I'm on the floor halfway between the door and kitchen, my jacket's hung on its hook and my boots are stacked neatly underneath. My body is a mass of fiery pain, the worst is a bite on my leg and another on my shoulder. Damn cats. As soon as I can move I'm gonna rinse these bites out real good.
In the meantime, I'm just gonna lie here and thank my lucky stars things went down like they did. That was the hardest I've come off the juice. And I'm healing slower, my body having to recover in more ways than one. Not a great sign. I'll have to be more careful in the future.
I'm the luckiest bear in the world. Not because I survived the fight, but because of the warm weight tucked against me. Jordy got me inside, fed and watered me. She made a bed on the tiles and lay down next to me.
I could lie here forever, sore ribs be damned.
A small noise and Jordy raises her head. Her eyes are worried under the tangle of her hair.
"Hey," she whispers. I grin and stroke back the auburn strands. "You doing okay?"
"Much better." My voice is deep as the grave.
"You were so out of it." She bites her lip. "I was worried."
"Didn't mean to scare you, Kit." Shit, was I out for a couple of hours? That's the worst by a long shot.
She holds still, snuggled into my side with her freckled face turned up to mine, as I brush her hair back. When I drop my hand, she stirs.
"Here." She gets up and heads to the sink, returning with a big glass of water. I sit up and drink while she crouches beside me.
"Thanks."
"You want to eat something?"
I nod. "That'd be good."
"You want some meat?"
"Nothing frozen."
She shoots me a tiny grin over her shoulder as she heads into the kitchen again. "I pulled a bunch out of the freezer, put it into the sink to thaw."
I sit up as she putters back and forth, handing me a slab of steak, refilling my water glass. She makes no comment when I find new strength and rise on wobbly legs. I look like a newborn fawn, and groan as I sink down like an old man. Silently, she serves me another plate of meat. I'm eating it raw but it goes down just right. Gotta replenish what the fighting took outta me. It feels like there's a hole in my middle.
The whole time I eat, I don't take my eyes off her. Jordy fixes another plate for me and heats up some cooked leftovers for herself. Every movement is fluid and graceful, as if she's in a choreographed dance. Did Augustine make her serve him and his friends like this? Probably. The thought makes me choke. Jordy whirls around, eyes wide and I quickly swig some water and swallow the mouthful. Only when I signal that all's well does she go back to what she's doing. So attentive, so well trained. I guess I should be thanking Augustine, but I just want to kill the bastard.
"Do you need anything else?" Jordy asks. She waits until I shake my head to set her plate down and slide into the chair next to me. She catches me staring at her and freezes. "Is this okay?" Her soft voice is musical, sweet.
"Yeah, Kit. You're good. Make yourself at home."
Biting her lip, she looks around the kitchen. "I kinda already did."
"Good," I say firmly, and pat her knee. I like her close to me. Hell, I want her in my lap, but my body's still knitting itself together.
It's been a long time since someone cared for me this way.
She finishes before I do, and waits with her eyes downcast. I follow the line of her gaze and realize my knuckles are bloody. Hell, my entire body is one raw mass of cuts and bruises. I feel it now that I've come down. The meat is helping though. I'm beginning to heal. One solid night sleeping and I'll be back on my feet.
Jordy rises and clears the table. She's still in those ridiculous overalls, but they don't hide the luscious curve of her ass.
"Hey, Kit." I catch her arm as she walks by. She stills but doesn't look at me. "I'm sorry. About passing out like that."
Something flickers on her face but disappears immediately. She wasn't expecting an apology. Hope she realizes how fucking rare it is. I don't usually act like I have someone to answer to.
She turns fully toward me. "Is it the fighting that makes you do that?"
I weigh the costs of telling her the truth for a crazy second and go with a partial lie. "Yes."
"You were amazing. So fast. Parker and Declan said they'd never seen anything like it." She bites her lip like she's not sure she should've told me.
"I did what I had to do."
"It was incredible," she says. "You went so fast, we couldn't even see half your movements. You didn't look real."
I shrug. "It was dark." Not really, but I gotta stop this line of thinking.
"You were faster than any shifter."
"You've seen a lot of shifters fight?" I scoff.
"Yes, tonight. You took on a whole pack and nearly won."
"Not really. It was touch and go at the end."
"Not really," she insists. "You could've beaten them."
"You don't know that," I dismiss.
"I know what I saw." Her voice gets soft as she figures it out. "You blurred. You were so fast you blurred. The only other creatures I know who can blur like that are…" She doesn't say it but I hear the end of the sentence, anyway. The only creatures who can blur like that are vampires.