Hunting Human - Amanda E. Alvarez [74]
“Shh. Beth, try to relax.” He slid his fingers into the soft fur behind her neck and trailed his hand down the length of her spine, willing her muscles to unclench. “Try not to fight the cramping…”
As he continued to card his fingers through her fur, he felt her physically try to relax and allow the shift to take control. The audible pop of bone and the snap of muscle drowned out her whimpers. He watched in horrified fascination as Beth endured the slowest shift he’d ever seen. It took a full two minutes before she lay curled in on herself, limbs twitching in the aftermath.
With shaking fingers Braden resumed stroking the length of her spine. Her skin shone with sweat and felt clammy beneath his fingers. For a long time, only the sound of her harsh breathing filled the air.
She pushed her arms up underneath her and tried to hoist herself to her knees. Unable to watch her struggle, Braden slid an arm under her stomach and another around her back, sitting her up.
She mumbled something he didn’t catch. “What?”
“Bathroom. Please…I think I’m going to be sick.”
Braden lifted her to her feet and supported her into the bathroom. She darted away from him and dropped to her knees, retching violently the moment she reached the toilet.
At a loss, Braden turned on the steam shower, getting the spray hot, and tried to ignore the way the harsh heaving racked her frame. When trembling fingers reached to flush the toilet, Braden intercepted them, pressed a damp washcloth into their grasp and flushed the toilet.
“Thanks.” She trembled, but pushed herself to her feet, a soft blush spreading from her face down to the top of her chest, trailing over the soft swell of her breasts. “I’ll just…” She gestured toward the shower. Embarrassment colored her sallow cheeks as she looked away, but whether she was uncomfortable over her illness or the fact that they were both naked, he wasn’t sure.
He pulled her to him with a gentle grip on her arm and led her into the shower. She bristled, her damned independence reasserting itself. Braden tightened his grip, determined to keep her with him, and coaxed her under the spray of six massaging showerheads.
“Oh…” She moaned low in the back of her throat as the warm jets of water went to work. Her muscles relaxed beneath the onslaught of hot water as his tensed in reaction to the way she was pressed up against him naked, wet and moaning.
He pulled her closer; her cheek pressed against his chest, and reveled in the way she leaned against him, allowing him to run his fingers over the soft skin of her back, and through the wet strands of her hair. She pressed her forehead against the center of his chest and laid a hand under his heart.
“I hate you…” The words had no force behind them, and though they pierced his heart, he heard them for what they were.
“You don’t. Not really.” He rested his chin on her head. She shivered and shook her head against his shoulder. “Shh,” he said. “Don’t do this. Not now.”
Beth wasn’t sure how long she stood there, limp against his chest, his steady heartbeat against her cheek. The water went cold against her back, seizing muscles that had relaxed under the pounding heat of six showerheads. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and reached behind her to turn off the water. She didn’t move. Couldn’t move.
A fluffy towel draped around her, absorbing the chill as he guided her out of the shower and into the bedroom. He released her, pulling back the bedcovers, then ushered her, still damp, onto clean sheets. When he gently began to dry her, starting at an ankle and moving up her leg, she made herself look away. It was too much. All too much.
The weight of her wishes crushed her. She wished she’d never gone to Europe. She wished she’d never been bitten. She wished she’d never seen him shift from man to beast in the driveway of her home. So many wishes. So many regrets. But she couldn’t bring herself to