Page 196 of Bitten & Burned
“Gods,” I moaned. “This is perfect.” I sank down to my neck,letting the warmth embrace me. It felt like a just hot enough cup of tea on a cold morning.
“Not too hot?” Quil asked, still watching me like I might shatter.
“Hot enough that I can feel my muscles unclench for the first time in days,” I said, letting my head tip back. “You have no idea how good this feels.”
“I might have an idea,” he murmured, sinking a little deeper so the water lapped at his shoulders.
I cracked one eye open at him. “Because you’ve been in here before, or because you’re sitting in a hot spring with me?”
His mouth twitched. “Both.”
I let out a soft laugh, the sound echoing faintly off the stone walls. “See? Youcanrelax.”
He shook his head. “Only enough to keep you from noticing I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Quil,” I said softly, “you don’t have to be on guard every second. I can’t imagine you’d have chosen this place if other people knew about it.”
His gaze stayed on me, steady and unblinking, and I realized he was memorizing me — the way I sat against the rock, the steam curling around us, the relief in my shoulders.
“Humor me,” he said finally. “Let me be on guard. You just… be.”
I eased back against him without thinking, the water carrying some of my weight. “Fine. But if you’re going to hover, you might as well be comfortable.”
There was the barest pause, then I felt his arm wrap around me, pulling me back until my spine was against his chest. The heat of him was different from the spring’s; it was more solid and alive.
“You always run hot,” I murmured.
“That’s what you notice?”
I smiled to myself, eyes drifting closed. “I notice everything about you.”
He didn’t answer right away, but his fingers dragged soft lines up and down my arms.
The quiet wasn’t awkward. It was heavy in the best way—like the stillness before you step over a threshold you can’t come back from.
We sat like that for a long while, just breathing and soaking in the warmth.
Quil spoke first.
“Dmitri knows.”
“What?”
“About this place. He’s the only one I’ve ever shown it to… besides you.”
I tilted my head back against him. “You’re close with Dmitri, aren’t you? I mean, of course you are, but what I really mean is?—”
“Yeah, I am. He’s like my…” He trailed off.
“Big brother?”
A small smile cracked his face. “Yeah.” Then it faded.
He was quiet long enough that I thought he might not speak again.“Because he’s the one who found me. After I was turned.”
The weight in his voice shifted to something heavier. “I was twenty-three. There was an attack at one of my family’s lodges… my birthday hunt. We’d just come back…”
I reached for his hand. It was clenched tight. I pried it open and held it between both of mine.
