movies or taking leisurely walks where he introduced her to his pack. He cooked for her – actual meals rather than the grilled cheese and SpaghettiOs she half expected – and seemed incredibly pleased to do so, insisting that taking care of her, even in small ways, eased something inside of him. It was sweet and wonderful; her only complaint was that he seemed fearful to resume their more amorous activities.
“Oh, come on,” she told him with a cajoling grin one night when he tried to put a stop to a rather heated make-out session on the couch. “They’re not that bad anymore.”
Seeing his dubious look, she continued, “Okay. I know they still look bad,” which they did. “But it’s kind of like when you get hurt and think, yeah, that’s going to leave a mark and nothing ever appears but then other times you’ll see this big, nasty bruise on your shin, and you’re like, wow, how did I get that?”
Jeremiah’s eyebrows practically shot to his hairline. “We know how you got those though, so that’s not the case.”
Keegan scowled. “Maybe that wasn’t the best example.” Brightening, she offered, “How about this… I’ll be on top so that I can control the pace and we’ll stop if anything starts hurting.”
The heat in his eyes as he considered her suggestion practically melted her bones, yet still, despite his obvious arousal, he’d insisted on dragging the healer to his cabin to check Keegan’s bruises first. It was hilarious, and touching, and slightly frustrating, but if anything, his concern for her made her love him even more. Her sweet wolf. And as soon as Marguerite had left, the healer giving them an all clear, Keegan immediately pulled Jeremiah into the bedroom so that she could express that love in every kiss, every touch of her fingers against his skin. Jeremiah’s groans of pleasure were her reward, and she reveled in his growls and snarls, as she explored her man’s gorgeous body to her heart’s content.
Likewise, his big, strong hands were gentle as he held her, exploring her as well, wringing cries of pleasure from her throat as he kissed and caressed seemingly every inch of her body, and when she reached her fulfillment, that glorious moment of bliss, it was his name on her lips as she cried out in ecstasy.
