Read Forged: The World of Nightwalkers for Free Online

breath, realizing she was trembling just as powerfully as he was, and she told herself it was from fear and not because he’d just weakened every bone in her primitive body.
    “There will be n-no wenching tonight,” she stammered as firmly as she could, pushing at the massive wall of man with an ineffectual palm against his chest. There was some sort of raised burn on his chest, something long healed but purposeful in shape … as though he’d been branded. Two snakes, wrapped around a dagger in an infinite figure eight, each snake seemingly devouring the tail of the snake before it in what seemed to be a never-ending cycle. The heavily defined and branded pectoral muscle jumped, ostensibly at her touch. Like a kid seeing something fascinating and new, she wanted to repeat her action just so she could see the reaction once more. Truth be told, there was a wave of virility pounding off him, catching her in the surf of it, dragging her around like a helpless child at the beach. But there was nothing at all childlike about the heat his words sent snaking through her.
    Kat worked her mouth into a harsh line and looked him dead in the eye.
Who the hell used the term wench anymore anyway?
she thought, trying to bolster her sternness. “You are going back to bed,
alone
, to rest! Doctor’s orders! You’ve lost a lot of blood and—”
    And right on cue he listed dangerously forward, nearly squashing her up against the wall like a bug as all his weight pushed into her. But he recovered quickly and drew away from her, taking a moment to dust heroff and check her for signs of life. It was little things like that, little thoughtful kindnesses, that kept her thinking he was not a bad man, whatever his treatment of her thus far.
    “Perhaps you are correct,” he said, still sounding as though he’d lurched out of the Middle Ages. But for all she knew he had. “I’ll be taking a rest, in spite of the insufficiency of your bed.”
    In spite of what now?
    Instantly she became pissed off. “Hey, my bed is just fine. It’s not its fault that you’re abnormally gigantic! Just be glad I didn’t leave you in the brush to die!”
    He frowned then and suddenly there was clarity in his eyes. “Yes.” His hand went to his wounded side, his fingers running over her stitching. “I’ll be thanking you for that,” he said. “I think I’ll be requiring your help further,” he said politely, indicating his unsteadiness. Mollified, she stepped under his arm and, again, despite their disparate heights she managed to help him back into bed. But man, was she going to feel it tomorrow when her muscles began to complain about the serious heavy lifting she’d done in such a short amount of time. And without a sufficient warm-up!
    After she got him in bed, she finally pulled out her phone and called her mother.
    And got her voicemail. Lovely.
    Beep!
“Hey Mom. It’s me. It’s really—” Crackle. Crackle. Click. “Important that you call me,” she finished with a sigh even though it was very clear the line had gone dead. “Oh crap!” she exclaimed suddenly, running to the window and, sure enough, there was the reason her cell service sucked. A heavy fall of snow was whooshing around outside. She noticed the creaking of the house for the first time and the wailing of the sudden winds. It had blown up fast and hard, but no one could blame herfor not noticing under the circumstances. “Oh crap!” she said again suddenly.
    It was obvious her guest had a fever. His gaping wound had been exposed to God knows what and he could easily go septic if he didn’t get some strong antibiotics.
    Kat ran to the master suite bathroom and started tearing through her medicine cabinet and the under cabinets, even though she knew she was a good girl who always took all her medication right down to the very last pill. But who knew? Maybe she’d been a rebel just once. Of course her rebel days had ended quite abruptly years ago, and any medication