Chapter 7 Bath

Grace’s POV

“Where---where are we going?” I hiccupped, my good friend Fear slithering across my body and making my heart jump in my chest. I hadn’t forgotten the small fact that he said that he was like the werewolves who’d been holding me, prisoner. Was he taking me to his buddies now? Was everything going to repeat itself all over again? My instinct told me “no”, but then again, it also told me to trust Cole, so…

I might have some trust issues now!

He didn’t reply but gestured towards the woods. I tried to see, but other than shadows and trees, I couldn’t see for shit. I turned to him to tell him as much, but that was when I noticed his eyes glowing again. Apparently, they did that every time he was angry.

Was he angry with me?

Just in case, I kept my mouth shut. He didn’t say anything else, but I was fine with that. After about five minutes of walking, he suddenly bent to pick something up and I scrambled to hold onto him. My foot throbbed like a son of a bitch and I was sure, I couldn’t walk. Not without assistance at least. But he didn’t stop for long and kept on walking.

And walking!

And hell, the man didn’t even seem out of breath! Sure, I’d lost some weight, but I’d always been what you’d considered a curvy girl. Rolls and everything! Not that Cole ever seemed to mind, but not even he carried me around like this just for the fuck of it. Yet this man was doing it effortlessly and there wasn’t even a pearl of sweat on his forehead…

“You’re strong,” I noted, hoping that perhaps complimenting him would at least make him less angry at me. Again, there was a ghost of a smile on his lips, but his eyes still didn’t stop glowing. So, perhaps he wasn’t angry at me? Was there another reason why they glowed?

I’d just opened my mouth to ask when my eyes suddenly fell on the hideous scars on the side of his face. And I realized how little give the skin had. Not to mention that part of his jaw looked like it was missing, as the haggard pieces looked like the remains of a dog’s chew-toy.

It must hurt to speak and that’s why he’s so silent, I thought to myself--- and somewhere in the back of my mind a voice emerged

Well, dah! Idiot! It only took you this long to figure that out?

The voice sounded surprisingly a lot like my own, but instead of analyzing my psyche, I just felt a sting of shame rush through me. She was right and I hated that I hadn’t thought about that sooner. Yeah, I didn’t know the monster who saved me, but on a scale from “not bad” to “raping assholes”, he wasn’t anything like I expected him to be.

Perhaps it was best not to judge a book by its cover.

Or in this case, the monster by the size of his freaking arms!

I once again marveled at the size of him. He was easily 6”5 and definitely had that “grimes down good”-Witcher look going for him. His white shoulder-length hair fitted him somehow and despite the scars, I could tell that he’d once been extremely attractive. But strangely, I didn’t get that “I’m sexy and I know it”-vibe from him.

Cole was like that…

He knew what he was worth and had a way to command the air around him. He always walked into a room as if he owned it and at first I thought it was confidence, but now I was having second thoughts. Was it just entitlement? Did he just always assume that everyone was there at his beck and call?

I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard the sound of water running. Curious I looked around and as my eyes had adjusted to the dark, I was able to spot the river he was walking towards.

Was he taking me somewhere to get a bath?

Tears sprung to my eyes again, but this time for an entirely different reason. I tried to push it down, having lived through too many disappointments in the past few weeks to get my hopes up. But when he dropped whatever he had in his hands and walked straight into the freezing water, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Are we going to bathe?” I asked since I expected him to do the same. The blood on his body had dried and was peeling off, but I couldn’t imagine it felt good to have someone else’s insides on your outsides. He nodded and walked a couple of feet into the stream. Then he gently set me down on a rock, keeling before me.

I was about to ask what he was doing, but before I could speak, I felt his rough fingers brush against my aching toes. I flinched and tried to muffle a scream/gasp but was only partly successful. It hurt! Pain shot up my legs and it felt like my brain was on fire.

So much for having gotten used to the pain!

I gritted my and watched him carefully. Despite being a giant of a man, he was surprisingly gentle. He kept the foot still with one hand as he used the other to gently rinse off the blood. Even in the dark, I could see bruises forming and the skin was scraped off in several places. And by the way, it kept throbbing, I was afraid that something was broken.

Great, the new voice at the back of my head scoffed. Good luck wobbling out of these woods alive now!

Her words sent a new shiver of fear down my spine. She was right! One thing was getting out alive with all limbs attached, but if my foot was broken, I was even more fucked!

Without wanting to, my lower lip trembled, and I had to bite it to stop another sob from getting out. How pathetic was this? I’d been saved just to be killed by my own stupidity!

Great! Just--- Great!

Suddenly I felt a big, rough hand on my knee, and I looked up to see the man looking at me with worry. And right then, it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. He was worried that he’d done something to hurt me. He didn’t see me as a broken, sobbing mess. He didn’t see me as rejected, used, and discarded.

He just saw me…

“I’m fine,” I reassured him, swallowing the lump in my throat and allowing myself one last sniffle. “Thank you.”

I tried to give him a reassuring smile and took a deep breath hoping to recenter myself. Crying wasn’t going to help me. I needed to think and figure something out from here. And---

“Nothing’s broken,” he said and stood, walking back to shore. I couldn’t see much, but I turned away nevertheless when I realized that he was naked. My cheeks heated when I realized that he’d been naked this whole time. And I’d been wearing nothing but a flimsy silk robe. But then again, was dignity really my biggest problem right now?

He returned and once again knelt before me. I tried to see what he was going and to my surprise, he had a jar in his hand with some gel-like substance inside it. He put some on his fingers, before bending over my wounded foot again.

“What’s that?” I asked as another wave of fear trickled down my spine. He didn’t answer. Just continued doing his thing and rubbed it gently into the wounds. That was when I recognized it! It was the same thing that those other werewolves used when I tried to end myself. It was a green salve, and it had a surprisingly pleasant smell to it. And the second it touched my skin the pain diminished, and the wounds closed up as if by magic…

“What IS that?” I repeated, watching my foot in awe. Just as with my wrists, there wasn’t even a trace left behind. No scar, not even a single line indicating that there once had been a wound.

Again, he didn’t answer but proceeded to put it away before getting to his feet again. I turned away, not wanting to see anything I wasn’t supposed to. But a second later I felt him thrust something into my hand and I could have cried when I saw that it was a bar of soap.

“Wash,” he ordered, taking my hand and leading me deeper into the water. “I’ll be there.” He pointed a few feet from where I was and I realized that he wanted to give me privacy.

“Thanks,” I said again and looked up into his dark face. His one glowing eyes were eerie, but in a way, they had become my lighthouse. Whenever I saw it, I knew it was him.

And that gave me comfort…

I hissed when I stepped into the freezing cold water, and as I took some more steps, I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped me. Within seconds I was shivering, and my teeth clattered. It became harder and harder to hold the bar of soap as my fingers shook and became stiff from the cold.

“Shit,” I hissed, trying to move as much as I could, hoping that I’d get some heat that way. But no matter what I did, I just couldn’t seem to get warm. The water came to around my thigh and it felt like small needles pricked my skin everywhere the water touched.

Great! Now you’ll die of pneumonia before the wildlife eats you, the dark voice sneered, disgusted by my weakness. I wanted to cry. Scream and tell, to tell her that I couldn’t help it. I sure as fuck hadn’t asked to be in this situation and I was doing the best I could, damn it!

What the hell more did she want me to do…?

Suddenly someone picked the soap out of my hand, and I gasped, as a warm body pressed against mine.

“For heat,” I heard the wolf mumble, although it was just the way he talked as he couldn’t use his jaw to pronounce the words properly. I knew I should push him away since we were both naked now. But instead, I let out a sigh of relief and sank into his hold. I was tired of thinking about the things I should or shouldn’t do. I’d been doing so many things over these past few weeks that I’d never done before – things I didn’t even believe myself capable of – that leaning into a naked wolf-man in the middle of nowhere, wasn’t even the strangest thing I’d done for now.

I just nodded and turned around, hiding my face in his broad chest. I felt the softness of his chest hair brush against my cheek, but I didn’t mind. I liked a man with a little hair on his chest. Cole always shaved it all off and no matter how I tried to convince him to let it grow out, he never did…

The man rubbed small circles on my back, and I let out a sigh of relief. It felt good. Everything about him felt good actually. The heat from his body seemed to seep straight into my aching muscles and the sickness in my stomach was eased away slowly. After a while, I stopped trembling and was even able to ignore the cold that surrounded us. His body was like a furnace and while I’d gotten used to the cold, I definitely enjoyed the heat.

Suddenly he bent over, and I gasped, as cold water trickles down my spine. But after a second, I realized that he was washing my hair, and I relaxed. He rubbed the soap into my dirty locks and while I should find the movement undignifying, I instead found that I enjoyed it. I wanted to thank him again but then realized, that I didn’t even know his name. The dark voice inside my head was quick to pile on the guilt, but for once, I ignored her, pushing her to the back of my mind…

“Do you--- You have a name?” I asked, trying to look up at him, but couldn’t manage since I was pressed flush against his chest.

“Jack,” he murmured and while he didn’t ask, I could sense that he was curious about my name too.

“I’m Grace,” I told him. “Grace Bright.”