Page 12 of Changeling
Nathanawokethesecondtime to light steaming into the room, with distinctive heat and weight all along his right side, including the presence of an arm again, long and possessive as it clung to him like a child clung to a teddy bear. At least the arm lay across Nathan’s stomach and not his chest where the wounds were still sore, despite the extra meds from that night. The body next to Nathan was snuggled in close.
“Personal space, Jim,” Nathan mumbled, groggy and blurry of vision as he turned to the figure in bed with him and gave a half-hearted push.
The body stirred and Nathan realized he was blinking at strikingly red hair, and soon locked tired gazes with bright blue eyes. “Did you just call me ‘Jim’?” Sasha asked in a sleep-roughened voice, his expression bearing a crooked smile. “Is there something you need to tell me?”
Nathan’s brain quickly caught up to the waking world. “First off,gross,” he said, “and second, there are two reasons why I hate sharing a bed with Jim. He either kicks or he snuggles, neither of which I want anything to do with.”
Sasha’s face fell into an almost pout and he started sliding his arm across Nathan’s stomach to pull it away.
“FromJim,” Nathan amended, grabbing Sasha’s hand before it could get too far, trapped warm and firm right on Nathan’s belly. “You kick me though and you’re sleeping on the floor.”
A laugh spilled from Sasha’s lips. He slid his arm back around Nathan’s stomach, holding tight, and fit his face between Nathan’s jaw and shoulder to kiss his neck softly below the ear.
Nathan shivered. He hated that the reason Jim had been on his brain when he woke up was because of yet another appearance of amber eyes. Here, in the Gatehouse and on the mend, Nathan didn’t want to think about his mark, or Jim’s Awakening, or any of it.
Adjusting himself to better face Sasha, the incubus being on his stomach with his arm draped over Nathan, a smile quirked on Nathan’s lips as he met blue eyes again. Sasha was a much better topic to focus on.
Sasha pressed his lips to Nathan’s, and Nathan lifted a hand to trail along the arm thrown over his stomach, finally reaching Sasha’s back where he clung and let his eyes drift closed again. Sasha shifted onto his side but he wouldn’t let Nathan pull their bodies too close together, still wary of Nathan’s wounds. So Nathan held Sasha as close as he could, even as the incubus released him from their kiss.
Slowly, Nathan opened his eyes, and there was so much—Nathan had to admit it—lovelooking back at him that it made Nathan’s whole body feel hot under the covers.
A sudden knock at the door made Nathan jump. He only managed to catch another glimpse of the beautiful look of bliss on Sasha’s face before the door started to open, whoever was on the other side not bothering to wait for a response before entering.
“You two decent?” preceded Alex’s far too chipper voice for however early in the morning it was. Her head peeked around the door before she entered fully. “Guess not,” she smirked. “Sorry, but we all need to be early risers if we’re going to catch the gremlin in the attack.”
Nathan was almost certain that if he had been wearing something more than skin underneath the concealing comfort of the covers, he would already be killing Alex with his bare hands. “I swear to God, Al,” he said dangerously, sitting up but keeping a hand on the blankets to make sure they didn’t fall too far down, “if you pull out that camera phone again, Iwillchase you butt naked down the hallway.”
“Promises, promises. Five minutes. Then a quick breakfast before we hunt down your furry little friend, Nate. Up and at ‘em.” She spun on her heels and went back out the door, presumably to wake up Jim next since Nathan dimly heard renewed knocking after she left.
“What time is it?” Sasha asked, arching his back in a stretch as he sat up next to Nathan.
Nathan grabbed his watch off the small dresser that worked as a nightstand, and groaned. “Too fucking early. I can still take more drugs though, right? I, uhh…took some extras sometime during the night, but I think it’s been enough hours.”
“Sore?”
“Not too bad,” Nathan shrugged, “but you’re not keeping me out of this hunt. I owe that thing.”
Sasha held up his hands in mock defense. “Wouldn’t even try to stop you, Nate. But you better take it easy. I don’t want to replace any more stitches or wrap any new places in bandages, okay? At least not for a little while.” There was a touch of sadness in the inevitability of those words.
“Just call me Wolverine,” Nathan said, wanting to fall back into the bliss of this so called vacation of theirs for as long as he could. “I can bounce back from anything. Now, I’m gonna hop in the shower and redress these things,” he added, gesturing to his bandages before climbing out of bed and moving slowly for the bathroom.
“Nathan,” came Sasha’s gentler voice just before Nathan reached the door.
Looking back, Nathan could hardly miss how Sasha’s eyes raked over every inch of his naked body. It was highly possible Nathan blushed; Sasha’s eyes were just so damn penetrating.
“I don’t suppose you want company?” Sasha purred.
Fuck, that was a hot idea. Nathan bit his lip thinking about it but knew he should be healed more before they tried something like that. “We’d never get downstairs in five minutes that way,” he said. “Rain check?”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
Nathan didn’t doubt for a second that the incubus would.
Chapter 6
Itwasawonderto Nathan sometimes why Alex wasn’t a seal; the woman definitely knew how to organize a hunting party. But then that’s what she did—got everyone else sorted out while maintaining a safe haven for them to return to.
The four of them had originally planned to systematically raid the attic, hopefully herding the creature toward the center where they could then surround and finally capture it. Killing it inside the Gatehouse would no doubt be a disaster, since the Gatehouse wards had at least marginally affected it. But regardless of their humane intentions, once they reached the attic it became apparent almost immediately that Evil Gizmo wasn’t at home.
