Defying Destiny by Olivia Downing Page A

why.”
    “I don’t know,” she said testily,
    closing her shirt over her exposed chest
    and sitting up. “Let me see your back.”
    Before he could dodge her, she had pulled
    the back of his sweater down, and peered
    at the four puncture marks on the back of
    his neck. They weren’t large, but they
    were deep. “What happened?”
    “It’s nothing. My mother will tend it in
    the morning.”
    “I’ll do it,” she told him and pulled his
    sweater off over his head.
    Paths of dried blood streaked down
    the center of his back, but the wounds
    were still leaking slightly. The idea of
    lapping up his blood with her tongue held
    no appeal, so she climbed from the rug
    and went to the kitchen for a towel. She
    wet it with some water before returning to
    Nash, who was still sitting on the rug. He
    watched her over his shoulder curiously,
    as she bathed the drying blood off his skin
    with the wet towel.
    “This looks like a bite,” she said as
    she inspected the wound more closely.
    “Did one of the Wolves bite you?”
    He turned his attention to the rug in
    front of him. He didn’t answer her
    question, but sat there as if he had
    disappeared into another world. She set
    the towel aside and wrapped her arms
    around his waist, dropping a tender kiss
    near the wound.
    “Are you alright?” she asked. “Does it
    hurt?”
    He untangled her arms from around his
    waist and stood up. “I think I have
    something you can sleep in tonight,” he
    said and left the room.
    Sleep? She hadn’t thought about that.
    Where would she sleep? In his room. On
    his pallet with him. Alone? In the dark.
    Would he sleep naked, like she had found
    him that morning beneath the ancient tree?
    Would she mind if he did? When he
    returned several minutes later, she was
    sitting on the rug with her cool fingers on
    her flaming cheeks.
    “It’ll be too big and it’s kind of old,
    but it’s clean,” he said, handing her one of
    his undershirts.
    “Thank you,” she said quietly,
    accepting the shirt and looking up at him
    with thousands of questions racing through
    her mind.
    “You go on to bed,” he said. “I have
    some things I need to do before I turn in.”
    “Your bed?” she asked, her voice
    uncharacteristically squeaky.
    “I only have one bed,” he said and
    then seemed to realize their cultures were
    clashing again. “Is it unacceptable for us
    to share a bed?”
    Her face was flaming and her heart
    was pounding, but somehow she was able
    to say, “It should be okay.”
    He
    smiled,
    looking
    relieved.
    “Goodnight, Maralee.”
    She realized he was dismissing her.
    “Goodnight,” she returned morosely
    and climbed to her feet to find the bed she
    would share with him.
    He watched her as she passed him and
    caught her arm. “Is something wrong? You
    seem upset.”
    She looked up at him; his face was
    barely visible in the dim room. The lock
    of hair that covered his eye appeared
    whiter than usual, in stark contrast to the
    gloom. She stared at it, reminded of a
    shining crescent moon and then turned her
    gaze to his golden eyes.
    “I’m fine.”
    “Would you like me to clean your
    other breast for you?”
    Maralee’s eyes widened and all the
    blood in her body seemed to rush to her
    face at once. “N-no,” she denied, though
    her breasts began to ache with wanting his
    warm, moist caresses.
    “Did I say something wrong again?”
    he asked. “You seem embarrassed.”
    “I’m not embarrassed. Why would I be
    embarrassed?” Her unconcerned laugh
    sounded entirely unconvincing. If he
    noticed, he didn’t say anything.
    She pulled her arm free of his light
    grasp and continued towards his bedroom.
    Maralee opened the bedroom door and
    ducked to enter the low-ceilinged room.
    She half wanted him to follow her and
    ‘clean her other breast’ as he had put it,
    but he didn’t. She left the door cracked
    open so what little light there was in the
    house could penetrate the absolute
    darkness of the room and she