Ravens (15 page)

“We all thank you, Kendra,” Nathan
added.

“I’m glad I could help.” Kendra
swallowed, keeping her chin low and her back to the guys.

When Kendra finished her meal, she
placed her dish in the sink and washed. Julie went to the kitchen. For a girl
who just violently escaped from prison, she was full of energy.

“The guys will wash the dishes. That’s
how it works, so don’t worry about it. Here…” She handed Kendra a wide and deep
bowl filled a third of the way with hot water, along with two washcloths.

“Oh, you two are serious?”

Julie nodded.

Kendra took the bowl and small towels to
Liam’s bedroom. She thought everyone knew about the sponge bath, but no one
paid attention to her.

The men were engrossed in the debate on
television. The world government stepped in on the matter with the Ravens, and
not on their behalf. The president wanted the Ravens rounded up into internment
camps and shipped out to the terra-formed moon. He hoped most would go
voluntarily until science could prove them innocent in order to keep the
situation under control, so the public could rest and everyone could be safe,
but the Ravens knew that wouldn’t happen.

Lou scowled. “Ugh, ain’t it like the
government to always step on a man’s toes? First, they don’t let us into their
schools, or let us have decent jobs, and push us into crime, and then they say
we’re
the threat? Manipulative politics, what else can we expect from humans?”

Kendra glanced behind her at the
television broadcast and the men who watched it. The news didn’t sink in when
she entered the bedroom where Liam waited. He caught her undivided attention.
Forget politics, she faced her own troubles.

Liam sat on the edge of the bed with his
hands clasped together like a child waiting for a new present. His clean plate
rested on the nightstand with the fork in the middle. He watched Kendra when
she stepped in.

“Mind closing the door, darling?”

He grabbed onto the bottom of his
tattered and soiled, gray shirt.

Kendra froze.

He paused before pulling up his shirt.
“I’m a bit shy, love.”

Shy? Right, he was anything but. She
closed the door, went to Liam, and placed the bowl on top of the plate. She
dropped one washcloth into the clean, hot water, and tossed the other onto the
bed to Liam’s right.

He proceeded to remove his shirt,
pulling it up, revealing those unforgettable muscles. Kendra hadn’t seen his
dragon tattoo this closely before. The ink was beautiful, very fine
artisanship.

She had to remind herself she couldn’t
be attracted to the same guy Julie liked.

Liam stretched as he pulled the frayed
shirt over his head and tossed it behind Kendra on the floor by the door. He
sat upright.

Liam grinned. “Like what you see?”

Kendra rolled her eyes.

So he manipulated her for a noble cause.
She could get over that. But, Julie was obviously into him, and he
reciprocated. Yet, here he was flirting with her, and that wasn’t okay.

A surge of anger ran through Kendra as
she took the wet washcloth and wrung it. She sparked it with a tiny hint of
energy, after all she didn’t want to combine electricity with water and
electrocute him, and threw it at him, slapping him across the throat with it.

He jumped, startled. “What the—?”

Chapter Fourteen

“What was that for?” Liam complained.

He tossed the washcloth back into the
water basin and wiped the dripping water from his neck and chest, ignoring the
sting at his throat.

“That’s me restraining myself from
slapping you, jerk.” Kendra crossed her arms.

“What are you talking about, woman?”

Kendra shot an evil glare. Sure, he
still hurt from last night’s fight to protect her, but a minor sting wouldn’t
cripple his feelings, much less cripple him. He’d survive.

“I know about you and Julie,” Kendra
hissed.

“What about us?”

Kendra boiled. “She may not recognize me
yet, but she’s still my sister. How dare you mess around on her?”

“Once again,” he repeated himself with a
calm tone, “what are you talking about?”

“I know how she feels about you, and you
just shrug it off when she’s not in the room. Even if she weren’t my sister,
how dare you use me and treat her like that?”

He laughed. “Wow. You misunderstand,
darling. I treat her the same way I always have, even before passing through
the portal: like a protective older
brother
. We have friends, she’s even
dating Mark out there, but in the end, there’s really no one in this world but
the two of us. There’s no one who we completely trust more than each other, and
no one we’d kill for or die for more than each other. And she can attest to
that.”

His words floored Kendra. Her mouth
dropped, and heat rushed to her head. How mortifying!

“Julie!” Liam called out.

Julie ran into the room a moment later.
“What’s up?” Kendra randomly wondered if she could be any perkier.

“Hey, why don’t you tell Kendra who
you’re dating?”

“Okay.” She glanced at Kendra,
apparently confused by the odd request. “I’ve been with Mark for two years.”

“Who slept in your bed last night?”

Julie’s face reddened. “Mark. Why are
you asking me this? We didn’t do anything.”

“And how do you feel about me?” He
ignored her question.

“Um, you’re my brother and I love you.
What’s up with the questions?”

“Thanks, Jules.”

“Sure,” she said, and backed out of the
room, closing the door with her.

“Well?” Liam asked Kendra, waiting for
an answer.

“Oh... sorry?” She shrugged.

“I would never think of Julie like that,
and I would never hurt her. She’s really all I’ve got in this world. I would
never treat any girl like that. I’m hurt you consider me capable of being a
womanizer.”

“All right, now you’re just milking it.”
She sat down to Liam’s right as he watched her. “You’ve really protected her all
this time?”

“Like I said, she’s all I’ve got, and no
one’s taking her from me.”

“Well, thanks for taking care of her.”
Kendra looked down at the floor. What else could she say? “I don’t have much
reason to worry about her, other than the hunters?”

“Yep. But, now I’ve got to ask, darling,
were you disappointed thinking that I was playing the game, or that I was with
someone else?” He nudged her shoulder with his.

She cracked a smile, but retrieved it.

“So, you can forgive me?”

“For what?”

“Forcing you here. Do you understand why
it went down that way?”

She groaned.

“You never believed a word I said. You
wouldn’t have come willingly when the portal freaked you out. I did it for all
the right reasons.”

“I guess,” she muttered, still a bit
upset about things. But, he was right. She would never have believed any of
this.

“And now for my sponge bath, nurse?”

She rolled her eyes. Kendra leaned
around him and wrung the water from the washcloth as her body brushed against
his. He leaned toward her hair and inhaled.

Kendra pressed the washcloth against his
skin. He cringed. He must’ve been very sore, but the open wounds healed
overnight. He hadn’t lied. He did need help getting cleaned up.

She ran the warm cloth over his chest,
over the dragon and its fire, and around the waist and back. The burns from the
explosion healed, leaving only red marks that would soon disappear. 

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

“A little,” he admitted.

She wrung the washcloth, dipped it in
the water, and wrung it out again. She moved the cloth around his arms and
throat, wiping gently when it came to his face. Kendra held his jaw in her left
hand and turned it toward her. Liam leaned his face closer to hers. She kept
her focus on the cloth, but Liam kept his eyes on her. Kendra dabbed and cleaned
the cuts on his brow and forehead, trying to ignore his intense gaze. The
wounds had disappeared, only crusted blood remained.

“You took a beating,” she commented.

“Had no choice, not that I regret it.”

“You could’ve jumped.”

“And leave you? What sort of person do
you think I am? Oh wait, you think I’m a womanizer.”

She smirked. “Why did you buffer my
transformation? You must’ve known how dangerous that was.”

“I’ve seen a few people go through it,
and I remember my own. It’s painful. I didn’t want you to have to go through
that alone. I know you want to hate me, but I don’t want you in pain.”

“Well, thank you, I guess. I can’t
imagine how much worse it could’ve been because it still hurt pretty badly.”

The short growth of hair on his face
after days of not shaving was bristly. She liked how it looked, casting a
shadow on his square jaw. She absentmindedly drew her other hand to his cheek
and stroked the stubble.

All right, well, even if he was up for
grabs, she had to control herself.

Liam lifted his right hand to her face.
He traced the bruises and dried cuts on her cheek and temple. “You took a
beating, too.”

The touch of his fingers on her skin
mesmerized her. He sent tingles through her flesh, numbed her mind.

Kendra closed her lids; her hands paused
at his cheek where the washcloth touched him. She became a statue, bending only
to his commands like a work of pottery in the master potter’s hands.

She moaned, “Are you using those skills
on me? Not fair.”

The tingles didn’t cease; they pounded
into her. “Can’t stop the power, darling, it just flows through me.”

Kendra opened her eyes as he caressed
her wounds, healing them. With his other hand, he clasped her hand, which she
held frozen with the washcloth still touching his cheek, and lowered it. The
touch between their hands heated as the flow of his energy pulsated into her
fingers. Her hand trembled, and she dropped the cloth. It hit the carpet.

She dropped her hand to her lap as Liam
wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. She sighed. The contact of
his fingers beneath her shirt at the small of her back created an entry point
to her spine, a quick path to her brain. She became dizzy, euphoric, and
suddenly, she didn’t feel any pain. Her headache vanished.

Liam leaned in and, with amazing
gentleness, lightly pressed his lips to her forehead where the gash ended. His
chin touched her cheek. Aside from the initial tickle, the scratch from his
stubble was very hot.

His lips seemed more intense than his
touch as they scraped against her flesh. Her forehead tingled, and the
sensation entered through her skin and skull and went straight to her brain.
With every kiss and touch, he healed her wounds. Her cuts began to close from
the inside out.

“Does it still hurt?” he asked in a
whisper.

“No,” she rasped.

“How about this?” He moved lower to her
temple, to the wound that barely missed her eye. His lips scraped her temple
with gentleness.

“Uh huh.”

“And here?” He moved to her cheek where
the cut began, kissing her there.

“No.”

He pressed his fingers to her lower
back. She arched her chest. Liam glanced down at her parted lips. He cupped her
face with his hand as his fingers moved beneath her ear to her jaw. His thumb
caressed her lips once. Tingles radiated wherever he touched, leaving a trail
of fire. She lost herself to all the energy through skin on skin contact.

Liam licked his dry lips and glanced up
before touching his lips to hers.

If Kendra thought that his powers
through touch were brilliant, then she couldn’t have known falling prey to his
lips would’ve been this passionate.

He groaned. “Ah,
love
the
barbell.”

Kendra raised her hands to his head and
slid her fingers through his thick, tasseled locks, aware of his wounds. The
fact that she was aware and careful with him proved her feelings were not
simply because of Liam and his powers. These were her emotions, her desires,
and she was crushing on this Raven.

When she pulled Liam closer, he
tightened his arm around her, squeezed her body against his. She breathed
faster, heavier, and Liam removed his hand from her face. Both of his hands
moved across her back, beneath her shirt, and remained in contact with her
skin.

She clenched his hair as he kissed her.
He moved his right hand up her back to the nape of her neck, twining his fingers
into her tresses, cupping her head and tugging her against him.

Kendra dragged her nails down the back
of his neck and shoulders. He flinched, but apparently didn’t care enough about
the pain to stop.