Chapter 5

Ava

I tried to hold still and not give away how nervous I was when Lucius rounded the kitchen counter. It was a struggle not to ogle his bare chest, absolutely ripped with muscle and covered by tawny skin. I had expected some old crotchety dude to live in this giant mansion after I’d limped through several painting-lined hallways, not this auburn-haired young god.

Maybe he was a little cantankerous, but I saw nothing but worry in his gold-brown eyes. His hand was warm and gentle when he picked up my sore ankle and set it in his lap. Butterflies sparked in my stomach at the feel of his skin against mine. I got a little lost in the moment, staring at his agile, powerful hands as he gently rubbed my skin and inspected my range of motion. It didn’t even hurt, I was so fixated on him.

“Nasty sprain,” he concluded, his sinfully dark voice lowered to a husky drawl. He wasn’t looking at me, well, he was, but not my face. His focus was entirely on my bare foot and the gentle way he was inspecting my injury. “Tripped over a root, did you?” he added, but I didn’t think he was asking me a question. My mouth was too dry to properly answer him anyway, and I felt at serious risk of turning into a puddle on this bar stool. I’d slide right off and lay there at his feet. Why was this guy not wearing a damn shirt? Who greeted their guest in their pajamas?

The gray sweatpants he wore outlined his firm thighs, and a bulge was visible, a very sizable bulge. No, I needed to get my thoughts under control and get a grip on my outrageous libido. The last time I’d let a sexy smile seduce me, I’d gotten into a world of trouble, trouble I still hadn’t crawled away from. I didn’t need to complicate my life further by lusting after my handsome, rich host. He didn’t want me here, I needed to remember that.

The cat meowed, and that thankfully broke the spell. I finally managed to yank my eyes away from Lucius’ sexy chest, decorated only by an odd, circular pendant dangling from a ragged leather string. He exuded all the bad boy vibes rolled into the rich billionaire type, not that I’d ever met one of those before. It was obvious that he was rich and used to getting his way. From his fancy house to the posh way he held himself, even his accent.

“This should fix it,” he said, and he pulled an odd green slab of stone from his first aid kit. I stared, because I realized it was like a see-through lens, just irregularly shaped, and I stared some more because he started to hold it over my foot. It glowed, but that could be a trick of the light. It was just baffling that he thought this would fix my bad sprain, I mean… That was some new age, woo-woo stuff, and he didn’t look the type.

I lowered my hand down my leg and started to move my foot away, but froze when an odd tingling started. It spread, turning into a silky warmth that radiated through the sore joint and took with it the pain. Like snow before the sun, the swelling melted away.

It was magic. I didn’t know why it took me by surprise after what I’d been through, but I hadn’t expected to find signs of that other world I’d been yanked into. Not here. My eyes shot up from my ankle to my handsome host, trying to figure out if he knew what he’d done, what he’d revealed. Did he think I knew about this because I’d been in a confrontation with shifters?

He wasn’t meeting my gaze, but I felt he wasn’t avoiding me because of that strange lens. His expression was gruff, but his golden eyes held a sharp focus as he perused the scratches on my arms. I held my breath when he lifted the green lens over them, staring in fascination when the marks disappeared.

That left the marks on my cheek, and a naughty streak made me not turn my head so he could reach them. I was curious to see what he’d do: if he’d touch me or maybe order me to tilt my chin… Something dark shifted behind his eyes, and for a moment it felt to me like shadows shimmered around his shoulders, huge shadows, like a pair of wings maybe.

The touch of a fingertip against my jaw was like fire sizzled from that single point of contact in a straight line to my belly. It made my nipples perk to sudden attention, and heat coiled through my abdomen. The response was so inappropriate, and it caught me completely by surprise. Worse, when our eyes met, I could tell from his expression that he knew what kind of response I was having to him.

I might have jerked away, but that look in his eyes seemed to morph into fire. His light brown, golden eyes seemed to spark with actual flames. It was he who pulled away, the odd green lens thudding as he dropped it into his weird first aid kit. I was left staring at his smooth, muscled back as he rushed around the kitchen island in an obvious retreat.

He didn’t say a word as he slammed with cabinets and plates, slapping together a big sandwich like he was trying to murder the lettuce. It still managed to look delicious, but that might be because I was so damn hungry. I’d missed dinner, and the clock over the stove told me it was almost midnight.

The plate skidded across the counter to a stop in front of me when he was done. “Eat, then sleep, and tomorrow you leave!” he barked at me. With those rudely growled words, he stalked from the kitchen with a long-legged stride. His cat yowled as he left, trotting after him, and I could catch a glimpse of him when he dipped to pick up the animal and cradle it lovingly in his arms.

Lucius had a serious case of ‘stick up the butt’ if you asked me, and that made me far too curious for my good. I was torn between eating the sandwich and chasing after him. No, it would be a really bad idea to antagonize my host. I was in enough of a pickle already, I didn’t need to chase after even more of it.

Keeping my butt planted in my seat was hard, but I managed, and after the first few bites, my desire to eat took over. It was a tasty sandwich, with fresh lettuce and tomatoes that paired well with the thick slab of ham. It might not win any beauty contest, but it was filling. I felt worlds better with my belly full and my ankle healed. Yet the mystery kept pulling on my brain, and then I found a feather.