Page 54 of Great Falls Rogue
He could have her trust or her obedience. Be a friend or an instructor. But he couldn’t be both. Everything in his head said the choice was clear. Unfortunately, his soul said the same. And the two didn’t agree one bit.
Releasing Lera’s shin, Shade walked around to crouch beside her face. His heart pounded, his brain calling him ten times an idiot. But he couldn’t help it any more than he could hold his breath forever. “I’m sorry I threatened you, cub. I won’t stop you from leaving. Or blame you for it. I’ve been a great deal more of a bastard than I needed to be.”
His hand twitched toward her cheek, and it was harder than it should have been to halt the motion. When her gaze swept to the door, the fear that she would turn away from him seized Shade’s chest.
“Please stay,” he whispered. “Coal isn’t stupid. He’ll notice your limp just as I did, and whatever message you’re trying to send him, it won’t work. However much it…doesn’thurt now, it will start to interfere with your running eventually. I can help. If you let me.”
Sitting up, she bit her lip. “What will you tell Coal?”
Shade hesitated for only a moment. “If he asks me directly—and only if he asks—I will say that I ordered you here over your protests and cleared you for training.” This time, Shade didn’t stop himself when he placed his hand on Lera’s cheek, savoring the way she leaned into his touch. Tracing his thumb along Lera’s cheekbone, he let the full protective rawness of his need seep into his voice. “Trust me, cub. Please.”
For a heartbeat, nothing happened, Lera’s body staying stoically rigid as a muscle at the side of her jaw twitched. Once. Twice. And then, finally, Lera drew a shuddering breath that seized Shade’s heart.
“I hurt,” Lera whispered, her brave facade shattering so quickly that Shade barely had time to put his arms around her before she began shaking. “I’m tired and I hurt, and I know I should be better than I am. Ineedto be better.”
Pulling her against his chest, Shade rocked her small bruised body. “Of course you hurt,” he whispered into her hair, his fingers tracing the curve of her shoulder blades. “It makes you no less a fighter, cub. I promise.”
She snorted softly. “Fighter. Right. Just look at me.”
Shade knew she meant the phrase rhetorically, but he pulled the girl away from him anyway. “I am looking at you.” Reaching to his counter, he scanned the medicines before selecting a small tin that smelled of mint and cumin. When he opened it, the balm’s hot and cold sensations tingled his skin at once. Resting Lera back on the table, he ran his hand along her skin. “I’m looking at an overused leg that never stopped running. At arms that didn’t let go of a sword, no matter how many parries they missed.” Shade’s gaze gripped Lera’s eyes. “I’m looking at someone who is going to face down Coal tomorrow come hell or high water. And if I can do something to make it easier, I’d hold it as a privilege.”
Not waiting for a reply, Shade focused on his work, his salve-coated fingers slipping to soothe the bruises along Lera’s ribs, nudging aside the lush bare breasts, sprawled lazily over the ribs he needed to check. Try as he might to avoid looking at the plump nipples, he could do nothing to stop his body’s tightness.
When his hand reached the crest of Lera’s hip, Shade suddenly felt as awkward as a schoolboy. The large dark bruise covered a good portion of her left groin, spilling to the top of her auburn mound and between her thighs. Places he wanted to touch so badly, it hurt. His heart quickened, the room suddenly too hot for comfort.
“This tin is empty,” he mumbled, turning to his counter to grab a new tin. Buying himself a few moments of composure that were doing nothing for his bulging needs. Worse yet, as he turned back, the slight glistening on Lera’s bare thighs shot a wave of predatory desire through him.
A professional. He was a professional. As if to prove as much to them both, Shade scooped a thick swath of balm and slid it without hesitation over Lera’s sensitive skin.
A small sound escaped her, her tightening thighs making Shade wonder if she too was imagining how the balm might feel on her other parts. Judging from the sweet tinge of arousal mingling with her lilac scent, it was quite likely.
Lera reached for Shade’s face, the feel of her hands brushing his skin filling him with cock-throbbing warmth. The tip of her tongue flicked over her lush lips, touching a tiny scar. The white speck was so cleanly placed that Shade had an uncomfortable feeling it’d been done on purpose.
His throat closed, a memory on the edge of his consciousness pounding to be let out.
He blinked, forcing his mind from the phantom scents of forest and stream to focus on Lera’s face. On how she leaned toward his mouth, her hand tangling in his loose hair. Shade knew Lera was saying something about keeping secrets, but it didn’t matter. He understood the intent well enough and was powerless to stop it. Powerless to listen to any of the hundreds of alarm bells ringing in his head, telling him this was wrong.
With a groan, Shade covered her mouth with his. Gently at first, savoring her sweet lilac scent, the way her soft lips seemed to fit perfectly with his—and then with a possessiveness that had him cradling the girl’s head lest he slam it into the table.
A wave of need pummeled Shade with animalistic fury, his tongue plunging deeper, pillaging for every bit of taste and warmth. His body pressed against her, Lera moaning and pulling him closer yet, dragging one of his hands up to cover her heavy breast and arching into it.
It was a cadet’s nipple between his fingers, a cadet’s mound rubbing hungrily against him. Somehow, that fact only drove his flames higher.
His cock throbbed painfully. His body ached with the need for more. His mind hovered on the edge of—
“Master Shade?”
Lera gasped.
The knock at the door sounded persistent enough that it finally penetrated Shade’s hazed mind. “Master Shade?” The voice was female and vaguely familiar.
Reluctantly pulling away from Lera, who was scrambling to sit up, her eyes wide, Shade raised his voice. “I’m unavailable just now. Please come see me tomorrow.”
“But it’s an emergency,” the voice whined. “I desperately need your aid.”
Shade rubbed his eyes. Sliding to the edge of the table, Lera mouthed the girl’s name.Vivian.
“No,” he whispered. He put a hand on her stomach to stop her. He wasn’t willing for this to be over. He needed one more moment—was so desperate for it, it scared him. Despite himself, Shade traced his index finger along the inside of Lera’s moist thigh even as he raised his voice toward the door. “Please see one of the other healers, Vivian,” he called. “I’m very busy just now.”
