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“You’re in my apartment,” she tells me as she awkwardly glances around the room. “As to how you got here, that’s a rather weird story.”
“Oh?”
“You’d drank a lot, and quite possibly even took some drug. I could’ve sworn that your pupils were blown, and I wanted to take you to the hospital to make sure you didn’t have any brain damage,” Helia tells me, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly as she meets mine again. “Your friend wouldn’t let me, but he did agree to drop us off at my place, so I could keep an eye on you.”
“Where is Wyatt?” I ask, processing the story part by part.
“I’m assuming that’s your friend’s name.” She continues when I nod, “He took the first watch then woke me and left. That was four hours ago.”
“Right,” I acknowledge, my brain still too drunk to function.
I take another bite of the sausage. This time, there’s no nausea to accompany it. I have no idea how to react to her human kindness. All I’ve ever felt related to the inferior species is immense disgust. There’s nothing near that in me when I look at Helia, talk to her, or even touch her.
“Thank you for everything,” I tell her. “Breakfast is delicious, too.”
Helia smiles and glances at the tray. Her face transforms into one that looks a lot like panic. “I forgot to bring you orange juice.”
“It’s okay,” I call, but she’s already on her feet and out the door. Not even a minute later, she’s back with a glass in her hand. “Thank you.”
“Freshly squeezed orange juice is good for a hangover,” she tells me, then furrows her brows as if trying to give me a serious look. “Doctor’s orders.”
I laugh and shake my head, then wince, regretting the motion. Like the savior she is, Helia takes two small pills from the tray that I didn’t notice before. I’ve never had to take painkillers before, but right now, I’d take the whole bottle if she’d let me. Two will have to do.
“I washed and ironed your clothes,” Helia tells me and points at the wardrobe. “I hung them inside.”
“You didn’t need to do all that,” I say, unable to hide the awe. “You’re a total package, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?” she asks, but I can tell that she knows what I’m insinuating because her cheeks flush with a gentle shade of pink.
“You saved my life, fed me, washed my clothes, and gave me the meds to tend to the worst headache of my life,” I tell her, smiling as I watch her shake her head. “I don’t say this lightly, but you might be my hero.”
“Heroine,” she corrects, and I furrow my brows in confusion. “Though hero is a gender-neutral term, I prefer the traditionally feminine version, which is heroine.”
“So you’re a smarty pants,” I tease. “It must go well with your fancy career in medicine.”
“There’s nothing fancy or sarcastic about helping people,” she replies humbly. “If every one of us did one good thing per day, they would multiply and accumulate, making all our lives a lot better.”
“Wow, a philosopher,” I say and roll my eyes. “I knew there was a catch. You seemed too good to be true. Hot and kind is a combination that doesn’t exist.”
Not that you deserve kindness of any kind, my wolf comments, slowly awakening. Especially from a human.
“I think it’s time for you to go,” Helia says, her tone sharper and several degrees colder. “The bathroom is the first door on the right. You can take a shower if you have to, but then you need to leave.”
“Oh, come on, baby,” I croon. “Don’t be like that.”
“You have twenty minutes,” Helia tells me and turns toward the door. Before she leaves, she says over her shoulder, “Don’t test me.”
I’m left with an open mouth, staring after her. A part of me wants to shake it off and go home, but there’s another much bigger part that’s attracted to her. There’s something different about her that makes me want to pull her closer and press her petite body against mine. I want to taste her lips at least once, hoping to curl them up into that beautiful, wide smile that lights up her face. The green shade of her eyes brings me an inner peace that I’ve never felt before.
Don’t do it, my wolf warns me.
Don’t worry, I assure him. I won’t fuck this up.
Not wanting to piss her off even more, I slip into the bathroom to take a quick shower. At first glance, the apartment is quite modest and small, with only one bedroom. Her whole living quarters could easily fit into my bathroom, while hers is the size of my shower at home.
I stand in her bathtub, doing my best to squeeze my big frame in. My privileged upbringing saved me from seeing a shower and a bathtub being used as one. My fingers fumble with the curtain, although I don’t have high expectations for the floor to stay dry.
That’s how the other half lives, my wolf teases, and I’m tempted to shift, so he’d have to deal with this small space. He senses my thoughts and growls in warning.
