She giggled quietly and then sighed as she disentangled herself from his grasp and rose from the tub. He helped her out and watched with growing excitement as she snatched a towel and slowly began to rub herself dry. It was so damn sensual he itched to pull her back in with him for another go. But one look at her face halted any further thought in that direction. Dark circles lined her eyes and her skin was drawn with exhaustion.
“Aren’t you coming out?” she asked as she wrapped the towel around her body, blocking his view of her exquisite curves.
He ran his hand through his hair and grimaced. “I still stink. I’m just going to wash up a bit, then I’ll come.”
Morgan wrinkled her nose before walking out of the bathroom. “Okay, but don’t take too long. I can’t sleep well without you holding me,” she said from the bedroom.
He smiled at her words, loving the feeling of protective pride they brought on. Only he could soothe her, pleasure her. Only he was meant to touch her, make love to her. She belonged to Cal and he’d be damned if Lazarus thought he actually had a claim.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Calling Home
The next four days proceeded in much the same way. I would wake up in Cal’s strong arms, we would start the day by making love, then we would train. Hard. And once my muscles were mushy and my brain crying for more sleep, we would eat a big dinner, shower and make love again. It was a nice way to bookend the day, in my opinion.
Every time we made love, I felt more and more at peace. New fighting techniques flittered into my brain, more powerful magic symbols revealed themselves. Everything Cal had spent his life training to do, everything he had learned was slowly entering my conscious mind and awakening muscle memory I didn’t know I had.
I’d even mastered stabbing Norman. For two days straight now, I had repeatedly hit the sweet spot dead on, killing the taxidermied beast and feeling more and more confident that I would be able to do it for real when the time came.
In two days.
I was trying not to panic, even though I still knew little about what was actually going to happen the night of the eclipse. Cal had yet to tell me where we were going to be, how we would find Lazarus, or if he would find us.
What offered me some level of comfort was that, according to Cal, Lazarus was supposedly more vulnerable in his human form. Training on the beast would ensure that I hit home. Even in human form, Lazarus’s heart would be in the same place and the muscles encasing his heart would be stronger than the average human’s, but it was believed that it wouldn’t take as much effort to get the blade in. So training hard was actually preparing me more than I probably needed to be. It was comforting and not. I trusted Cal’s judgment and expertise, but really, when it came down to it, no Huntress had ever fought and won against Lazarus, so all that we had was conjecture. That made my mind restless and my body uneasy when I envisioned the battle to come.
I tied my shoelace and stood, stretching out my muscles for the day ahead. Cal had been called to Kelly and Andrew’s room, and he’d been gone for more than twenty minutes. I thought about heading down to the training room without him but I remembered that he mentioned he had other plans for my training today.
I glanced around the room, slightly embarrassed by the state of things. The bed had remained unmade for days, the two of us being simply too preoccupied, or too tired to give a damn. Our discarded clothes lay scattered everywhere. I sighed as I bent to pick up some of the towels that were strewn across the corner chair when my gaze fell on the phone. I hadn’t called Rachel in some time—over two weeks, actually. And with my cell phone gone, I was sure that she was freaking out having not heard from me.
I sighed as I dropped the towels back onto the chair and then plopped down on top of them. I had time for a quick call while Cal was talking to Kelly and Andrew.
I dialed Rachel, my heart suddenly ramping up a bit, knowing that she would probably be pissed at me and wondering how I could have let so much time pass without giving her a thought. This Huntress business had been all-consuming and an easy enough explanation…but not something I could tell Rachel about.
“Hello?”
“Rachel?”
“Morgan?” Her voice rose to an almost screech. “Where the fuck are you?”
Okay, pissed might have been an understatement. “I’m okay, Rach, calm down.”
Rachel scoffed. “Calm down? You run off with some long-lost boyfriend, basically fall off the face of the fucking planet and don’t bother to call anyone for—oh, I don’t know—two fucking weeks, and you’re telling me to calm down?”
I grimaced. It didn’t sound that great hearing it from my friend’s hysterical mouth. “I know, I know, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” Rachel’s tone was clipped. “Where the hell are you, Morgan? Should I be worried or are you really just a shitty, inconsiderate friend?”
I winced. “I’m really sorry, Rach. I’m not in trouble. In fact, far from it. Everything is great.”