Page 29 of The Witch's Shifter
Lifting the last bandage from the table, I roll it between my fingers, still not looking at him. “Why not?”
“BecauseI’m not going back.”
A little flare of heat tingles in my cheeks. I force myself to meet his cold gaze. “You aren’t?”
“Not unless you reject me.” Pain flashes across his face, but he schools his expression quickly. “And besides, Cathal exiled me. I’ve no pack anymore. No home to return to. It’s just me.”
The way he says it makes evenmefeel lonely. Is he worried about that? Being rejected and left all alone? I’d be a fool to think otherwise. No wonder he’s keeping all his walls up around me.
“This is all... a bit confusing to me,” I admit softly. Reaching out, I take Faolan’s chin and tip his head back so I can see the deep marks on his neck—bite marks. His brother certainly didn’t hold back. “But I want to understand.”
“I’ll explain it to you. All of it. Whatever you want to know.”
My lips pull into a small smile as I begin wrapping the last bandage around his throat. His skin is warm to the touch, like he’s got a fire burning within him.
“Are you always warm like this?” I ask once I’ve finished with the bandage and can pull away.
He nods, then reaches up to tug on the bandage around his neck.
“Don’t,” I say. “You’ll pull it loose. Just give it a moment—you’ll get used to it.”
A grumble vibrates in his chest, but he lowers his hand, leaving the bandage alone.
“Well, that’s all I can do for now. We’ll keep the deeper wounds clean and reapply poultice to the shallow ones. You’ll tell me if they start to bother you?”
Again, he nods.
“Good.” With a sigh, I brace a hand on the table and push myself up, grateful once again that Alden fixed it for me. Grabbing the mortar and pestle, I carry them to the kitchencounter. Outside, the light is golden as the sun crawls higher into the pale blue sky. I wonder when Alden will be home...
A presence behind me makes me pause in wiping out the mortar. Faolan approached so quietly, I didn’t even hear him. But there’s no mistaking the wave of heat that rolls over my skin as he eases up behind me.
“Thank you,” he whispers, and he’s standing so close that his breath shifts the hair draped over my neck.
Goose bumps dance across my skin.
Setting the rag down, I turn to face him. Like with Alden and Rowan, I have to tip my head back to meet his eyes. “For what?”
“Not rejecting me.” His gaze flicks to my lips, then back to my eyes. “Yet, at least.”
“Yet?”
He shrugs, shifting closer. His hands brace against the counter on either side of my waist. “You could always change your mind.”
“Then maybe... you just need to give me a reason not to.”
Faolan’s cold blue eyes search mine, and then he lowers his head until our lips are a hair’s breadth apart. “That sounds like a challenge.”
His breath brushes across my lips. It makes me warm between my legs. “And if it is?”
This time when he smiles, his lips pull back far enough to reveal the elongated canines that stay with him even in his human form. “As you’ll come to learn”—suddenly, his hands are around my waist, and he lifts me onto the counter with ease—“I love a challenge.”
His hips press my knees aside, opening my legs, and I let out a small gasp just before his mouth comes down on mine.
And kissing him is nothing like kissing Alden or Rowan. Kissing Faolan is like kissing untamed wilderness, like running naked through the trees and bathing myself beneath waterfalls.He tastes like pine and cold air and moonlight. He tastes likefreedom.
My hands push through his hair, and it’s just as smooth and soft as it looks. Each strand glides seamlessly through my fingers, like silk against bare skin. I wrap my fingers around the back of his neck, careful to avoid tugging the bandage, and crush his lips more firmly against mine.
I’ve wanted to do this since that very first day—not that I would’ve given the state he was in. Finally, I’m getting my first taste of him.
