Page 58 of God Touched

"I can't believe you took all of this for me."

Arawan took her hand and kissed the tattooed scar on the inside of her arm.

"I love you, so you might be horrified to know how far I'll go to protect you," he said, pressing her palm to his cheek. "You are mortal, and I'm never going to take that risk. I will heal. It's just taking longer than I imagined. We need to find out why I am disconnected from my power."

"We will, I promise," she said and kissed him softly. "And we will murder the bastards responsible for this fuckery. Every single mark on you right now is their fault, and they are going to fucking regret it."

Arawan put his arms around her and stared into her beautiful, violent face. "What did I do to deserve you after all this time?"

"Something bad, I bet. Or I did something bad." Imogen grinned. His smile widened automatically. "And you're not allowed to look at me like that until you're healed."

"Like what?" he asked innocently, hand dropping to grab her ass.

"Don't make me turn this shower on cold," she warned, tugging on his hair in a way that went straight to his dick. She kissed him deeply. "I…love you too. Don't make me regret it, okay? I'm not good at any of this, and I'm feeling way too vulnerable right now."

"I've never been in love either," Arawan admitted, and her eyes went wide. "It makes me vulnerable too, and I hate it. We can figure it out together."

"Let's figure out our enemy's plans and deal with them first," Imogen said and placed her forehead against his. "Just so we are clear, I'm not some pampered pillow princess. Your battles are my battles. If we are going to do this, know that I won't be left behind, and I won't let you wrap me in cotton wool for fear of me breaking."

"Darling, you being a warrior is one of the things I love most about you." Arawan kissed her. "You are the only one I trust by my side."

"Good. Because my hunter instincts tell me we are in for a fight," Imogen replied, and Arawan could only agree.

27

Freya was true to her word and had a stir fry cooked by the time Arawan and Imogen made it to the kitchen. Imogen gratefully accepted a cold beer from Bayn on the way in.

"How are your wounds?" the fae prince asked Arawan.

"They have been cleaned thanks to Imogen and have closed over," he replied, shooting Imogen a heated look from across the kitchen.

Imogen tried to ignore the spark of electricity that sizzled through her. When he looked at her like that, she would do anything he asked.

"You two have worked things out, I see," Freya whispered to Imogen as she plated up the food. They were on the other side of the kitchen, and Freya was almost bursting with the need to gossip with her.

"Yeah, we did. You know they can hear you, right?" Imogen said, glancing in the direction of the two males.

"They will be polite and mind their own business if they know what's good for them," Freya replied, and conversation on the other side of the room faltered. Imogen snickered. "So are you going to tell me what's going on between you two?"

"I love him, and I proved that by shagging him stupid in the club bathroom."

Freya laughed. "Well, I suppose that's one way to go about things."

"What? I find it easier than talking about feelings," Imogen said, lifting the beer back to her mouth.

They all sat down around the table, and it was almost bizarre to see Arawan acting like a regular guy, talking to Bayn in only a black shirt and a pair of loose black pajama pants. Damn, he looked fine in anything.

Or nothing, her brain added, unhelpful as ever.

Imogen did her best to rein that side of her in. Doing that was hard work when he pulled out the chair beside him and gave her one of his devastating smiles. She thought about sitting somewhere else just to mess with him, but after seeing him torn to shreds for her, she wanted him as close as possible.

"You said you felt strange magic before the castle disappeared," Arawan began, his hand slipping over Imogen's knee under the table. "Can I ask you to elaborate on that?"

Freya sat down next to Bayn. "Aisling and I were still up drinking wine, and it was like she shimmered. It was as if she started to fade, and she whispered something about a call…and then the whole castle seemed to be ripped away and tossed us out onto the road."

"I was about to have a bath, so it was a good thing I hadn't undressed yet," Bayn added. "I didn't feel the presence of magic so much as a rush of heat through the castle, and then it was gone."

Arawan frowned. "The castle was powered through my connection to Annwn. The whole area was a literal extension of the land of the dead. Whoever has done this somehow managed to sever it."

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