7. Chapter 7 （Nickur）

CHAPTER 7 (NICKUR)

I heard the lady stomping around in the woods and figured she was drunk, since she kept yelling at imaginary people. Although I called out to her several times, she didn’t answer. When she started crying, I headed out to see if I could help.

As soon as I touch her, I realize she’s hypothermic. Her body temperature is very low, and her teeth chatter so loudly, I’m amazed I didn’t hear that, as well as her shouting, from back at the cabin.

I try to ask her why she’s wandering around in the middle of the forest in wet clothes, but she keeps crying and wiping snot all over my shirt. Her obvious distress wakes something deep inside me, and I do my best to soothe her. Rubbing her back and stroking her hair seem to calm her so I do that and tell her everything will be alright.

“I’ll fix everything. I’ll take care of you,” I promise, not understanding how to do either. But she’s so distraught, I’d say anything to soothe her. In my heart, something clicks, some sort of vow that I really will do anything to make things better for her.

Her grip around my waist is so strong I take a while to break it in a way that doesn’t hurt her.

When I do, she shouts she wants her comfy, warm boulder back. And then she faints.

I lift her into my arms, and nothing has ever felt as right as holding this woman against my chest. My heart beats loudly as I carry her back to the cabin.

By the time we get there, she’s mumbling about evil spirits, and somebody called Johnny. If he’s her boyfriend, I’d like to know why he left her cold and wet in the middle of the night. She should break up with him. She should be with me instead.

Shaking my head at the weird thought, I enter the cabin and head for the bedroom. I’ve never reacted this way to a woman before. Maybe it has something to do with her magic. I can feel power surrounding her and it speaks to mine. Rae’s energy feels similar, but this is so much stronger. This woman must be a water creature of some sort, or maybe her power rules other water fae. That should make me cautious, but somehow I know she hasn’t spelled me. Something primal inside recognizes we belong together. Or maybe it’s just my damned curse playing another trick on me.

I lay the woman on my bed and try to be a gentleman, but she has to lose those wet clothes. Averting my eyes as much as I can while stripping them, I ignore the tempting glimpses of silky skin and rose-colored nipples. Ogling an unconscious woman is unforgivable, and I remind myself that she needs my help.

The T-shirt I dress her in swallows her whole and reaches halfway down her thighs. I cover her feet with wool socks and then put her to bed under several blankets. Her teeth stop chattering, but she keeps muttering about her velvet-covered warm boulder. When she mumbles it has gigantic hands and a nice voice, I figure out that I am the big fuzzy bolder.

With a smile, I stoke the fire in the pot-bellied stove and settle down in a chair to watch over her.

The next morning, her body temperature is higher, but she’s still not fully conscious. I coax her into taking some Tylenol to stave off fever. An infection when the immune system is compromised could mean disaster. For the first time, I’m glad that Rae gave me the emergency communication device. I eye it and consider texting her, but decide to wait and see a little longer. Rae lives a day’s drive away. I don’t want to her to make an unnecessary journey just because I’m panicked about how much I care about this woman, who is a stranger and shouldn’t cause this kind of response from me. It must be the curse finding another way of torturing me.

Throughout the day, in between doing the tasks on my list, I feed her broth and hot drinks and make her take more Tylenol. When she’s still not feverish by dinnertime, I take a big breath of relief. Hopefully, she’ll wake up soon.

I’ve just put away the dishes after my evening meal and when I turn around to find the most gorgeous hazel eyes watching me from the bed. My cabin is small enough to where you can see everything from everywhere, including straight into the bedroom. Messy raven-black hair frames her pale heart-shaped face and she’s so beautiful, all I can do is stare.

She clears her throat. “Who are you?” Looking around the room, she continues with, “Where am I?”

“I’m your warm velvet-covered boulder and this is my home.”

A frown mars her forehead and then understanding lights up her eyes. A blush crawls up her neck and colors her cheeks a pretty pink. “Oh, shit. That wasn’t a dream? I really went all hysterical and cry all over you?”

“I’ve got the snot-stains on my shirt to prove it.” Her blush deepens, and she looks away. I regret my glib words and approach the bed. She scoots away from me and I stop. Raising my palms, I say, “I’ll never hurt you, I promise.” Something in my tone must convince her, because she nods and her shoulders relax. Walking more slowly, I take the last few steps across the small cabin and crouch by the bed. “You’re safe here.”

She nods again. “How long have I’ve been here?”

“I found you last night.” She has large bruises on her arms. With careful movements, I pick up her hand and pull to straighten her arm. Blemishes cover her skin. “Who hurt you?” My voice sounds like a growl.

She flinches and pulls her hand out of my grip. “Where exactly am I? I mean, where is this cabin?”

I want to grab her hand again. The skin-to-skin contact calmed me. But I don’t want to scare her any more than she already is. “You’re about six miles away from Sunrise, as the crow flies.”

She smiles. “And if I can’t fly?”

“Depending on how strong of a hiker you are, anything from a few hours to most of the day.” Considering how pale she still is and how little she’s eaten in the last twenty-four hours, I doubt she’d make it more than a few steps down the trail. But there’s no reason to make her feel worse about the situation than she already does. And she’s alone in a cabin with a male stranger. It doesn’t take a genius to understand her discomfort.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to do much hiking today. Do you have an ATV?” She avoids my gaze. Who is she running from? This Johnny character? Is he the one who hurt her?

I stand and sit down in the chair across the room from the bed so I don’t crowd her anymore. “I don’t,” I say in answer to her question. “The trail to this cabin is a single track for most of the way. ATVs are too wide to fit.” A dirt bike could make it, but I don’t feel like discussing how much I hate the sound and smell of gasoline engines in my forest. Rae says you can get electric bikes now that are much quieter, but I still prefer hiking up and down my mountain. Maybe I’m too set in my way, but I already feel like I have too much technology around my cabin with the solar panels, the radio, and now my satellite communications device. “Why the urgent need to get off this mountain? You need to give yourself some time to recover. Who are you running from, Min Skatt ?” The endearment slips out before I can stop it.

“What language is that?”

I pretend I don’t notice her avoiding my question. “Norwegian.” I also pretend I don’t notice her flinching as I get out of the chair and go into the kitchen to get her some fresh water. At six feet four, I’m used to taking up a lot of space and the small cabin probably makes me look even bigger than I am. I’m not used to women flinching from me, though, and I try to not let it get to me. The woman has experienced something bad, and it is only right that she’s cautious of a stranger, smart even. But I don’t have to like that she flinches away from me when something inside me calls so strongly to her. And the thought of someone hurting her awakes a rage I’ve never experienced before. It’s even bigger than what I experienced when the nixie first cursed me.

When I return with the water, the woman sits straighter in the bed, further up against the headboard. And she’s done something to her hair. It’s smoother, not so messy, and tucked behind her ears. I liked how she looked before, like she’d just woken up in my bed, but she’s still beautiful, breathtakingly so.

She thanks me for the water and then asks, “What’s your name?”

“You can call me Nick.”

That earns me a small smile. “Is that your name, or just what you want to be called?” She tilts her head.

“My name is Nickur, but my friends call me Nick.” She doesn’t need to know that I only have one friend. “For someone who avoids answering questions, you ask a lot of them yourself.” I smile to take the sting out of my words.

She blushes again and looks away, but then meets my gaze with her own hazel one. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know who to trust. And you seem like a good guy, so I don’t want to get you dragged into my mess.”

A stray hair caresses her cheek and without thinking, I reach over and tuck it behind her ear again. Something sizzles between us as my fingers touches her skin. This time she doesn’t flinch, but her pupils dilate. “I’m sorry,” blurt out, taking a step back. “I shouldn’t touch you without permission.”

“It’s okay.”

The silence stretches between us. “May I know your name?” I finally ask.

“Oh my goddess, how rude of me.” She covers her mouth and drops her hand again. “Of course. My name is Hailey.”

“Hailey,” I repeat, savoring the taste of it on my tongue. It suits her. “Rest now, Hailey. Tomorrow we’ll speak more about what troubles you. I’ll keep you safe from anything or anyone hunting you.”

She studies me for a moment, her eyes large in her pale face. “Okay,” she finally whispers and slips under the covers again.

I return to the chair, listening until her breathing evens out, and she’s asleep again. This woman, Hailey, makes me feel things I have not experienced in a hundred and fifty years. I’m not sure I know how to process what that means.