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“And in bed resting,” she assured me as the pair helped me out.
I whipped my head between them. “Can I see him?”
Chase pursed his lips and looked across me at Hannah. She sighed but nodded. “Of course, dear. I’ll take you to him right now.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR
Hannah ledme inside with Chase just behind us. We walked up to our shared room and found the interior brightly lit with a half dozen candelabras. A warm fire crackled in the hearth and a decanter of water sat on the nightstand beside the table.
Ben lay on the bed as white as the sheets and with his chest moving up and down at irregular intervals. I more stumbled than walked over to him, and Hannah was glad when she could set me in the chair beside the bed. His hand lay close to me, and I reached over and set mine atop his. He felt so cold.
I twisted my head around to look at my companions. “Can we do anything for him?”
“I think a doctor’s been fetched, and he’ll know what to do,” Hannah answered.
“I’ll keep watch for them,” Chase offered before he slipped away.
Hannah set a hand on my shoulder. “He’ll be okay, dear. It’s just a slight fever from all the sand and water. From what the thunder driver told us, it was quite a mess.”
I winced. “Yeah, it was. . .”
“I’ll be back in just a moment with some hot water. That will make him feel better,” she promised, and with that, she whisked out of the room.
The door shut loudly behind me, echoing across the room. Ben’s heavy breathing filled the silent void.
The tears in my eyes that had been threatening to come out finally arrived, and I couldn’t stop them. The warm liquid slid down my cheeks as I stifled a sob. “I’m so sorry, Ben. I didn’t mean to. How can you ever forgive me?”
Ben’s eyes flew open. I started back as he stared up at the ceiling a moment before he turned his head in my direction. His eyes were a brilliant red color.
A single whispered word came from my dry lips. “Ben?”
He sat up and flung aside the covers. I scuttled out of the chair and backward toward the door. He followed and I felt like prey being stalked by the handsome predator.
“Easy there, Ben,” I soothed as I held out my hands and continued my journey backward. “You don’t want to do what I think you want to do.”
A crooked smile slipped onto his lips as he took a step toward me. He stretched his wings out and they shuddered. A small puff of black mist flowed out from them and dissipated into the air.
That’s when I felt a strange sensual heat flow over me. The warmth brought with it a fuzziness in my thoughts. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, but a single breath of air forced even more fog into my brain.
I shook my head even as my back hit the wall. “What. . .what’s happening. . .to me. . .”
A large shadow fell over me, and I looked up to find Ben standing there. He had folded his wings behind his back, and he stretched out his arms and set his hands against the wall on either side of my head. He leaned in and pressed a delicate kiss to my lips.
A soft sigh escaped me even as he pulled away. His eyes glowed bright red as they studied my face searching for something.
I couldn’t help but squirm beneath his heated gaze. My whole body was awash in arousing desire. I wasn’t naive. I knew exactly what he wanted and I couldn’t deny I wanted it, too. I’d wanted it for a long time. Now here he was eager to take me and claim me as my own.
But I couldn’t do it. Not like this.
I cupped his face in both my hands and focused all my dwindling energy on those beautiful red eyes. “Ben. We can’t do this.”
He froze and I saw a flicker of awareness in their depths.
I smiled up at him as I brushed one of my thumbs close against his cheek. “You’re hurt. You need to snap out of this and rest.” He curled his lips back in a snarl. The faintness over my mind vanished and my eyebrows crashed down. “Ben, behave or I’m telling your mother.”
There’s nothing like mentioning a mother to sink the ship of lust. Ben blinked and his eyes returned to their normal blue color. His wings, too, vanished.
He also collapsed right into my arms.
