Page 78 of Blood Stone

Sebastian grabbed her shoulders and shook her, ensuring she did not slip back from consciousness. He was not gentle.

“How can you do that to her?” Garrett breathed. “She’s your wife.”

Nial glanced at Garrett as he sat back on his heels. “Exactly. She’s our wife. That is why we can do it.”

Garrett shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

Nial’s mouth lifted at one corner. “How could you?”

Sebastian was still leaning over Winter, watching to ensure she roused properly. He tapped her cheek, more softly this time. “Winter,” he said, his voice and tone softer and more gentle than Garrett had ever heard him use before. “Come on,amháin milis. Show me those green eyes. Wake up pissed at me for stealing the covers again. Comeon.”

Winter took a deep breath…or tried to. She gave a soft cry and her eyes screwed shut, as she was slammed back into full consciousness by her own pain.

Sebastian heaved a heavy, loud sigh of relief and Nial stroked the back of his neck.

Garrett shifted out of the way as they both gathered around her, murmuring encouragement, as Winter used her unique and special talents to heal herself.

He glanced around. It seems they had got away completely unnoticed. No alarms had been raised. No one was panicking. There was no hysteria.

His gaze was dragged back to the three of them. He watched them huddled together, his mind racing in lockstep with his heart.

How could you?Nial had said. Meaning…what? How could he know, when he was not married? Not in love? Had never been in love? Had never loved another?

His gut clenched as he forced away any thought-images of Roman. That had not been love. That had been the equivalent of a summer’s obsession that had played out over a few centuries. That was all. It was done, now.

But if it had been Roman lying there?

Well, it was a null issue. Roman would never have been lying there. He was vampire. And Garrett didn’t fall in love with humans. He had kept himself scrupulously apart from them because—

Kate.

Garrett surged forward to grab Nial’s shoulder, his heart booming, his gut churning. “I have to feed. Now.”

Nial’s gaze raked over his face, taking in what Garrett was sure was an unhealthy pallor and the early symptoms of blood fever. Nial nodded. “She’s healing now. We’ll recover the bullet and cover for you with Kate.”

Garrett hurried away from the little scene of domestic perfection, racing from his feelings, from anything that made him think of Kate Lindenstream and love in the same sentence or thought.

* * * * *

Once the major repairs had been completed, Winter tried to find a more comfortable sitting position. She had barely moved, when she felt herself being lifted and placed gently into arms, her buttocks resting on thighs, rather than the hard, dry and cracked earth.

She opened her eyes and looked up. Nial looked down at her. “Welcome back,” he said softly.

“You, too.”

Sebastian picked up her hand. He wasn’t sitting cross-legged like Nial, but leaning over both of them. “Stop distracting her, Nial. She needs to finish healing herself. The wound on her abdomen is still open, and—”

Nial grabbed Sebastian’s head and silenced him with a kiss. “Take a deep breath, Bastian. Take a moment to enjoy the fact that we’re alive. Then we’ll start worrying about the details again.”

“But—”

He shook Sebastian’s head. “No. You’re wound up and ready to explode. She’s alive. Accept it and move on. Remember this moment and use it for when you kill the sniper with the rifle, later.” Something flared deep in his eyes. “As I will.”

Sebastian pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes for a second or two, wiping them. He took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine. Okay, then.”

Nial released him. “So. They know about me. Nathaniel, I mean. They just tried to take the king off the board.” He rested his chin on the top of Winter’s head, thinking. “We still don’t know who ‘they’ are. But this anonymous attack is Pro Libertatis style. And Gunther, this morning, was human, and aimed for a human – Kate – which is League style.”

Sebastian gave an almighty sniff. “Are they both here? Libertatis and the League?”