Sapphire Bones

Domino

L

            Corvo's hand slipped from my cheeks the moment his phone started ringing. The sudden sound sent a shock through my system but I calmed when he barely moved. He pulled his phone out and pressed it to his ear with ease. His one hand played at my hair on the back of my head, holding me still while he spoke, not facing me but the area above my head. His touch alone kept my heart rate slow, but every time his fingernails scraped between the hairs on my head a shiver brushed through the muscles underneath my skin.

"Hello?" He asked, his voice strained. Corvo cleared his throat quietly, but with my ears so close to him I heard every adjustment he made to his voice on the inside. His heartbeats that clunked inside his chest every second. A calming sensation that made my ears ring in delight. The voice on the other side of the phone grumbled through the speaker so I couldn't hear, but I could tell they weren't overwrought to speak with Corvo.

"Excellent," Corvo said, tangling his fingers through my hair. Every time his fingertips touched my scalp a new match sparked on my head, leaving a spare flame in its wake. I looked up at him and watched him speak. "Tell him we'll be on our- wait trace amounts of what? L told me about that earlier but she didn't elaborate too much on it. We'll be there soon."

Corvo hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket, and looked back down at me. As soon as his gaze rested on my face I forced my eyes away from his red form. I couldn't look him in the eyes, not after what I did to his family – to him. He had to of noticed, because like before, Corvo hooked one of his fingers under my chin to bring my jaw back up so I was forced to look at him. He dipped his head to seemingly match my gaze despite his knowing that I couldn't really see him.

"Roddy wants to speak with us over at the hospital," he said with a small grin. I nodded once and shook his hand away so I could turn my head back down. "L," Corvo stopped me audibly, but no matter how much power he put into his voice it didn't affect me like it did his pack members. "Why won't you look at me?"

"I don't know what you mean," I muttered and hopped off the bed. "Thank you," I turned abruptly and bowed my head slightly, as if I'd forgotten to show appreciation for what he'd done for me so far. "Everything, really," I added after a slight pause in case he came after me but Corvo hadn't moved from his place beside the bed except to turn on his heels and follow my movements with his eyes. They pierced the space between my eyebrows and ricocheted around in my skull. My eyes caught glimpses of white dots that flurried around in my vision until I shook the feeling of his stare off me. With Corvo in the room, the smell of detergent was nonexistent, and instead the intense peppermint that wafted off him lingered in the air around us.

"You don't have to thank me," Corvo responded, sighing; a sound I knew too well. I'd begun to bother him with my incessant need to thank and apologize, yet the way he said it, void the sigh, I couldn't help but wonder if he liked it when I showed gratitude for what he did. "It's what m-," he stopped himself and rubbed the back of his head with his hand, unsure of what to call us. I shrugged at the mental note shared between us. We were a mystery in the mate world, rejected but accepted. I had no other choice at this point, and Corvo, at least from what I presumed, had others knocking on his door waiting.

Our world froze for just a moment while Corvo and I both decided what step to take next. On one hand, he could've brushed past me but instead, after several moments of mutual silence shared, he came up next to me and grabbed my hand without so much as a gesture first. His fingers tangled between mine and squeezed so our palms connected just slightly at the ribboning grooves. A tingling fire sparked, but it tuckered out into a kindle as the shared touch steadied. I couldn't help but jump slightly at the sensation, I still wasn't used to it and I knew Corvo wasn't either. He learned how to hide the surprise.