Page 12 of Noah

“Ren, yes bloody Ren,” the voice screamed. “Bottle. Against. Ren.”

The speaker enunciated each word as if he were talking to someone thick, but Noah was anything but thick. When Noah looked at her, his intelligence was buried, lingering like a threat.

A crackle, then a heavy thump sounded, and Noah snarled at the sound.

As he approached the food shoot gingerly, his claws flexed as if unsure what to expect.

She wanted to throw open the hatch and hold the bottle close, but she was so exhausted that not only did she not have the energy, but she also didn’t care to move.

She must have blacked out because before she knew it, he was holding two bottles against her.

It was so warm she smiled or thought she did. Noah’s mournful howl made her blink heavily.

She felt hot, unbelievably hot, and surrounded by a floating sensation as if she were inside her body but wasn’t. Trying to remove layers, she struggled futilely with him.

Getting into a fight with someone the size of a bear was not advisable. He easily grabbed her bottles and blankets.

Adrienne could only hear snippets of conversation. A crackle announced the speaker turned back on, and the voice said, “Hypothermia…temperature. Warm her up…shower…hot food…hot drink.”

Swaying made her realise she was being carried. Then, hot water drenched her.

She couldn’t struggle because her limbs wouldn’t cooperate. Closing her eyes in defeat, she glanced down and saw she was naked.

Even after he placed her back in bed with hot water bottles and warm blankets, the growls and rumbling continued. She felt the warmth of his naked skin against hers as he lay next to her.

Adrienne fell asleep to the sound of him breathing heavily on her nape. She woke up to hot food pushed into her mouth without giving her a chance to think or breathe.

He forced her to drink lukewarm tea from a thermos. It was better than nothing.

After that, she felt strangely exhausted and found her eyes closing despite Noah’s alarmed growls.

When she next flicked open her eyes, she discovered the bed empty.

Reaching out, she found a cool spot beside her. Her head gingerly poked out of the covers, surprised by the heat.

It had been freezing, but now it was pleasantly warm. She sat up, confident she wouldn’t freeze, and squeaked when the covers fell revealing her breasts.

Right, she was naked.

When she turned, she saw Noah sitting against the wall, with one knee bent and one elbow on it and he was watching her.

“Hey,” she said, awkwardly scrambling to cover herself.

When he didn’t answer her, she looked at the room and found new scratches on the walls and a particularly deep scratch in the padding above the bed where it looked as if he had stabbed it. There were four round stab marks spaced finger-width apart.

Her head snapped back to gaze at him.

She cleared her throat and tried to speak again as he stared at her impassively. “Thank you so much for taking care of me.” Adrienne had never experienced hypothermia before, and she wondered how Noah handled those frigid temperatures.

He hadn’t flinched or shivered at the cool blast in the room. However, he flinched when her cold fingers touched him like he had been surprised. Did he expect her to be warm?

He surely had some experience with humans…but what was she saying? Likely his experience with humans wasn’t great.

“Warm Ren,” he snarled the instructions.

She choked, “Yeah, you warmed me up. I feel much better now.”

Grabbing a plate from the hatch, Noah sat on the edge of the bed. She tried to figure him out. Her brow wrinkled as she thought. Noah didn’t notice her nakedness and she wasn’t sure if that was good.

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