I was escorted into a private room that seemed more like a motel room than a cell and instructed to shower. The guard who’d carried me stayed with me as I stripped naked, his breath catching audibly when I dropped my pants and the mottled, bruised flesh of my privates came into view.
“Can you shower by yourself?” he asked gruffly. “Or do you need help? You seem unsteady on your feet still.”
“I can do it,” I mumbled, dropping my eyes to the carpet.
He nodded and then pointed to a door in the corner of the room. “Bathroom is there.”
After months of barely making do with cold water and a rag in camp, the hot water and sudsy, fragrant soap was a sinful pleasure. I took full advantage, scrubbing every inch of my weakened body three times before finally washing my hair and rinsing myself for the last time.
Stepping out onto the soft bathmat, I knew from the stack of fluffy towels sitting on the toilet lid and the folded clothes on the sink counter that someone had entered the bathroom while I was cleaning up, but I didn’t dwell on it. No matter what they said, I was a prisoner so naturally, someone would be watching me.
Drying off, I pulled the loose-fitting purple cotton pants and shirt on and returned to the main room, surprised to find that my guard had been joined by a woman about my mother’s age wearing a long white coat over her clothes.
“I’m Jasmine,” the woman said briskly, not waiting for the guard to speak. “I understand you have some injuries. Are you willing to let me examine you?”
I shrugged, my eyes back on the floor.
“Excellent,” she responded cheerily before turning to the werewolf. “You’ll need to step out into the hall, please.”
“No,” I blurted out, cringing at the panic in my voice. “Please, let him stay.”
The nurse narrowed her eyes but nodded. “Of course, if that makes you more comfortable.”
I stripped out of the clothes I’d just put on and sat on the edge of the bed when she instructed me to. I stared at the floor by my feet as I answered her questions about my injuries, trying not to wince when her gentle fingers lifted my penis out of the way to see the bruising on my testicles.
When she was finished, I redressed and sat silently.
“Connery, I’m concerned about some of these injuries,” she said gently. “The abuse you’ve endured is horrible, but I am confident that we can treat you here and get you back to full health, unless you’d rather be taken to the hospital?”
“Please, no!” My eyes shot up to hers as I pleaded with her. “I..they’ll find me there.”
The nurse nodded sympathetically but when she spoke, she was all business again. “Very well. In that case, I am going to need you to follow my instructions. Can you do that?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I listened carefully as she explained that I would need to start by eating small, easily digestible meals every two hours, drinking electrolyte solution water laced with honey, and taking antibiotics that the guards would bring me.
I could do that. Iwoulddo that. Happily, in fact.
Less than an hour later, I’d finished my first meal of nourishing chicken soup and honey biscuits that my jailor -Fang, I knew his name was by then- had brought me, I slid under the light blanket on the comfortable bed and closed my eyes.
There would be plenty of time after my nap to warn my captors about the attack that was coming.
~*~
A week later, my world had spun one hundred and eighty degrees. During my recovery, I’d unexpectedly come face-to-face with the man I’d surrendered to at the Hole in the Wall Bar and Grill all those weeks earlier. He spent stolen moments here and there with me, having casual conversations and reading aloud from some of the books I found in the complex library, but never mentioning that one life-changing experience we’d had before.
Then, my new friends had successfully defeated my father’s clan in a truly spectacular fashion, without a drop of blood spilled and offered me safe harbor while I finished healing. All in all, my life was better than I could ever remember it being, even with the stomach flu that I couldn’t seem to shake.
Until Jasmine offered me a tight smile and uttered the three words that would change the course of my life –and everything I thought I knew about myself- forever.
“Connery, you’re pregnant.”
ChapterThree
May 1, 2022
Roger
