“Well, that was horrible.”
She leaned back and without wishing it, tears started to stream down her cheeks.
Zephyr disappeared for a moment, but came back with a box of tissues. She plucked out three, then wiped her face, but the tears kept falling.
He sat down next to her and when he put his arm around her shoulders, she leaned into him and started to sob.
She wasn’t sure how long her crying jag lasted, but she definitely used up a lot more tissues.
At last, she lifted her gaze to his. “And you do this every night?”
He nodded, his expression grim.
She hugged him hard. “Thank you for getting us out of there.”
“You’re welcome, and thank you for firing up your battle energy. You’ve never done that before, have you?”
While still plastered to his chest, she shook her head, her cheek moving against his soft t-shirt. His body was warm and he smelled of resinous oak. She owed her life to him and his quick thinking at flying her away so fast.
More than at any other time, she was aware of just how much of a warrior he was, that this was his life, night in and night out, that he battled the enemy of the Nine Realms without ceasing.
She tilted her head back to look up at him. He caressed her shoulder and in his eyes, she saw the depth of his concern for her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. Are you? Zeph, how do you bear your life?”
At that, his lips curved slightly as he gently pushed her hair away from her face. “It’s simple, really. I’m built for it. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d serve on a local police force, probably solving realm homicides.”
“Yeah, I guess you would.”
She lifted her hand to his cheek and let him feel how willing she was to be kissed right now, and a lot more, if that’s what he wanted.
He angled his head slightly and the next moment his lips were on hers, a warm, soft pressure that sent a thrill racing through her. She parted her lips, moaning as his tongue pierced her.
She writhed against him and his arms tightened around her. Her body lit up with a new kind of fire as she clutched his shoulder.
But after a moment, he drew back and held her gaze. “Are you sure about this? I don’t want you to have regrets later because you gave in to an impulse.”
She wished he hadn’t asked.
She grew very still as old memories surfaced, about the fights they’d had, and how hard it was, after they’d broken up, for her to stay out of his arms.
She knew then she couldn’t do this with him, couldn’t open up the old wounds. “I’m sorry, Zeph, and you were right to ask. This doesn’t really change anything, does it?”
He looked incredibly sad as once more he pushed her hair away from her face. “No, it doesn’t. Just wish you weren’t so damned pretty.”
She frowned. “There is something I need to know about what happened out there, what I did.”
He removed his arm from around her, rubbing his neck in a weary manner. “You mean when you sent your battle energy toward the enemy?”
“I need to know if I killed that vampire.”
“Tell me what you saw.”
She explained about watching the vampire spin out of control and how the wraith chased after him, flying through the air. “If the wraith couldn’t stop his fall, he probably crashed hard to earth and I have no idea how much damage my blast did, no way of gauging whether I’d really hurt him.”
“You’re worried that he died?”
She heard the incredulity in Zephyr’s tone, but she had to be honest with him. “Yes. I am.”