A Tangle of Hearts (A Shade of Vampire #44)(11)

“I had no other choice, Aida.” My name rolled off his tongue in a way that made me stop what I was doing and take a quick, involuntary breath.

I quickly averted my attention to the scratches on his abdomen, near the horrific bruise that got worse with every minute.

“Yeah, well, maybe try a little harder next time and remember there are people who care for you and can’t stand to see you hurt!” I snapped, trying to make my tone deep and unforgiving.

His frown made me regret it. He appeared to be genuinely touched by my words, and I felt bad for being so sharp.

After all, what would I have done if I’d seen Phoenix knocked out by a bunch of shape-shifters? I probably would’ve wound up way worse. I didn’t have wings. I couldn’t even turn into a wolf. I would’ve been useless.

He seemed to notice me soften up a little bit. I could never really hide myself from him, no matter how hard I tried. His eyes twinkled as he watched my trembling hands trying to clean a deeper cut right above his belly button. I had a hard time keeping myself focused on my task with my knuckles brushing over his abs. They were firm and tense beneath his skin.

“You seem to be taking this very hard,” he quipped.

I swallowed. Keep your cool.

“We’re in this together. What would you expect me to do? Shrug it off and let septicemia take care of it?” I replied, somewhat proud of myself for my fast comeback.

“We are in this together. I just didn’t realize you felt so strongly about my wellbeing.”

Field’s counterattack made me freeze. My eyes fixated on a little patch of skin, just above his belt, where a shape-shifter had viciously clawed.

I looked at him, and his expression further demolished my resolve. I could feel my tough-girl talk crumbling with each passing second. His dark, serious eyes seemed to peer right into my soul.

“I’m just worried, Field, that’s all,” I muttered, my voice pinned in my throat. I couldn’t focus on cleaning his wounds while he had that constant effect on me. And my wolf senses be damned, he smelled amazing—a mixture of musk and wilderness and mountain air that I’d learned over the years to instantly assign to Field as his natural scent.

All I had to do was finish cleaning his wounds and get as far away from him as possible. I looked away and resumed my task, dampening the towel in fresh water and dabbing at his cuts one at a time.

I tried to tune him out, but I couldn’t help but register the sound of his heart beating. The rhythm echoed in the pit of my stomach, and my hands had a hard time obeying my brain. I felt him watching me.

Don’t look at him.

Of course I did. And there it was, his signature smirk with that killer dimple. An unfamiliar warmth twinkled in his eyes as he watched me.

“What’s so funny?” I snapped.

An excruciatingly long second passed before Field decided to share his thoughts. “I just…we never really do this, huh?” he replied, his voice low.

“Do what? You slam into doors and me nurse you while cursing my existence? Yeah, it’s a first, for sure,” I shot back and pressed a little too hard into one of the cuts.

He groaned from the pain, and I quickly dabbed the same spot with fresh water to soothe him. He chuckled, tempting me to press even harder, but I couldn’t bring myself to be so vindictive with a man who had nearly gotten himself killed to save his friend.

“No, I mean, talk. Just be near one another and talk,” he said, continuing to bombard my defenses.

My cheeks caught fire. What is happening here?

“There’s not much talking going on right now. It’s just you being delirious and me trying to make sure you don’t get blood poisoning,” I persisted.

“We should try this again in different circumstances.” He smiled at me.

It was a soft, endearing side of him that I had never seen before. I wasn’t sure whether it was just his loss of blood speaking or whether he was warming up to me, but I felt like I was melting, one inch at a time.

My skin kept touching his while I daubed his wounds, and all I could do was count my breaths silently, doing my best to keep a straight face and not give in to a dangerous instinct that pushed me to get closer.

I’d been head over heels for this man for as long as I could remember. It was innocent and adorable at first, but then I grew up and found it difficult to look him in the eyes, knowing that each night another woman held him close and whispered words of love into his ear.

Now that Maura was gone, I felt incredibly vulnerable in front of him. She’d been my reason to keep pushing him out of my mind, to tell myself that there was no way he would ever really see me.

Yet here he was, lying on that bed, his body literally in my hands, looking at me with an expression that I’d never seen from him.





Jovi





[Victoria & Bastien’s son]





The reality of what had just happened started to sink in by the time I reached the basement and helped the woman onto one of the beds. Serena and Vita were trying to wake Phoenix up. Bijarki left Draven leaning against a cabinet next to Phoenix’s bed and joined me.

I felt horrible. My body hurt down to my fingers and toes, but it was the sight of Phoenix, unresponsive and so badly injured, that tore me apart. I had been the crazy one. I had left the safety of the mansion to rescue a complete stranger.