Page 52 of Forever Touched

“I’ll tell you later. I need to make sure she’s not injured first.”

Loch lapsed into silence, following closely in his brother’s wake. I tried to respond and tell him I was fine, but I was too tired. It was like something in my brain had short circuited, and I was now running on an old backup generator.

When we entered the house, I barely caught a glimpse of the interior before Everett whisked me up the stairs. There were only a few lights on, but I saw warm hardwoods and a massive wrought iron chandelier dangling from three stories above. He took me all the way up to the third floor, pausing only when Loch quietly called his name.

Turning to face his brother who’d followed us up the stairs, hesaid, “She’s safe with me, Loch. Father was right.”

Shock lit his brother’s face. Without another word, Everett turned into a bedroom. As he shouldered the door shut, we were immediately plunged into darkness. He easily maneuvered the room, though, his night vision similar to a cat’s. When he set me down on what felt like a bed, I finally spoke. “Can I have a light on, please?”

A lamp immediately switched on, confirming that there was no one in the room but us. My relief was instant. With a small sigh, I gathered my robe around me and started to curl up on the bed, already half asleep.

“I need to check you first,” Everett said.

“Can it wait until morning?” I mumbled, shutting my eyes.

“No. I need to know you’re okay. I can’t think straight until I do.”

My eyes fluttered back open and met his. Oh. He was seriously worried. Struggling into an upright position again, I dutifully perched on the bed’s edge and waited for his exam. He didn’t waste any time.

Crouching before me, he lifted a hand and brushed back my hair to reveal the damage Torres had caused. Based on how sticky my neck was, I assumed the puncture wounds from his bite were pretty bad. Everett touched my throat with such gentleness that I didn’t even flinch.

As he examined the weeping wound, his jaw hardened. “Do they always treat you like this?”

I blinked, wondering how honest I should be. Finally, I settled on admitting, “Not all of them. Torres is one of the rougher ones.Was.” I still couldn’t believe he was dead.

“Torres,” Everett bit out, trailing his hand up to my jaw. When his finger pressed on a particularly sore spot, I couldn’t hold back a small wince. “Did he do this too?”

I nodded.

His touch became featherlight, but sparks practically shot from his eyes. “I would kill him all over again if I could and make sure he suffered even more. Father won’t be pleased that one of his most trusted council members was involved in this.”

A swallow got stuck in my throat. Trying to play it cool, I casually asked, “Involved in what? Having sex with a blood whore? Because even the crown prince does that.”

He stilled. Uh oh. Maybe I’d pushed a bit too far.

As he lifted his eyes to mine, I struggled to keep calm. He couldn’t know how close I was to panicking right now. When he wouldn’t stop staring, I blurted, “What are you doing?”

His stare intensified. “Trying to read your thoughts.”

“Read mythoughts?” Horrified, I adjusted the mask still covering my face out of habit. “No way. Fate might have thrown us together, but you arenotreading my thoughts.”

“It doesn’t work that way. Now that you’ve started to accept the soulmate bond, our connection will only grow stronger. We won’t be able to hide our thoughts and feelings from each other.”

“Um, I didn’t accept the bond. Didyou?”

He shrugged. “I must have, or this wouldn’t be happening.”

“But we only learned about it this morning. When would we have—?”

Oh no. The intimate moment we’d shared in the rain.

I’d feltdifferentafterward, like he’d ruined me for all other males. Like he’d claimed a piece of me. Not just a piece.Allof me. And I’d liked it.Wantedit. And, dare I say it . . .

Accepted it.

I swore.Loudly.

Everett snorted. “My thoughts exactly.”

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