Witch's Wrath (Blood And Magick #3)(33)

“Holy shit,” he said, approaching, “Madison, what happened to you?”

“I think you’ll have trouble believing me when I tell you.”

He placed one warm, delicate hand on my waist—on the good, unhurt side—and his touch set my skin aflame. Warm, wanting ripples vibrated through me. I shuddered, and then he touched the bruise with the tips of his fingers, and I shuddered again as pain mixed with pleasure. I wanted to melt into him, to grab his collar and smell him, taste him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sighed into his neck as the urge to lick him, to bite him, began to swell within me, but I resisted.

If only barely.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice low and tender.

I pressed my lips against his neck and exhaled deeply. “I think I almost died tonight,” I said, pulling away from him.

“You… what?”

“I caught a vampire feeding in the French Quarter, and he attacked me. I was lucky Delphine was with me, otherwise he may have killed me.”

His face darkened, and I watched him swallow hard, taking a moment to process everything I had just said. “And you’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine now.”

“But your ribs…”

“I know. He hit me so hard I think he pushed one into my lung.”

He scanned me like I was some miracle of modern medicine. “How… how are you still standing?”

“Like I said, Delphine saved my life.”

I wasn’t sure why I didn’t just tell him what Delphine had done for me, how she had bitten her wrist open and fed me her cold, undead blood. But I didn’t. Maybe I didn’t want him asking questions I couldn’t answer, or maybe I didn’t want him knowing what had happened out there—how close to death I had really come.

“Well, remind me to thank her,” Jared said.

“I will.”

Jared looked over my shoulder and spotted the towel I had laid over the sink. I had been about to get into the bath before he arrived. “Do you need any help?” he asked.

“With this? No. I think I’m okay. I really just need to get cleaned up—I feel like I’ve been dragged through the mud.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“Something warm. Like tea, or hot chocolate, or something. Not coffee, though; I’m already buzzing.”

It took a little longer than it might otherwise have, but I managed to get myself into the bath with only minimal grunting and only a handful of sharp intakes of air. The warm water felt glorious against my skin, though; just hot enough to relax me and soothe my aching bones and muscles, but not too hot that it aggravated my pained body.

By the time I got myself out, dried, and into a clean t-shirt, Jared was ready with a cup of hot chocolate, which I happily drank while sitting on his bed.

“Do you think we should go to your house?” he asked.

I set the mug down on the bedside table and took a deep breath—which hurt. “I don’t know,” I said.

“Your place is protected by magick, right? We’ll be safer there than in my apartment.”

“Maybe, but if we go to Lumière, then we have to go to Lumière. And we aren’t about to stay inside the whole time; we’ll be going in and out of the house, attracting attention to ourselves. If the vampires are feeding in the French Quarter, it’s only a matter of time until they spot us. The last thing I want is them catching on to where I live.”

“But it’s okay if they know where I live?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

“From what I know about vampires, they’re territorial creatures who like to stick to their areas. If they’re in the French Quarter, I doubt they’ll come all the way out here. Not often enough for one of them to spot me, at any rate. I think I’m safer spending my nights here… as long as you don’t mind.”

“Are you serious? I want you here.”

I tapped the empty space beside me. Jared kicked his shoes off and laid back. “I just hope no witches have been hurt. Even with my magick, that vampire almost managed to get the better of me, and he would have, too.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“He attacked me back at Remy’s mansion. I stuck my heel into his eye and pulled one of his eyeballs out. It was still missing tonight. We found him feeding off some girl in an alley.”

“And then Delphine brought you here?”

“We walked a block or two down and called an Uber. The driver was a little chatty, so Delphine used some of her vampire charm to take his attention away from me and put it on her. Not that she needed any special powers to accomplish that.”

Jared exhaled, relieved. “At least you’re safe, now. What you need, though, is some rest.”

I agreed with him, and in the silence that followed found myself suddenly drawn to the feeling of Jared’s hand on my knee, and the way he softly smoothed it with his thumb. The t-shirt I was wearing had come up a little, exposing the skin for him to touch, and now it was all I could think about. That, and the delightful little ripples pulsing through me.

When I looked at him, I caught him staring at me. “I’m really glad you’re here,” he said.

“I am too,” I said, my voice soft now.

“I don’t know what the hell I would have done if something had happened to you.”