Page 15 of Wounded Mate
Rizpah lets herself in and smiles at me. She carries a tray piled high with food. How long has it been? Suddenly, I’m starving. She moves a few things out of the way and sets the platter on a small round table on the other side of the room, lights the lamps, then approaches the bed.
Valius doesn’t stir at all. A little damp spot has appeared where his face is smooshed into my arm.
“How’re you feeling?” she whispers.
I take stock of my body with subtle little movements, wiggling my toes and flexing my legs. I’m cozy, buried in this soft nest of blankets and pillows and Valius. The pain from my wounds is present, but a dull ache compared to the violent agony of last night. Rizpah has worked a miracle on my flesh.
“Much better.” I keep my voice low. I don’t want to wake Valius. He looks as if he needs the rest as much as I did. “I’ll never be able to thank you all for what you’ve done, but I will try.”
She waves this off. “No need. We’re a helpful bunch.”
“I’d have died if it wasn’t for Leonas.”
“Well, don’t tell him that. His head’s big enough as it is.” She waggles a finger between Valius and me. “So. This was fast. Even for him.” One corner of her lips rises into a teasing smirk.
I glance at him. His face, slack with sleep, his button nose turned up, and his lips, slightly parted, are against my skin. Both of his hands curl around my biceps, one under, one over, clinging to me sweetly. It’s endearing. If I wasn’t already crazy about this stranger, the way he holds me in his sleep would have made it so.
How can I explain this to Rizpah when I haven’t had a chance to speak with Valius yet?
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. But if you hurt him”—her expression turns serious—“I’ll rip you right back open. Better yet, I’ll have Leonas do it. He loves that sort of thing.”
“I won’t. I would never.”
She pats my hand like she didn’t just threaten me. “There’s a good lad. Hungry?”
“Yes, but I’ll wait for him to wake.”
Her chuckle lightens the mood. “Then you’ll starve. He could sleep through a thunderstorm on an active battlefield, and he’s used to snoozing the day away. He works at night.”
Learning this about him, learning anything about him, fills my chest with warmth. So Valius is a sleepyhead. Cute.
“Could you hand me something easy? Something I could eat from here?”
“Excellent choice.” She selects a bit of bread and cheese from the tray, along with the medicinal drink, long since gone cold, which she thrusts into my hand. The sandwich, she sets on a cloth next to my free side. “Finish that. It’s good for you.”
Rizpah strikes me as the sort of woman better to obey than question. “Yes, ma’am.”
“And wake him if you need anything. He’s sweet and utterly taken with you. He won’t mind.”
I could never. He’s too lovely as he is to disturb, but I know better than to say as much. “I will. Thank you.”
She leaves, and the first thing I do is stare down at him like the besotted fool I am. His scent is strong in his den, burying me in the sweet perfume of roses and spice, a bit of lavender in his shining red hair, tangled now from our harrowing night.
I want to know everything about him, starting with “what in the world is he?” and ending with “when can we shut out the rest of the world and be together forever?” Part of me knows that’s crazy, but my entire soul craves him.
I drink the bitter liquid, eat the sandwich, and continue to sniff him. The wolf in me won’t let up. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t tell what he is. Definitely not a wolf, which is odd, as I’d always thought if I got lucky enough to find my mate, it would be another wolf. Not cat either, though, like his friend Leonas. Not vampire like Jeno, nor human like Rizpah.
It’s not often my nose fails me. He looks human enough, but there’s something more to him. I’m still pondering it when my bladder demands I rise and find the chamber pot.
Carefully, inch by delicate inch, I untangle myself from his grasp. My wound is tender but not awful. Not nearly as bad as last night. The wolf wants control, and he’s not wrong. We’d heal faster that way, but I won’t shift until Valius has woken and we’ve gotten a chance to talk.
I slip out of the bed and peer under it. Thank the moon. A piss pot. I help myself to it, all the while cursing how noisy it is to pee into metal, but Valius doesn’t stir.
When I’m done, I take the opportunity to stretch. Gingerly I test my muscles. As the wound pulls tight, I stop and roll my neck instead. It cracks, loudly too. Since when did I get so damn noisy?
I find an extra blanket to wrap around me and head to the tray Rizpah left. The tasty treats make my mouth water: honeyed figs, dried apricots, more bread, and some smoky-smelling jerky. I sit and dig in.
