Page 134 of Hospital for Immortal Creatures

“I thought immortals can’t have scars,” she said.

“Some wounds leave a mark. Even for immortals.” He spoke through gritted teeth, his voice harsh.

Amelia wanted to tell him that the woman who had left them didn’t deserve his love, but she sensed he didn’t need to hear those words. And suddenly, she didn’t want another woman between them, not even just in conversation.

She peered at Mikhail’s profile. The straight nose, the high cheekbones, the strong jaw radiating tension… Chaos reigned in her head. Someone was killing others to get to her, while she was lying in the bed of the same man who had kidnapped her. And yet she couldn’t recall a time in the last three years when she’d felt calmer.

She inhaled. “May I touch your scars?”

He didn’t blink, as if he had expected it. “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea.”

Ignoring him, she reached out a hand and skimmed his shoulder, her fingers traipsing the soft material of his shirt and the pronounced muscles underneath.

“What are you doing?” His breath warmed her hand when he lowered his head, following her movements with his intense gaze.

Amelia traced his collarbone next, slowly studying it with her fingers. “I’m making sure you’re real.”

Drawn to the steady beat of his chest, she then moved her hand lower. He watched her closely the entire time, as if ready to stop her at any second, but the fact that he didn’t, gave her the courage to continue.

His abs clenched when her hands inched further down. She stopped when her fingers found the rough edges of the first scar. The protrusion, about a third of an inch high, was palpable through his shirt. She followed it with her finger all the way to its end, just above his liver. Another third of an inch down, and the skin was smooth. But further down, there it was again. Another one. And another, and another. All four scars, just like she had dreamt and seen them.

“I’m sorry someone did this to you.” She raised her gaze to his. In the darkness, the golden speckles in his irises gave him a beastly radiance. The same radiance that had scared her in the forest.

Right now, she wasn’t afraid. Being this close to him sent her pulse racing, sure, but not in fear. In a world where she felt like an outsider, he was the only creature she could connect with.

Mikhail covered her hand with his. “Don’t be sorry. It was a long time ago.”

A long time ago. A hundred years? Two hundred years?

Mikhail had been born before her great-grandfather. It was so strange, almost surreal. Like a dream. The Hospital for Immortal Creatures, the encounter with the Oracle…

She sat up, supporting herself on one elbow. “I’ve been wondering, do immortals kiss?”

Mikhail slowly lowered his eyes to her lips. “Do you really want to know, Amelia?”

No. I want to know if you kiss.

If he wanted to kiss her.

Without any warning, Mikhail gently wrapped his hand around her nape and brought her closer, his breath warm on her face, and pressed his lips against hers. It was a caress, a ginger exploration as she traced the lips of the most unusual man she’d ever met with hers.

At the contact, he grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her off him, but didn’t remove his hands from her skin. “You do realise I’m not human, right? I’m very different from the men you’ve been with. If we keep this up, you might get hurt, and not just physically.”

Amelia stared at the lips she’d just been kissing. “I’m not afraid of you, Mikhail.”

He hesitated, but she knew he was attracted to her. She’d seen it in his eyes the other day after Dave’s attack. She’d sensed it in his breathing when her fingers traced the shape of his body. She’d felt it in the urgency behind his kiss.

“You’re not afraid now.” A shiver ran through her at his husky, raspy voice, and her eyes got ensnared in Mikhail’s golden gaze. “I haven’t desired a woman in years. I thought my…appetite…was long gone.”

Amelia’s lips parted in surprise.

“Recently, I found out that I still have it,” he added.

Her heart raced even faster at his words.

“Do you understand what I’m saying, Amelia?”

He reached up to run a finger down the side of her neck. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach in response to his touch while his hand moved to her collarbone, then towards the edge of her shirt, and traced its way to the skin under it. Amelia held her breath as his fingers skimmed the cup of her bra.

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