She struggled to a sitting position as Bast threw back the comforter and stumbled from the bed. “Okay, so you felt like shit?” she prodded.
He staggered in a wide circle, needing a mirror. He needed to see himself, what he looked like right now. Except damn it, he couldn’t use a mirror properly. Not enough reflection, idiot. “My back...the wings...”
The moment his discovery became evident to Alice couldn’t have been pronounced more clearly. Her eyes went wide as her gaze dropped behind him. Blood drained from her face, leaving her gaping lips a shock of pink against pale skin. One hand covered her mouth before its twin topped it in sympathy. “Where did they go? What happened?”
Bast shook his head. Stunned. Elated. “I dunno. I just felt this pop, and they were gone.”
“Oh my God. What does that mean? Are you getting better?”
“I...I don’t know. Maybe. God, maybe.” Mind still reeling, he stopped pacing the room.
Thoughts crashed in on him from all sides, bombarding him with a variety of ideas, plans, dreams. It was way too soon to know for certain, of course, but what if the heat didn’t come back and he was free of illness once again? Able to resume a normal vampire life. Maybe it really had been his body’s way of letting him know he’d been pushing himself too hard. Going too long without feeding. It made sense now that a supernatural body retaliated in a supernatural way.
If that were true, why then with wings?
Bast shook his head again, clearing the intrusive question. The answer was simple enough in any event. The wings had been some throwback to early evolutionary times of the vampire or something. Had to be.
He refused to listen to the little voice of reason that suspected that his ordeal wasn’t really over. That his explanation didn’t hold water.
“I’m not sure what started it, but I could hug whatever stopped it,” he muttered. The pacing resumed, while his mind came up with scenarios and conclusions, tossing out one after the other. None of them sticking.
She said, “I’m so hap—”
He turned in her direction and watched those pretty blue eyes looking beyond him, her face a study in concentration. Her lips opened and closed as if on the verge of speaking, but no sounds issued. She blinked a few times, lost in her thoughts perhaps.
Bast started to speak, amused by the unusual display of spaciness, but instead chose to study her a little further, lured by the sensual presentation. The ribbons of hair he loved to twine his fingers through spoked in different directions, tattling about a night of passionate lovemaking. As did the miniscule bruises on her neck.
His gaze dipped to view her naked breasts and he realized they hadn’t escaped from his ardor either, little purple circles evidence of his fulfillment. A swift fury churned in his belly at the thought that he’d managed to damage her, even if unintentionally. She deserved more than that. So much more.
He moved toward the bed. “I’m sorry for what I did to you.”
She blinked twice. “What?”
“The marks.” With his chin, he indicated the bruising. “I was too rough.”
The smile she gave him took its time in becoming, but once blossomed, was a sight to behold. “Not even a little bit, Sebastian.”
“But—”
“Take a look at your sides. I don’t think you escaped unscathed. Let’s call it even, huh?”
He looked to where she pointed. Rows of scratches decorated his rib cage in precise places, some of them snaking around his side and going to his back. “Wildcat,” he said with a grin.
She’d marked him with her nails. Damn, that was sexy as all hell. His cock stirred, and it didn’t fail to miss her notice.
Alice laughed, her cheeks flushing a deep crimson. “Again? God, you’re insatiable!”
Bast stalked closer to her and then climbed onto the bed. Power raced through his veins, more potent than anything he’d ever experienced. “If you’ll have me,” he said huskily.
She would. Without a doubt in his mind, he knew she would.
Alice ran a hand through those untamed curls before leaning into the mountain of pillows behind her. The look in her eyes was welcoming, the slight part of her lips beckoning. She crooked a finger at him, and Bast answered the call.