Page 137 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 52
When Rafe woke up, he was not only cocooned in the covers but had half of Aleksander draped over him. While it was nice to be cuddled close, even in sleep, if asked to guess, Rafe would swear it had to be at least three hundred degrees in the room, and he had an urgent need to pee. Attempting to be subtle, he tried to wiggle his way out to no avail. With a purse of his lips, he gave his best effort to push his way out of the blankets wrapped snuggly around him, which only resulted in causing movement behind him.
“Is it time to get up?” Aleksander murmured. His arm lifted and a big hand tangled in Rafe’s curls.
“It is if you don’t want me to piss on the sheets.”
Aleksander chuckled and, in Rafe’s opinion, very meanly reached around and pushed on his straining bladder.
“Jerk.”
“Give me a kiss before you get up.”
“My breath stinks.”
“Who cares? So does mine.”
Rafe huffed, but he rolled so he faced the High King of D’Vaire, who even at six something in the morning looked like he could get up and pose for a magazine. “Come on, you don’t even have a pillow crease on your face.”
Aleksander started to grin; then it faded. His fingers pushed down the sheet still around Rafe. “There’s some discoloration on your neck.”
Instinctively, Rafe lifted a hand to touch it. “Nothing hurts.”
“I think this is where I bit you. Could you have an allergy to my dragon bite?”
“I better fucking not. You bit me in the hospital. Don’t you think they would’ve noticed if I was allergic or intolerant or whatever they call my issues with magic?”
“They were healing you. It might not have had the chance to react before anyone saw it.”
“Don’t get all upset. I’m going to the doctor today. We’ll have her look at it. Do you think I can cover it in the meantime? I don’t want to alarm anyone.”
“Yeah, do you have a shirt with a collar? It’s almost to your shoulder, just above the line of your shirt.”
“No, I’ll just borrow one of yours.”
“Okay, I’m sorry, babe.”
Rafe scooted forward, and Aleksander’s arms automatically went around him. Kissing his chin, he hoped his mate didn’t get a whiff of his breath. “Don’t apologize for something you have to do instinctively. I enjoyed it and have no complaints. If I’ve got some issue, we’ll work it out. I don’t know how humans deal with allergies, intolerances, illnesses, etcetera. As shifters and magickind, we have it so damn easy. Stuff is rare in our populations and is often relegated to old folks or young babies born with defects.”
“I don’t want to respect humans after what they did to Drystan and Conley, but I can’t help it. I’ve learned in the last couple of years that we take our good health for granted.”
“We do and we shouldn’t,” Rafe said. “But if I don’t get up, I’m seriously going to wet myself, so we’re going to have to talk about it later if you want to continue this discussion.”
“What was the rule?”
“I kissed you. Right on the chin.”
“Your aim was off.”
“Fine, enjoy my stank,” Rafe retorted, pressing his lips firmly to Aleksander’s. A tongue flicked his lip, but he pulled away. Without giving Aleksander a chance to react, he shoved the blankets away and stood up on the mattress. Running the two steps to the foot of it, he stepped down first to the covered bench, then to the floor while Aleksander laughed. After dashing into the bathroom, Rafe pleased his poor bladder and as he washed his hands, angled his head to the side so he could see the reddish-purple spot that was clearly visible on his neck.
Aleksander sauntered in just as Rafe was leaning closer and trailed a fingertip across the mark, causing his entire body to shiver.
“Stop that.”
“It really doesn’t hurt, does it?”
“I mean it,” Rafe said with a scowl, stepping away from the man with magic hands. “We don’t have time to fool around this morning.”
