CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Help in Unexpected Places
Lycan Headquarters
Alex could vaguely hear voices penetrating her sleep. Soon, she realized she wasn't dreaming and could now clearly hear people talking. For a brief moment she forgot where she was. But as soon as she tried to move, her back quickly reminded her that she had no business going anywhere.
She must have finally fallen asleep; and, in Lucian's bed it would seem. She lay still for a few minutes longer, trying to get her bearings. What day was it? How much time had she lost? Why was she only wearing underwear?
She was having a hard time concentrating on these questions, mainly because her back felt as though someone had been tenderizing it for a few hours. That, and there appeared to be an argument going on right outside the door. The voices in the hallway kept getting louder.
She focused on those voices and was able to discern that Michael and Lucian were the two people involved in the verbal altercation, with Selene putting her two cents worth in every now and then.
Alex opened her eyes, and found she could actually see pretty well in the dark, must be one of those non-human perks. She couldn't see anyone else in the room, and given her current state of undress, that was a good thing.
The first thing she needed to do was get up, because she really needed to go to the bathroom. This was gonna hurt. "Okay Alex", she said to herself, "This is a walk in the park. Just sit up, throw your legs over the side of the bed and stand. Then all you gotta do is walk over to the bathroom." She was trying to give herself a little pep talk. Her bladder wasn't going to hold out much longer.
Unable to wait any longer, she gently began edging her body closer to the side of the bed. The skin on her back pulled tight and she could feel her wounds protesting the move. Whew, she made it. She was as close to the edge as she could get without falling off the bed itself. She stopped and let her back have a small break when she noticed the raised voices in the hallway had subsided to a furious whisper. She would worry about them later, right now she had a date with the toilet!
Now came the hard part. She knew her hair was still in its braid, she felt around for the end and held it tight within her left hand. Then bracing herself, she dropped her legs over the side of the bed and pushed herself up with her hands.
Biting back a loud moan, Alex cursed under her breath. The pain was mind numbing, she could feel some of the lashes tear open and begin bleeding. Michael was going to be pissed! She stood there for a couple of seconds, trying to catch her breath. Finally, when she felt she was ready, she beganmaking her way across the room. Really the bathroom hadn't seem so far away when she was lying on the bed just a few moments ago. But as she began walking towards it, she wasn't sure she was going to make it there by herself.
Each step was excruciating, her back screaming in agony. But there was no way she was going to call out for help. She would notlet Lucian and the others see her like this. She forced her legs to take each step until she was able to reach out and grab the handle of the bathroom door. Once there, she leaned against the door for a little support. She made it!! "Go Alex, go Alex", she kept repeating to herself inside her head, thrilled that she had gotten there without falling on her face.
She turned the handle, pushed open the door and made her way inside the room, closing the door behind her. Using her newfound super eyesight, she located the light switch and flipped on the lights. She didn't even bother looking in the mirror, she mad a direct beeline to the commode. She bent her legs at the knees as she pushed down her underwear and gingerly lowered herself onto the toilet. When she was done she felt as if she could breathe again. She slowly bent over, and pulled up her underwear and then stood. Her back was throbbing and burning at the same time. She flushed the toilet and made her way over to the sink.
The sight greeting her in the mirror was a bit daunting. Her left cheek was a light purple fading into various sickly looking greens, but the bruises were lessening. It was that quick healing thing Lucian and Selene had told her about. Cool. Her lower lip was bruised on the corner and even thought the swelling had gone down, she still wasn't looking too good. She hated to see what her back looked like.
She looked through the drawers, but couldn't find a mirror anywhere. Which didn't surprise her, Lucian didn't appear to be a vain man. In fact, this was the only room that seemed to have a mirror.
With a sigh, she turned around and looked over her shoulder into the mirror, trying to assess the damage. She soon wished she hadn't. The lacerations were red and ugly, her recent foray out of bed and across the room, had started some of them bleeding again. She could feel tears burning at the back of her throat as she swallowed hard, trying to keep from crying. She averted her gaze and stared at the shower stall for a moment. "Okay, so backless dresses are a thing of the past", she muttered outloud, "It's not the end of the world", she tried convincing herself. Steeling herself for another peek, she looked into the mirror again.
This time she really looked at the lashes that crisscrossed along her skin. Actually, it didn't look as bad as she thought it would. Some of the skin appeared to be already closing back up, well except those she had managed to rip open. It was really only the deeper lacerations that were still bleeding and raw. So, the speedy healing thing was working here to. Just another benefit of losing her humanity. Briefly she wondered how Michael was handling the transition.
Realizing just how much this little trip had tired her out, she rested her black, silk covered derriere against the sink and tried to catch her breath. She was an emotional wreck. Throughout the last couple of days, it seemed as though tears were always threatening to spill out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She tried taking several deep breaths, but that only pulled at the wounds on her back. So she had to settle for several shallow ones until she had pulled herself together.
Turning back to face the mirror she caught a glimpse of how much of a mess she really was. Most of her hair had managed to come out of the braid she had put it up in several days ago. God it seemed longer than that. But as she moved closer, she could see dried blood liberally laced throughout the red-gold strands. She needed a shower. She wasn't real sure Michael would be recommending one right now, but she didn't care, she was taking one.
She took the rubber band out of her hair, and began unbraiding her hair, until it was a crimped mass hanging down the front of her right shoulder, covering her right breast and ending right above her belly button. She bent her head and looked down the length of her hair, a glint of gold showing through the strands where the loop in her belly button could be seen. There was more dried blood in there than she cared to think about.
Figuring the shower was her next priority, she rummaged around in the cabinets until she found a couple of towels. Then she went over to turn on the water when she noticed there was already a towel hanging up to dry. Lucian must have taken a shower earlier while she had been asleep. She felt a strong pull in her nether regions at the thought of Lucian naked in the shower. She could literally see his compact body standing under the water, letting it run over his shoulders and tightly muscled chest down that flat stomach and…."Well, your hormones are still working", Alex thought to herself, pushing the erotic images out of her mind.
Determined not to think of Lucian at all, she reached into the stall and turned on the hot water. Then as it was warming up, she pulled the other towel off the bar and hung up the ones she planned on using.
Her next move required quite a bit of creative maneuvering. She needed to get her underwear off, without completely ripping open the wounds on her back. After thinking about it for a couple of seconds, she came up with and idea. She slowly lowered herself down to a squat. Then she pushed her underwear down and over her knees to her shins. Then she straightened up slowly and wiggled her legs until the scrap of black silk was at her ankles, where she could easily step out of them. It hadn't been an easy task, but she had completed it with minimal fuss. She could feel fresh blood trickling down her back and over her butt, but there wasn't a lot of it.
Finally naked, she pulled open the shower door and stepped inside, making sure she kept her front side to the water. She didn't want to find out what the direct spray of water would feel like against her aching back.
There she stood, letting the warm water splash over her. Knowing she had to do it, she moved a little closer into the stream and let the water wash away the traces of blood out of her hair and off of her back. She hissed at the stinging sensation the water was creating as it came in contact with the lacerations on her back. But she knew it had to be done. She opened her eyes and looked down, seeing the clear liquid had been tinted red as it flowed down the drain. She stayed there until the water was again clear. Then she reached over and grabbed the bar of soap she found in the soap dish. "Alex, you dummy, you forgot the washrag!" Cursing at her momentary loss of common sense, she got the soap wet and then began lathering up her body. It was a long, slow process as she had a really hard time moving any part of her body. The left side of her face was particularly sore, and required a gentle hand. Once she was done, she rinsed off and then tried to figure out how in the hell she was going to manage to wash the massive amount of hair she had, without pulling open even more of her wounds.
Then she felt a tingling sensation starting at the base of her neck, and soon she was covered in goosebumps. Thinking that maybe the hot water was gone and she just hadn't realized it, Alex opened up her eyes and started to reach for the knobs.
"Is my assistance required?"
"Busted", Alex muttered under her breath. Keeping her back to him, Alex was determined not to give Lucian a show. Yeah, he had already seen her topless, but that was under extenuating circumstances, and she was pretty sure he hadn't been paying that much attention to her assets.
"Don't you know it's polite to knock on the door and wait for permission to enter, before you come barging in?" she asked him, mildly perturbed.
"Yes, well, when I realized you weren't in bed, where you were supposed to be I might add, I began to worry. Then when I heard the water running I put two and two together and knew you had been foolish enough to get up and attempt to take a shower by yourself", he calmly replied.
"I've managed this far without your help. And I'm doing a damn fine job, thank you!", Alex shot back at him, still keeping her backside to him.
"Now you've come to the part of the bathing that is going to be a little more difficult to accomplish without some help", Lucian noted. "I'm offering my services, but if you are uncomfortable with my presence, then I can call Michael or Selene to come and help."
Alex looked over her shoulder and through the frosted shower door to see the outline of Lucian's body leaning against the doorjamb. She couldn't tell if he had the infuriating grin on his face or not. But it didn't sound as if he were laughing at her. He again sounded sincere. Sighing, she had to rethink her position. She had a lot of hair, which up to this point had been only a minor pain in the butt. But with the lacerations on her back it was going to be hard enough trying to keep her hair off of the wounds, but reaching up to wash it was damn near impossible.
"Fine, you win", she said irritably. "Yes, I could use some help. But other than getting directly into the shower with me, I'm not real sure how we can accomplish this. I mean I can't bend over and let you wash it that way, though believe me, I would if I could", she admitted through gritted teeth.
"Would you rather I call in Selene?" he asked sincerely.
She looked at him again, and noticed he hadn't moved. He was still leaning against the doorframe nonchalantly. Did she want Selene in the shower with her? If she were being honest, no she didn't. "What are you afraid of? Do you think he's going to jump your hot little body the minute he's in the shower with you? Don't worry about that, because at this very moment, you are no prize Alexandra Douglas", she reminded herself in her mind. "Or maybe you're more afraid that he'll be disgusted by you injuries and want nothing to do with you? Did she have to make everything so complicated? Why couldn't she just accept his offer for what it was?
"No, I'm more comfortable with you than I am Selene", she finally answered. "I mean you're several hundred years old, it isn't like you haven't seen a naked female before right?" she said nervously.
"Alexandra, I promise that I am only interested in helping you wash your hair. I am your sire and I know when you are suffering. Let me ease that pain and help you", Lucian said softly.
Swallowing her pride, Alex whispered, "Okay."
She had spoken so quietly, she wasn't sure Lucian had heard her. But he had, and she could soon hear himundressing. It wasn't long before Alex heard the shower door open and felt Lucian standing beside her under the water. She had kept her eyes closed, not trusting herself to look at him. She dreaded seeing the look of disgust on his face. She could feel his warmth as his body brushed against hers. For a minute, she thought he was going to wrap his arms around her, but the moment past and she figured it must have been wishful thinking on her part. They stood like that for several minutes, close but not really touching.
Lucian was the first to break the silence, "My God, I never realized you had this much hair."
Laughing nervously, Alex said, "Yeah, it's like a long, stringy, red mop."
Lucian reached out and fingered the wet tresses. "No, it's beautiful; like liquid fire", he told her.
Alex jerked her head up in surprise, looking into his face to see if he was messing with her. But the look in his eyes was both sincere and ashamed. Odd.
She started to avert her gaze when Lucian grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him. He was inspecting the fading bruise on her cheek. She closed her eyes, embarrassed at being on the receiving end of such scrutiny. Suddenly, she felt the fleshy pad of his thumb brushing across her lower lip. She opened her eyes to find Lucian's intense gaze looking directly into her own.
This time she had the feeling he was going to kiss her, but he abruptly let go of her chin and grabbed for the bar of soap.
"Now then, Princess", he said clearing his throat, "I apologize for not having shampoo available, but at least the soap will get your hair clean", he told her lathering up the soap in his hands. "Now, be a good girl and stand still; and I promise to be as gentle as I can", he assured her.
She rolled her eyes and then glared at him, "Be a good girl my ass", she muttered.
"What was that?", Lucian asked, knowing full well what she had said.
"Oh nothing, I was just mentioning that my hair hung nearly to my ass, so make sure you get it all, okay?", she offered up sweetly. Lucian chuckled and started at the very top of her head.
His hands were warm and strong. She loved the way they felt as he gently massaged her scalp as he was soaping up her hair. She had never had a man wash her hair for her before; it felt wonderful. She stood there and let his relaxing movements put her at ease. She had bent her head forward, allowing him full access to her hair, her eyes closed just enjoying the situation. Then it hit her, she could easily open her eyes and find out just what Luican had to offer a gril. She had to admit, curiosity was killing. "Whoa Alex, slow down. Something is seriously worng here if your are more concerned with what a man's got downstairs versus worrying about your health", she crossly told herself.But even herlittle self admonishment couldn't curb her sudden need to look. She slowly opened her eyes, and found that there was no wayLucian could everdisappoint any woman he was ever with. And he was obviouslyenjoying this little escapade. Shefelt warm all over,but knew she wasn't running a fever. Lucian made her blood run hot. She couldn't ever remember feelinglike this about any man, much less on that wasn't completely human.
Deep in thought, she had stoppedpaying attention to Lucian. Suddenly,shefelt his hand brush lightlyacross the tip of her right breast, sending her nerves dancing on end. She quickly inhaled and took a step back, nearly falling. Lucian quickly reached out and grabbed her shoulders, enabling her to regain her balance.
She looked over to him, and was torn between asking him to get out of the shower or begging him to touch her again. "Alex, pull yourself toghether", she told herself. At least Lucian seemed as shocked as she was. He just stood there holding her at arms length. But it appeared that touch had not only excited her, he seemed to have gotten a little out of it too, as she saw that he had swelled even larger than before. Alex swallowed hard.
"Alexandra, I apologize", Lucian finally said. "It was purely accidental, I assure you."
Her entire body felt as if it was on fire, and not in the same sense as her back had. It was like a heated pool of water had formed in the junction of her thighs, and her nipples were erect and super sensitive.
"No…no problem", she stammered out in reply. She looked down and saw he was about halfway through her hair. "This is good enough, I'll just rinse this out and it'll be fine", she said unable to meet his gaze.
"No, please let me finish. The ends of your hair had more blood in it than the top did. I promise to pay close attention and finish quickly", he promised her.
She held her breath a moment. She wasn't sure she could take much more. Her traitorous body was humming and begging for his touch.
"Okay, but please hurry. I, I really need to lie down for a while", she said stuttering through her answer.
She watched as he lathered up his hands again. Then he reached for her hair right above her shoulder and pulled the length away from her body, as he gently but efficiently ran his hands through her hair. When he had made it to the tips, he inhaled sharply.
Afraid something else had happened, Alex asked, "What is it? What's wrong?
Lucian looked back up at her face and saw concern lining her features. "Nothing, I just got a cold blast of water. But it's fine now, see", he said pulling her hand into the stream of warm water.
Relief coursed through her veins and she let him pull her into the water.
"Close those pretty eyes and I'll rinse out the soap. Then we'll see about getting you dried off, and finding you something to wear", he told her.
He was treating her like a little girl, but honestly, she really didn't mind. It was nice having someone fuss over her. She hadn't had that since her parents died when she was ten. So she closed her eyes and let him rinse out her hair, only wincing once when some of the soap got into the cuts on her back.
"Sorry, Princess", he said apologetically.
She was sorry to hear the water being turned off. She had enjoyed that more than she had anticipated. She opened her eyes to see Lucian had stepped out and had wrapped a towel around his waist. He grabbed another towel and held it out for her to step into.
Now extremely self-conscious, she hurried into the towel. She held the covering up over her chest, while Lucian grabbed the third towel and began wringing out her hair. Suddenly it hit her, how was she ever gonna get a brush through it?
When he was done, Lucian said he would be right back, leaving her to finish drying the rest of her body off. Which she did, as best as she could, even though it took her longer than she thought it should have. Then she went in search of a brush. When she couldn't find it, she also started looking for an extra toothbrush, but obviously, Lucian didn't entertain much as all she found was one toothbrush, toothpaste, men's deodorant and a comb. Taking one look in the mirror and the tangled mess of hair, she knew there was no way she was getting a comb through that.
Suddenly, she could see Lucian standing behind her. He had thrown on a pair of jeans and a dark blue shirt, which he hadn't bothered buttoning up. She stared at the glimpse of skin showing where his shirt gaped open. She felt her nipples tighten in anticipation.Then she tried to convince herself she was just really cold, yeah right.
She tore her gaxe from his chest and noticed thatin his left hand, he had her bag. The one they had managed to retrieve before heading down to the subway. Clothing, necessities….she had completely forgotten they had brought her stuff back here. Her face broke into a genuine smile, as she turned to face Lucian.
"Here, I thought you may be needing these", he told her sitting the bag on the vanity beside her.
Alex realized how thoughtful he was. He didn't expect her to hold the bag, which would pull on her back. Nor, did he want her to have to bend over in order to pull out the things she needed. Instead he had put the bag up where it could be easily accessed. She looked into those deep set eyes and knew that if she didn't watch out, she could drown in their depths. She was no longer angry with him, for any reason. Her change had brought about some amazing changes in herself. And even though she knew there would be other changes she was sure she wouldn't be too happy about, she knew she could deal with it.She didn't blame him any more.
He was standing beside her, waiting to see if she needed any help. She leaned over to him, reached up and planted akiss on his cheek.
"Thank you", she told him.
He looked surprised, then he grinned and walked out the door, closing it behind him.
When she looked back into the mirror, she caught a smile on her face as well. Then she began digging through her bag. She grabbed the toothbrush and toothpaste and immediately brushed her teeth. Then she pulled out a black pair of lacy briefs, it was that or a thong, and a pair of extra low-rise black jeans. She didn't even entertain the thought of putting on a bra or shirt. There was no way that was happening. She made her way over to the toilet again, but this time she put the lid down. She managed to get into the briefs with very little problems. But the pants were proving to be harder to work with. She silently cursed her bad habit of wearing skin-tight jeans, that and her hips. She had been trying to tug them up for a while now, without any luck. All she had managed to do was open up another laceration.
"Damnit!!" she cursed outloud.
Lucian must have been standing right by the door, because he walked in as soon as she uttered the expletive.
"Having problems?" he asked.
She quickly parted her hair in the back and pulled the sides over both shoulders so that they covered her breasts. Now ready to face him, she straightened up and looked over at him. First thing she noticed was that he still had that grin on his face. "I can't seem to pull up my pants", she said then she laughed because it sounded so absurd.
"Well, I'm not sure that wearing pants is such a good idea", he advised her.
"What am I supposed to do, run around in my underwear for the next few days?", she asked.
"As enticing an idea as that may be, I don't recommend it. Lycans have a huge sex drive and as you can see, women are fairly scarce around here", he noted wryly.
"Oh yeah, the boys are just waiting for me to prance around in the latest creation from Victoria's Secret, I am sure", she spouted off sarcastically.
"I'm not sure who this Victoria is and I have no idea what her secret may be, but if it involves you and prancing, I am sure that I would enjoy whatever it is", Lucian said.
She swore hisvoice had dropped a whole octave, making it even sexier than it already was. She blushed. She was standing there in his bathroom, topless, pants at her ankles and it was his voice that made her blush. God when was the last time she had done that? It was 6th grade, when Tommy Ferguson had pointed out to the entire class how much she had developed over the summer, yeah that was it. How did he manage to do this to her?
Lucian laughed. "Michael wants to take a look at your back and clean it up some more. You may have noticed that you were wearing only underwear earlier. The pants kept rubbing up against some of the lacerations on your back. It was irritating them and causing them to bleed. Michael was concerned it could slow down the healing process and possibly cause infection. So, he's going to want you to keep those pants off.
"Oh great. Her hormones were in overdrive and she was expected to wear nothing but her underwear for a few days. "Could this possibly get anymore embarrassing?" she asked outloud, more to herself than to Lucian.
"There is nothing to be ashamed of Alexandra. Now come, Michael and Selene are awaiting you. They need to be reassured of your continued good health", he told her.
"Okay, but let me grab a shirt first. I want to at least cover up my front, this way I can pretend to have a modicum of modesty", she sullenly replied.
Before she even had a chance to walk over to her bag, Lucian had shrugged his arms out of his shirt. He walked over to her and held it up against her shoulders. She looked at him in surprise. She moved her hands to take the shirt from him and she felt a spark of electricity flare between them when she brushed his hands. She stepped back, loosing her grip on the shirt as it floated to the ground between them.
She moved her gaze from his face down to his chest. The bullet holes that had been there only days before, had now closed up. The silver had done damage, the skin was scarred where it had penetrated. But the hole itself was gone. Just as she had in the tunnels the day she had discovered him, she felt drawn to him, needing to touch him. She reached up and brushed her fingertips across the most severe looking scar, near his right shoulder. They lingered there for a moment before they began moving from one scar to another. His strength amazed her. He was slim, but well muscled. And, he had a depth to him that was uncommon among males today. He was a true leader. She saw that in him.
Lucian had grabbed her hand, preventing her from further exploration. "Michael is waiting for you little one", he told her, his voice husky and low pitched.
His comment snapped her out of the trance she seemed to have fallen under. "Your right, Michael wishes to see me", she said, reiterating his words.
Lucian bent over and retrieved the shirt she had dropped. She took it from him and pulled it up against her chest. Then she followed him out into the bedroom, where Dr. Corvin and Selene were waiting.