9
Rowena wished she'd taken up Salazar's offer to help with the Christmas preparations, seven days prior, but it was a little late now. She was completely exhausted, never before in her life had she seen so many red and green ribbons and pastries and ornaments. "If I ever have to make another wreath of holly, I will scream. Or I'll attempt to force enough energy out of myself to try." She quietly vowed to herself as she dragged her half-dead body to Salazar's bedroom, where she'd set out the potion for herself that afternoon - as Salazar was still hiding in his study most of the days. Not even her impending change gave her any extra energy, she was burnt right out.
She opened the door and almost fell inside. Yawning, she closed the door behind her, and went to sit on the bed. Her hand reached for and opened the copper flask on the table on what had become her side of the bed, and, taking a breath for preparation, she downed the potion within. The awful burning taste had not been any better than before, but she was more confident in the potion's abilities to overpower the beast within her, so it was worth it.
Another yawn made her eyes water, and she stood to undress herself. She reached her hands behind her to release the knot that kept her heavy dress on, and allowed it to fall off her shoulders to the floor. That in itself, relaxed her a bit, having the weight of the winter dress off of her body. Then she pulled a night shift over her head and wrapped a robe over it.
Her entire being was fatigued. Rowena knew that she was supposed to go to the room that she and Salazar had designated for her changing, so that she could become a wolf where no one would find her and she could rest assured that she wasn't going to hurt anyone if the potion didn't work, but she was just so dog-tired, she sat back down on the bed.
It was so warm and inviting, she couldn't help but put her head down on the pillow. 'Salazar will wake me up if I fall asleep.' She assured herself, 'I'm not that tired anyway…' But almost before the thought was complete, she was dead asleep.
Not half an hour later Salazar came in, smiled at the sleeping Rowena, and put a blanket over her, having completely forgotten what the day was, then undressed for bed, and crawled in next to her, falling asleep almost as quickly.
Several hours later, deep into the night, something half-roused him from his sleep into that half-dreaming half-conscious state. He felt comfortable, laying against something soft, and he mumbled to himself, not quite aware of what he was saying. "Warm, furry, warm… furry?" He opened his eyes and he barely managed to not jump up and yell in fearful shock. Rowena was asleep next to him, but she wasn't the woman he'd climbed into bed with. He reached back behind him for his wand, should anything happen, and groped blindly for it on the bedside table, not once taking his wide eyes off her. 'Goddamn! Where is it?' he thought as he searched. The quote, "Let sleeping dogs lie." crept into his mind, and took on a whole different meaning now.
If she was sleeping on the bed, she'd more likely than not, forgotten to take the potion - as far as he knew. That meant that he'd gone to bed with a dangerous animal, and not known it. His worries stretched from, 'I have to do this inconspicuously, or the wolf will see it and get angry and kill me faster… or slower… I'm not sure which is worse!' to 'If there's a tiny sliver of a chance Rowena took her potion, let her not be hurt seeing me go for my wand… Her self-esteem is low enough…' Mind torn between either of them getting hurt, Salazar reached, attempting to not move any part of his body, but that arm behind him, eyes always on Rowena.
Rowena huffed and moved slightly, Salazar froze, mutely begging her not to wake up. That could possibly - and would probably - end badly, especially if she saw how frightened he was at that moment. He tried to slow down his heart by breathing deeply, and then he began reaching for his wand again. 'Of course I would leave it on the far side of the nightstand.' His thoughts were rueful, then his finger brushed the smooth polished wood, and instead of being able to then grab the thing, merely from his brush, it rolled right off the edge. 'DAMNIT!' Salazar's heart stopped, it was like the feeling one would get at the top of the stairs when one foot slips and the knowledge that they're going to fall and it cannot be stopped, grips the mind in dread. His mind panicked not knowing what to do.
The sound of wood hitting stone seemed to echo in the room where you could have heard a pin drop, and he wasn't the only one that had heard. Rowena's ears pricked and her yellow eyes opened sleepily. She blinked a couple of times, bringing herself into focus and looked at Salazar - whose heart was racing a mile a minute. He smiled at her, as convincing a calm smile as he could force, but apparently she saw through it and tilted her head.
It seemed to hit her - what was going on - when she went to open her mouth to ask, "What's wrong?" and barked instead. She near jumped, startled by herself, as she realized that she'd changed into a wolf, while lying in bed next to Salazar. He did jump. Rowena began to panic.
'God! Why didn't he wake me?' She thought as she tried to move away from him, but struggled with the sheets that had been tucked around her human form, and tangled her legs now along with her night dress and robe, which had been loose enough not to tear, but were too small and incorrectly shaped for her wolf body. 'Damnit! Stupid clothes! Stupid bed! Stupid me! Why didn't I go when I was awake?'
While Rowena was distracted, Salazar made a quick backward grab for his wand and put in on the bedside table, close enough so that he could reach it with no problem, and then tried to settle her so that she would not hurt herself or tear his skin in the struggle. "Rowena, calm down. It's okay. Everything's fine." He briefly wondered if he were really speaking to just her, or if his heart needed the calming as well.
She felt that her claws were too close to him, and though she wasn't a savage beast, she could still kill or hurt him by complete accident with those claws. 'I couldn't live with myself if I hurt him in any way! Move, Rowena, move! Get off the bed! Goddamn! Can't get out of these bloody sheets or this stupid gown! GAH!' Her back feet kicked against the bed clothes, trying desperately to pull them off, and she whined in not only discomfort, but fear.
"Rowena, settle down, you're just going to make things worse. Just lay still." He attempted to pull the covers off her, but she was still struggling frantically, and he couldn't get a hold on them. "Rowena, stop panicking. Everything is okay. Just stop struggling. Shhh, it's okay. It's okay."
She was beginning to let loose the blankets, but that was making things more difficult for escaping, because the more slack she had, the easier it was for her paw to get tangled again. Panting and whining she slowed her movement, having gathered a small bit of calm, enough to straighten her thoughts a bit.
Her legs were shaking, her eyes wide, her fur on end, all as a result of the sudden wakefulness and adrenaline coursing through her body. Rowena attempted a few more kicks at the sheets, then lay utterly still, thoroughly exhausted.
Salazar reached again, over Rowena's figure, and pulled at the blanket wrapped around her. It came off with little effort on his part, then he turned, slowly took up his wand, and placed the tip on the seam of the robe, "Incarats." he commanded softly, and the robe split itself off of her. He grabbed the robe's pieces and cast them behind him to the floor, then repeated the process with the shift. Almost as soon as she was free, Rowena moved off the mattress and lay, still shaking, on the floor.
Propping himself on one arm, he looked over the edge of the bed to the black wolf laying there. "Come now, I haven't gotten a dog bed yet. You can't sleep on the floor." He smiled that coy smile he so often bore and Rowena looked up at him with one question in her eyes: "Are you completely out of your mind?" But Salazar did not notice the question, and patted the bed beside him, still. "Up, girl."
When she did not move, he pulled the bedclothes over her half of the bed and himself, and patted again. "That's better, isn't it? Please, Rowena, it's cold up here."
She stared at him for a while longer, assuring herself of his seriousness and analyzing the new situation. With the comforter and sheets between them, it would be safer for him, and more comfortable for her… but only if she slept on her stomach or her right side… The right side, she decided, was safest. Nervously, she got to her paws and jumped gracefully onto the bed, despite her still shaky legs.
With her heart beating erratically and her eyes flickering around, she lay down, her back to Salazar, and felt his hand gently placed on her shoulder. He had managed to calm himself enough to bring down his heart and hoped that she would feel that and thus calm herself, perhaps remembering only him being calm rather than frightened of her.
It may have taken over an hour, but slowly and surely, her breathing and heart-rate slowed and she fell asleep, Salazar watching her all the while in wonder, thinking and thinking, never speaking a word. He was sorely tempted to sneak into her head and see that she was dreaming well, but respected her too much to do so, and thus just stroked her a little and allowed his thoughts to swirl.
He'd thought that it would be at least a month before he got up the courage for his plan, but she needed it, and she needed it almost imminently. She deserved it, 'And really, what's stopping me?' Salazar asked himself, coming up with no answer. 'Tomorrow then. I'll do it tomorrow.'
