He had no one. Not a single person of his own. She really was that person to him. She poured herself into those lonely places, just as he had done for her. She felt him still. His hands tightened, nearly cutting off her breath, but she didn’t move. He needed this. He needed her, and she gave herself to him.
Heal yourself now, Andre. I want to be with you when you do.
She might never be able to do what he could, but she could share it with him, just like this. Mind-to-mind. It was far more intimate than she could ever imagine. She couldn’t lie to him. Or hide from him. She saw him just as he saw her. He had killed to protect others. She saw that. She accepted it. Andre’s integrity shone through every other thing about him.
She actually felt him shed his body. It was almost a glorious thing to feel him lose his ego, his more human and predatory senses, all sense of self, to become nothing but a pure white healing light. She felt his heat like a laser, moving through his body to find the hole in his chest. He repaired veins and arteries, removing the venom from the places where the vampire had clawed through his flesh. She hadn’t even known vampires had venom in the nasty, razor-sharp talons they called fingernails.
He was meticulous, taking his time, and she realized it took a great deal of energy to stay out of one’s body and do the kind of work that he was doing. She was so deeply connected to his mind, moving with him through his body that she could actually feel the repairs and “see” them, although it was much more of an internal visualization.
She could feel hunger clawing and raking at him, a brutal assault that tore through him worse than the pain of his wounds. Weakness. Weariness from too many battles. Too much death. She saw the gray, bleak world he’d occupied before she’d come to him and the one of color and passion after she’d arrived.
Her breath caught in her throat as she realized his skin was becoming smooth. Perfect. The black vampire blood that seemed to contain acid had been bathed away right there in the battlefield, when he’d incinerated the vampire and somehow controlled a lightning bolt. He’d controlled a lightning bolt. How freakin’ awesome was that? She’d tried not to think about it, in fact, she’d just buried it deep so she wouldn’t have to figure out how he did it, but even that wasn’t as awesome to her as the miracle taking place in his body right before her eyes.
The tattered remains of his shirt were gone, leaving his chest bare. She was up close, and she could see every torn muscle. The rake marks. The bites at his neck and shoulder, great gouges of flesh and muscle torn away. The worst was the fist-sized hole that had gone about an inch deep in his chest and looked to be positioned over his heart. Of course, he had those old circular scars she always wanted to touch—or kiss. Those felt so much a part of him, she couldn’t imagine his body without them.
There were four long furrows, extremely deep on his face, long rake marks torn with the horrendous talons the vampire had on his hands. One of the lacerations was very close to Andre’s left eye. Even as she stared at the wounds, they were closing. Closing. Right in front of her from the inside out. His healing abilities were insane, off the charts, his gift a true miracle.
As a healer, she’d seen things that shocked and amazed her. As an empath being merged so close with him, feeling his pain and hunger, seeing his life so empty, tears burned behind her eyes for him. Everything that she was, the very essence of her reached out to him. She poured herself into his mind in an effort to soothe him, to make his life better in some way.
Mostly she looked at his skin, now nearly perfect. There were no scars other than the older, circular ones. Not on his face. She could see faint lines there, where the wounds had been, but she knew those would fade with time. She couldn’t stop herself from turning completely around to face him so she could run her hand over the smooth muscles, feeling with the pads of her fingertips as if touching him would help her process how he had managed such a phenomenon.
It was the most powerful and beautiful thing she’d ever witnessed. She had no idea how much time passed, but she knew he was swaying with weariness. The blood loss was too great and he desperately needed a transfusion.
Teagan wanted to call him back to her, but she didn’t know if that could possibly damage him further so she remained silent, but stayed close in his mind. Almost abruptly he returned to his body, and for the first time she felt him shudder with both pain and exhaustion.
She smoothed her fingers gently over his face. He touched hers and his fingertips came away wet with tears.
“Andre.” His name came out breathy. She hadn’t wanted it to, it just did. “I’ve never been able to heal anyone in my life like that. You’re a gift, a precious gift to the world.”
Andre’s eyes went from pure glacial ice to electric blue. Intense. Beautiful. She could see the long lashes, lashes that should have made him look feminine, but there wasn’t one single feminine thing about him.
“Do not cry for me, sivamet. I have you now and all of it was worth the wait.” He murmured the words softly as he brought his finger to his mouth and tasted her tears.
“You need blood, Andre. I can feel how weak you are. We have to give you a transfusion.” One of them had to be practical. His sitting there looking gorgeous and hot with nearly perfect skin didn’t negate the fact that she could still feel his weakness and exhaustion. Blood loss would do that.
“I have dreamt of the taste of you,” he whispered softly.
She found herself shivering in anticipation. Of what, she wasn’t certain. He swept back her hair, pulling it from around one side of her neck to the other, so that the long ponytail of braids hung over her right shoulder. His touch, as his thumb slid over her skin was sensual. So was the way he moved her hair. Her heart jerked in anticipation. Of what, she had no idea, only that her body came alive at his touch.