Their Burning Touch on my Skin

Chapter 8

Emma

I want to die.

They must have given me the same serum they gave Aunty Artemisia to put my wolf to sleep.

I can hear her murmuring in the back of my head, apologising over and over again as she can’t seem to find the strength to heal me.

A feeble humming reaches my ears as Serena is playing with my hair while I’m curled up in Kai’s arms.

“It’s all going to be better soon,” he whispers into my ear, leaning his forehead against my head. “Just another bit and we will be home.”

It feels so good in his arms and I sigh as the mate bond must be easing the pain in my muscles and my bones.

His arms are wrapped so firmly around me that I can feel his body warmth enveloping me with his scent.

Making me feel so incredibly safe.

I can sense his wolf reaching out to mine desperately, wanting to help her feel better.

Opening my eyes, I see the landscape passing by the windows. My eyes focus on the fast movements of a shadow and I realise that it must be Ace who chose not to ride with us but run after the car in his wolf form.

A flashback passes through my mind and I clench my eyes closed as I feel the cold blade of a scalpel cutting into my skin. The feeling of the blood running down my leg makes me flinch, and I whimper as I try to shake the uncomfortable sensation off me.

“I got you!” Kai says, hugging me closer to keep me from falling out of his hold. “Everything is going to be alright now. I’m so sorry you had to go through this.”

It’s strange that I hear his words loud and clear while I know that Serena is talking but I can’t understand a word she is saying. At first, I thought that it was because she was sobbing, but I soon understood that even if there is sadness in her voice, my mind is the one that is fogging up her words.

I concentrate on the words Kai continues to whisper against my head, his warm breath tickling me pleasantly while I fight the bile rising in my throat because of my stomach turning.

A strange acerbity invades my mouth, and I guess it’s my brain replaying the moment when they injected me with a solution and I had the impression I could taste it on my tongue.

“I’m cold,” I whisper while shaking, and Kai reacts immediately, throwing his jacket over me.

He caresses my arm and leg as he wraps me in the fabric as well as possible. “We will be home soon. Don’t worry.”

“I’m so cold,” I repeat, and it seems to be the only thing I manage to say.

But that’s not what I would want to say.

There are a thousand thoughts swirling in my mind.

And still, all my body can muster is to tell the man who is giving his everything to bring me home as comfortably as possible that I’m cold.

How much I hate this.

My heart breaks as I sense him panicking as he is always calm, he never panics.

He starts rubbing my legs and my arms, hugging me closer as he tries to warm me up. “I can’t risk to set you on fire, babe. I’m not in the condition to focus on keeping my ability in check. Please forgive me.”

I tremble in his arms, hating the fact that all I can do is repeat that I am feeling cold instead of being able to calm him down.

Serena’s voice disrupts my brain fog again, without getting her words through to me.

“It’s okay, Serena,” Kai’s calm voice says. “Don’t worry. As soon as we are home, she will feel better. And I can keep her warm properly.”

I guess she wanted to help.

I sigh exhaustedly as I let myself fall into my fog again, trying to make my brain stop hurting.

He pulls at the jacket covering my frozen body, repositioning me in his arms. “Just another bit. We will be home in a minute.”

Reopening my eyes, I follow the shadowy figure again, noticing that we must be going faster.

It doesn’t take much longer until we halt abruptly, and Kai gets out of the car without letting go even an inch of me.

“Oh, Goddess, what happened?” I hear someone ask, but my brain is too tired to catch up on who it is.

He seems to ignore everyone on his path, never stopping, not even for a split second. “I got it. I got it. I just have to find a way to keep her warm.”

I don’t know who he is saying this to as it seems more that he is rambling it to himself.

But he is cute.

All panicky. I have never seen him in a panic.

My brain keeps tripping like an old vinyl as I hear the preoccupied voice of the woman again.

Maybe it’s Aunty Artemisia?

Oh, no. I should tell him that she can’t see me like this.

I don’t want her to know that all she worked for and that all the sacrifices she made were for nothing.

I whimper, lifting my head to look at him. “Kai…”

My voice dies in my throat as he looks at me shortly before concentrating on the steps he takes. “It’s alright. Just another bit, my love.”

Leaning my head back against his chest, I close my eyes while listening to his racing heartbeat.

He is getting panicky again.

And I hate it.

Different scents reach my nose, and I guess that we are in the pack house now, making me push out a breath of relief.

He runs up another set of stairs, my head turning even if I clench my eyes tighter.

Bursting through a set of heavy doors, he marches into a floor that isn’t mine. I can recognize this by the perfume hanging in the air.

He must have brought me into his quarters, and if I had any life left in me, my heart would surely skip a beat.

“I’ll warm you up right away. Just stay with me,” he urges, his distressed voice feeling alien to me. “I got you. I got you.”

I got you.

He continues to repeat it over and over again while he hurries through his bedroom and enters his bathroom.

Without letting go of me, he steps into the shower and activates the stream of the rain shower.

I gasp as the hot water hits me, streaming onto my frozen skin, reactivating my nerves again.

Sobbing, I grab his shirt and he wraps his arms tighter around me to not have me slip out of his hold. He kisses my head, his lips only stopping reciting encouraging and sweet phrases to kiss my hair.

I would like to tell him that he has to leave me alone in this.

That he doesn’t deserve to drench himself beneath a hot stream of water just because I am weak.

Not strong like his mother who keeps taking every hit with a smile.

Without burdening her mates.

“Is it better already?” Kai asks me as my sobs die down more and more. “Is it hot enough?”

My fingers claw into his shirt, pulling the wet material against my face. The stream of water still hits us fully, making droplets drip down our faces.

Slowly, I can move increasingly more, and my tongue darts out to catch a drop on my lip.

His hands move up and down my back, the sparks finally kicking in again, my head feeling less dizzy.

“I’m so sorry,” I finally say, making him push out a breath.

By squeezing me against his chest, he makes me feel like he is breaking all the bones in my upper body, but I don’t care.

It feels good.

“You have to stop feeling sorry, Emma,” he breathes out as he leans his head on mine. “Especially when you just saved a life by nearly giving away yours.”