Lover Avenged(150)
When it was over, he collapsed on top of her, and it was a while before he could talk.
“Ah…shit…I’m sorry, I must be heavy.”
Ehlena’s hands slid up his back. “You’re wonderful, actually.”
“I…orgasmed.”
“Yes, you did.” Her smile was in her tone. “You really did.”
“I wasn’t sure that I…could, you know. Which was why I pulled…I didn’t expect to…yeah.”
Liar. Fucking liar.
The happiness in her voice made him ill. “Well, I’m glad you did. And if it happens again, that’s great. And if not, that’s just fine. There’s no performance pressure.”
Rehv closed his eyes, his chest aching. He’d pulled back so she didn’t find out he had a barb-and because coming inside of her was a betrayal, given all the things she didn’t know about him.
As she sighed and nuzzled him, he felt like a total, complete bastard.
FORTY-FOUR
The CAT scan was no big deal. Wrath just parked it on a cold slab and kept still as this white piece of medical equipment murmured and politely coughed its way around his head.
The bitch was the wait for the results.
During the scan, Doc Jane was the only one on the other side of the glass partition, and from what he could tell she spent the whole time frowning at a computer monitor. Now that it was over, she was still doing that. Meanwhile, Beth had come in and was by his side in the small tiled room.
God only knew what Doc Jane had found.
“I’m not scared of going under the knife,” he said to his shellan. “As long as that female’s got the handle of the damn thing.”
“Would she do brain surgery?”
Good point. “I don’t know.”
He absently played with Beth’s Saturnine Ruby, rolling the heavy stone around and around.
“Do me a favor,” he whispered.
Beth’s hold tightened on his hand. “Anything. What do you need?”
“Hum the Jeopardy theme.”
There was a pause. Then Beth burst out laughing and swatted his shoulder. “Wrath-”
“Actually, take your clothes off and hum it while doing some belly grooves.” As his shellan bent down and kissed his forehead, he looked up at her through his wraparounds. “You think I’m kidding? Come on, we both need the distraction. And I promise I’ll tip well.”
“You never carry cash.”
He extended his tongue and swept it over his upper lip. “I plan on working it off.”
“You are outrageous.” Beth smiled down at him. “And I like it.”
Staring at her, he got good and afraid. What would his life be like if he were totally blind? Never seeing his shellan’s long dark hair or flashing smile was-
“Okay,” Doc Jane said as she came in. “Here’s what I know.”
Wrath tried not to scream as the ghostly doctor put her hands in the pockets of her white coat and seemed to gather her thoughts.
“I see no evidence of a tumor or a hemorrhage. But there are abnormalities in the various lobes. I haven’t looked at a CAT scan of a vampire brain before, so I have no idea what is structurally consistent within the range of ‘normality.’ I know you want only me to see it, but I can’t call this, and I’d like to have Havers review the scan. Before you say no, I’ll remind you that he’s sworn to protect your privacy. He can’t reveal-”
“Bring him in,” Wrath said.
“This won’t take long.” Doc Jane touched his shoulder and then Beth’s. “He’s right outside. I asked him to wait in case there was a problem with the equipment.”
Wrath watched the doctor go through the little monitoring room and out into the hall. A moment later, she returned with the tall, thin physician. Havers bowed to him and to Beth through the glass and then went over to the monitors.
Both of them assumed the identical pose: bent at the waist, hands in the pockets, brows down low over their eyes.
“Do they coach them to do that in medical school?” Beth said.
“Funny, I was wondering the same thing.”
Long time. Long wait. Lots of that pair on the other side of the big bay window talking and gesturing at the screen with pens. The two eventually straightened and nodded.
They came in together.
“The scan is normal,” Havers said.
Wrath exhaled so hard it was practically a wheeze. Normal. Normal was good.
Havers then asked a bunch of questions, all of which Wrath answered, none of which he was particularly aware of.
“With deference to your private physician,” Havers said, with a bow toward Doc Jane, “I would like to take some blood from your vein for analysis and perform a brief examination.”