Eleven

 

No one loves a fight as much as the fae, not even the lycans. I didn’t get a chance to find out what the fuck had happened before I felt a fist collide with my ribs and felt sharp teeth sink into my thigh. I elbowed the pixie that had punched me and drove my knee into the sternum of the nymph that had tried to take a chunk out of my thigh. The nymph backed off, but the pixie punched me in the jaw hard enough to knock a tooth loose.

“I was attached to that tooth, you asshole,” I snarled before I punched him in the bridge of the nose.

The fae don’t know the concept of fighting fair. Everyone turned on everyone, and I was fighting no fewer than two fae at a time until Alasdair grabbed the back of Grayson’s jacket and bodily dragged him out of the bar. We stood on the pavement coated in blood and panting for breath. The fae were still going at it.

I gave Alasdair a bloody grin and said, “I told you, you can’t fight in a suit.”

His suit was in tatters, and he had one hell of a black eye forming. That didn’t stop him from giving me a death glare. Grayson walked with a limp and his left arm hung at a bad angle.

“He said my sister was a whore who sucked pixie cock for Tempo,” he snarled.

“Yea, I’d have kicked his ass for that,” I said.

“Seconded,” Alasdair agreed.

Grayson huffed a laugh which quickly became a cough.

“Saoirse’s going to kill us,” he said.

I shrugged. “They started it.”

Alasdair laughed and rested his forehead against mine.

“Never change,” he said.

“I don’t plan on it,” I returned with a grin.

 

 

 

Thankfully, Grayson had some healing potions and salves from his uncles in his apartment. We would all heal naturally, but the alchemical odds and ends made it quicker and less painful. He dropped the bottles off and left with a grin and a comment about giving us some alone time.

Alasdair stripped down to his boxers the moment Grayson left the flat. I’d seen him like that plenty of times before, but it was different seeing him injured. I brought out a large bowl of warm water and some fresh cloths and set about cleaning his many cuts. He lounged back on the sofa and watched with a soft smile as I took my time, trying to be as gentle as I could. I slowly explored his body, running my fingers up over his well-defined abs and over his strong thighs. He gradually became tenser and his breathing got shallower as I started applying the salve, allowing my fingertips to wander a little.

“Are you testing me, Niko?” he asked huskily.

I hadn’t realised how short my own breath had become, how my heartrate had picked up.

His hands were flat against the sofa, the muscles in his arms tight from restraint. I frowned, torn between my libido, which hadn’t been sated in far too long, and the fear of what he was and what he represented: My happily ever after.

“That wasn’t… no. I didn’t mean to,” I whispered.

Slowly he reached out to me and stroked my cheek.

“I won’t make a move that you don’t initiate, you have my word.”

I caressed the back of his hand and circled my fingertips over the underside of his wrist while I breathed in his scent. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him, the goddess knew I’d fuck his brains out. It was just… once we went there, there was no going back. We were soulbound with all that was tangled up in that: the relationship, the intimacy and affection.

I brushed my lips over his inner wrist and took the bowl and such to the kitchen, where I cleaned it and gave him time to unwind and relax. He stood behind me and leaned his head against mine.

“Don’t feel guilty, Niko, you have all the time in the world. I’ve waited over six hundred years, a few more won’t kill me.”

I smiled and took his hand in mine, feeling the way they fit together just so.

“You won’t have to wait years. I’d die from lack of sex before then.”

He laughed, and I relaxed, feeling the relief wash over me.

“Do you want me to patch you up?”

I closed my eyes and allowed the fear that came with that fade away.

“I’d like that,” I said.

I stretched out on the sofa and watched his beautiful silver eyes drink in the details of me as he carefully cleaned my wounds. His hands never wandered, but I still felt the affection and caring in his touch. The goddess had truly blessed me in him.