Page 12 of Power of Five
8
Leralynn
“Sh... Shade?” I manage.
The shock of seeing my wolf’s fae features for the first time nearly crowds out the pain in my body. If possible, he is even more stunning than the other three, with high cheekbones, a full mouth, and a sharply carved jaw. The lines of his face are strong and smooth, as if chiseled out of marble, and his muscles ripple under his skin like silk in a breeze. Sothisis who shared my bed last night.
Shade runs his hands over my back and arm, his touch desperate. His nostrils flare, seeking out a scent. “You dislocated your shoulder,” the male says, his face tight and both his hands still pressed against my skin as if he does not dare let go. His voice has a silky, songlike texture, studded with rough corners of disuse. “There is more, but we must leave Mystwood before seeing to it.”
I whimper and pull back into myself as his hand slides to my forearm, jostling my hurt shoulder.
“I know, cub,” Shade whispers into my ear, filling my nose with the scent of damp earth and rain. His shaggy, black hair is as thick as the wolf’s was, his body a pulsing warmth that I remember from last night. His fingers brush my skin. “You need to let me set it. Hold my gaze and it will be over quickly.”
I can’t not hold Shade’s gaze. His yellow eyes sparkle in the sunlight and fill an emptiness deep inside me, even as my entire body yells at me to flee. I try and fail to stay still as Shade’s hands, warm and so large that I feel like a sprite beneath them, slide over my flesh.
He shifts my arm again, this time with firm intent.
I moan, struggling away from the hurt. “Don’t. Please.”
“I must, cub,” Shade says, his breath caressing my cheek. “I know it hurts. Stay with me through the pain.” His arms roll my limb firmly, ignoring my screams as my sinews stretch and shift and promise to tear and—something inside my shoulder pops into place and the pain recedes, leaving a dull, throbbing ache through my left side.
I wiggle my fingers and they respond obediently. My breath releases and Shade pulls me into his hard shoulder, stroking my hair in long, rhythmic strokes. Slow and warm and so very physical.
Once my breath calms, I gather myself together enough to pull away from the male. Only to regret it immediately as our surroundings rush back into focus—the ravaged carcasses of dead hog beasts, flies already buzzing over their spilled entrails, hoof tracks and uprooted grass, the other males now missing. Fighting. Because of me. “The others?” I manage to say.
A soft, confident chuckle. “They’ll be fine.”
I press my face back into Shade’s shoulder, take three deep breaths, then pull away again—prepared this time. Shade releases me reluctantly, as if the loss of contact is hard for him to bear. I shift my leg until our knees touch and Shade seems to relax, crouching on the earth beside me.
“You shifted,” I whisper.
Shade nods, his yellow eyes darkening. A deep pain flashes in his gaze and he turns his head away—though not before I can catch his face in my hands. After spending the night curled up with Shade’s wolf, I feel at liberty to touch him more than I normally would. Shade holds still, allowing me to pull my palm along his cheek.
“Why now?” I ask, and he lifts his chin in challenge. “Why now, after ten years?”
“I couldn’t exactly set your shoulder in wolf form, now could I?” says Shade.
“You could have not set my shoulder at all,” I point out.
“No.” He shakes his head forcefully. “Leaving you hurt was never an option, cub.”
I swallow, the truth of his words penetrating through me. “Why?” I whisper. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand any of this.”
Leaning close to me, Shade inhales a lungful of my scent and closes his eyes in a moment of contentment before brushing his lips softly over my cheek. “Because without you, we are only half-alive,” he says into my ear. I blink, and by the time my eyes open again, Shade is rising to his feet, the squares of his abdomen shifting like building blocks beneath his skin. I’d have thought Shade’s fae form would be hairy, but his chest is smooth, the only hint of hair confined to a few curly tufts peeking out from his low-riding trousers. Shade adjusts his waistband, which falls right back down to his hipbones.
My thighs tighten.
“I’ve lost some weight since I shifted,” he mutters, and my face flames as I realize he followed the direction of my gaze perfectly. Abandoning the trousers to their fate, Shade stretches his arms behind his head and shakes like a wet dog dislodging drops of rain. His head cocks to one side and his eyes focus on something over my shoulder. “Coal is coming,” he says.
I turn to see an empty forest, the three hog-beast carcasses the only sign of what happened. I shudder, remembering their growls, the hot breath on my neck in the endless moment before Shade arrived. I assumed Coal continued forward in the direction River and Tye had ridden, but apparently not. “You can smell him?” I ask.
Shade shakes his head. “My wolf could, but I can’t in this form. The fae scent is stronger than a mortal’s but nothing compared to my wolf’s. I can hear Coal, though. He’s stopped just beyond the bend to wait.” A corner of his mouth lifts. “That’s Coal being polite, giving me space.” Squeezing my arm, Shade lifts his face. “Get over here, you bastard. And for stars’ sake, keep downwind or even Lera will smell you.”
Despite Shade’s warning, I still gasp when Coal separates from the trees and steps onto the path a few paces away from us. He is covered with rust-colored blood and my eyes survey him from head to toe in search of injury. It takes me a moment to realize he’s doing the same, and we look away when our eyes meet.
“Where are the others?” I ask in a thin voice, remembering that I’m the one who brought everyone into this mess.
“River and Tye are going to hunt down the sclice pack,” Coal says, wiping his blade on his pants before storing it in a scabbard across his back. He wears a black sleeveless shirt, and his muscles shift with each smooth movement of his arms. Apparently, none of the damn males are bothered by the cold. “It’s worrisome that the beasts are coming this close to the mortal realm. Something to address with the Citadel when we get there, but for now a bit of cleanup.”
