Page 38 of Those That Don't Exist
“How could you have?” My brows pull together. I sit up, finally looking at his face for a moment. I can’t read the expression, his face blank.
“I’ve been watching you for months. I should’ve noticed. I’m so sorry.” It’s not a pity apology, he truly feels guilt.
“My closest friends didn’t see it, and they know what magic I have. How would you have known?” Yes, I’m aware I’m calmly discussing this with the guy who’s been stalking me for months. However, his injured state makes him the vulnerable one here. I have no fear of him.
“I knew you had magic. I can sense it. Yet when I never saw you cast any I didn’t look into it. I should have. I could’ve helped,” he responds with a hiss as I glide an antiseptic wipe over the wound on his arm.
“Would you have come out of the shadows a little quicker and talked to me before last weekend if you’d known?”
He chuckles at that for some reason, “I will always come with shadows, Red.”Ok, cryptic.“But yes, I would’ve stepped in sooner, I hate knowing you’ve been suffering when I could’ve helped.”
I look up to ask him how when my focus snags on his lip, causing my question to die in my throat. The slice on his bottom lip has split open again with talking, a drop of blood forms at the torn skin. He collects the drop with his tongue as he finishes his sentence. My jaw pulses with an ache I don’t understand.
I take a deep inhale to breathe through it but that only draws his scent into my nostrils again. The metallic taste is overpowering this time without the water diluting it. The ache intensifies and my mouth floods with saliva this time.
“You want it don’t you?” Ty murmurs.
“Want what?” His question throwing me.
“The blood. It’s making you hungry.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I shake my head in denial but a voice within tells me he’s right. I go back to being busy taping wound dressings to his injuries.
“I’m not joking Red, I’m betting that if I were human and this was human blood, or even if I were Fae and it was Fae blood, you’d have licked it off me by now.”
I close my eyes shut tight. No. These thoughts are weird and wrong. I’m not a psycho.
Ty reaches with his good hand, placing his fingers under my chin, lifting my gaze so I’m looking at him again.
“It’s ok Aurora. It’s going to be ok.” Looking into his deep irises, I want to believe him.
“I guess I need to tell you a story,” he says.
CHAPTER 16
TY
Red keeps a hand on my back as we walk side by side down the stairs to her room. It's like fire licking at my skin where we’re connected. Since she placed her hands on me in the shower it's like she doesn’t wish to stop. I don’t want her to stop.
How I ended up here I have no idea. I remember getting into the city, then walking aimlessly as I thought over the events of the last few hours. The fight with Ronan had brought my mind back into focus. I was bound to another, I’d given up the choice of having someone for myself.
Don’t get me wrong, I still hated Ronan - the misogynistic prick - and was glad I had got the opportunity to beat the shit out of him. I loathed Adicious most of the time too.
Maybe after I delivered Aurora to the pack I could get out of the city for a while. There was research to be done on the mainland. With plans spinning in my mind I’d blindly walked the dark winding streets, trusting my shadows to keep me hidden. I used them to guide me.
The fuckers, however, led me to her house. I’d popped out onto her street before I realised in which direction I’d beenheading. Their dark embrace fled away from me, making me look up and see the house. Her house.
Fine, I’d thought. I’d be ending this tonight.
I was taking a couple of minutes to steel myself for my task when I remembered the state of my appearance. I was pretty sure if I turned up bloodstained and with torn up clothing she wasn’t likely to open up to me. I needed to shower and clean up first.
I probably should’ve gone onto campus, used the gym or whatever, but I was here and the window had been left open. In my haste I hadn’t even thought about locking the bathroom door.
Stilling when she’d walked in, and dropped the glamour she’s been using, the fresh resolve I’d built over the last hour turned to dust.
As we reach her bedroom, her hand drops. My disappointment is short-lived though, she only turns to make sure the door is closed before her hands are on my naked torso again. She’s careful to avoid the bruises and cuts as she helps me to sit on her bed. As it's pushed into one corner of the room, I sit across it, legs outstretched and back against the wall.
I’m not that injured, although my arm still hurts more than I want to admit. Still, I could easily manage.Am I leaning in to this? Maybe a little. I like this caring side of her, especially if it means she touches me.
