Cats in Heat by Asha King Read Free Book Online Page B

minutes later carrying a bowl of water and first aid supplies along with a hardwood mortar, the dark contents inside it smelling of herbs and spices. She knelt at his left side and he shifted forward to give her access to the wound.
    “Thank you,” he said as he turned and moved his arm so she could peel back the medical tape from his skin. He wasn’t used to kindness and had to better remember his manners. “For the clothes and the help.”
    “You can thank me by explaining some things.” She didn’t look at him, focusing instead on her work.
    He held his breath as she pulled the gauze completely off and ran her fingertips lightly over the wound.
    “Like how this happened.”
    A makeshift spear-tip, thrust in his direction; he’d missed it, too focused on fighting off the shaman’s shadowy creatures that lunged and tore at him. The shaman himself had the spear and Erik had turned too late to miss it entirely—it slashed a few inches before sinking into his skin.
    The crowd had cheered, assuming a killing blow would end him next. But adrenaline pushed him on and he leapt on the shaman, tearing claws across the man’s throat.
    But Erik had been weakened, dumped in a cell below the arena. Left to die if he didn’t recover.
    “Erik?” she pushed.
    He glanced at Addie as she leaned close, carefully cleaning then drying the wound. Inadvertently he scanned her body, his purely male reaction to her presence something almost foreign to him—it had been a long, long time since he’d been this close to a woman without her holding a knife to his throat. Addie’s eyes lifted, slightly canted like a cat’s with long lashes fanning out.
    She stole his breath for a moment, her scent and warmth enveloping him. Perhaps he died in the storm and went to heaven.
    If I believed in such a place .
    “How’d it happen?” she asked again.
    “Had a disagreement with someone,” he said.
    A wry smile curved her lips and she went back to studying the wound. She reached for the mortar and though he glimpsed the substance within it, he couldn’t identify it.
    “Are you often in disagreements with people?” she asked.
    “You could say that.”
    The stuff she’d mixed up in the mortar was warm on his skin, pleasantly heating the wound the way the bath had the rest of him. Tingles rushed through his veins, radiating from the wound.
    Perhaps he could venture questions of his own. “How’d you learn how to make that?”
    Her movements paused just briefly, a hitch before she continued putting the homemade poultice on his wound. “Old family recipe.”
    Who the hell is her family?
    He was about to ask when someone rapped on the door.
    Erik tensed, alert and wary. He hadn’t heard anyone approach—he’d been so caught up in watching her, his usual defense must’ve dropped.
    Addie froze and glanced at the door as he did. Clearly she wasn’t expecting anyone either.
    “Be careful,” he warned in a low voice as she rose.
    She said nothing, just rounded the couch and walked up to the door. She let out a breath of relief after she peered out the window, unlocked the door, and slipped outside before he could see who waited out there.
     
    ****
     
    Addie swiftly closed the door at her back and hopefully she’d sufficiently blocked Lori from seeing anything inside. Her neighbor continued smiling pleasantly, this time without her yellow parka but in a casual sleeveless tee and cropped pants.
    “Just checking in after the storm,” Lori said brightly.
    “Everything’s fine.” Addie’s hand remained on the doorknob at her back, hoping to show she hadn’t quite committed to standing out there for a lengthy conversation. The humidity of the outside weighed on her lungs.
    “Now.” Lori cocked her head to the side, permed sandy curls shaking at her shoulders. “Was that Robbie Milford’s truck I just saw passing?”
    Damn small town. “He gave me a ride home.”
    “Two days in a row.” Lori clucked her tongue.
    I hate small