I touch her dress gently with one claw, prodding at the spot of blood on the front of her dress. My ears twitch. Her heart is speeding up, her scent slightly sweeter for some reason I cannot name, but she turns away. One hand twitches toward her back.
“Can you unlace my dress? It will be easier that way.”
Lace? I follow her gesture to the narrow strings holding her dress together. My heart leaps. My paws shake as I carefully curl my claws around the strings and tug, unwinding the top of her dress. She holds the front in place, loosening the bottom so that I can have access to the wound in her side without seeing her breasts. Disappointment shudders through me, but I push it away like a dog shaking water from its coat. I want her, of course; she is my mate. But she might not feel the same way about me, a monster, and I can live with that.
“You’re so gentle,” Maris observes, then winces as I dab at her wound with a damp cloth. No matter how careful I am, I can still feel the tiny sparks of pain that shudder through her when I touch her skin with the damp cloth. But I am still succeeding at cleaning away the dried blood on her silky skin, and the wound has stopped bleeding.
“Gentle,” I agree softly.
I may not have been able to stop her from being injured in the first place, but now that I’m here, I will never let someone hurt her again.
I will protect her with my life.
CHAPTER 8
Maris
I wakeup in far less pain than I expected.
When my eyes flutter open, the ceiling above me is stone, not the wood of my cottage. Whorls of craggy rock spin above me. I blink a few times until my mind finally settles and my vision stops spinning.
As if to punctuate the difference between this and my home, a clear, sweet smell invades my nostrils as I inhale deeply. Fresh water. It reminds me of how thirsty I am, the burning in my throat and how heavy my tongue feels. I swallow hard, finally forcing myself to sit up and open my eyes.
My heart pounds and I gulp down the lump in my throat. The dryness in my mouth is not only thirst; it’s fear. Or something akin to it, a cousin perhaps. I’m not sure how exactly I feel about the creature in front of me, but I do know I’m fascinated.
She looks up and I stare, caught up in her eyes. They’re two different colors, something I’ve only ever seen once before. One of them is glittering purple, and the other shines gold, like a chest full of treasure that Mother’s books always speak of.
And she is a she, that much is obvious despite the long, shaggy fur that covers her body; my cheeks flame at the memory of touching her chest yesterday. She’s taller than I am, her body built with generous curves and ample breasts covered by fur like the rest of her; she’s clearly well fed and muscled. More than I could ever hope for, more than I ever had.
The creature is still staring, mismatched eyes locked on me. I recognize the colors, but of course it isn’t who I think it is. The only other creature I have ever seen with eyes like hers is Gray, but of course, this isn't her. Gray is a wolf with gray fur and technically that would be true of this creature as well, but of course they aren't the same.
This one stands upright, like a human, and is clearly intelligent. She speaks. It's halting and slow, but I understand; sometimes I go days, or weeks, without speaking to another living soul, especially after Gray left, before she came back again. When the only people who speak to you are unkind, it feels not worth it to speak aloud.
Or perhaps her long, slender muzzle isn't made for words. Whatever the case, she did try to speak when she comforted me, and that means something. It means she cares enough about my comfort to at least attempt to calm me.
It means she is kind.
All too aware of her eyes still locked on me, I try to wake up my stiff features enough to offer a slow smile. Her long ears twitch, tongue lolling from her muzzle. It's a smile of its own kind, and mine widens in return.
"Water?" I ask. I can hear it and smell it, but even the slightest shift makes my side burn like I've been smacked with a flaming branch; I hit through my teeth.
"Hurt?" the creature blurts, and I flinch back hard enough to gasp when she lurches to her feet. Immediately, she shrinks inon herself, claws scraping the floor as she settles back onto her haunches. "Not. Hurt."
It takes me a moment to work out what she's saying; I must be out of practice with speaking to people as well. Even if she isn't technically a "people" in the typical sense of the word.
She was saying that I was hurt when I winced, then immediately reassuring me that she wouldn't hurt me when I flinched back from her. Just another example of her understanding human nature enough to know that she needs to comfort me. It makes me wonder just how human she is underneath all that fur. Human enough to both fascinate and concern me, that's for certain.
I swallow hard. "No, I don't think you'll hurt me. It's just a surprise, you know? Waking up in a strange place." I gesture at the cave openings behind us and wince when the wound in my side pinches. It's a shallow gouge in my side from wrestling for the knife. Cleaned and bandaged by the creature, and my cheeks warm at the memory. Her touch was infinitely gentle, and while her gaze was hungry, it was never inappropriate, never straight, even when I was merely holding my corset top over my breasts. She was perfectly respectful, which is more than I can say for any of the village boys; they are always more than happy to stare at my body, even if they would never dare to touch me. Cowards.
The wolf creature holds out one massive paw to me in a clear invitation. I hesitate, then gently place my hand in her furry palm. The fur is silky soft, her hand gentle as it closes around mine. Her paw is massive, far larger than mine, but beneath the soft fur, I can feel the bones. It feels almost like a human hand, and I have to resist the urge to lift it closer to my face and study it more closely.
Instead, I follow as she leads me deeper into the cave. There are several different openings in the stone that go farther; the one behind us, where she carried me inside, is covered by amassive piece of wood. If I didn’t know any better, I might think it’s a door. But that’s impossible, isn’t it?
She leads me into one of the caves. There is food stored against the wall along with wood that has been carefully collected and stacked. The next cave is the source of the trickling water I heard earlier. I start to drop to my knees to cup my hands in the water, only to be stopped by the wolf creature. She pulls me a bit farther, then points to a small pool next to a larger one.
The shapes of fish flash in the larger pool, but the smaller one is clean, bitingly frigid when I plunge my hands into it. My fingers are numb almost immediately. The coldness burns my throat when I swallow, finally enough to quench my thirst for the first time since I woke up. It’s almost enough to ignore the dull ache in my side from moving too much.
“Thank you,” I gasp out finally, swallowing the last drops of freezing water and swiping my hands off on my skirts to dry them.
