Black Blood (Series of Blood Book 4) by Emma Hamm (scary books to read .TXT) 📕

before she let me hug her. It’s ridiculous! You women make no sense.”

“We really don’t.”

She settled onto her knees and cupped his foot in her hands, running her fingers as gently as possible over the wounds. Black slicked her hands faster than she expected.

“Ow!”

“You have more than one piece of glass stuck in your foot.”

“Does the number really matter? I’m hurt!”

“And you’re a bear when you’re hurt,” she muttered. “Hold still.”

“I don’t want to.” He tried to jerk his foot out of her grasp, but her hands held him firmly in place.

“Stop moving.”

“No, you’re hurting me.”

“You’re already hurt, I can’t make it worse.”

“You can dig it into my foot so far we can’t get it out! Let go, Lydia!”

“Pitch, for god’s sake!” She slapped his calf. “Stop moving you giant baby and let me help you!”

He huffed out a breath, but stilled in her hands.

“Men,” she muttered. “You’re big and strong until you get hurt, and then it’s all downhill from there. What did you do, grind your foot into shards of glass to prove your masculinity?”

“Actually, I was standing in said glass while a Siren cried on my shoulder.”

“Oh.” Lydia furrowed her brows, wiggling out each piece of glass she could feel. “That’s actually very sweet of you. How is she?”

“She’s been better.”

“I’m not surprised by that, she’s been going through a lot.”

It was strange to talk about them as though she knew them. In Lydia’s mind, she did. Whenever Pitch wasn’t here, she walked down their past and present lines. Lydia liked to see what they were doing. She liked to listen to their stories, to sit on the couch with them and laugh as they drank beer and reminisced of old battles.

They were a tight knit group, something she missed very much. They reminded her of her friends. The laughter they shared, the support, the love even when they were poking fun at each other.

She couldn’t have that now. There was too much to do, but she could at least linger in the shadows. It made her feel as though she was part of something and not just the puppeteer pulling the strings.

“It’s kind of you to look after them,” she said. “Not many people would do that. They’re capable of finding each other without our interference.”

“But not soon enough to change the timeline.”

“We don’t know that. I can’t see that far into my future.”

“No, but we have a hunch.” His toes wiggled in her grasp.

“Stop moving, Pitch. I’m just saying, it’s good of you to spend so much time with them. Even if they don’t appreciate it, I see what you’ve done for them.”

Her concentration poured into searching out the tiniest specks of glass, so she started when he touched the top of her head. His fingers traced the outline of her horns, gliding down their smooth length to stroke her soft white hair.

“You are too good for me.”

“You keep telling me that and I’m going to believe it,” she murmured. “Ah hah!”

She pulled out the last tiny piece of glass and tossed it to the floor. Her fingers stuck together as the blood dried, black smears staining her leggings. A pair of leggings was nothing compared to the satisfaction of knowing she had helped in some way.

“Did you get it all?” he asked.

“I think so.” She cupped her hand over his foot once more, stretching her mind to sense any foreign objects inside him. Another spark of knowledge peered through the folds of her mind. Something about heat.

Not heat like a desert. A soft heat. The flutter of emotion when a butterfly kiss was received. The feeling of warmth when he looked at her with his lips quirked to the side.

She trailed her finger down the arch of his foot. Black blood disappeared, leaving in its wake smooth, unmarred skin.

“Lydia?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Neither did I,” she released her hold on him. “I guess it’s just something I remembered.”

“Sil couldn’t do that.”

“Maybe she could. Or maybe she had simply seen someone else do it, or knew how to do it in practice but had never tried. I don’t know how I know these things, Pitch. I just do.”

“Sometimes you scare me, moonbeam.”

“I scare myself most days,” she said while standing. Lydia stooped to dust her knees although all she managed was to smear more blood on herself. “I’ll need to shower after this.”

“Lydia…” he paused.

She glanced at him. Or at least, she glanced at the impression of him. Her eyes had yet to return to normal. All she could see was the dangerous swirl of magic, the agitated way his shadows were stretching to taste the air.

He was at once a many-tentacled monster who held galaxies within him. A creature, otherworldly and oh so dangerous. Just the sight of him made her sigh.

“What is it, Pitch?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. What are we going to do about Lyra?”

“I thought you said we should stay away from them? Let them carve their own path?”

Lydia’s lips twisted into a wry grin. “You aren’t the only one who wants to guide our dear friends. What was she upset about anyway?”

He jumped from the edge of the piano, his feet padding silently on the wooden floors. “Oh, a man.”

“A man?”

“A man you chose a long time ago.” His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her to him.

She pressed her hands against his chest, leaning closer so she could see his expression. “Wolfgang?”

“One and the same.”

“She’s found him so soon?”

“And found herself quite enamored with him, although I don’t think she knows it yet. That debt is weighing on her shoulders so much she can’t even see her own emotions.”

“Now that sounds familiar.”

“Are you talking about me?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Lydia hid her face against his shoulder so he wouldn’t see her grin. “So she’s in love with our resident Graverobber. How intriguing.”

“Did you see that one coming?”

She didn’t want to ruin his secret. Of course she had seen them together. They were her favorite couple mostly because Wolfgang