“Why were you in the corner like that?”
He stopped by the window to glance out into the dark. “You were sleeping, but I was restless. I was afraid of waking you, so I got up to surf the net.”
Next to me the laptop was still open on my desk.
“You began tossing and turning. You cried out and I tried to wake you, but it was useless. I couldn’t get you to wake up. I just… snapped.”
“Your eyes were gold.”
His face drew into a frown like he was trying to work out a puzzle. “It’s like someone flipped a switch inside me and all of the sudden I was fighting the urge to shift. Right there in the bed with you.” Clearly, the idea horrified him.
“Sam, you wouldn’t have hurt me.”
He didn’t say anything, like he wasn’t convinced.
“I was dreaming of what happened at the lake this morning, drowning. I was afraid,” I said and his back stiffened. “Maybe my fear was so strong it bled to you and triggered your protective instincts.”
“Maybe.” He allowed. “I wanted to jump out the window, but I was afraid to leave you alone.”
“You’ve shifted in the same room with me before,” I said, thinking back to when he first told me he was a hellhound. He hadn’t so much as told me, but showed me instead. “And you didn’t hurt me then, shifting around me now wouldn’t be any different.”
“I wasn’t in a bed with you, Hev. I am usually in control when I shift. I bring it on myself. This was different. One minute I was fine, and the next, my body was shifting, trying to fight some threat it was sensing. Except the only other person in the room with me was you.” He looked up and his eyes were bleak.
So instead of jumping out the window, he got as far away from me as he could to not only protect me from outside dangers, but from himself. I couldn’t stand the distance between us anymore and moved across the room to stand next to him. “You thought you were going to attack me?”
“No!” he denied adamantly, but then doubt crept over his face. “I don’t know what to think.”
“You’re exhausted. You need to get some sleep.”
He glanced warily at the bed. I sighed. “Nothing else is going to happen tonight.”
He still seemed wary of touching me, so I went to the bed and climbed in, pulling the covers around me, trying to ignore the pain in my head. The back of my skull was squeezing my brain and now the front part of my head was hurting… it was like both parts of my brain were warring with each other.
I watched as Sam stood, debating on whether or not he trusted himself enough to get in the bed. A few moments later and with a heavy sigh, the mattress dipped beneath his weight. A smile played on my lips.
“I knew you couldn’t resist me.”
Sam grinned. “Yes, well, it was either the bed or the floor, and the floor is pretty hard.”
I hit him with a pillow.
He choked back a laugh and grabbed the pillow and stuffed in under his head as he stretched out on the bed.
“You’re a bed hog,” I grumped.
“And you like it,” he said, his voice practically a purr. He rolled onto his stomach and turned his face away. A deep sigh lifted his back.
He still had yet to touch me and it was beginning to drive me mad. There was no way I was going to let him start thinking that the hellhound in him was about to attack every time we touched.
I reached out a hand and ran my fingers over his back. The muscles beneath my hand bunched, but he didn’t say anything. We laid there in the silence as I rubbed slow circles over his back. Eventually, he relaxed into a soundless sleep.
I knew that I wouldn’t sleep the rest of this night, but it didn’t matter. For once, I could give a little bit back to the boy I loved more than myself. Tonight, Sam would finally get some peace and I would watch over him as he slept to make sure that no one tried to take it from him.
Sam
Gemma was already in the orchard when I arrived. She was leaning against a tree, a large bag at her feet. She gave off the impression of relaxation, but I had a feeling that she never relaxed. She was always on guard and the way she presented herself, the way she allowed people to perceive her was all very calculated. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her – actually I did – I just thought that she was a woman who had seen a lot in her years and it hardened her. She seemed to have a wall built around her that hid the real her from everyone else. I would like to say that perhaps we could be friends, but I really didn’t know if she would let anyone that close.
I thought back to when I first met her. The day she sold me Hev’s bracelet. I hadn’t perceived any of those things then. Maybe because I hadn’t been looking, maybe because she was hiding more of herself that day than she was now, or maybe it was because I was getting better at reading people.
Yeah, it was that last one. I’m just getting better. I smiled to myself, putting a little swagger in my step.
“Feeling pretty confident?” Gemma asked, her lips lifting as she pushed away from the tree.
“Maybe.”
Before I could even blink, she was ramming into me, her fist catching me just beneath the ribs, stunning me and sending me into the ground with a sickening thud. Breath whooshed from my lungs as I stared up at the blue cloudless sky.
Gemma stepped into my sight, blocking the sky. Her dark ponytail cascaded over one shoulder and she smirked. “This is no place for confidence.”
Clearly. Nothing like getting knocked over by a girl to ruin a man’s mojo.
“You held back, that day by the lake,” I said, thinking back to the day she pulled out that amulet and we fought. She hadn’t moved that fast then.
“You weren’t exactly in top form, and since Heven all but drowned, I figured beating up her one and only wasn’t really appropriate.”
“You can’t beat me up,” I said annoyed, jumping up from the ground and turning to face her. Just how weak did she think I was?
She tilted her head to the side. “Maybe not. But you could definitely use some improvement. You need to learn to fight as you are now, not just as a hellhound.”
“I’m here. Are we gonna do this or stand around and talk?”
She walked over to the bag that lay beneath the tree. She was dressed in tight blue jeans and brown leather boots that reached her knees. Her white T-shirt was snug and she was strapped with weapons, the most interesting being a dagger that was strapped to the outside of her thigh. She moved with ease and grace. Clearly, she was comfortable in her body. Her dark brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail that swung when she walked. She was a beautiful woman.