Sheep & Wolves

Chapter Eight

She couldn't tell if she was awake. She felt her body being rocked easily, soothingly like she was on a ship. It was relaxing, like sitting in the passenger seat during a long car ride. She felt warm and safe.

"She's waking up," the voice was Marissa's and it helped calm her further. She had known Marissa for five years now, she had lived with her for two of those. She was one of the only individuals Dana had ever allowed herself to trust.

"Can you hold the door open?" It was Max. She tried to shift, to bring herself further into the waking world, but she realized she was trapped. Someone was holding her.

She opened her eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of her own apartment. She also saw that she was being carried. Max glanced down at her, his arms tightening their grip on her when he noticed she was staring at him.

"What happened?" she asked, voice hoarse.

Marissa moved closer toward her and pressed a cool hand on her forehead. "I think you're sick, sweetheart. You should lie down and rest."

Dana shook her head and shifted again in Max's arms so he would let her go. He secured his arms around her before walking to the coach and carefully laying her across it. She was struck for the first time by how gentle he was with her, his every movement seemed to calculate her comfort as its most important factor. He stared at her now, concerned, and she found she could not meet his gaze. Embarrassed, she carefully pulled herself into a sitting position.

"I passed out?" she asked, somewhat rhetorically.

Marissa nodded. "We found you. You were..." Marissa took a breath, unsure how to proceed. "You were handcuffed." Dana remembered suddenly. That awful man Nik, Lucas, being blindfolded and left trapped in that room for hours. She could feel a lump form in her throat. She couldn't tell if it was from anger, nerves, or hysteria. "Max said we needed to talk before we call the police."

"I wanted to take you to the hospital," he spoke up, still standing uncertainly beside the couch. He was huge, Dana observed, not for the first time. He looked even taller and more muscular than he normally did in her tiny apartment. "Marissa said that you wouldn't want that."

Marissa had been correct. A hospital would have been a good idea, but Dana would be stuck with expensive doctor's bills after the fact, and she wouldn't have been able to afford rent in addition to those payments. "I'm scared of hospitals," she lied, not wanting him to feel responsible for paying for her hospital bill. She didn't really know the man and he had already done far too much for her.

"How do you feel?" he asked. She noticed his hand drift closer to her, stopping right before he touched her thigh. She felt the warmth radiating from his skin and wanted to be in his arms again, awake this time.

"I'll be fine. We have a new boss, he wanted me to give a private show to a customer and they must have forgotten to unlock me after it was over," she said, wanting to conceal the truth from her caring friend. "It's no big deal," she assured Marissa, giving her what she hoped was a convincing smile. Max's hand touched her thigh and his eyes never left hers even when she refused to look at him. "Thank you for finding me. I think I must have been shocked or needed water, that's why I passed out."

"I'll get you some water," Marissa said, walking towards the kitchen. "Are you hungry too?"

"No," Dana said. "I'm nauseous."

"I'll make some eggs. You should try to eat something," she yelled from the kitchen. Dana heard the sound of pots clanking in the other room and turned to face Max directly.

"How did you do it?" she asked. He stared at her, towering her even more than usual. For a passing second, she found that she was very afraid of him. He looked like a predator who could break her as soon as he wished. He must have sensed the change in her thoughts because he sat on the coffee table across from the sofa, facing her. He was close now, an intimate kind of close. He smelled like pinewood and campfire, he felt like the refuge of warmth in a snowstorm. His dark eyes stared at her gently and she no longer felt threatened. "How did you do it?" she repeated, refusing to let him distract her.

"Do what?" he asked, head turning slightly to the side in feigned confusion.

Dana held up her wrists, expecting to find the broken pair of handcuffs still attached to both of them. Instead, her wrists were bare and only some marks that had resulted from her struggling to remove them remained on her skin. She looked back up at him accusingly.

"I'm strong," he said with a shrug. It wasn't a lie, she supposed.

"I mean how strong? The cuffs were metal, you broke metal."

"I'm at least strong enough to break metal, then." He was completely at ease, not a bit nervous under her scrutinizing gaze. She was irritated. She had expected he would try to lie and find his way out of this and she would be able to convince him to tell her the truth. But he was telling her the truth, just the most open-ended version of it he could possibly muster.

"What does that make you? Some kind of sub-human?" As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized how rude they were but he just chuckled. It was a warm sound, one that made her spine tingle and shoulders relax.

"We can talk about this later," he told her. "You're not well now."

"Do I look unwell?" She straightened her back and gave the best impression of a healthy person she could manage.

He didn't laugh, but smiled, his eyes holding a fondness that was too deep considering how brief their acquaintanceship had been. She couldn't help but realize that she didn't mind. In fact, she felt what she imagined was similar to the way he did. She regarded him with warmth and an innate need to trust him. That was what irked her most of all, she felt she could rely on him without knowing anything about him. And yet, she occasionally found that she was frightened by him. It didn't make any sort of sense and there was another part of her that wanted her to accept that it didn't have to.

"You look like you're tired," he told her softly. His hand rested on her knee and his thumb drew small, intimate circles on her exposed skin. She felt very warm, but a shiver was beginning to take hold of her. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Considering what you had to go through, just being tired as a result only goes to show what a remarkable individual you are." Her heart jumped at that word. According to this gentle and beautiful giant, she was remarkable. "You're something to be marveled at," he said, his voice almost a whisper. Dana felt herself just barely ease toward him.

"You can't hide the truth from me," she whispered to him. His eyes moved to her lips and she could feel her heart race like it never had before. "I'm in this now, whatever this is."

His left leg eased between hers as he moved even closer. He was so warm. He was so striking. She felt beyond remarkable when he looked at her like that. His arms encircled her and his hands touched her back. He eased her toward him and pressed his lips to her forehead, so lightly she might have missed it had her body not felt a rush as soon as it happened.

"I won't lie to you, Dana." He was telling the truth. She knew it with every fiber of her being. She didn't know if she should trust him, but she knew decisively that he was trustworthy. That thought sent a rare wave of comfort through her.

He moved away from her and the room felt very cold all of a sudden without him near her. She straightened in her seat and kept her gaze leveled.

"Do you want me to stay here?" he asked, voice abruptly strained. He wanted her to say yes, she could tell. But she could also tell he didn't know if that was the best idea.

"Marissa can stay with me," she said, actively trying to sound neutral. It wasn't a good idea. When he was around her, she felt herself lose that guard that helped her make decisions that were best for her. She couldn't afford the luxury of impulsiveness and Max made her want to be very impulsive.

He nodded, standing. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a card, setting it on the coffee table where he had been sitting. "Here's my number, if you need to call me for any reason." She nodded, not bothering to tell him that she didn't have a phone. He looked at her quietly for a long moment, before he moved his hand to briefly stroke her cheek and turned to leave the apartment.

Dana watched him go, her skin prickling in delight and heart slowing in disappointment when he closed the door behind him on his way out.

I am officially picking up this story again (and my other stories on this site). To those who have stayed with me: You are wonderful angels. To those who are reading this for the first time: I really hope you enjoy  :) Expects updates soon!