Page 28 of April's Fool
“That’ll hurt him.” I smoothed a hand over Mori’s back, careful of his wound, to soothe him. There was this irrational need to keep touching him to reassure myself he was with me. “We need to heal him before we move him. Or get him some pain relief.” My tone brooked no argument and Gregoris fell back a step at my glare.
“Oh!” Thyme’s face lit up. “If Toth’s kitchen is well stocked, I might be able to make a pain tonic.”
“Perfect.” I smiled at the witch. “You can’t get into the castle without Gregoris, though.”
Understanding what I wanted, Thyme stepped up to the other demon, took Gregoris by the arm and led him towards the castle.
“You sure you’re going to be okay here alone?” Oak asked as he stood shakily. Magical burnout was hurting him more than Thyme. He must have taken the brunt of the snap-back of the ward breaking. It wouldhave been worse for him since he was connected to the wards.
“I’ll be fine here with Mori, don’t you worry. Just don’t let Cody come down right now, okay? It’ll upset him to see his dad like this.” Oak nodded in understanding. “Get him looking after Gregoris. I think he’s in shock.”
If it wasn’t shock, it was guilt because he wasn’t with Mori when he got shot. Though he wouldn’t have been shot if it wasn’t for me. I got the feeling that Gregoris was mentally beating himself up for having time with Parker when he knew we were in a potentially dangerous situation.
We all had let our guards down. Mori had paid the price for it. I was just grateful the worst hadn’t happened. We could have lost Mori! I gave a shudder at the thought.
“Cool.” Oak picked up his pace to catch up with the others, who were already halfway up the hill to the castle.
“Damon,” Mori breathed through the pain, “thank you.”
He sagged to the ground, his wings folded in a way that looked painful as they rested against the tree. Hishead fell back as the rest of his human guise slipped away. Mori’s demon skin was a pinky red color that Cody would probably have a better description of. He looked gaunt and worn without his magical energy. Far from his vibrant self.
“For what?”
“For getting us out of there. If you hadn’t—“
“If I wasn’t there, you wouldn’t have been shot at.” I got to my knees so I could meet his eyes properly. “Mori, you took a bullet for me.”
His skin darkened with a faint blush. “Not intentionally. An accident.”
“You got us out of there.” He had to see how impressive he had been. Not once had he tried to take control of the situation. He had listened to me. Followed my lead. Just the memory of his trust had this strange feeling welling up inside my chest, even as I fought with the fear that we could have lost him. Cody would never forgive me if I’d let Mori be killed.
“Not without help.” Mori’s smile trembled, his black eyes glistening with unshed tears. “That was terrifying. How do you cope with things like that? You were so calm.”
“To be fair, most of the time I’m in and out without a trace. This is the first time someone is after me.” I tried to give a nonchalant shrug. Pretty sure it failed to look convincing.
“Why though? Why you?” Mori’s brow wrinkled with a frown.
“No clue.” It bothered me that I didn’t know the answer. Really, it should have been the first question I’d asked Thyme. We had all concluded that Basil and Austin orchestrated the hit, but why? What reason did they have for getting me out of the way?
Basil had to be involved because, even with Austin’s death, the contract was still active. Magic had to be involved with keeping the contract open. In fact, Parker had told me that the amount had doubled since I’d taken the human out.
When we had all rested some, I was going to ask Thyme why his brother had it out for me.
“Come here,” Mori coaxed, holding out his hand for me. His injured shoulder he kept still. He had to be in a lot of pain.
I hesitated. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“But hugs are so good!” Mori wheedled. He pouted, which was just adorable.
Carefully, so as to not jostle him too much and aggravate the wound, I sat next to him and leaned into his side. Honestly, it felt good to be with him like this. We had never really spent any time alone. All the time I’d known him, there were others around. Mori was the sweetest person I’d ever met and just this gave me a feeling of comfort.
We sat in silence for a while. “Is there anything else I can do until Toth comes with help?” I kept my voice low, reluctant to spoil the quiet moment.
“Hmm, a kiss would make me feel a lot better,” he murmured, looking completely wiped out. Mori looked slightly better just from resting. I knew there was ambient magic in the air and he’d eventually replenish. He just needed time, unless there was a quicker way to fill his magic.
I jolted. Struck with the solution.
A kiss!
