MATED TO SERIES COLLECTION

16. LUCAS: ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

"You're not going to tell me about her, are you?"

My fingers twitched at my sides as the man continued to question me about Ariana. I watched him with hawk eyes as he mixed things into a bowl on his work station. He hesitated before he grabbed a few leaves from a bag in the fridge.

"Pretty little thing," he muttered. "Ain't ever seen anybody with such pale skin and vivid hair."

"What are the leaves for?"

Spike raised his head and watched me from above the ridiculous glasses he wore.

"To put on her wounds with this paste." He placed a bowl near the leaves and tapped on the rim of it. "Those cat-shifters use it."

Cat-shifters? My brows dipped into a frown. There were other shape-shifters out there? Of course there were but Mother never mentioned them. Then again, maybe she never knew about them.

"How much does she weigh?"

I shrugged.

"Inject her with this every few hours to speed up the healing." He continued to give me instructions as he grabbed syringes and alcohol wipes. Everything was placed on a tray and then handed over to me.

With a nod I carried the tray into the small bedroom that had been built near the back of the basement.

Spike's...lair was in the basement of an ordinary restaurant located in the middle of town. I'd only been in it a few times after my mother's death. She used to visit Spike regularly to pick up medicine—something she claimed would make me stronger but all it ever did was make me puke my guts out an hour after it was injected into my veins.

For a few months after she died I continued to take it until that one time when my stepfather beat the shit out of me and I missed a few doses. It worried me until I realized how much better I felt without taking it.

"Make sure to clean the wounds properly before applying the paste," Spike called.

I glanced at him over my shoulder. "I'm sure that I don't have to tell you how important it is for nobody to know that we are here."

Spike held up a hand. "Of course I know."

I entered the room without replying and kicked the door shut behind me. Ariana was exactly where I'd left her. She'd passed out the moment I pulled the wire from her skin and hadn't woken up since.

Spike's place was the safest for us now even though I knew that Ariana needed proper medical care. I was just going to do my best to take care of her.

***

"I'm going to hell."

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop my eyes from taking in Ariana's body as I removed the borrowed clothes. She was pale everywhere and the red hair on her head was definitely her natural hair colour.

Ariana's hips were slightly wider than her sister's. Or it only looked that way because of her tiny waist.

What really bothered me was the fact that I could easily count each of her ribs. Her skin was stretched tightly over her hipbones too.

I should've paid more attention to her weight that day when she passed out. Shaking my head, I carefully picked her up and stepped over the rim of the bathtub.

Her head rolled against my shoulder as I sat down and repositioned her between my legs. I flinched when my hand accidentally brushed her nipple. My cock jerked too and slowly hardened which made me feel so much worse.

Ariana was unconscious but it didn't stop my eager eyes from taking in every inch of her bared body and my body from reacting to the sight.