Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (10 page)

Huge
everywhere
,
whispered the little voice as she noticed the bulge in
his trousers. Was Six happy to see her or was that his normal size? Because if
he was that big when he wasn’t even hard—

“Did I mistake the matter in removing my
exoskeleton?”

His deep voice made her jump and Mei-Li
realized she had been sitting there, mesmerized by his crotch. She jerked her
eyes back up to his, feeling her cheeks heat with embarrassment.

“I, um, no. No, this is much better,” she
said quickly. “Um, thanks, I guess.”

“You are welcome. Your claiming was
obviously more stressful for you than I had anticipated. If there is anything
else I can do to ease your discomfort with this situation, please tell me.”

The words,
“Take me home,”
trembled
on her lips but Mei-Li didn’t say them. Somehow she knew that particular
request wasn’t one he would be willing to grant.

“Speaking of easing your discomfort, I
must tend to your injury,” Six said. He knelt before her, in the space between the
pilot’s and the passenger’s seats. Placing the bowl of liquid and the handful
of supplies he was holding on the ground, he looked up at her. “Turn towards me
please.”

“What? No—it’s fine, really. I’ll deal
with it myself, later.” Rather than extending her wounded knee to him, Mei-Li
drew it closer to her body. Unfortunately, this caused a bolt of pain to shoot
through her leg and she gasped.

“Come, Mei-Li, let me see your injury.” He
held out a hand to her—the non-metal one—patiently. There was a little frown on
his face that told her he was prepared to wait there all day if necessary.

Reluctantly, she scooted around to face
him and extended her leg.

“All right, but it’s really fine.”

“I will be the judge of that.”

She was still wearing the skirt that went
with her dove gray suit though it was looking a lot worse for the wear right
now—in fact, her entire outfit was ripped and torn and dirty and bloodstained.
Not
that I’ll probably ever get to wear it in court again. Or go to court at all,
she
reminded herself ruefully.

Six took her left leg—the injured one—in
one hand, cradling her ankle in his large, warm palm as he bent to examine her
wound. Mei-Li looked too and was appalled by what she saw.

The wound in her knee was much deeper than
she’d at first thought. It was a gaping gash on the inside of her leg, just
above and to the side of her kneecap. It had bled a lot and streaks of gore ran
down the inside of her calf and over her ankle and the sole of her foot.

“That…looks bad,” she whispered, feeling
her stomach do a slow, forward roll. She generally didn’t mind the sight of
blood unless it was her own. But seeing the huge, ugly wound on her knee that
was still seeping crimson made her feel light-headed and ill.

Six shook his head. “Actually, you were
fortunate. If the injury had extended more to the posterior region of your
knee, you might have severed major arteries or tendons. As it is, I believe all
you need is to have this wound cleaned and some sealant applied.”

“Oh, good,” Mei-Li said, trying to sound
normal. “I can handle that—where’s the bathroom?”

He frowned. “Did I not tell you that I
would be taking care of you from now on? Please sit back and allow me to treat
you.”

“But—” Mei-Li started. A stern look from
Six made her bite her lip and stop protesting. “All right,” she said. “Though I
don’t understand why you want to do this.”

“It is necessary. And…I do not wish for
you to be in pain.” He bent to his task, dipping some kind of white sponge in
the bowl of blue liquid and running it over her knee and leg. Everywhere it
touched, the dried blood instantly disappeared—apparently absorbed by the
strange, furry sponge which began to take on its color.

Gradually, Mei-Li found herself relaxing.
She had been afraid it would sting but instead, the liquid was soothing. Also,
she couldn’t help noticing that the big Kindred’s touch was exceptionally
gentle, especially when he ran the sponge over the gash on the inside of her
knee. His hands were warm too—even the metal one, which surprised her.

He kept his gaze down, intent on the task
of cleaning her up so Mei-Li felt free to study his face. He had strong
features with a sharp, aquiline nose, a square jaw, and high cheekbones that
looked carved out of granite. His one normal eye was steel gray that seemed to
flash silver at times—he also had surprisingly long eyelashes for a guy, she
noticed. He had a thin upper lip that looked stern but his bottom lip was full.
It softened his features and made him look a little less intimidating.

All in all it was a serious face. Strong
but not cruel. Not the face of a serial killer or a sociopath, which was what
she had feared when she watched him break Randy Dungston’s bones on her front
porch. And yet, he had done exactly that with callous disregard for the suffering
he had caused. Had he really been acting for her benefit, mistakenly thinking
it would make her feel better? Was it his lack of emotions—his lack of
empathy—that had made him think she would
welcome
such a sight?

Mei-Li was inclined to think so. And yet,
the big Kindred wasn’t acting like he had no empathy now. He was sliding the
sponge gently over her leg, from the sole of her foot all the way up to her
knee and almost to her inner thigh. There was an intent look on his stern
features and his big hands had a remarkably soothing touch. For a moment she
had an impulse to reach out and run her fingers through his thick, dark brown
hair. It had always been slicked straight back to show his high forehead in her
dreams but now it was slightly rumpled which had the effect of making him look
less severe.

She was actually reaching out to him when
she realized what she was doing and drew her hand back quickly. What was wrong
with her? And why was Six acting this way?

It occurred to her that he couldn’t have been
more careful if she was a helpless baby that had suddenly been put in his care.
Was that how he saw her? As a child that needed to be protected and watched
over? Or was there something else going on here? Why was he being so careful
with her? Why did he care if she was hurt?

“Why do you care?” she whispered, speaking
her questions aloud.

“What do you mean?” Six looked up at her.

“If you have no emotions, why do you care
if I’m in pain?” Mei-Li raised an eyebrow at him.

His frown deepened. “And as I said before,
it is a Kindred instinct to heal and protect the female he is claiming.”

“That’s no answer,” she objected.
“Instinct doesn’t cover everything.”

“It does in this case.” He looked back
down, concentrating on her knee.

“But you’re being so…so gentle.” Mei-Li
supposed she ought to let it drop but she just couldn’t. “So…different from the
way you acted before.”

“You mean from when I was disabling your
attacker?”

“Disabling?” Mei-Li gave a dry little
laugh. “
Crippling
is more like it.”

“I would much rather have killed him.” He
looked up at her, meeting her eyes directly. “I
would
have killed him if
you had not objected so strongly.”

The cold way he said it made Mei-Li
swallow hard. It made a dry clicking sound in the back of her throat.

“I believe you,” she whispered. “But…could
you really kill so easily? With absolutely no feeling about it? No remorse?”

“I told you, I have no emotions. But even
if I did, I would feel no remorse for killing a male who had threatened and
hurt you.” He gestured down at her knee. “He shed your blood. If I had done as
I wished, his own would have flowed like a river until he was bled dry.”

“Ugh!” Mei-Li shivered involuntarily at
the mental image of Dungston’s blood pooling all over her front porch.
“Seriously?”

He nodded. “You are my responsibility now,
Mei-Li—mine to care for and protect. Every drop of your blood—every hair on
your head—is precious to me.” His steel gray eye flashed silver. “I will not
allow anyone to harm you again—you have my word as a Kindred and an Enhanced
One on that.”

“All right. Um…thank you.” For some reason
his words and the intense way he was looking at her made her feel breathless
and flushed.

“You are welcome.” He held her gaze for a
long time and Mei-Li wanted desperately to look away but found that she
couldn’t. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her hands were shaking so
badly she clenched them in her lap, trying to hide her trembling.

At last Six turned his attention back to
her knee. “I believe your wound is clean now. It is time to seal it.”

“Oh good. Do you have a Band-Aid?” She
looked critically down at her knee. The gash was no longer bleeding but it
still looked deep. “I guess it would have to be a pretty big one, though to
cover all that.”

He frowned. “A band-what?”

“A bandage with adhesive on it,” she
explained. “It sticks to the wound until it heals and then you peal it off.”

“So it only covers the wound and then you
have to wait for it to heal? It doesn’t actually knit the flesh together
again?”

Mei-Li shrugged. “Well…no. I mean, it’s
just a Band-Aid, not a miracle bandage or anything.”

“That sounds like a poor sort of sealant,”
Six remarked.

Mei-Li put a hand on her hip. “Well, it’s
what we have on Earth for first aid. Why, do you have something better? Some
bandage that will heal me instantly?”

“I do have something of the sort but it is
not a bandage.”

He lifted a small squeeze bottle with a
long glass nozzle which was three quarters full of purple liquid. Mei-Li
thought she understood.

“Hey, is that some kind of wound glue,
like they use in the hospital sometimes?” she asked nervously. “Like Krazy Glue
for cuts? Because I’ve heard that stuff really stings and it’s only good for
shallow cuts so if you’re going to try to—”

She stopped speaking abruptly when Six
raised the bottle to his lips and squirted a dollop of the purple liquid into
his mouth. He swished it around as though it was mouthwash and then spat a
small amount into the bowl of blue cleanser.

“What in the
world?”
Mei-Li
murmured, watching the strange display. “What are you going to—”

This time her words ended in a gasp
because Six had leaned forward, grasped her calf, and licked a long trail over
her wounded knee.

“Hey!” Mei-Li jerked her leg away
indignantly—or would have if the big Kindred hadn’t had such a firm hold on it.
As it was, all she succeeded in doing was kneeing him in the chin.

“Ow.” Six sat back, frowning, and rubbed
his jaw with his free hand. “Why did you do that?”

“What do you mean, why did I do that? You
freaking
licked
me, you big pervert!” Mei-Li pulled at her leg again.
“Let me go!”

“Not until you are healed. Which will
never be accomplished unless you hold still and let me continue.”

“Let you
continue
? Are you crazy?”

“No, I’m trying to
heal
you.” He
spoke with strained patience, as though he was talking to a not-very-bright
three year old. “Why won’t you hold still and let me?”

Mei-Li crossed her arms over her chest.
“Look, just because you ‘claimed’ me and got me up here all alone on your ship
doesn’t mean you can do anything you want. I mean, I appreciate you being sweet
and cleaning my cut but I’m not just going to jump in bed with you the first
night we’re together—or
any
night for that matter.”

His forehead furrowed in obvious
confusion. “Why would I wish us to bounce on the sleeping platform together? Is
that what you do on Earth for entertainment?”

“Bounce on the what?”

“The sleeping platform—what you call a
bed. Why should we wish to jump or bounce on the bed together?”

His words brought to mind the sleep overs
she’d had as a little girl when she and her best friend Molly had jumped on the
bed and had loud, laughing pillow fights. The idea of doing that with the huge
Kindred warrior was just ludicrous.

“You don’t get it, do you?” she said.
“When I said ‘jump into bed’ I didn’t mean it literally. It’s a way to say I
won’t, you know…” She gestured aimlessly with one hand. God, she
really
didn’t want to be discussing this with him right now.

“Oh…” His face cleared. “I understand now.
Did you think I was trying to have sexual relations with you a moment ago?”

“Well…
yes.”
Mei-Li felt her cheeks
getting hot. “Weren’t you?”

“No—I was simply trying to seal your
wound.”

“But you were
licking
me. Licking
my thigh. Well, close to my thigh, anyway.”

Six shook his head. “I understand your
confusion but it is not yet our tasting week. I was not attempting to lick you
in a sexual manner—I was simply trying to heal you.”

Tasting week? What the hell is that?
Mei-Li wanted to ask, but she needed to figure out what
was happening with the knee licking before she went off on a tangent.