Taking A Bath In The River

Nicholas immediately realized that the words he uttered so casually didn't sound appropriate in this context.

Sophie was a grown woman, and he was a grown man. They were no longer kids.

Their bodies were now different and it must be embarrassing for her to even talk about bathing in the river, around him.

He looked away to hide his blushing face and pointed at a cave nearby. "I will wait for you there, while you are taking a bath, and watch our surroundings. You can take your time."

Sophie bit her lip and looked at the cave and the river alternately. The clear water looked so tempting. Gosh.. if Nicholas wasn't here, she would have jumped into the water and wash herself.

"Okay…" Finally, Sophie nodded. She turned to look at Nicholas and batted her eyes. The man immediately understood what she wanted. He picked up the bag and walked to the cave.

"Take your time," he said one more time as he reached the cave entrance. "I will watch our surroundings. But if you see anything, just scream and I will be right there."

"Thank youuu!" Sophie waved at him and smiled.

Once Nicholas disappeared inside the cave, she quickly undressed and dipped her foot in the water. It felt so refreshing.

Not long after, she was already enjoying the cold water and washed herself happily. She also washed her clothes and put them on a big rock by the river after she was done.

Even though the bath was amazing, Sophie knew she shouldn't take her time so Nicholas could take a bath too. She didn't want to be selfish.

Sophie finished in fifteen minutes and immediately wore her fresh set of clothes. Once she was ready, she walked toward the cave, taking her wet clothes with her.

"I have finished bathing," she said. "Now, it's your turn."

Nicholas came out of the cave with a red face. He nodded at her awkwardly and went to the river. The truth was, his senses were too good and he could hear all the sounds she made while she was bathing.

This made his mind wander and thought about what she looked like naked. Gosh… Nicholas was embarrassed by his dirty mind. He wanted to be a gentleman and not think lewd about Sophie, but ever since they hugged to sleep during the stormy night, he often imagined doing lewd things with her.

He wanted to know the taste of her lips, the shape of her body, the touch of her skin… and her voice when she called his name during— ah. Stop it, Nicholas.

Stop it.

Sophie was not that kind of woman.

As soon as Nicholas reached the river, he stripped so quickly and jumped into the water. His action created a loud splash sound that startled Sophie. She wanted to know what happened, but when she remembered the man must be naked and jumped into the river, her face flushed red and she immediately covered it with both hands.

Gosh… she should dry her wet clothes instead of checking Nicholas during his bath.

Nicholas felt slightly relieved when the cold water rinsed his body. He needed this cold bath so he could stop thinking dirty about Sophie.

He finished washing up in twenty minutes, and he, too, returned to the cave with his wet clothes.

"I feel so fresh now," he declared.

Sophie looked up to him and smiled.

"Yeah… it's a good idea to wash up while we find a river," she said. "Give me your wet clothes, I will hang them to dry."

Nicholas didn't know why, he just gave his clothes to her, as if it was very natural to do. This made him feel all fuzzy inside. What they were doing now, felt like a husband and wife, working together to get food and do household chores.

Sophie taking his wet clothes and now hanging them to dry, was like a wife helping her husband with his laundry.

The prince couldn't help but smile faintly. He really liked this thought.

***

They stayed in the cave for one day until their clothes were dry and then continued their journey to look for wolfsbane, deeper into the forest.

Everything went well, until one day, Sophie and Nicholas encountered large and ferocious beasts in the forest.

For some reason, the area that Sophie and her family ventured into didn't have any animals like this. Maybe it was because Sophie's father was a great hunter that dangerous creatures learned to stay away?

This time, it was different though, the two of them entered into the creature's territory.

"Ah," Sophie shrieked and hid behind Nicholas who glared at the group of forest cats, spotted large felines, hiding in the bushes that prowled around them. There were so many of them that hunted together that it was a surprise.

Nicholas' gritted his teeth. "Watch your back, Sophie. I'll take care of this."

When one of the beasts lunged towards Sophie, Nicholas quickly pushed her back and then grabbed down its paw and threw it into the trees. The creature crashed and the tree actually splintered.

Nicholas' actions immediately frightened some of the felines, but they still attacked.

Sophie was a bit frozen in fear, but somehow, Nicholas' speed and reaction time were remarkable. Even without transforming into a wolf, Nicholas countered all of the creatures and avoided getting slashed or bitten.

Instead, it was Sophie's fault that he got injured.

There was actually one remaining cat hiding in the tree that leaped down to attack Sophie from behind. She nearly missed the sound of the feline's paw creaking the strong branch with its weight.

However, it was Nicholas who took the forest cat's slash with his arm before he kicked the creature back and sent it running to wherever it came from. The scent of blood filled his nostrils, but Nicholas didn't care.

He reached out with his unhurt hand to Sophie and asked. "Are you okay?"

"Nicholas, you're hurt!" Sophie's eyes watered at the sight of him bleeding. She knew that she was depending on him for protection, but to see him hurt this way made her heart ache.

"This is just a scratch," Nicholas reassured her. It hurt a lot actually and he winced in pain.

Even though Nicholas knew that he had high regenerative abilities, it didn't mean that his senses were dull to pain. He was still raised as a prince and there weren't a lot of opportunities for him to get hurt at all.

However, he bore the pain because he was with Sophie.

Sophie quickly ripped a portion of her clothes, poured some of their water, and then bandaged Nicholas' arm. "I need to find a herb to disinfect that wound. You could get sick from animal bites."

Nicholas was stunned at how quickly Sophie tore her own clothes just to take care of him. He was also attracted and distracted by the sight of her thigh getting exposed that he averted his gaze.

The prince could only murmur, "Okay…"

"Can I borrow the almanac?" Sophie asked Nicholas urgently.

"Sure," Nicholas lent it to her and watched the young woman flip through the pages quickly. She thumbed through them so fast that it was evident that she was a voracious and fast reader.

How was she able to consume that amount of information so fast? Nicholas was impressed.

"Phew, I think we encountered something like this before," Sophie said with a relieved smile. "Let's go back a little so I can pick it then we should find a way to stay at or maybe we should head home?"

Not to mention that Sophie had great memory retention too.

"Sophie…" Nicholas didn't want to leave empty-handed, but he followed her for now.

Maybe once Nicholas showed her that he was okay, the two of them would be able to continue. However, he was actually concerned that Sophie was pushing herself too far for his sake.

.

.

________________

From Missrealitybites:

Today is my birthday (November 19) and I just realized that last year around the same time, I just started a book, called "The Cursed Prince" and I 'cried' to my readers about how I was truly stressed by hitting the big four, that it affected me physically and emotionally.

I was sick all week for no reason. I also felt so old, sad, and hopeless... ahahahahaha. The first few months of hitting 40 were the worst, but once I got past that, things were fine.

Looking back, I actually have a great year.

In reflection, today when I become 41, I don't feel old at all. Weird, isn't it??? I'm happy, busy, and have so much to look forward to.

Also, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I never wrote a werewolf book before and I just started this story because I wanted to join the werewolf contest.

However, the more I write about Sophie, Nic, and Leland, the more I fall in love with this genre. I got so much inspiration every time I write this book. And if you read along, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see some references to Beauty And The Beast, Little Mermaid, etc.

I MIGHTTTT throw in a mass release later today, but we'll see if I can finish my work early. If not, I'll save it for the weekend. So, please don't throw tomatoes just yet. XD