Pathways

I awoke tucked into mounds of fur blankets. Darren’s nose was tucked softly in my upper spine, and his arms were draped over me cautiously. Parts of my body were suffocating in gauze, and my wrist ached because of the stitches. Thankfully it seemed as though I was relatively unharmed for what I had been through. Carefully I wiggled my way around, turning over in his arms and nuzzling closer to him.

He groaned out of annoyance, just about pushing me away. Only at the last second to stroke the hair on top of my head uncomfortably hard. “It’s okay, Rose…Go back to sleep.” He grunted, still mostly asleep. He sounded annoyed, and sleep deprived. “Please sleep..” Had I been waking him up all night? I sure hope not, I’d feel so guilty.

Carefully I stretched forward and kissed him in the tip of his nose. “Keep sleeping Darren.” I cooed, slowly slipping out of his warm arms.

Because of the shades being drawn on the giant windows, the bedroom only had a thin string of light over the floor. It crept about the wood until it reached our bed, there it arched a thing layer of light across Darren’s face. From what I could see he was already fast asleep, a small gash sliced over his nose and lip but other then that he was pretty well healed up. That made me feel better about allowing him to be harmed. If I had been just a minute later he would’ve been dead, and frankly I probably would’ve as well because I would’ve allowed the bear to kill me. I’m so glad I had that adrenaline rush, if I would’ve let him die…I don’t know what I would do with my life.

Quietly I crept over to the bathroom, ever so slowly shutting the door behind me. When I turned on the light I found myself temporarily blinded, the bright yellow light stung my eyes and made me lightheaded. Leaning on the light yellow walls I awaited my vision to correct, once it did I found myself staring at a completely different girl then I was used to seeing in the mirror. My pale body was coated it dark purple bruises, as was my face. Across my cheek bone looked as though I had the exact impression of a bear paw in bruise form. Groaning to myself I unwrapped the gauze around my wrist slowly, tugging at it until it let loose and fell to the bathroom floor. So far my wrist held the worse damage. A deep jagged cut wrapped around it, it was stitched and scabbed over now but barely. I swear I would’ve seen my bone if it wasn’t stitched up.

Groaning again I made my way over to the shower, cranking it on full blast. It screamed at first, making my jump back in surprise. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end, waiting for Darren to burst into the room and demand that I get back to bed. Thankfully he didn’t, I’m assuming that today took a lot of him. He was probably going to sleep most of the day. I would to, but only after I rinsed off. For some reason I felt so dirty and cold. Probably because I have spent a ton of time in the snow these past few days. Once the water started flowing out of the shower head I stripped myself of the flannel nightshirt and underwear and slipped into the steaming cabinet.

It hurt at first, it stung every cut in bruise. I found myself cringing and whining quietly, leaning against the porcelain wall. The steaming water made my body ache, but it was also loosening the tight muscles in my back. I sunk to the floor of the tub, curling against the wall and allowing the water to help my aching body. It wasn’t until probably ten minutes later when I realized I was still whimpering quietly. Honestly, I was in more pain then I was every going to admit. Although I think I didn’t realize it earlier because I hadn’t been relaxing. Oh well there has got to be some type of pain killer in the room somewhere.

By the time the water was running cold I found myself remarkable tired again. Standing up shakily I cranked the water off and made my way slowly out. Just about screaming when I found myself face to face with the one and only Darren. Jumping back I slipped on the wet floor of the tub and slammed down as hard as I could onto it, trying to catch myself on my already hurt wrist.

Darren jumped off from his seat on the floor to catch me but of course he was to late. “Rose!” He cried, watching my when I hit hard. I screamed out in pain, curling up and caressing my throbbing wrist.

“Ow!” I whined, trying to hide the searing pain that was no shooting up my arm. “God, you scared the crap out of me.”

He reached into the tub, helping me stand then hoisting me out of the tub. “I’m so sorry!” He enveloped me into a soft brown towel then into a hug. “Are you okay? I heard you crying in here but I didn’t want to disturbed you and…I don’t know I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

I nuzzled my head into his warm shoulder. “I’m fine, the water was just painful for a few minutes. I don’t know how you go in here without me knowing though.”

He sighed deeply then pushed me out of his arms so he could rummage through the cabinets until he found more gauze and a bottle of pain killers. Ignoring what he was doing for a few minutes I padded out of the bathroom, walking over to the closet where I kept my clothing, of course I didn’t grab my clothing anyway. I reached around in the dark closet until I discovered a soft long sleeved tee-shirt of his, dropping the towel I pulled it over my head and then grabbed a pair of plain white underwear.

“You know, I’m still a wolf.” His voice sounded from the bathroom doorway. I turned to look at him, what could he possibly be talking about. Before I knew what was happening he was in front of me, resting the gauze and bottle of pills on the bed. His hands rested on my hips and he tugged me into a passionate kiss. My eyes slipped close and I allowed my body to sink closer to him. His lips moved with mine beautifully, making me feel like I was in heaven. My wolf purred inside of me, knowing that her mate was with her intimately. I pushed her down, knowing that if I let her take over now we would end up in bed together and honestly I wasn’t in good enough shape for that. He pulled away from he, pulling his fingers up my back gently, my wolf purred again. His eyes slipped close and he jerked away from me. “Don’t tempt me, I don’t have any self control and seeing you get dressed in front of me is not going to help.”

I growled quietly. “You are just as guilty.” I closed the distance between us once more, pushing my lips against his and stretching my aching body to wrap my arms around his neck. He kissed me back and before I knew what was happening we were on the bed with him over top of me. His fingers pushing up the shirt I just put on and his breath deep. Indicating his wolf was taking over fast. “Don’t let him win.” I purred, wrapping my arms around his neck once more and kissing his forehead. “We have to be gentle if we are going to do this.” My wolf trying pushing to the surface as well, I smothered her down knowing that this wouldn’t work with her in control.

“Okay.” He purred quietly, brushing the hair out of my face. “ I can try.”