"Ow."
Roman gingerly touched his head and flinched at the instant stab of pain. He felt completely exhausted and disoriented. He couldn't even recall how he had gotten in the shower in the first place. The last thing he remembered was a flash of white fur and a never-ending fall.
He shook his head dazedly and was greeted with another stab of pain. Blood was dripping down from his forehead, obscuring his vision. He absent-mindedly wiped it away. What the hell had happened to him? Before he could give it any more thought, the bathroom door banged open and Peter burst in. He sounded slightly out of breath, as if he'd been running up the stairs in a hurry.
"What happened? I heard a thud."
Roman's first instinct was to run from Peter, but that seemed wrong, somehow. Suddenly he remembered huge jaws closing around his throat and the sickening feeling of his heart being ripped out of his chest. He shuddered. Peter narrowed his eyes in confusion. Then a sly grin appeared on his face.
"Did you slip in the shower and knock yourself out?"
The smile faded immediately when he took in Roman's serious expression. The upir looked around uncomprehendingly. His words came slowly at first, then in a rush.
"I did … I did terrible things and you, you turned against the moon again and you couldn't go back and you ripped out my heart and Pryce was dead and there was this weird disease that only upirs got and - "
"Hush." Peter interrupted him, gently putting a hand on Roman's face. He was suddenly struck, not for the first time, by the upir's ethereal beauty. He marvelled how Roman, dripping wet, covered in blood, dumbfounded expression on his face, still managed to look bloody gorgeous.
"Calm down, Roman. Everything's fine. I'm here. Nadia is here. Remember? We freed her from Spivak's clutches yesterday. And you did that without getting so much as a scratch on you, I might add. But apparently, having a shower is a much bigger challenge than taking out the upir bogeyman."
A ghost of the smile was back on his lips.
"It's not funny, Peter! Everything went to shit and -"
He stopped abruptly when he realized that he was not only stark naked but Peter was standing inches away from him. His cheek felt very hot under the werewolf's hand. The another image struck him and he said in a broken voice, "I killed Destiny. God, Peter. I didn't mean to. But I killed her all the same."
Peter calmly put his other hand on Roman's face as well and turned the upir's head so that their eyes met again. His voice was steady and sure as he addressed the other man.
"Roman Godfrey. You are the best and kindest man I have ever known."
He placed a light kiss on Roman's lips. The upir's eyes went wide in amazement. "Now, stop talking nonsense and get out of the shower, so I can have a look at that nasty cut."
Roman continued to look at him like a deer caught in the headlights, so Peter gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't beat yourself up about it. It was just a dream."