The Healer (Seven Sins MC 2)

"She was horribly abused," I reminded him.

"Yes, but we heal quickly. She should have healed days ago."

"Well, she is healing. That's what is important, right? I think I can take some of these stitches out tomorrow. Some of the bigger wounds could probably use another day or two. But she's getting better. Lenore said you were sending for Mar-Mark..." I could see his name in my head—Marceaus—but couldn't get it right.

"Mar-kay-us," he sounded out for me again. "Yeah. He's older than the rest of us. He might know why she isn't healing. And what is going on with her..." he trailed off, waving at his head.

"Do you think they will find him?"

"I don't think so," he admitted, sounding defeated. "At least not anytime soon. And by the time they do, who knows what will be left?" he said, giving Red a sad look.

"You never know when people will just... snap out of it. It happens all the time. Even sometimes people who the doctors say will never wake up. And, I mean, she isn't even in a coma or anything. Don't get discouraged."

"We're not people, Josephine," he reminded me.

"All the more reason to expect she will pull through. You're not as weak as us puny mortals," I told him, giving him a playful smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"She all set?"

"Until tomorrow morning, yeah," I said. I was going to see if Lenore and I could manage some sort of sponge bath now that she was, by and large, healed.

"Good. Come on," he said, holding an arm out.

"Come where?" I asked, feeling the tiredness hanging around me. I didn't want to learn anything else that night. I just wanted to sleep.

"To bed," he clarified.

"I sleep there," I reminded him, waving toward my couch. I'd long since gotten over neatly folding my blanket on top of my pillow. It still looked the same as it had when I'd crawled out of it earlier.

"Not anymore," he told me, moving further into the hall as I approached.

"Is this so you can keep an eye on me, but give me the illusion of freedom?" I asked, suspicious by nature, and still not entirely sure how much I could trust a creature from hell.

"Josephine, you're going to need to learn to trust me," he told me, sighing a bit, forcing some of the tension out of his jaw. "But I don't want you in my bed because I want to keep an eye on you. I want you in my bed so you're comfortable. And so I can wake you up and fuck you first thing in the morning," he told me, his voice a dark promise that made my sex clench hard.

"Well," I said, swallowing hard, following him into the hall. "In that case," I told him, smiling as he dropped an arm down over my shoulders, and led me into his room.

He made good on his promises, too.

I slept like a baby nestled up on his chest.

And I woke up to his hands already starting to stoke a little fire in my body.

A girl could get used to it.

And I did. Whether that was smart or not. Whether that meant I genuinely did have some sort of Stockholm Syndrome or something similar. Whether or not it was good for my mortal soul.

I got used to it.

To him.

To the strange and wonderful new dynamic growing between us.

Then, one night just about a week later, everything changed.

Chapter Fourteen

Ace

I woke up every morning in a panic, sure she would be gone.

I didn't know what to think about it.

Judging by the sideways looks Ly and Minos kept sending me, they thought I'd Claimed her. But there hadn't been any signs of that.

So I didn't understand the feelings coursing through me. True to form, I'd spent many hours trying to convince myself that I was only concerned about her leaving because she now possessed all of our secrets. I hadn't left anything out. At times, when I'd clearly been trying to tiptoe around certain topics, Josephine had asked more questions until she got it all out of me.

While I did have concerns about a human with our secrets, I also knew myself well enough at this point to know it wasn't just that. It was personal.

I went to sleep with her draped over me like a blanket, lending a warmth I'd been seeking for ages, but never found. The contentedness that flooded my chest as I fell asleep was a high that I looked forward to every day. And the idea of that no longer being a factor in my life—her no longer being a part of my life—left me with a skittering heartbeat and a churning stomach.

I'd grown attached to her.

A goddamn human.

Whose entire lifespan would pass in a blink for me.

I wasn't sure what it was about her, either.