Page 21 of Alpha's Embrace
Was he crazy? I couldn’t be in proximity with just anyone. Even the bonded nurses, doctors and guards who were around me wore protective gloves all the time. I couldn’t be free. Not ever!
I’d never felt such shock and fear at a simple statement. But it wasn’t simple at all.
I went cold inside. For a moment I couldn’t speak. All thought left me. All language and sensation and identity. All that was left was a dark hole and I was in it.
I was made of echoes, all the voices of my confined past spinning and bouncing off the bleak, black walls of my awareness, whispering about danger, shouting warnings.
I never felt cold but now I had ice in my veins. My body seemed to quake. I felt pressure, warm and firm, against the middle of my back. A strong arm. A hand in the darkness appearing before me.
What was left of me still had enough capacity to know it was Geo. Gentle Geo who had taken an interest in me. Who thought he was helping me. Who was at this very moment reaching to catch me with his ungloved hands because I was definitely falling. Why were his hands ungloved yet again? Didn’t he realize his error? Or maybe he had never had any intention to touch me.
“Misha. Misha.”
I heard my name as if from far away. I’d dropped the blanket. I’d wanted him to see me naked. I wanted him to want me. But not now. This was an accident.
I could feel him—the crispness of his sleeves against my bare skin, the buttons at his chest pressing my side, the warmth of him seeping through all his pretty garments to mingle with my sudden chill.
The Burn inside me, quiet for the moment in the face of my fear, threatened to return. So much contact with another person, something I hadn’t had since I was a child, overwhelmed all my senses.
I tried to open my eyes, tried to see through the darkness. My body spun and became very light, and I realized he’d lifted me into his arms at the same time he called for a nurse.
It threw me off even more, my equilibrium shot, adrenaline rushing through my system. I wanted Geo and I couldn’t have him. I was a non-being, invisible to the world, a captive prince in a realm of shadows. I had denied it in my fantasy life, but it was true. I was a monster who could never leave his lair. Didn’t Geo know this? Wasn’t he the expert in charge?
I squirmed to try to get away, but he held me tight. He shouldn’t be touching me. I wanted it, but he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t.
My inner voices, the ones based in abject fear, grew louder.
He doesn’t mean to rescue you at all; he’s throwing you away.
He will toss you to the streets and the Alphas who roam them for prey.
You will wander alone until you starve and die.
My heart pounded. I could not get enough air. The darkness deepened and finally the voices faded along with the whole wide world.
The last thing I remembered was the sensation of arms holding me aloft and a voice saying, “Hold on, now, Misha. Hold on.”
Chapter Six
Geo
“Nurse, a little help here!”
I saw Misha’s eyes roll back. His body began to shake. He looked like he was having a seizure and I reached out to catch him as he fell. His thin blanket piled at our feet. He swayed into me, naked—so beautifully naked—and when my palms touched his skin he was cold and shivering.
Before I realized what I was doing, I’d picked him up and his head lolled against my chest, his left arm dangling.
It was wrong, I knew. I had no gloves. I was being reckless. But honestly, I’d had no intent to touch him. And now, other than recognizing his beauty and allure, I felt fine. I really did.
I pulled him tight to me and headed fast for the door. In the corridor, two nurses met me.
“Why didn’t you put him on his bed?” one asked.
“I’m taking him to the hospital wing downstairs.” But of course they were right. I should have set him down, called for the doctors and waited.
The one who questioned my intent touched Misha’s face with a gloved hand, pulling his eyelids up and listening to his breathing.
“He’s just fainted and he’s a bit cool to the touch.” He stood back, eyeing me up and down with disapproval.
