Lover Unleashed - J. R. Ward [208]
His strong body shook as he held her tightly for a moment and then he backed off as if he were afraid he was injuring her.
His eyes were frantic. “Are you all right? What can I do for you? Do you need a doctor? Are you hurt—I’m asking too many questions—I’m sorry. God . . . what happened? Where did you go? Shit, I have to stop . . .”
As romantic reunions went, perhaps those were not the flowery words some females would want to hear, but to her, they meant everything in the world.
“Why ever are you here?” she whispered, putting her hands to his face.
“Because I love you.”
In so many ways, that explained nothing . . . and told her everything she needed to know.
Abruptly, she jerked her hands back. “But what about what I’ve done to your body—”
“I don’t care. We’ll work with it—figure it out—but I was wrong about you and me. I was a pussy—a coward, and I was wrong and I’m so fuck—damned sorry. Shit.” He shook his head. “I have to stop cursing. Oh, God, your robe . . .”
She glanced down and saw the black blood of the slayers she’d killed, as well as the red stain that was of her own.
“I am whole and I am well,” she said clearly. “And I love you—”
Cutting her off, he kissed her on the mouth solemnly. “Say that again. Please.”
“I love you.”
As he groaned and wrapped his arms back around her, Payne felt within her heart a great welling of warmth and gratitude, and she let the emotion carry her against him. And whilst they embraced, she looked over the shoulder of her male. Her brother was standing with his own shellan at his side.
Meeting the eyes of her twin, she read all of the questions and fears in his stare.
“I am uninjured,” she told both her male and her twin.
“What happened?” Manuel asked against her hair. “I found your phone smashed up.”
“You were looking for me?”
“Of course I was.” He inched back. “Your brother called me at dawn.”
All at once she was surrounded by people, as if some gong had gone off and called into the foyer all the males and females of the house. No doubt the commotion of her arrival had summoned them, and they had stayed in the periphery out of respect.
It was clear there were more than just two minds to put at rest.
And that made her feel as if she were a part of this family.
“I was down at the river,” she said loudly enough so that all could hear, “when I caught the scent of the enemy. Drawn to them, I traversed the alleyways and set upon two lessers.” She felt Manuel stiffen and saw her brother do likewise. “It felt good to fight—”
At this, she hesitated. Except the king nodded. And so did a powerful female with short hair—as if she, too, fought in the war and knew both the drive and the satisfaction. The Brothers, however, clearly felt uncomfortable.
She continued. “Upon me there arrived a group of males—strong backed, well-weaponed, indeed, a squadron of soldiers. The leader was very tall, with dark eyes and dark hair and a”—she put her hand to her mouth—“defect of his upper lip.”
Now the cursing started—and as it did, she wished she’d been able to use the seeing bowls on the Other Side more before she’d left. Clearly, the male she described was not unknown to them, and not welcomed in her narrative.
“He apprehended me—” There were not one, but two growls at that—from her twin and from Manuel. And as she soothed the male who stood so close to her, she looked at her brother. “He was under the misunderstanding that I had wrought a calamity upon his bloodline. He believed he was the Bloodletter’s son—and he’d been a witness to the night I brought death upon our sire. Verily, he had searched for me with vengeance for centuries.”
At this point, she stopped herself, realizing she had just admitted to patricide. No one seemed fazed, however—which spoke volumes about not only the kind of males and females these were, but also the bastard who had been her father.
“I disabused the soldier of the mis-notion he was operating under.” She left out the fact that he had struck her, and was glad the bruising on her face