Chapter 9
By the time I had sort of accepted that I had sort of ended up in bed with werewolves, sort of, said werewolves had fed me soup and more tea, and…
Well, I passed straight out after that from a combination of food coma, what-the-fuck-syndrome, and the aftereffects of taking a fall in the fucking woods.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep this time, but I woke up back in the same bed they’d put me in earlier, and I was still wearing the flannel.
Gods, I had to talk to them about the flannel.
Golden afternoon light slanted into the room, and while my throat was still sore, my head felt better, inspiring me to look on the positive side of things. For example, there was no massive dog snuggling next to my legs. Correction, no werewolf. In his wolf form. For which he had to get undressed.
I gasped, though no sound came out of my sore throat, when I realized the werewolf had been naked in bed with me all this time. Then I realized all dogs were always naked with their owners, and my mind spun out of control.
I’d gotten to the point of thinking how weird it was that we paid to go see those nudist colonies commonly referred to as zoos when I saw the door open.
“Finally back with us.” Dominic grinned at me. Thankfully, he was clothed. Flannel shirt. Huh.
“What happened? What time is it?” I rubbed at my eyes and my hair, which needed water and shampoo, like, yesterday.
Dominic walked over to the bed, sat down on it, and put the glass of water he’d brought with him in my hand. It seemed I was going to be served at every turn by these werewolves, and it was weird. But since I was thirsty, I drank the damn water.
“Nothing happened. You got Linc all flustered, snuggled with Ell all through dinner, and then fell asleep in his arms, so he carried your ass to bed.”
Loud growling came from somewhere else in the house, and Dominic chuckled. “See? Linc’s still flustered.”
“Fuck.” I rubbed at my face some more, but it really needed water and soap. At least I didn’t need a shave just yet. “You all have super hearing.”
Dominic shrugged. “Nah. Regular werewolf hearing. Ell said to leave you those—” Dominic pointed to a pill bottle on the side table. “—and to not let you shower, but you can still have that bath.”
“Perfect.” I really was getting ripe and in dire need of that bath. Not that moving was particularly appealing since everything was still sore, but I had my priorities straight. Fight body odor first, then be lazy.
Dominic looked off to the side as if he were listening to something before he said, “Linc is running your bath upstairs.” He reached out and ran his fingers over my forehead, then let them rest against my cheek. “You look a lot better than yesterday.”
His voice was low and caramelly warm. I stopped everything, not that I had been doing much.
But I froze. Dominic’s green eyes examined my face.
He licked his lips as if… I had no idea.
Maybe he didn’t either. The moment seemed to stretch on and on, and it was broken only when Lincoln came into the room, his chestnut brown hair looking like burnished metal in the afternoon sun.
I pulled back a bit from Dominic’s touch, but neither Dominic nor Lincoln seemed to care. Dominic left his hand where it was, lightly resting against my cheek, and a humming growl started deep in his chest when I leaned back another inch.
Lincoln looked at us both, and Dominic finally let his hand drop from my cheek.
Lincoln smiled. It lit up his face. “All ready for you, Marcus. You’re not supposed to get your cut wet, so one of us will need to help you with your hair.”
Lincoln crossed his arms in front of his chest and just kept looking at me with…I had no idea. Some kind of potent expression. Unease? Probably not—he didn’t seem like someone who got uneasy—but there was a tension in his body, and that made me uneasy.
“I could also climb in there with you and wash you,” Dominic offered, still in that deep, dark, annoyingly sexy voice of his.
I wasn’t sure what my expression looked like, but probably abject shock.
Dominic threw me a grin that showed his teeth, up to and including his canines.
They were pointy, and maybe a little longer than they should have been.
Could he change the shape of his teeth just as easily as he turned into a wolf?
Did I want to know? Yeah, I probably did, but I decided against asking.
“That’s a sexy look on you, Marcus.” Dominic stood. “You take care of him, Linc. I’ll go and make waffles.”
He what now? Seriously, what was it with these guys?
Did they get off on feeding and pampering humans?
Wait. I knew that fairy tale. It included a gingerbread house and a witch, but no werewolves as far as I knew.
Maybe they wanted to fatten me up. Then, once I was all fat and juicy, they’d take me to the woods again and tell me to run. They’d chase me, and…
Dominic walked out of the room, and I was left with Lincoln, chilled and calm. I pulled the covers and blankets back and got to my feet. Once I was standing, my body informed me that getting up had been a terrible idea by making the world around me spin like a top.
I should’ve expected the strong arm I felt around me a moment later. I didn’t quite expect the massive chest I found myself pressed up against.
“Is this because you’re a werewolf, or do you guys just work out a lot?” I mumbled even as the black slowly receded from my vision.
Lincoln chuckled. I heard and felt it reverberate through his chest, and his warmth was better than a stack of blankets. “Come on, Marcus. Let’s wash the blood out of your hair.” He walked me out of the room.
“You can smell that?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry.”
He looked down at me, and damn, he was tall. “I didn’t mean it that way. You’re healing, and that’s far better than when I found you bleeding. For a moment I thought—” I practically heard him grind his teeth as he swallowed the rest of that sentence. “Why didn’t you just call for help?”
“In the woods, no one will hear you scream.”
He huffed. “No. Your phone’s working; why not call someone?”
My cheeks heated. “I forgot to charge it before I left, because… Doesn’t matter. I just forgot.”
“Hmm. You could’ve hooked it up to your laptop. That you didn’t had me wondering.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. “Shit. Shit. I didn’t think of that. Fuck me, I’m such an idiot.” I pointed a finger at his face, and Lincoln raised his eyebrows as he focused on the digit. “In my defense, shitty day. I had that breakup, and Steven the asshole kept calling.”
Lincoln smiled and kissed the tip of my still-raised finger, which made me pull it back. “That’s okay. Just something that was nagging at me. What matters is that you’re going to be fine, and even if I don’t like how, your forgetfulness brought you to us.”
“Brought me to you? I’m not Uber Eats.”
Lincoln smiled as if he had a witty comeback ready, but he said nothing and just made sure I didn’t collapse on my way out of the bedroom.
At the other end of the living room, there was a staircase I hadn’t noticed last night. Lincoln kept his arm around my waist as I took one step after another and steadied myself on the handrail. Dominic was watching us from the kitchen.
“So it was you who found me.”
“Yes. If your car ever breaks down on you again and you don’t have cell reception or whatever the case may be, I want you to stay there and wait for help to come, maybe flag someone down instead of going for a hike. Okay?”
I snorted. “Like any sane person would stop for a guy waving them down. I was more likely to get picked up by some sort of serial killer who was going to bury me in the woods.”
Lincoln gave me another look, one eyebrow raised.
“What? That sort of thing happens. Have you ever heard of Jeffrey Dahmer? Are you familiar with the Highway of Tears? People are sick.”
“Well, I do work in security, so I can’t say I disagree with you. I promise to keep you safe from anyone who wants to pour acid into your head if you promise not to go hiking in the woods by yourself ever again.”
I blushed. Had I just run into a werewolf who liked true crime? Steven had never been interested in it. Said he’d found it silly or sick, depending on his mood.
We got to a landing. Mounted on the wall was a wood carving unlike anything I’d ever seen.
In delicate detail, gorgeously freed from the material, a bird spread its wings from underneath a shelter of leaves.
I didn’t recognize the species, and it appeared more like a creature from fantasy than anything that existed in the world.
Just like werewolves.
I turned back to Lincoln. “You’re not making fun of me.”
“Of course I’m not making fun of you.” Lincoln cocked his head. “Let me guess, you walked into the woods because you didn’t want to walk along the road? You didn’t want to get picked up by a fake cop or run over and left for dead?”
Well, this werewolf got me. “I’m not a total idiot, and I downloaded a map of the area. I figured I’d be able to make it to Corpsewood Manor or close. They knew I was coming.”
Lincoln nodded. The top floor had a low roof, and I could see two skylights, one above the stairs, one in a room up ahead, a bedroom maybe. Lincoln steered me toward a bathroom on the left just after the stairs. It was spacious, and he left me standing in the doorway to turn the water off.
The tub sat in the far corner, close to windows that looked out over the green treetops.
The tiles were white, almost boring, but near the ceiling there were fancy old-fashioned ones with swirling, Victorian-looking designs on them.
It added a high-end retro flair to everything. These were definitely rich werewolves.
I watched Lincoln push up his sleeves and look at me expectantly.
I cleared my throat. “Dude, I don’t know where you think this is going, but I’m not getting into the tub with you just standing there.”
He didn’t miss a beat before he turned his back to me.