Shattered - Completed

16 - Family Dinner

The water takes time to heat up, but Gavin doesn't wait. He splashes around in the tub, not affected by the icy cold at all. By the time he helps me into the filling tub, it's passably warm.

Gavin scrubs me down, gently knocking my hands to the side when I try to help him. My she-wolf is miserable. Hunched over, she resembles a drowned rat. It makes me wonder if I look equally small and forlorn?

"All done, love." Gavin helps me out of the tub. I watch his hands in a fog. He keeps touching me. When he's here in the tower, with me, he doesn't stop touching me.

I don't think about leaving the tower until we are walking down the stairs. My heart rate picks up a bit. Am I really leaving? Gavin keeps telling me we are, but I haven't had the courage to trust him.

"Here we go," Gavin mutters. In the bedroom downstairs someone has left clothes for us. A pair of dark gray pants and a navy shirt for Gavin and a matching navy dress for me.

Nude, Gavin pulls me to the dress and starts to help me into it.

"How the fuck does this fasten?" Gavin mutters as he tries to peel back the layers of the frothy material to find the zipper in the back. I would suggest he get help, but goddess forbid anyone else enter the sanctity of our tower.

I hear the sound of the zipper, and with a few more curses, Gavin has successfully zipped me up. Warm lips touch the back of my neck and I immediately let my hair go, tossing it over my back into his face. Accidentally.

He bites back his growl, but a tiny bit of it slips through. My she-wolf quivers, deep in her den, but my back straightens.

"CeCe," Gavin warns. "You will cease this ridiculous behavior right now, or we can have dinner here in our room."

I whirl around to face him. "You promised!" I accuse, before remembering who I'm speaking to. I bow my head, hiding my eyes.

Strong, but gentle, fingers grip my chin and tilt my head back up. Golden eyes swirl warmly down at me. "I did," Gavin agrees, "but this silent treatment shit needs to stop, understand?"

I frown at him. I'm not refusing to talk on purpose. I just have nothing to say. Gavin frowns back at me before he throws on his clothes then guides me to sit at a vanity in the corner. Picking up a brush, he starts to untangle my hair. Thank goodness it's not very long. Gavin has no idea how to brush my curly hair.

"Alright." Gavin heaves a huge sigh as he lays the hairbrush back down. "Time for the doctor."

Startled, I whirl around, nearly falling over as the quick motion sends my head spinning. "Doctor?" I ask in a squeak. I thought we were going to dinner?

Gavin's face resembles a dark thundercloud. "Yes. And this time I'll be the one accompanying you."

Oh. Joy.

—

The journey to the clinic makes me uneasy. It's not Gavin's brutal silence or the cold, angry look in his golden eyes, although that's not exactly comforting.

I don't recognize much as we walk through passageways and hallways. More importantly, I don't see the wolf's head or the tapestry hiding the secret passageway anywhere. When we reach the doors to the clinic, the hallway beyond, the one I was supposed to walk back through but never did, looks completely different from my memory.

My uneasiness turns to queasiness as Gavin pushes open the clinic door and ushers me inside. How did I get to the tapestry? Is the Knowing turning into something else?

"Welcome back, Luna."

I greet Dr. Milden with an absentminded smile. Gavin is much more forceful as we walk into the examination room together. Oh, yes. I'm not to be trusted alone in the clinic again. This time Gavin is making absolutely certain I can't escape from the castle.