It was the only reason my house hadn’t been torn to pieces.
Yet.
Jen had picked up a huge bath towel on the way over, which she and Sophie now held in front of me.
“Go ahead,” Sophie said.“Put it on.You need some pool time.”
I eyed the suit longingly.I really wanted that swim, but wasn’t sure I could stay afloat, or even manage to get changed, on my own.I also wasn’t sure I should get anything wet, and realized that I hadn’t checked myself today.
But when I pulled up my nightie, which I was still wearing because jeans were like trying to put on a straitjacket these days, I was surprised.The bandages I’d been swathed in all week were gone, along with the remaining sutures on the worst wound.There was only an ugly scar where it had been, and a fine pink line running along the approximate path of the other, so faint as to be almost invisible.
I vaguely recalled the healer stopping by and waking me up yesterday to tend them, but hadn’t realized she’d permanently removed my mummy wrappings.Cool, I thought, poking the larger scar lightly, and wondering if it would fade any further.It had been an angry red for days, and was still a raised, vivid reminder of what had almost—
My thoughts cut out, overtaken by a sudden, visceral image of my intestines coiled fat and gray and bloody, lying beside me on the concrete floor at HQ, and I shuddered all over.Because there had been no almost about it.Like it hadn’t been just a nightmare that I’d ripped off people’s heads, eaten part of what I found there, and—
“Goddamnit!”Sophie said, as I leaned over the side of the chaise and heaved up bacon and omelet.
“We shouldn’t have pushed,” Jen said.“I knew we shouldn’t!”
“It’s okay,” Sophie said, pulling me into her arms while Jen kept up the towel on her own, hiding us from view.“It’s okay.”
Don’t be kind, I thought desperately.Please don’t be kind!Not with the nightmare images flooding me hard and fast and washing all my training out the window, because I hadn’t been trained for this!
No one had trained for this.
“Is Lia okay?”Aki called from the pool.
“Just getting into a swimsuit,” Jen called back, widening her stance.“Keep your eyes to yourself!”
I didn’t know why I was reacting like this.I’d been fine yesterday, at least mentally, but now I found myself shaking, sickened, and feeling like screaming, some kind of delayed reaction now that my body was healing, I guessed.Maybe because I could finally spare the energy.
But something about Sophie’s touch was helping.
“It’s my Cat,” she whispered against my hair when I said that.“She likes to pretend to be all standoffish and hard to get, but when she likes you, she really likes you.And I think you—and your wolf—are her favorites here.”
Which wolf, I almost said, but bit it back in time.I didn’t want to think about that.I didn’t want to think at all!
And it must have worked, because after a while, the shaking stopped.Fortunately, I didn’t have anything else on my stomach.I lay back against the chaise, panting slightly, and feeling like I’d run a marathon and had a therapy session, all at the same time.
“Cyrus,” I croaked, because if he saw me like this, there would be drama.
“Out front on a call with Sebastian.He said he wanted privacy.”
“You want to go to bed?”Sophie asked, her eyes serious.
I shook my head.That would be worse.Now that I wasn’t half dead, that room held nothing but peace and quiet in which to think, and that was the last thing I wanted.
Here, there was light and laughter and, if I could manage to get into the suit, a cool pool to paddle around in.Or more likely, to hang onto the edge of and try not to drown, but that sounded pretty good, too.Distractions were everywhere, and I could use a few.
“I want to swim,” I croaked.
“Then let me help you,” Sophie said, and somehow, we managed to get me into the suit.
“I don’t know what’s wrong,” I told her.“I look like I’ve healed, but I feel…”
“As rough as you look?”
I glanced up at her.“Is it that bad?”
