Page 52 of All the Devils are Here

I still felt like I couldn’t open my eyes. Adrenaline, fear, and the cold coalesced into a weakness and exhaustion I couldn’t quite fight.

“Here,” Ariel said. “In here.”

“Do you have medical supplies?” Laurent asked.

“Yes.”

“I’ll take whatever you have.”

I heard the smile in Ariel’s voice. “You really are a doctor?”

“A lot of good it did me.”

There was softness underneath me, and I shivered as Ban released me.

“Clothes?”

“We have those too.”

A hand slipped beneath my neck. “Meg?” Laurent’s voice was close by, and I managed to crack my eyes open. “You’re still freezing, sweetheart. I need to get you out of the wet clothes.”

“Not the way I imagined first being naked with you.”

He laughed softly and leaned down to kiss me. It helped with the cold part of the problem. “We’ll take care of that. But I need to make sure you’re all right first.”

“I’m fine.”

“Part of being your mate is that I feel…” he sighed. “I’ll just fucking say it. We’re going to be protective. I can’t breathe unless I know you’re safe and healthy. It might be stifling at first with four of us right now, especially since someone—something—is actively trying to kill you. But I won’t apologize for it.”

The way his fingers tightened on my neck and fire lit in his eyes, my stomach dropped deliciously. “I don’t know you as well as I thought, do I.” It wasn’t a question.

Laurent shook his head and lifted one hand, shifting it into claws that matched his legs. “If it makes you feel better, no one does. I’ve been hiding a very long time. But I will never be sorry you dragged me out of it.”

He took one claw and placed the tip in the center of my chest, dragging it gently down my skin like a caress. Beneath it, the fabric of my soaked dress cut open like it was nothing but air.

I arched into the touch, my eyes still locked with his. If my body didn’t feel weak right now, I would be doing more than arching. As it was, the dark lust in Laurent’s gaze had me pressing my thighs together.

“Let’s get you out of this,” he said gently.

He broke eye contact and moved quickly, peeling apart the cloth with cool medical efficiency. It wasn’t until he tossed the wet dress aside and reached for the blanket that he truly looked at my body, and my face flushed.

Laurent was stopped in his tracks, staring at me. Shaking his head, he started rapidly reciting something under his breath in French as he lifted the blanket all the way up to my chest.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m reciting the Hippocratic oath,” he muttered. “So I don’t take advantage of you when I don’t know whether or not it will do you harm.”

“I’mfine.” To prove my point, I pushed myself into a sitting position, the blanket falling around my waist and pooling there, drawing his gaze. “See? Feeling better. Perfectly all right.”

“But you almost weren’t,” he said, reaching out. His hands held both sides of my face, fingers sinking into my damp hair. The way he held me, everything trembled. Because I knew with every fiber of myself that he felt I was precious.

It stole my breath.

“Twice now,” he said. “Twice you’ve almost died because of me, Meg.”

“But I didn’t.”

He brought my lips to his, desperate and rough, gathering me into his arms so tightly I once again couldn’t breathe.

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