I nod and the man helps me to my feet, my human legs shaking underneath my weight. I allow him to lead me to the bed, my eyes fixed on his as if losing that connection would mean drowning in fear again. He sits on the edge, drawing me down next to him, then leans over and yanks on the blankets, pulling the top one over to cover both of our laps.
He glances at me, one corner of his mouth quirking upward. “I know as shifters we’re supposed to be comfortable with nudity, but having conversations while naked is not really my thing.”
I nod again. I don’t even remember the last time Ihada conversation, but as scattered as my mind still feels, I doubt my mouth will be contributing much. The words are there, in my head, but there’s a strange disconnect between that and my mouth, as if I don’t remember how to use human vocal cords.
He rests his hand palm up on the blanket-covered thigh closest to me and gives me an encouraging smile. My eyes dart from his hand to his face and back again, then I hesitantly reach out and rest my hand in his. His smile widens and he gently curls his fingers around mine, leaving his grip loose enough that I could pull away if I wanted to.
But Idon'twant to. Which is odd, right?
“I’m not sure how much you remember from earlier when I helped you shift, but my name's Luke,” he says.
Nope. I don't remember that, but it’s a nice name, and now I can label him in my head. Even better, if he helped me shift to human, he’ll know how I can go back to my wolf form.
He looks at me, brows rising expectantly as if waiting for me to fill the silence. After a few seconds, his brows pull together and he frowns. “Can you tell me your name?”
My mouth opens, but any sound freezes in my throat.
Not that I could tell him what I can’t remember anyway.
I whine and shake my head instead, my gaze falling to the floor and my shoulders hunching toward my ears as if preparing for a blow.
A pained expression crosses his face, but he quickly wipes it away and makes a soft, soothing sound. “It's okay. It’s not a big deal. We’ll figure it out.”
Relief washes over me, and I stop trying to shove through the fog in my head. All I’m doing is giving myself a headache anyway.
He angles himself toward me, his free hand rising to cup my face. He runs his thumb along my cheekbone, a sad smile on his lips.
“Do you want to take a shower? Get clean? It might help you feel better, clear your head.” His hand runs over my hair, fingers catching in the knots. “I could cut this for you if you want. OrMacy—the woman who came in earlier, she’s my second—could braid it?”
I grab a length of my hair and pull it forward, my eyes crossing as I study the white blond strands almost as pale as my fur. I'm not sure how it works, but my wolf form doesn't have long hair like this. Either way, I wouldn’t mind getting it out of my face.
I nod at Luke, and he stands, gently pulling me to my feet and pointing me toward the door opposite the one his second came through earlier. When I don't move, he tugs the blanket off the bed and wraps it around my shoulders before leading me to the door and pushing it open.
Inside, there's a vanity with a double sink, a toilet, and a large soaking tub in front of a window looking out over the yard. My eyes almost bug out of my head. The tub alone is bigger than the cage the humans kept me in, and something tells me even before then I didn’t have this kind of luxury.
Luke glances around the room and frowns. “No shower.” He points at the tub. “Is a bath okay?”
I wrinkle my nose, the memory of the place I was before playing through my mind. I cross my arms and mimic shivering, then raise my brows in question.
“No, I’ll make sure it’s not cold,” says Luke, that strange frown curling his lips again as he studies my face.
I nod and let him lead me over to the closed toilet where he sits me down. He turns to the tub, twisting the shiny knobs and holding his fingers under the stream of water that comes out. A few adjustments later, he smiles and plucks a rubber stopper off the ledge, using it to plug the drain at the bottom of the tub. He grabs a bottle from the ledge and pours a good helping of whatever is inside into the stream of water and a layer of bubbles forms.
Once the tub is full, Luke holds a hand out to me and steadies me as I slide the blanket off my shoulders and step inside.I carefully sit down and stretch my legs out, the warm water soothing away the lingering aches in my joints.
I sink into the blissful warmth, the chill I've had for I'm not sure how long washing away beneath the heat of the water. Closing my eyes, I rest my back against the edge of the tub, a smile curling my lips even as my eyes begin to burn again.
A hot, relaxing bath. This was the kind of thing I didn't know to miss. How many other things have I missed out on? How many other things did they take from me?
“I'll leave you to it then,” says Luke, a hint of awkwardness in his voice.
My eyes fly open and I grab his arm, shaking my head firmly. There's something about Luke’s presence that calms and soothes the jagged pieces of my soul, and I don’t want him to leave.
I don’t want to be alone.
“I guess I'll stay then,” he says slowly, glancing down to where my fingers are digging into his skin. He leans over and grabs a towel, wrapping it around his waist before settling himself on to the tile beside the tub, his arm still locked within my grip.
After a few long moments he lets out a quiet chuckle. “You won't get clean just sitting there.” He points to the row of bottles on the ledge. “You'll need to use some soap.” I give him a blank stare and he continues, “It's designed for shifters. The smell won't be too strong.”
