The Alpha's Desire 2 (8 page)

“Do you see me as an ‘it’, as you do him?” Lex muttered his question.

“The
it
was my book. Sorry... I let my mind wonder over the state of the room since you’d said you were healing. You are healing, right?”

“Yes, I am, even as we speak. So no more worries. I’m sorry about your room. It can be fixed.”

I granted him a weak nod, the best I could offer, as I went back to looking around.

The couch and chair, turned over and torn, appeared beyond anything I’d ever seen in a horror movie. Shredded cushions soaked with blood splatters had been tossed about the floor, leaving only shells of furniture. It had been an ugly print anyway... I mean, who could be picky when shopping clearance in a bargain basement furniture store? The pattern could have only been improved by the splattering of some paint, but blood made it a whole other vision.

My television, while not huge, had been an investment into my own entertainment. I’d gotten a mid-sized flat screen not too long ago in an odd sort of celebration for my savings account having reached a certain number amount. The thing now laid beside the broken-up pressboard entertainment stand. From the size of the whole in the middle, I’d guess a paw had kicked through it.

After surveying the damage, how I had not been mauled myself as I’d lain there unconscious, I would never know. I decided not to even dare ask.

“How long was I out?” I quizzed, puzzled at how I hadn’t seen this extent of damage happen, just based on a little bump on the head that hadn’t even produced blood.

“I think you more passed out. You seemed awful pale and dizzy as you tripped over the couch. I didn’t see or hear your head hit. I think the sudden rush of falling just became too much for you,” he explained, his hand squeezing mine. “It didn’t take three wolves long to cause this mess. We are a little oversized in that form to fit comfortably in a living room this size anyway, or any size, for that matter.”

“It’s not that small... In fact, the size of it was the selling point when I first looked at the place,” I muttered, and then my brain caught up with the conversation, at the ridiculousness of it given what had just occurred and what we faced.

What do we face outside of a massive clean up?

“So, is that it? You… I mean we, killed them?” I asked in the mimic of a hopeful tone.

“Right,” Lex huffed in derision. “They send the weakest to do their dirty work. The disposable ones, the ones they turn with bites and train. The true bloodline, ones born as werewolves, they call the shots from wherever it is they live and hide. And, so the wolves like this, they just keep coming because they just make more of them.”

“Great. I’m not sure where to begin on fixing this apartment now, let along having to do it again. I’m definitely going to lose my security deposit. I’m guessing that no one is home below or beside me, as there’ve been no knocks on my door. I can’t believe that the ruckus hasn’t brought up the whole building.”

“They are smart that way. In fact, they often find lures, men to get all humans not involved out of the way before a potential attack. They can’t risk being seen. Humans who do see them, despite their efforts... well, sadly, they die. They have no respect really for your race. They find themselves superior beings no matter what form they take.”

“Oh great, so I should be more concerned that my neighbors could be dead?” I shrieked.

“No, not the more likely scenario. They’re too cunning. You wouldn’t believe the ways they’ve gotten innocent bystanders out of the way before battle.”

“Great. Cunning. Always a comforting word when used in reference to your sworn enemies, men who change into wolves to boot. So, you’re telling me that my only concern is my living room at this moment. My neighbors are fine while my carpet is cut and stained. My furniture lies in ruins, challenging you to figure out what it once was, and I have three oversized wolf bodies dead and bloody on my floor. I don’t even have a television to hide away from reality with, not that I’d have a place to sit to even watch it. Oh shit, and there is a hole in the wall over there. What am I going to do?”

“Not hyperventilate for one,” he said, stepping close, but stopping his hands again from touching me. “We have people for that. I’ll make a call, and it will be handled in no time. New carpet, new furniture, and a patched wall so that no one could ever tell. And, we’ll get you a new TV.”

“And, the bodies, or carcasses?”

“We have people for that, too. We call them cleaners.”

“And you don’t suppose that my landlord or neighbors won’t wonder when they see hunks of bloody carpet going out my door and down the hall?”

“They are very discreet. Trust me, they are professionals at this. It will all be fine in no time at all. Just let me make a call. If you wouldn’t mind, though, what I do need from you is use of your shower. And, well, I’m naked again. So I’d better ask the cleaners for some clothes.”

“Not the first time you’ve done this, huh?” I huffed, tightening my lips into a disapproving frown.

“Yes and no. I’m pretty old, and as I told you, you are not my first charge to protect. But, we’ve only needed cleaners for dead wolves. The fight has never come inside. Though, I have no fear that they have a plan already in place to take care of such an issue.”

“Really, a plan? Well, I just love being the first, the one they work out the kinks on,” I sighed.

“It will be fine. I promise. Now, shower, please. I’m grossing myself out, and I’m almost healed.”

“Of course, I’ll go get you out some towels, even get the water running, while you make that call. I’m assuming it will be quick? Not that I care, just didn’t want to waste water,” I rambled on suddenly.

I hated blood in any amount. So, the way it got to me at the minute now, given the amounts that covered Lex and the house, the revulsion came at me in waves.  I’d already stepped back as I’d looked things over, so much so that I could now lean against the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living room. I wrinkled my nose at the smell, one turning more putrid by the minute. Wet fur was one thing, it being soaked in saliva and blood was another. I put my hand out as if I could make it all magically disappear as I looked away, up to Lex.

He’d only nodded at me. So, once I turned on my heel, looking away from him, I let my face scrunch up fully, the way I’d been forbidding it to in his presence. Lines tightened at my eyebrows, increasing the ache in my head. He’d protected me the only way he could, so he didn’t need the thank you of the physical expression of disgust. My nose crinkled up even more, till the skin pinched, taking the lead over the rest of my face. With my mouth turned down and my eyes wide, I actually worried about lines being permanently etched into my forehead.

I’d not even cared that he was naked. Honestly, I’d had trouble looking below his face due to the slasher film effect he had going on. Even though I’d attempted to tell myself it wasn’t real, each time I took in a breath, the metallic smell moving more and more toward rotting flesh said otherwise.  Treading lightly toward the bathroom showed the tiny shake still left in my legs, even as my heart rate returned to normal. The thing had taken a beating this weekend.

It takes a licking and keeps on ticking
, went in a sing song fashion through my brain. The slight upturn of my mouth at the silly words didn’t last, as the thought of dead bodies, more exactly those of werewolves killed in wolf form, just one room away, came barreling back into the forefront of my mind. I knew these images would haunt my dreams. Hell, I’d even see them during the day, every time I closed my eyes, or some trigger, whether word or sight or smell, would bring it all flooding back. Images like the ones that still existed in my living room... well, one just didn’t dismiss them and move on.

Walking into the bathroom, the faint lingering scents of my soaps, creams, and perfumes took over. I inhaled deeply to get the other smells out of my nose. Stepping to the tub, I reached in for my favorite bubble bath, vanilla with a hint of jasmine. Opening the bottle, I inhaled again. Once my eyes opened back up, I spun around to get a good look of a clean room. My flowered curtains in deep greens, browns, and purples brought me comfort as I got lost in their floral pattern. My hand towels, an assortment of the same three colors, hung by the sink. The few items out on the sink were neatly arranged in baskets, and I gave thanks for the small things, as well as the things that remained the same.

Here, on a small stand at my right that stood by my tub, I had another book, one with the hardback cover barely creased. I always kept a fiction book in the living room or bedroom, wherever I’d last dropped it, and a non-fiction, self-help type book by the tub. I liked to read a few lines, close the book, and then sink into the bubbles as I let my thoughts go around whatever I’d just read.  I’d been currently devouring the inspirational autobiography of a woman who’d spent time interviewing Mother Theresa. 

Shaking it all off, I grabbed some towels from the closet and laid them out for Lex. I figured he must be about done with his conversation, so I went to start the shower. With a second thought, I went to close the door first, to trap the warmth of the steam into the room. I shivered, but I couldn’t have told you if it was truly cold out or not. But, just as I was about to close the door, officially block out the mess, I heard Lex’s voice.

“Three dead,” he stated into the phone like a news reporter, completely removed from the situation.

The tone caught my attention, but maybe he had to put on a show for whatever type of guys came to houses for a living and cleaned up such gore without issue. I had to wonder if any women did this, too. They served in the military, so why not? Though, me, I couldn’t imagine such a job. But then, I couldn’t even imagine being a nurse. Answering phones and making endless copies, though it bored me to death, I could at least handle. One drop of blood bubbling up from a vein, and, well, I was toast.

Of course, I’d now have to rethink such overreactions given what I’d just witnessed and walked away from today. Maybe Lex was right, though. I’d probably more passed out than been knocked unconscious, as Lex had suggested. While my head ached, the pain ached, not throbbed like a head injury would.

“Back up may be necessary at some point. They threatened her,” he went on.

I stopped, door nearly shut to eavesdrop at the mention of me,
the her
, in his statement. Backup meant that Lex himself was afraid, so what should the person he was protecting be, then, terrified to the point of curling into a fetal position behind locked doors secured with heavy furniture? I wondered if my chest would be heavy enough to stop a wolf from breaking down a locked bedroom door as Lex paused to listen on the phone.

“So, she’s not the only one then? ...Shit! Yes, the one turned right in front of her and threatened to take her and mate with her. They have a sorcerer now, they claimed. Is that why the threats are increasing around the globe?”

The globe?
That mean my bloodline, the royal, magic werewolf bloodline that is, had been spread all over the place. Probably on purpose, no doubt. That meant that, in a way, I had family, no matter how distant, somewhere out there. If I survived this, I wondered if I’d ever be allowed to meet them. Or, was that forbidden too? More questions for Lex, of course. I wished I could hear what the person on the other line was saying.

But, if I wasn’t the only one, then that meant more of these werewolves were attacking others of my bloodline, exposing what they were to them, and thus their protectors. I didn’t get why now, other than, like Lex had mentioned, it was this sorcerer they claimed to have.

“I get it. Hypervigilance. Just get someone here fast as you can then, to clean up this mess. It’s really freaking her out, though I know she tried to act tough in front of me. I know I exposed myself to my charge, so I’ll come in to give my report on it being absolutely necessary,” Lex stated. He’d taken on more of a lawyer tone now.

“They’ve amped up their attacks to include the humans, showing themselves,” he continued. “Our rules will have to be adjusted as well, though I get what you’re saying. I will wait for your decision on how to proceed next, but in the meantime, I’m not leaving her side.... I’m sorry to be so abrupt. Forgive me, due to the situation at hand. She has to be protected and I am the best suited to do it. They may just be sitting in wait, hoping we will leave her vulnerable while we decide what to do next. I wouldn’t take any protector at this point away from his charge. We are on new territory, now, pardon my suggestion.”