Chapter 26:

I closed my eyes once more after he walked out the door, unable to keep them open any longer without threatening to redecorate his room, and I didn't think he would appreciate that one too much. I didn't know how long I had been relaxing there when I heard a soft latching sound and opened my eyes just to see Bane and Nova fly into the room. Nova instantly came up to me, curling in against my side as she rubbed her cheek against mine. 

'That looks horrible, Ari. I'm glad you went to him. Just hang on a bit longer, okay? Bane said Xavier's working on getting someone to help.' Nova said as I closed my eyes once more, and Bane closed the window before lying over my legs. 

'I know, he just left a little while ago, but it's still getting worse. I can't even stand to look around the room anymore. Everything feels like it's moving.' She made something of a soft whining sound as she lay her head against the side of my neck. 

'Just relax, Ari. He'll be back soon. I would have been back sooner for you, but we went to tell Lexi that you wouldn't be back tonight at the very least, so she wouldn't worry about you.' She whispered to me this time, and I smiled as I looked down at her for a moment. The soft moonlight sparkled off her opalescent scales as she gently shifted positions, burrowing in even closer against my side.

'Thank you, Nova. I'm sure she appreciated that.' Slowly, I reached down towards Bane, who promptly placed his head in my hand, and I gave him a slight smile as I started scratching at the scales under his chin, closing my eyes once more as I just went back to relaxing there. 

It wasn't much longer until I heard the door click open and looked up to see Xavier walk in, followed by another man that I didn't recognize. Nova sat up, instantly watching the new person closely as they came over beside me, but Bane stayed put, seemingly unfazed by the other man, causing Nova to stand down slightly. 

Xavier came over beside my head as the other man looked over my wrist for a moment before looking between Xavier and me. "Xavier Knight is turning in a favor for a student?" The other man questioned as he raised a blonde eyebrow at Xavier. 

"I said no questions, Devon," Xavier responded as he leveled a glare at the smaller man, who promptly held his hands up in a placating gesture. 

"Okay... I get it, not my place to judge and all, but you have to admit, it's not exactly in your character to care about many other people, especially a student." He glanced up at Xavier once more, bright blue eyes assessing seemingly everything about the still glaring warrior beside me, and I started to wonder just how close these two had to be for him to be that comfortable talking to Xavier like that. 

"And if it wasn't for me giving a shit about someone else's life, you wouldn't still be walking, now would you? Now, can you do something about this, or do I need to go find someone more capable?" Xavier asked in that commanding tone that he normally reserved for when he was assisting.

Devon nodded, his blonde curls falling over his face slightly as he turned to look over my arm. Xavier followed his gaze for a moment before reaching for me, giving me a soft, reassuring smile as he gently brushed his knuckles over my cheek. Closing my eyes, I leaned into his touch, reveling in the soothing tingle that seemed to radiate through my whole body from the gentle gesture. 

"I can see what I can do, but that doesn't look like just an infection," Devon whispered, but I was barely paying attention to what he was saying anymore.

I was far more focused on Xavier's touch as his hand moved from my cheek, as he trailed his fingertips up the side of my face to the towel on my forehead. He took the towel from my forehead for a moment before flipping it over and gently pressing the cool side back to my forehead. A shiver ran down my spine at the chill of the cloth, causing me to suck in a breath as the motion pulled at my wound. His hand came back then, gently cupping my cheek once more, his calloused thumb slowly brushing over my skin made me instantly focus back onto him, even as I felt Devon start to gently prod my wrist. Looking up, I saw Xavier's sharp eyes tracking every single move Devon made, but he still never pulled his hand away from me, even as I turned into him further, pressing my cheek fully into his palm as I went back to trying to relax there. 

I couldn't help the whimper of pain that fell from my lips as Devon gently ran a single finger over the wound before he winced. "It's not infected at all. Someone poisoned her. They hid the puncture wound from the needle they had used by inserting it into her wound." Devon said as he pulled back slightly to look up at Xavier once more. Nova gave a low grumble of anger at that, and Bane came over to her, carefully wrapping his large frame around her in support, but was sure not to pull her away from me. 

"Can you do something about it?" Xavier questioned in that low, hard tone, but this time I could hear a thread of urgency laced through it. 

"How long had it been since this wound was healed?" 

"About midday yesterday. Just before I came in for my shoulder." Xavier answered for me as his thumb slowly brushed over my cheek once more. Even as scared as I was at the moment, I couldn't bring myself to do anything other than to just tip my head, all but rubbing myself against his palm. I didn't care if it seemed needy or anything; the soothing quality of his touch just felt so good after being in constant pain all day. His touch was like a soothing balm to my whole being, and all I really wanted was to just burrow into him and sleep. 

"Well, then it's not a fast-acting poison, but that means it's all the more deadly because it's had time to set in now. For now, I might be able to pull enough from her system to find out what it is, but until then, the only thing we can do is treat the symptoms." I heard his shuffling footsteps and the rustle of a bag before he came back. "I'm not going to make any promises, but I'll leave you with enough herbs to treat the common symptoms through tomorrow, and that should give me enough time to figure out what we're dealing with, as long as it doesn't kill her first. I'll also put in an order that she's out of classes for the time being, but staying under my personal care. I'm assuming you want her to stay here, considering you brought me up here to her?" I looked up to see Xavier just nod his head as Devon hovered a hand over my arm as he held a glass vial in his other hand. A faint blue light emanated from his palm, warming the wound on my wrist. "Okay, then you're going to want to keep her as subdued as possible. The less she moves around, the slower it will travel through her system." He said as he capped the vial that was now filled with a glossy black liquid. Then he took a moment to carefully rebandage my wrist before Xavier walked him back out of the room. He didn't follow him out into the hall this time, though. Instead, he shut and locked the door behind the healer before turning back towards me. 

He ran a hand through his already mussed hair and down his face, taking a deep breath before coming back over to me. Kneeling beside the bed, he reached for me once more, running his knuckles over my cheek as I leaned into his touch. "He'll be back in just a few minutes with something to help." 

"You turned in a favor... for me?" I asked as I slowly opened my eyes to look him over. He looked... scared, for just a moment before covering it up with a slight grin. 

"Yes... Well, it's actually more of a life debt, but either way." 

"Why?" I couldn't help but to ask the question, my mind still wasn't willing to fully comprehend this turn that our relationship seemed to just suddenly take. I wasn't upset about it or anything like that, because I was honestly enjoying the fact that he was finally actually letting me get to know who he really is, but it still felt so different with just how quickly things had changed. It felt like that night had somehow changed everything between us, and I was still waiting for the catch. 

He took a breath, looking away from me for a moment as if searching for the right words to say. "Because believe it or not, I actually care about you, Ari. Hell, I have since the second I locked eyes on you in that courtyard. I just wasn't ready to admit it back then, and I'm sorry for ever making you think otherwise. I tried to drive you away because, as much as I wanted to do the exact opposite, I was downright terrified that they would use you against me, and I still am. Because this," he pointed between the two of us. "This is what's going to get you killed faster than anything else in this God-forsaken place. Around here, I'm nothing more than a damn guard dog, and the second you walked through those gates, I might as well have just handed them a leash myself. As long as you're under their thumb, I'm incapable of defying them in any way, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you because of my actions, and while they may not know it yet, they will soon, no matter what we do." 

He paused, taking a breath as those beautiful eyes searched mine. For what, I wasn't sure, but for the first time, those eyes weren't the hard emerald I was used to. Those normally hard eyes had softened, and I watched the emotion play through them as he finally fully let his guard down. "Ari, you may not feel this thing between us like I do, and a stronger man might have been able to drive you off and fight this, but I can't do that. I tried, but for me, this isn't just simple want or need. I crave every single damn thing about you so much that the smallest touch is enough to bring me to my fucking knees, and the worst part about it is the fact that I damn well enjoy it. Hell, I crave it more than anything else in this world or the next." 

My breath caught in my throat as he gently brushed his thumb over my cheek once more, but his words had broken off that last little piece of doubt that had resided in the pit of my stomach, and shattered it into a million pieces as I allowed myself to fully accept what he already had. This draw between us was so much more than I ever thought it was, and while he had told me before that he was done fighting this, I had never realized just how much that had meant to him. How much I meant to him. I honestly never even considered the fact that I could mean that much to anyone, let alone him.

There were no words to say to that, so instead I just reached up with my good hand, placing it over his on my cheek as I leaned into his touch. Then I moved. I didn't care that it hurt, considering I had to move my injured arm to get to him, I just needed to get to him. My good hand moved from his hand to wrap behind his neck as my lips landed on his. It definitely wasn't gentle this time. It was raw and filled with so much pent-up emotion from both of us that by the time he had pulled back, only long enough to move to where he was leaning over me, we were both panting for breath.