The Shade: Shades of Change

Chapter 4

Bree

When the Lugat man set my wrist I screamed bloody murder. I'd thought having it broke hurt, but having it set back into place was triple that.

The guy who'd set my wrist called the young man Exen and had told him to hold me. He did so gently, aware of my fragility, which surprised me after Vex hadn't been so aware.

When my wrist was set the doctor slowly put the cast on. I felt like I was going to pass out from the pain by then and nearly fell off the table.

"Hold her up." The doctor snapped at Exen.

He placed himself in front of me and put his hands on my shoulder. I let my head fall forward on his naked chest. It was so cold and felt wonderful on my hot skin. I felt him tense.

"They are so warm." He murmured softly with the same Romanian accent that Vex's friend Lokin had.

"Humans are. Until they are dead then they are as cold as us." The Doctor explained in a blank, emotionless tone.

"Do they all look like this?" Exen asked curiously.

"Like what?" The doctor asked as he wrapped my wrist.

"Do they all have this many curves?"

"Some, some more and some less." He explained.

"Are they usually this pretty?" Exen asked softly.

The doctor snorted. "Are you actually attracted to it? Disgusting."

I rose my head up slowly. "Do Lugat's always talk about people like they aren't sitting right there?" I asked weakly.

"No, just about humans." The doctor replied without looking at me.

"So rude." I muttered.

Exen smiled and it was a real smile. I smiled at him. "Thank you." I mouthed.

He cocked his head in a very unnatural way that reminded me he was still Lugat.

I looked at the cast and wanted to groan. "Black?" I asked with a sigh.

The doctor looked up at me. "What other color would it be?" He hissed.

"Oh I don't know pink, baby blue, yellow, lavender?" I sighed again. "I'm already sick of the royal dark colors and I've only been here a couple of hours now."

The doctor didn't respond.

I looked up at Exen. "What is your favorite color Exen?"

He looked uneasy then looked at the doctor.

"Talk to it if you like. It may not shut up. I hear the female of her species talk a lot more than the males." The doctor grumbled.

I stuck my tongue out at the doctor when he turned away to get scissors.

Exen smiled again. "I like the color of the sky when it is setting over an ocean. Orange." He clarified.

I shut my eyes. "I love ocean sunsets." I opened my eyes and looked at him. "You should see a sunset over the prairies in Texas." He raised a brow. I giggled. "Right, you can't see them because you'll exploded or implode or something."

"We burn first." Exen explained simply. "We burn until we catch fire then we explode."

"No wonder you guys have the windows blacked out. That must be hard to get out of the upholstery."

Exen smiled when he was sure the doctor wasn't looking.

"How old are..." I winced in pain as the doctor pressed on the cast. He gave me a look then went back to his task. "How old are you?" I asked Exen softly.