Page 71 of Bound
Chapter 25
Amoret
Nisha plucks the last bandage from my skin and drops it into the trash can beside her. “Well,” she mumbles. “You heal nearly as fast as Tanner.” Her words are mild in the quiet since Lilah left us.
Something about Caine’s call bothered the vampiress. Though I thought I heard Gage at one point, I didn’t stick around to find out what he said and no one volunteered to explain.
I smile tightly down at Nisha. “I told you earlier. They were just scratches.”
She snorts and rises to her feet. “Trust me, Tanner says the same thing and I still try to doctor him.”
I could almost picture Nisha with her first aid kit as she chased the large shifter male to get him to hold still. A giggle slips from me.
Her sea-green eyes raise to my face and her smile is bright. “Do I want to know?”
Still grinning, I shrug. “Just trying to picture that.”
“However you are seeing it, is probably how it goes down.” She bends and picks up her mess before walking to the sink and washing her hands. “Tanner is renowned for his stubbornness. All of them are.”
Gage flashes through my mind. “Gage too? I ask, voice soft.
Her head turns as she shuts the water off and reaches for a hand towel. “He’s hard to read,” she admits. “It’s the quiet stoicism. Him and Horan both. They both are so closed off.”
Leaning back on the counter, she purses her lips for a moment. “Like you get Ruin. The shit with Lilah is just the topping on the proverbial cake for the fucked up life he has had. I mean the emo thing is kind of a giveaway to the dark side he seems to embody.” Her head tilts back and forth. “Caine is similar. He has a dark past too, one he doesn’t talk about with anyone. Even Lilah. But he hides it behind sarcasm and that dark hair.”
My lips curve. “And Tanner?”
She lets out a tremulous sigh as her fingers flex in the towel. “T is … He is a cat. A panther, actually. So, think a large house cat with the sex drive of an Asmodean.” She shivers and her eyes thread through with golden light. “But like a house cat, he is hard to read on his moods too. Even for me.”
“Horan is just hard to read period,” she adds. “No one knows much about him. Why he fell, or how long he has been on Earth. But he cusses like a fucking sailor and seems just as comfortable around tech as the others. So it’s anyone’s guess.”
“As for Gage …” Her eyes narrow. “I wouldn’t mind a peek in his head.”
I try not to let her words sway me, knowing she is happy with Tanner. Hell, just watching them together is proof of that.
“So he’s always so … distant?”
Her gaze tracks to mine. “You mentioned earlier that you knew him before he left the Sith. What happened with that?”
“The same thing that happened today,” I say, shrugging. “I wasn’t there that day. My tutors had us meet at the White Tower, but I felt the blast from his magick even so far away.” I wrap my arms around my waist. “The alarm sounded in the courtyard below. Three bells for an out-of-control Fae. I didn’t know it was him. Couldn’t guess.”
I sigh. “His house was in smoldering ruin by the time anyone got there and Gage was gone. Many of us assumed he died with his kin—”
“Wait, there were dead Fae?” she asks, stepping closer.
My nod is sad as the grief threatens to choke me again. “His father and brother.”
Her eyes widen. “Shit. No wonder he hates his fire so much.”
I glance at her. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on, Amoret. You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed? Gage can’t stand his magick. He fears it. Hell, the tattoos on his arms are used to dampen it. To quell it. The fucker goes through more Black Dream than any supe should ever touch for the same reason.”
Black Dream?
The rich chocolate and spice scent I had caught the first day here.
I groan and press my head into my hands. “Oh gods. No wonder he was so angry in the suite. And earlier. He fears his magick will destroy everything again.”
