Page 49 of The Never List
He stops in front of me, towering a good six inches over my head. Confusion flickers in his eyes. “Is there something else I’m supposed to say?”
“How about an explanation!” I’m fuming, even though I feel like I can breathe for the first time in hours. “How about—” I stop short, noticing a cut above his left eyebrow. “You’re hurt,” I whisper, concern washing over me like a wave. I reach out on instinct, grabbing his wrist as if I can hold him there. I scan him, noting a smattering of other wounds seeping through his shirt.“Goddesses,”I say, a lump in my throat. “What happened?”
He shrugs. “I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.” No wound looks too deep or too serious, but fear crackles up my spine. “Where is your bathing chamber?”
Kal points toward his room.
“Come on, then,” I say, tugging him toward the double doors on his side of the floor. “Let me clean you up.”
“It’s not your responsibility,” he says but follows me anyway, tossing his jacket on a hall table. “I can handle it myself.”
I flash him a glare over my shoulder—one that doesn’t leave room for argument. We walk through the doors, and I give myself all of fifteen seconds to survey his rooms. The walls are a soft white, the furniture a combination of luxurious crimsons with pops of blue here and there. There’s a sitting area, a study area with a desk and tons of books, and a massive sleeping area with a bed draped in red silk sheets and thick white blankets, large enough for five or more people.
I spy the bathing chamber tucked in the farthest corner of the suite and head that direction, trying my best not to ogle the bed too closely—is that a mirror positioned above it?
The bathing chamber illuminates as I enter, and I’m grateful for the magical conveniences the Legends’ wealth affords them. It certainly saves me time. I force Kal to sit on the closed toilet while I hunt for cleaning materials.
“Under the washbasin,” he says, amusement dancing in his blue eyes.
The washbasin in question is set inside a polished marble slab spanning the length of the generous space, complete with a garnet stone shower that is larger than Ivy’sflat and a tub that Layce would literally murder someone to get a dip in.
Digging through the cabinets, I find what I need and quickly drop to my knees before Kal.
I reach for the bottom of his wrecked shirt. In this light, I can see black marks splattered across the material. “Are these…burnmarks?” I ask, tugging it up and over his head.
Good goddess, the man is comprised of eons of smooth skin over rippling muscles that look flexed even though he’s justsittingthere.What does he eat to look like that?
Warmth floods me at the memory of him devouringme, and my fingers tremble as I dab a cloth with purifying balm and start to work on his wounds.
He doesn’t even flinch. “Yes,” he answers, watching me work.
“I thought your power included ‘impervious to harm’ as well as ‘incredible strength and speed,’” I say, focusing on the next wound. His skin is burned around some of the cuts, but nothing is gushing, so I think we’re in the clear. “Not to mention immortality.”
“I can be harmed,” he says.
“Obviously.”
“But it’s difficult to do,” he explains. “These people…they have numbers and are hard to predict. They also have weapons, some advanced, some not. They got lucky. And yes, I’m immortal, thanks to my mother, so I won’t die of natural causes or old age. But I can be killed. It’s hard to do but not impossible.”
I swallow the rock in my throat. “Is everyone else okay?” Apprehension claws up my body at the thought of any of them hurt worse than this.
“Jax took a wound to the shoulder,” he says. “But he’s okay. Axl and Pierce handled the one that got him.”
I grind my teeth as I finish disinfecting and prepare to bandage. Except I freeze, clenching the bandages while I watch the wound I was about to coversealitself. My eyes flick from his to his wounds and back again. They’re all sealing, even the one above his eyebrow.
I stand suddenly, taking a step back.
“I told you it wasn’t necessary,” he says.
I can’t stop scanning his chest and abdomen as if the wounds will reappear…but there’s nothing. Nothing but his glorious body, displaying all that strength. “Explain.”
“We heal faster than normal,” he says so matter-of-factly I almost laugh. “What happened tonight…” He sighs. “They have something. We’re not sure what, but it delays the process. Under normal circumstances, these would’ve healed before I got home.”
My mind whirls with the power he’s demonstrating. I knew all the Legends had powers I couldn’t fathom, but seeing it…seeing his body heal itself, it’s jarring.
My anger returns, and I focus my glare on him. “You should’ve warned me.”
