“Don’t touch me.”
“Please little one, we need to go. I will explain later.” He smiled reassuringly at her but she continued to stare at him, her face pale with fright and blood loss.
Nicholas had circled around until he was behind her and she was trapped between them. Her body trembled and swayed like a frightened deer, and she understood that she was dangerously close to fainting once again.
“No.” She moaned as Nicholas and James closed in on her.
“It’s okay little one.” James said softly. Her eyes rolled up in her head and he caught her neatly as she collapsed.
“Gods – the girl can’t catch a break.” Nicholas muttered as James shifted the woman in his arms.
“We have to keep moving.” James started forward and Nicholas held up his hand.
“Wait brother. You cannot carry her like that the entire way. You’re strong but your arms will tire eventually.”
“What do you propose we do then?”
Nicholas stared thoughtfully at him for a moment before rummaging through one of the bags. He pulled out a length of rope. “We’ll lash her to you. It will save your arms and help her heal faster.”
He paused. “How do you feel? She’s been uh – sucking a lot of your power for nearly a day.”
James shrugged. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m a little tired but sleeping tonight will help.”
“Not if you’re still trying to heal her, it won’t.” Nicholas argued.
James scowled at him. “I said I was fine Nicky. She’s little. It won’t take long to heal her.”
Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Not if we can’t keep her from being injured for longer than a few hours at a time.”
“Enough. The sooner we get moving, the better. Lash her to me.”
Nicholas picked up the blanket from the ground, it was dirty and bits of leaves were stuck to it, and shook it briskly. “Do we undress her?”
James hesitated. “Yes. It’ll work better that way.”
Nicholas reached for her shirt and James knocked his hand away. “Turn around Nicky. She doesn’t need both of us seeing her naked.”
Nicholas turned away and James slipped his arm under her shirt and held her around the waist. He used his other hand to tug the shirt from her pale body. Her side was oozing blood again, and the blood the vampire had taken from her had left her even paler than usual and cold to the touch.
He turned her until she was facing him, and held her against his broad naked chest like he would hold a small child. Her legs dangled limply as he kept his arm firmly around her waist.
“The blanket.” He grunted. Nicholas held it out without turning and he draped it over her body, tucking it in around her sides and under her ass.
“Okay.”
Without speaking, Nicholas worked quickly to wrap the rope around Bree’s blanket-covered body. With James’ help, he raised her legs around his waist and wound the rope around them until they were held firmly against James’ narrow waist, and then wrapped the rope around both hers and his brother’s upper body until they were lashed together. He tied the two ends together in a knot at the small of her back and stepped back to admire his handiwork.
“How’s that?”
Cautiously, James dropped his hands. Bree’s body stayed firmly against his and James grunted. “That’s good.”
Nicholas eyed his brother’s naked upper body. “You want me to try and wrap the blanket around you as well?”
James shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
Tia whimpered quietly as Nicholas hooked both bags around his body, and he scooped the small dog up and deposited her into one of the bags. Her head poked out of the top of the bag, and she peered around curiously as Nicholas petted her head. “Let’s go fuzzbutt.”
Chapter 4
She was naked again and pressed up against him as intimately as a lover. She kept her eyes closed, feeling the gentle sway of his body against hers as he walked briskly. Her small breasts rubbed against his chest, and she was embarrassed to realize that her nipples were hard.
“How are you feeling Bree?”
She thought about pretending to be asleep but abandoned the idea quickly. He knew she was awake. She tried to move her legs but they wouldn’t budge from around his waist. She opened her eyes. Rope crisscrossed her legs and she wiggled her entire body experimentally. More rope was across her blanket-covered back, and they were so tight she couldn’t push her body away from his.
“Why am I naked?” She asked.
“Skin-on-skin contact helps heal you faster.”