Page 63 of Lost Touch

With all of them against the idea, I wouldn’t be able to carry that point even if I wanted to.

“Then you have to think of something else,” I told them. “Paying client, remember? And don’t tell me I haven’t paid yet. I will. Well, Drew will. I don’t have any money.”

Nate sighed, fidgeted, and started to say something apologetic—and then froze, his face lighting up with what I could only pray was inspiration.

“Arik,” he breathed. “What about that spell you used on Matthew?”

Arik stopped, stared, and then said slowly, “That might actually work.”

“You’ll have to leave out the part where they get sick and die, but—”

“Get sick anddie?”

They both turned, matching startled expressions on their faces, like they’d forgotten Drew and I were even there.

“I made some mistakes,” Arik said after a second. Nate snorted, and Arik flipped him off. “But it could work. The spell mimics a mating bond. When Drew wakes up, he’ll feel like you’re his mate. It ought to settle his instincts and simmer him down. It’ll buy time for a more permanent solution, if nothing else.”

I glanced over at Drew sprawled on the grass beside me. In the light of the setting nearly-full moon, he could’ve been one of those Pre-Raphaelite paintings of overly dramatic people fainting on things: that dark wavy hair tumbling onto his forehead, and the contrast of his eyelashes against the grayish pallor of his cheeks, and the way his hand lay as if reaching out to me.

“Can we do it now?” I looked up at Nate and Arik. “Please. Anything.”

“There’s a chance he’ll wake up and start ripping your clothes off,” Arik replied bluntly. “Maybe not in a way you’ll like.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

And it didn’t. Nothing mattered but Drew being all right.

Not that I objected to the clothes being ripped off, either—at least not when Drew had some modicum of control over himself.

The spell didn’t take very long, and it didn’t cause any discomfort or anything like that. My previous experiences with having magic used on me had all been in that hellhole prison, so I’d braced myself for any kinds of horrors.

But it brushed over me like a whisper in physical form, a ripple along my skin and sliding down into my bones and innards. Silky-soft and over within seconds. Drew’s fingers twitched, but he didn’t wake up.

Arik lowered his hands. “All done. Let’s get you upstairs into that bedroom Ian set aside for you, yeah? I know it’s putting you at a little bit of a risk, but I think it’s better if you’re alone and somewhere that feels secure when he comes around. If he finds himself with his supposed mate and a bunch of unknown alphas and mages, he’ll freak the fuck out.”

“Hang on a second,” I said, as something horribly embarrassing but incredibly necessary occurred to me. “Which one of you is the healer in this outfit?”

“Me,” Arik said, and frowned. “You didn’t say you were injured.”

“Can we step aside for a second?” Even in the moonlight, I knew they wouldn’t be able to miss the way my face had gone all red.

Nate watched curiously as I scrambled up and stepped a few feet away, Arik following. “Can you heal my, um. Can you. I got kind of sore. Fuck, this is so—but if he needs to fuck me when he wakes up—”

My blush went nuclear as Arik bit his lip, obviously trying not to laugh. “No problem,” he muttered, and put his hand on my bare arm, closing his eyes. It felt like it had before, a prickle and a sensation of coolness.

I closed my own eyes and hoped this would never be mentioned again.

“All done,” Arik said briskly, professionalism restored. “Let’s go.”

We reversed our previous procession: Calder hefted Drew again, and Nate and Arik led us back into the house, up the stairs, and down a dim, musty hallway to a small bedroom near the end. Calder dumped Drew on the bed while Nate turned on the light, futzed around in the bathroom for a minute muttering about how no one ever replaced the toilet paper around here, and Arik wished me good luck and disappeared.

“I’m a few doors down,” Calder said. “I have better hearing than the average alpha. You call my name, even quietly, and I’ll be here. If you don’t call my name, I won’t, no matter what I hear. I’m going to trust you to handle this if you don’t ask for help.”

He left without waiting for an answer, and Nate slipped out after him, saying he’d come back up and put a couple of sandwiches and some bottled water in the hall for us.

And then the door shut behind him.

And I was alone with…God, my fake mate for real, this time? I choked down an inappropriate burst of laughter, and the chuckle that escaped sounded way too loud in the stillness. I couldn’t hear Drew breathing, even.

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