“No. These men came for me.” He loosened his embrace only to cup her face and take her mouth in a kiss raw and possessive, before stepping back. “I need to transport them.”
Gaining strength from the sheer, physical life of him, his skin gleaming with sweat and his scent hotly masculine, she said, “Don’t forget the syringe.” She’d made a note of where it had dropped, now pointed it out. “We need to know what was in it.”
Vasic picked it up. “This won’t take long.”
She changed while he removed the three strangers from the apartment. “You need a medic,” she said when he returned, the vise around her lungs having tightened again in the short time he’d been gone from her sight.
Delaying only long enough to pull on a T-shirt and jacket, Vasic said, “Rabbit first,” and teleported them to the veterinarian who was working on their pet. Watching the vet through the window of the sterilized operating suite, she bit down on her trembling lower lip. “Did Rabbit try to help you?”
“He did help me.” Vasic wrapped his arms around her from behind. “He bit one of the attackers just before the man would’ve landed a disabling blow.”
“That’s Rabbit.” Pride unfurled in her, but that wasn’t the emotion that held her hostage. No, it was bone-numbing fear, because it wasn’t only Rabbit she’d almost lost. Turning, she pushed Vasic away and made him take off his jacket and T-shirt so she could examine his injuries.
Cuts and bruises marred his upper body, his beautiful face bleeding and his breath coming in a way that told her he had broken ribs. Violent protectiveness eclipsed the fear. “Medic. Now.”
“You need to be with Rabbit,” he said, as if that ended the discussion.
It didn’t. “Do you think I’m a mess at the moment?” she said. “What do you think will happen to me if one of those broken ribs goes through your lung?” Fingers trembling, she touched them to his chest. “Please, let’s go.” Rabbit wouldn’t hold it against her, and she’d make sure to be here when their pet woke.
Vasic closed his hand over her own, his eyes going to the window into the operating suite. “We shouldn’t leave him alone.”
A shaky smile curved over her lips as she realized Vasic wasn’t only worried about her, but about Rabbit. Their stubborn dog had wormed his way into the heart of this tough, dangerous Arrow. “Then,” she said, “why don’t you ’port a medic here?”
Vasic disappeared on the next breath, to return with an M-Psy who held what looked like a serious medical kit. Of course, he first made the slender brunette check Ivy. She acquiesced rather than further delay his treatment, and the M-Psy was able to deal with her bruised side in minutes.
“Now, you,” Ivy ordered, completely out of patience.
Sitting down in an empty examination room meant for animals, he allowed the M-Psy to knit his broken ribs back together, the work painstaking. Ivy went between the room and the observation window of the operating suite, keeping Vasic updated on Rabbit’s progress.
It was a half hour into it that she realized the veterinarian was doing much the same thing to Rabbit that the M-Psy was doing to Vasic. Her Arrow had brought their dog to a top veterinary surgeon, someone who probably worked on Thoroughbred horses and other animals worth millions.
If she hadn’t already been utterly, madly, absolutely in love with Vasic, she would’ve fallen right then and there. Fighting the urge to throw herself into his arms, she watched the M-Psy shape her hands over his ribs as she worked. The woman, who had the ability to see internal injuries without technological help, was wearing complex medical “gloves” that directed energy into Vasic, stimulating his cells into repair mode.
Ivy folded her arms over her chest. You couldn’t find a male medic?
Vasic’s eyes warmed, and it was a punch to the solar plexus, that hint of a smile. Is she female? I didn’t notice.
Good, she said, utterly undone by him. Continue not to notice.
As it was, Rabbit was out of surgery first.
“He’s going to be a little slow for a few days.” The vet gave her a disposable datapad with instructions on how often Rabbit should be given pain medication as well as the food he should eat. “However, I’ve made sure there’ll be no long-term repercussions.”
“Thank you,” Ivy said, her hand on Rabbit’s warm body as her and Vasic’s pet rested in a drug-induced sleep.
Acknowledging her thanks with a nod, the vet looked over at where Vasic was being treated. “I did owe him a favor, but I never expected him to redeem it to save the life of a dog.”
Ivy smiled at Vasic from across the room but kept her silence. In fact, they didn’t speak again until the medic working on him pronounced him fit for duty, and they returned to the apartment with Rabbit. An apartment that was smashed up and bloody in the living area. Ignoring that, Vasic carried Rabbit to his sleeping basket and placed him on the pillow shaped to their pet’s body.
“He’ll be all right?” Vasic asked when she hunkered down beside him to stroke Rabbit.
Ivy spun into his arms in response.
Almost unbalancing in his crouched position, Vasic locked his arms around her. “Ivy?”
“You were so hurt,” she whispered.
Vasic nuzzled her temple. “I wasn’t critically injured.” He’d survived far worse.
Pushing back as suddenly as she’d come into his arms, Ivy said, “I need to see you’re okay. Take off your clothes.” She pushed at the sides of his jacket. “Off.”
Not arguing, he got to his feet with her and shrugged off the jacket, then peeled off his T-shirt while kicking off the boots he’d slammed his feet into at the first sign of intruders. A bare chest was one thing—bare feet could be a serious liability against booted opponents.
Ivy dragged him in front of the blinds. Cracking the slats enough to let in a little more sunlight without exposing the two of them, she ran her hands over every inch of his chest with careful delicacy. To his body, each touch was a petting caress—but he could tell from her expression that she was only concerned about lingering injuries.
When she went around to check his back, he stayed in place.
“Were your legs hurt?”
“A few bruises from kicks, nothing more.” He hadn’t bothered to have the M-Psy treat those, since they weren’t disabling and would disappear on their own soon enough.
“I need to see.” Ivy dropped her hand to the top button of his jeans.
Closing his fingers over her own, he shook his head. “They’re only bruises.” He had endless self-control . . . except when it came to Ivy. Already, his body was reacting, his penis erect despite the fact he knew she hadn’t meant her touch to be arousing.
Ivy’s lashes lowered to throw soft shadows against her skin, a blush heating her cheeks . . . before she shook off his hands. “I need to see,” she whispered again, and this time, her tone was husky.
He held as still as he could as she undid the button, but his stomach flexed at the featherlight brush of her knuckles, over two decades of training alone allowing him to stand there without taking her to the carpet. What he couldn’t do, however, was keep from touching her. Raising one hand, he threaded his fingers through the soft black of her curls, took hold.
Her breath caught, her lips parting.
And Vasic suddenly understood why he so often saw changelings nipping at the lips of their mates when they kissed, playful smiles on their mouths. Leaning forward, he did the same. Ivy’s gasp was quiet, her fingers tucked into his waistband . . . and her body straining up toward him when he began to move away.
Vasic had woken three hours before the attack this morning, but rather than leave Ivy, he’d stayed in bed and spent the time reviewing the material Judd had sent him. Now he realized the other man had been right; he didn’t really need it. All he had to do was listen—to what Ivy said and, especially, to what she didn’t.
Closing the small distance between them, he bit down on her plump lower lip again, the pressure gentle but firm. Then he tugged at her flesh to test if she enjoyed the sensation, because he did. He particularly enjoyed it when she rolled up on her toes, her knuckles pressing into his abdomen.