Enlightened (Love and Light Series) (23 page)

“Do you need help getting undressed?”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Loti’s muscles unwound as she soaked in the warm bath. Too weak to do more than lay there, she closed her eyes and raised a tired arm to run her fingers through her matted hair.
Disgusting.
Her arm fell back into the water with a weighty sploosh.
Damn.
She’d have to give her hair a good scrubbing tomorrow. Heading lolling to one side against the back of the tub, she stretched her legs way out, flexing her ankles and pointing her toes.

Wolf knocked at the door. “Are you settled?” His voice was muffled through the door.

Her eyes flew open. “Yes. Why?” She scooped armfuls of the bubbles around her chin.

“If it’s okay, I’ll wash your hair for you.” Without waiting for an answer, he swung the door open.

She
was
thinking about her hair, and she wanted to get cleaned up, but . . . “Do you think there’s a way to shield my head from you?”

“Yes, we should be able to, but I can’t shut you out.” He carried a plastic pitcher as he stretched out to grab a yellow towel off the top shelf above the little table.

“I didn’t say you could come in.” She scowled, tucking her knees to her chest as he knelt by the tub, dropping the towel and pitcher.

“Yes, you did.” He flipped his hair over his shoulder, gathering it into a hair tie, and rolled up the sleeves of his flannel shirt. She had wanted him to come in, damn it. It was infuriating that he knew.
My thoughts are mine,
she mentally yelled
. Stay out
.

He grimaced.

“Well, I am a mess.” She uncurled her shoulders, watching him watching her. Their eyes lingered together for a moment.

“Sit up.” Wolf ordered.

She looked down at the bubbles, then up at him, half a smile on her lips. She sat up, careful to keep things covered with suds. Feeling silly and awkward, she tucked her knees under her chin, her fingers playing with her toes under the water.

“Tilt your head back.”

Bossy, aren’t we
?

The corner of his mouth flickered. She slipped her half-wet hair over her shoulders and down her back, tilting her face to the ceiling. Closing her eyes as Wolf scooped water out of the tub, she sighed at the sultry, soothing warmth of it running over her aching head and sore neck. As Wolf massaged it through from roots to the ends, Loti felt more than heard his thought about her. Startled by the awareness of the direction of
his
thoughts, she blushed as she glanced up at him. His lips parted, but he picked up the shampoo bottle from the metal basket. Focusing on his hands, he squirted shampoo. When he looked back at her, she had her eyes closed, head back, waiting. His fingers worked her tingling scalp, taking their time massaging the shampoo through her thick mass of hair. The smell of coconut and lime, maybe vanilla too, intensified. His soapy hands worked her neck, kneading the knots, and goose bumps tightened her skin. A shiver culminated in hard, peaked nipples. She pulled her knees closer, afraid of her body’s reaction to his hands, to the angle of his thoughts. Was the soothing magic of his touch changing again? From a calming pulse to an arousing one? Maybe his blood had done that . . .

“Mmmm, that’s a manly fragrance,” she tittered, eyes still closed.

“Mmm hmm.”

Her ears perked up, sensing something to guard against. There was the tell-tale swoosh of water as he scooped more out of the tub. She waited, anticipating the warm flow over her head, but, instead, it splashed her face and up her nose.

“What the hell?” she sputtered, blowing hard out her stinging nose, pinching at it.

Wolf laughed and tossed another pitcher full at her, but she threw her hands up to block. She splashed the soapy water back at him with both hands, and he grabbed at them, the front of his flannel shirt drenched. He leaned into the tub, pinning her hands behind her back and laughing with an open expression that disarmed her. Indignation mixed with excitement as she tussled to get free, his eyes sparking.

“You know, resistance is futile.” One eyebrow lifted.

She guffawed, her belly hiccuping with laughter. His hands loosened their grip, and she slid her arms around her shins, smiling easily as the laughing fit subsided. Suds plopped from her hair into the bath as the laughter played in his eyes. His knuckles brushed her upturned cheek, turning her grin into something softer. He reached for the pitcher, and Loti scrunched up her eyes.

“Wooooolf.”

“I’ll be good.” He winked.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Loti was in the flannel pajama bottoms and white t-shirt that she’d packed what seemed like a lifetime ago.

“I couldn’t find that little number you wore the night I met you,” Wolf quipped from his perch in front of the brick fireplace.

She paused halfway to sitting, remembering the nightgown she’d been wearing the night she sprinted from her house in panic. She blushed, self-conscious as she sank the rest of the way into the leather couch, a yawn stretching her jaw. It was late, or early depending on your perspective. She had no idea what time it was because there were no clocks or windows. She watched Wolf build a fire. Picking up and sniffing the cup of soup he had put on the coffee table, she recognized the aroma of rosemary and basil. Sipping, she noticed he’d added a little rice.

“You can eat more later. Take it slow.” Wolf snapped a twig.

 Breaking a fast wasn’t new to her, but this was more than just not eating. It was a combination of dehydration and hypothermia, the physical exhaustion of hiking with no sleep, and the powerful visions at the top of the mountain. Drinking the hot broth in small mouthfuls, her thoughts hovered over the visions themselves. Wolf arranged the kindling into a little teepee.

“What’s happening to us, Wolf?” The mug of soup paused halfway to her mouth as she flashed back on Wolf washing her hair. Throat tight, she drank her soup.

The fire grew as he added small sticks, then larger ones. He didn’t answer her, but she felt him gathering his thoughts, figuring out how best to explain what he knew. The truth was he didn’t know for sure. The fire crackled and she leaned forward, both hands cradling the mug of soup. The fire warmed her face and the smell of smoke comforted.

“I don’t have any easy answers.” Wolf added a split log to the fire. “I know that blood bonds take time and blood.” He shook his head. “Why it started without blood, I can only guess that some of the legends are true. That light walkers and vampires can bond on an energetic level.” His eyes reflected the twisting flames.

Shaking himself, Wolf leaned back and admired his handy work. “Now that’s a fire.” He spread is arms wide and Loti burst out laughing. She abandoned the mug, clutching her sides as she fell over sideways on the leather couch. Wolf lifted her as he settled down into the couch. Setting her upright, he ran a hand through her hair.

“Feel better?” His smile warmed.

She nodded, releasing a happy sigh as she picked up the mug.

“Tell me about it,” Wolf said, still fingering her hair.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, knowing what he was talking about. “Have you been on one of these?”

He nodded. “Years ago, before I was turned. It was a rite of passage to be recognized as a man, to receive an adult name.”

She contemplated her nails, not sure what to tell him. So she picked the safer things like her grandmother and the sweat lodge, but left out the harmful, raw things—the visions about David. Wolf rubbed her neck as she spoke, and then they lapsed into an easy silence. Loti snuggled into his side as the licking flames and the gentle warmth hypnotized her. Her head fell to his shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Wolf brooded over her sleeping face, her deep, regular breaths, and the dark lashes fanned over pink cheeks. She’d been scary pale all night, and he worried he ought to take her to Guided, but she seemed better now. If he was honest about it, he wanted her to himself. His eyes blinked rapidly as he scanned the room and gripped her tighter.

Rubbing her cheek against his shoulder, she moaned in her sleep and slid her hand up to his chest. He stared at it like he wasn’t sure what it was, and then covered it with his. Could she be nunne’hi? What they had researched and talked about and looked for? Calisto was positive, and the test at the shrine seemed to prove it.
A light walker. A Light Walker

He scratched the prickle at the back of his neck. Groaning, he slid out from under her, gathering her into his arms to carry her to the bedroom. As he pulled back the covers with one hand, he balanced her against him with the other before laying her down. She curled up on her side, slipping her hands under her face. He tucked the covers around her, and took his time walking to the other side of the bed. He stopped midway unbuttoning his shirt, rubbed the middle of his forehead.

Her chest rose and fell in the snug white t-shirt and he closed his eyes. He wished he could escape to the bike shop, do something productive like rebuild an engine. When he opened his eyes he glanced over and quickly looked away. His chest constricted as he finished undressing and slid under the covers. He lay on his back, one hand tucked under the pillow, a mystified expression on his face.

Loti woke to blackness. Disoriented, she patted around her. A bed. A duvet. She rolled over bumping into Wolf; his chakra colors and meridians pulsed drowsily. The light didn’t illuminate the dark room; it wasn’t that kind of light. The smell of wood smoke mixed with coconut and lime. Her belly clenched. She didn’t remember going to bed. She talked with Wolf on the couch, the warmth of the fire and his arm cocooning her. By the time she’d finished telling him about her visions, she’d curled up against him like it was something they had been doing for a long time.

She stretched out on her stomach, leaning on elbows and her chin resting on the heels of her hands. He glowed from the inside out, looking like a picture negative, only in color. With tentative fingers, she touched his heart center, the place right above his sternum and between his nipples. Lowering her palm to rest on his cool skin, she felt no heartbeat, but his chest rose and fell.
They breathe, but their hearts don’t beat. Got it.
Her hand sank, heavy with want, to his chest, twitching with the desire to run down his stomach. She jerked it away, frustrated and confused.
What’s magic? What’s real?

“It’s all real.”

She jumped at Wolf’s sleepy voice and looked up at his broadening and brightening prana.

Without opening his eyes, he said, “What do you think magic is, Loti?”

She fingered her lips as she thought hard about his question. “We call something magic when we don’t understand how it works.”

“Exactly. It’s another natural force we don’t understand, and what’s happening to us is natural magic—unusual, but natural.”

Opening his eyes, he rolled onto his side and laced his fingers through the hair behind his ear. He propped himself up on one elbow. The light patterns drew his nose and lips, and she suddenly understood that his subtle energy
was
his physical body and more. In him, in a vampire, it was close to the bone, so to speak. Hers spread out more, beyond the physical parts. She glanced down at her body, noting her colors weren’t as intense or as deeply hued.

“Did I sleep the whole day?” She looked back at him.

“I don’t know. I was asleep.”

Before she understood what he was doing, he pulled her close and kissed her. A hot flush crawled up her spine to the nape of her neck. She stroked his shoulder, yielding to the languid kiss. He broke away to look in her eyes and run his fingers along her jaw.

“You’re mine,” he whispered, the words barely audible.

She froze.

“Do I frighten you?” He tilted her chin up.

“No.” And he didn’t, not really. Those words were so familiar. They studied each other for a long moment.

“Then what it is it?” His voice was low and intimate.

Loti inhaled that musky, man smell: Wolf’s smell.
It’s like it was meant just for me
, she thought as she held her breath, relaxing around the fullness of it. Another prickly-hot rush poured through lower things. Cold shivers coursed up her spine as her breath escaped in a gush.