Elijah by Jacquelyn Frank

seemed to hurt. And she had no idea why. After a moment he gave up on keeping her tears out of her hair and, with a strong tug on her captive hand, he drew her up into a comforting embrace. He pressed his hand to the back of her head, holding her face in the curve of his neck, her cheek pillowed on one broad shoulder. She felt his hand move over her back, rubbing gently, soothingly, in one direction only.
    How did he know that it would be the most comforting way to touch her? Like a cat who could Page 32

    only bear its fur being stroked in a single direction, she was filled with a powerful sense of comfort and relaxation. She felt the change flushing through her as he petted her so perfectly.
    “Siena, listen to me,” he said softly. “You are done here. Your duty to my King is done. Come dark, I will leave this place and return home. You will not see me again. I swear to you…”
    “No. You are not yet well enough,” she protested, pulling back to look directly in his eyes. “I committed myself to your care and I will see it through. I…I am just…” Siena shook her head, unable to find words as she pushed away the last remnants of her weak tears.
    “You have to realize what’s behind all of this,” he urged her quietly, touching fingers to her chin to lift up her eyes. “Samhain is only a week away. Your species is as afflicted by it as mine is.
    Demons are cursed by the moon of this month to desire nothing more than to mate, however misdirected it may be, with any beautiful humanoid that catches their eye.”
    Elijah took a deep breath, looking away from her golden eyes and the liquid lure within them that still tempted him. As much as he was forcing himself to believe his own explanation, he couldn’t escape the haunting feeling in the center of his gut that whispered with sinister amusement that there was far more to it than that.
    “Yes,” Siena agreed, latching on to the explanation with gratitude. “Yes, you are right. I had forgotten about how it affects your kind. The effect is not the same for my people. Not exactly.
    But our animal sides become very dominant during this time. Instincts such as mating are so overwhelming that…that they disrupt normal good judgment.”
    “Then you understand that, if I don’t leave, this will potentially happen again?” he asked.
    “Perhaps. Perhaps not now that we are aware of it. Regardless of this…this trouble, you cannot leave. I know enough about Demons to know that you cannot shift form while you are this badly injured without risking your life. I will not have you ruining all my hard-won efforts to mend you.”
    Feeling relieved and exhausted all at once, Siena rested back into the pillows of the bed, ignoring the urge to rub her cheek over the pillow so heavily scented with him.
    Elijah could see she was ill, despite the fact that she was still trying to act like his nurse. Her dash into the bright fall sun, none of it blocked by the bared branches of the autumn trees, had done significant damage. The Lycanthropes called it sun poisoning. He had seen it up close before, and the effects were unmistakable. She was pale, her skin faded from its usual golden luster, and her usually springy hair hung limply around her.
    “You’re bleeding again,” she murmured, reaching to touch the bandage over his chest wound.
    “The water disturbed the bandage’s seal.”
    “It will dry. Don’t worry about it.” Elijah reached to take her hand from him but found he was unable to release it once he had it in his palm again.
    He forced himself to let her go by standing up and walking out of the room. He returned shortly with a cup of water, but she had fallen asleep during the time it had taken. He sat back down on the opposite side of the mattress, exhaling long and slow. He turned the cup around in his hands, an idle occupation as he tried to settle his thoughts.
    Siena might not know it, but Elijah had broken several laws the moment he had laid hands on her.