Page 10 of Fae Mates

“Well, I’m here now.” I slipped my hand down the soft, velvety fur of his forearm and into his large hand. “And I’m grateful you never gave up on me.”

As we locked gazes, I noticed that Pokeweed’s eyes weren’t the solid black I’d initially thought. Ebony lay where there should have been whites, with irises the color of the midnight sky. When he looked at me, I felt as though I was the most precious being on the Isle of Fae, and the effect was mesmerizing.

“Has the willow bark eased your pain?” Pokeweed’s eyes dropped down to my chest.

“Yes.”

“I need to remove your poultices,” he whispered.

“Poultices?”

“There’s one on each side of the wound.”

My throat dried. Lady Gala had skewered me through my spine and then torn my stolen jacket open and stabbed the space between my breasts. “Oh.”

“Sit up,” Pokeweed rasped.

I pulled myself up to sitting, and the sheet slipped down my front and settled over my hips. A corset of bandages wrapped around my chest in a tight band.

“May I?” Pokeweed’s large hands brushed down my spine.

Heat rose to my cheeks, but I managed to nod.

Leaning forward, I gave Pokeweed space to undo my bandages around the back. I thought it would be a slow unraveling, where he would peel each strip of bandage from my body, the way Mom used to wrap us with boiled rags when we were young, but Pokeweed hooked his fingers under my bandage and tore. What I had originally thought was cloth was actually the kind of crackly paper that covered garlic bulbs.

Pokeweed pulled something warm off my back, leaving the patch of skin it had covered to pucker in the slight draft. When he placed it with a thud on the bedside table, I turned around to find that it was a poultice wrapped in bandages that had turned black.

“What’s in it?” I asked.

“Sea salt and warming herbs.” He placed a warm, damp cloth over the site of my wound and rubbed gentle circles. “By the time I found you, the Winter Court magic had seeped into your blood and slowed your heart.”

“I remember feeling the cold creep into my veins,” I whispered.

Pokeweed stepped back into sight. “There’s another poultice at the front.”

My throat dried, and the arms holding the front of the bandages to my chest clamped onto my sides. Taking off the last poultice would leave me bare-breasted. Pokeweed must have seen me while tending to my wounds, but this time I was conscious.

“Right.” I raised my arms, but the bandage didn’t fall off.

He slipped his fingers beneath the bandage, skimming the sensitive skin on my sides. When he pulled, it wouldn’t come loose, so he had to run his fingers over the part of the bandage that covered the tops of my breasts.

Jolts of excitement skittered through my sex-starved body. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm down my reaction. This was a medical procedure. I hadn’t gotten aroused with Healer Tarax. My pulse didn’t need to quicken under Pokeweed’s touch, and heat didn’t need to pulse between my legs.

Pokeweed was my friend—nothing more.

His heavy breaths joined mine, the sound of his excitement sending heat flooding my core. The bandage stuck to my skin, and Pokeweed’s fingers slid further down my breasts. I bit down hard on my lip, wondering if those large, thick fingers would skim my nipples.

“It’s stuck,” he murmured.

“Yes,” I whispered.

As Pokeweed’s hot fingers worked the bandage loose, the pounding between my legs quickened. My folds became slick, and I squeezed my thighs together, hoping he wouldn’t notice my need.

The bandage came off, and a cool draft tightened my nipples. With a deft movement, Pokeweed peeled the poultice off from my front and spun around.

“It’s done.” He handed me a warm cloth to wipe the residue from between my breasts.

Pulling the sheet up over my exposed chest, I murmured, “Thanks.”