Page 60 of Kiss the Dawn
I should call Hemlock. I’d sent a text asking if he was all right and had gotten nothing back, but that made sense if he’d gone to the castle in Old Town where phones didn’t work. And then there was Ezekiel…What had he been thinking coming to the apartment? No, that was my fault. Hemlock had warned me about telling him what happened, and I’d gone one step further andshownhim.
God, this was such a mess.
I’d talk to Ezekiel tonight, but when would I get to talk to Hemlock? We needed to clear the air. But what would I say? Sorry I begged you to finger-fuck me?
No. Urgh.
My phone buzzed, and Ordell’s name flashed on caller ID.
My stomach hollowed with guilt. Ordell and I weren’t exclusive, I mean I’d been dating Kaster when we got together, and he knew how I felt about Ezekiel and Lorenzo, but we’d never spoken about Hemlock. I had to tell him what we’d done.
I answered, “Hey.”
“Are you all right?” he asked.
No surprise that I was back…Wait, he didn’t know I was back, so the fact he was calling meant?—
“Hemlock told me what happened,” he said.
“Oh…” But what had he told him? About the Isle or about our almost naked wrestling. “What did he say?”
He sighed heavily. “You were taken by darkness, and he helped you come back.”
“Did he…did he tell you how he…er…helped?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not mad?”
“Do you feel violated, Orina?”
“What? No!”
He exhaled. “Then I’m not mad. It seems that the rage has a cure, and that cure is Hemlock. He can feel your wrath and temper it, which gives us an advantage that we must use.” He made a gruff sound of annoyance. “I wish the tempering could come from me, but…We should take what we can get. I did feel something, though. Around the time your darkness hit. An awful clenching in my gut accompanied by a swell of foreboding. It woke me at around four this morning. I thought it was something to do with the kids, but I checked on them, and they were fine. The feeling passed, and I went back to bed, and…I should have realized it was you. I’ve just never had a mate, well, not one that lived. And the beast…I keep him buried so deep that I?—”
“It’s all right. I’m all right.” He didn’t need to explain it to me. To dive deep into that part of himselfthat he abhorred. “And it’s not the connection to the beast that makes me love you. That part is just a necessity.”
“I know, but I need to pay attention, especially if it can warn me if you’re in trouble.”
“Please don’t do anything that might give it more control over you.”
“I promise I’ll be careful if you promise to use Hemlock whenever you need to quell the darkness.”
“It sounds awful when you sayuse.”
“You know what I mean.”
To let him touch me. Fuck me even? I didn’t want to think about it right now. Hemlock and I…it was complicated. At least it felt that way. Heck, everything was complicated and would stay that way until the curse ended. “I wish Hemlock had stayed so we could talk about it.”
“I told him the same when he called,” Ordell said. “But he felt you could do with some privacy after…well, after.”
So he wasn’t upset with me? The knot in my belly eased. “I’ll speak to him the next time I see him.”
“Good. He also told me what happened on the Isle.” There was a growl to his tone now. “I assume that’s why Ezekiel showed up?”
“I didn’t tell Ezekiel, but the memory just appeared in our vista.”
“The witches will pay,” Ordell said. “Believe that.”
