155- After the Nightmare
POV Lunara Grimwald:
He was crouched in front of the tub, arranging the salts and testing the water temperature.
“I was going to come get you,” he said, looking me up and down.
“I need a bath.”
“I know that, but couldn’t you have waited a little?” I denied it with a gesture of my hands.
“I stink, and I’m anxious to relax in the water.”
I started removing the clothes on my body. They weren’t the same as before. He had dressed me in a simple, light linen nightgown. My body was clean too, with no sign of dried blood, but nothing like a real bath.
He held my palm and helped me into the tub without looking at me with any lechery, worried about my health and safety. He knelt at my side and waited.
I rested my head against the back of the tub and closed my eyes, feeling the water relax my muscles as it touched them. The scent of the salts was wonderful, too. My dignity was being restored little by little.
“This is really good,” I whispered, letting my breath out in a sigh.
“I’m going to wash your hair.”
He picked up the shampoo from the counter and helped me wet the dirty, tangled strands. He spread the product into my scalp, massaging it with skillful, precise fingers.
“Mmm... thank you,” I moaned.
“I need to spoil my pregnant female.”
I laughed, shifting in the tub and splashing a little water onto the floor.
“Your pregnant female thanks you.”
“Anything for you, little she-wolf. Always for you and for you.” My heart sped up, filling with the purest love. My alpha. My partner.
I would never tire of chanting these words.
...
I woke in the middle of the night with my chest rising and falling in rapid succession and my hair stuck to the skin at the nape of my neck.
Panic spread through me as if embers were in my blood, corroding me from the inside out.
I sat up in bed with my heart racing and a scream trapped in my throat. I only felt calm when I looked around and saw clearly where I was.
Home.
Edric stirred beside me and pulled me to him, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. I caught his distinctive scent, but there was something that soothed me even more than usual.
“It’s okay. It was just a dream.”
Alessio might be dead, but he still wouldn’t stop haunting me. I felt the weight of the freedom his death had brought me, but I couldn’t forget everything I had lived through at his side in those days.
Edric kept letting his scent spill into the room—pheromones—like a forest after rain. It was a gentle, comforting aroma.
I swallowed to wet my tight throat.
“Now I know it was,” I admitted. “It feels like you’re doing something to me.”
“Nothing will reach you. Never again, little she-wolf.” He brushed his nose through my hair. “Just as I release scent to arouse you or to strike fear into my enemies, I’m releasing one to calm you.”
I liked it. I liked his scent even more.
It was so incredible I could spend hours just breathing it in.
“That’s good,” I murmured, letting out a broken sigh through my nose. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be the way I was before,” I confessed.
“Some traumas leave deep wounds. I don’t expect you to go back to who you were—not after everything you’ve been through. I only want you to be certain that I will never allow anyone to threaten your life again. You and our pup are safe. You’re home.”
“I feel that way, by your side.”
“That’s what I expect for you.” I smiled and nestled against his chest.
“Do you hear it? Can you hear his heart?” I asked, needing to be sure he was all right.
The image of what Alessio did to that pup was carved into my mind, and I would never be able to tear it out, even if I wanted to. His cruelty had no limits; nothing had stopped him—not even a flicker of morality.
“Strong and fast, like a hummingbird’s wings,” he murmured, blowing softly and stirring my hair.
I opened my mouth to say something, but my stomach growled loudly.
“And hungry, too.” He laughed.
“Come on. Let me feed you.” He pushed his feet out of bed and stood, tugging me by the hand. “If you want to wait for me here...”
I shook my head immediately.
“I’d rather go with you.”
“All right.”
The house was warm, even with the harsh winter outside. Stuck to Edric as if our bodies were glued together, I walked down the stairs beside him, taking in every detail of the house I had missed so badly in the last few days.
The fire in the hearth still crackled faintly. Edric went to it and added more wood, feeding it. I switched on the lights, bathing us in brightness.
I pulled one of the stools over and sat, watching him.
“Besides hunting, you’ve never cooked for me.”
“I’m not very good at it,” he admitted. “But I can make a grilled cheese sandwich. Will that do?”
I pretended to consider.
“Hmm... it will.”
He moved through the kitchen with ease, gathering everything he needed to make our late-night snacks.
I bit my lip.
“Didn’t you feel what happened to me while I was with Alessio?” I asked, nervous.
He assembled the sandwiches on the other side of the counter in front of me and lifted his eyes to mine.
“I felt fear, and I felt some physical trauma.” He clenched his hands into fists on the countertop. “What did he do to you?”
I shook my head.
“He didn’t touch me the way you’re thinking.” He relaxed a little, but the vein at the side of his neck still throbbed. “He beat me a few times when I provoked him. He threatened me and hurt me, but not enough to kill me—at least, not until he decided to do the ritual.” I swallowed hard. “He killed a pup in front of me—an innocent pup who had no way to protect himself or fight for his life.” I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling tears spill over and my stomach twist. “He did it because of the ritual—and also because I begged for the pup’s life.”