Refugee (The Captive #3)(11)
“This isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” She was thrown off by his words. “You shouldn’t be in danger.”
“I’ve always been in danger.”
“But I want more for you!” he exploded. Aria was startled by the devastation behind his words. He was in front of her in an instant, his hands grasped hold of her arms as he smoothly turned them over. She stared down at the makeshift bandages, disturbed by the amount of blood that coated the rags. Her blood. Her life. “Don’t you understand that? I want you to be safe; I want you to know peace for once in your life. I don’t want you to know fear and death anymore. And I’ve thrust you into even more jeopardy; I’ve brought this upon us. These lands, they aren’t good Aria.”
She swallowed heavily, her hands flipped within his as she grasped hold of him. The feeling in her fingers was slowly returning. “One day Braith, when all of this is over, we’ll know peace.”
His head was bent as he studied their hands. She knew he was thinking what she couldn’t say, what she didn’t even want to consider. If they made it to the end, if they won, if they were even still together.
“Let’s get these off and see how your arms look.”
“I can have William do it.”
His head came slowly up to hers as his nostrils flared. “I can take care of you Aria.”
What had happened to her had rattled him even more than she’d realized. He was off balance, edgy, and uncertain in a way that she’d never seen before. “I know that Braith.” And she did know that, but he was unpredictable right now and her blood was a torment she wanted to spare him from.
His jaw was clenched so tightly that she could practically hear his teeth grinding together as his fingers nimbly undid the knots William had tied. The rags fell away, sliding from her skin to slither silently to the floor. At first Aria couldn’t look at what had nearly killed her, but his stillness and the slight tensing of his shoulders, told her that she would have to.
She braced herself as her gaze slid slowly to the arms he held so delicately within his large hands. The gashes were vivid against her pale skin but not as deep as they had been. The ones on her left arm ran from elbow to wrist while the ones on her right arm were below her elbow but just as wicked looking. She was shaken as she stared at them, lost in the realization that she had nearly died, that these marks represented what could have been her end.
Though she wasn’t bleeding anymore, there was still some dried blood on her skin. Her hand trembled as she pulled the glasses from his face; she needed to see his eyes. The small white scars around his eyes weren’t as visible; his face had paled considerably from the restraint he was exerting over himself. At first he wouldn’t look at her, at first his gaze remained focused upon her brutalized arms. Then, ever so slowly his eyes slid to hers. Her breath froze in her lungs; her heart fluttered like a trapped bird as it beat against her ribcage.
The beautiful gray eyes with the bright blue band she had come to love were gone. They were as bright as rubies now, gleaming at her from the depths of his striking face. He was hungry, he was savage, and right now all he yearned for was her. She would give her blood to him willingly, but he wouldn’t take it, she knew that. Not now, not after today. But it was unnecessary torture for him to be here when William was perfectly capable of re-bandaging her arms. “Braith…”
And then he was on her, over her, nearly inside of her as his mouth seized hold of hers with a tenderness she had not expected given his mood right then. His hands were on her face, stroking her cheeks as his tongue flickered against her lips. She felt the press of his elongated fangs as she opened her mouth to let him in. A low moan of pleasure escaped her as he invaded all of her senses. All she could feel was him, all she could smell was him. He was inside her soul, so much a part of her. She could barely breathe as his hands slid away from her face. His arms wrapped around her waist as he lifted her, pressing her back against a wall. His body was hard against hers, impassioned beneath her hands.
Her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer against her as he groaned low in his throat and nipped at her lip. Her mind and body spun out of control. She was in over her head, but she found she didn’t care as she gave herself over to the emotions running wildly through her.
She squirmed against him, aching and unfulfilled as her body longed for more. She couldn’t breathe, and she didn’t care as his tongue slid into her mouth, becoming more fervent and demanding as he caressed her. Aria moaned in delight, her still somewhat numb fingers curled into his back. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream with joy, she simply wanted to never have the moment end, to forget the world around them and just be with each other. Buttons slid free as he pushed her shirt aside to press his hand against her breast. Pleasure swept through her with the consuming intensity of a wildfire. She didn’t care where they were or what was happening around them, not anymore.
“Braith.” At first, she was so lost in him, so swept up in the surging needs of her body that Ashby’s voice barely penetrated her mind. “Braith.” Loss, acute and profound, filled her as Braith’s hands stilled on her and he pulled a little away. She stared breathlessly up at him. Joy and love filled her as she saw the beautiful gray of his eyes once more. He stared at her with a mix of awe and love that caused her legs to quiver around him. “Braith.”