BROKEN.

23. Mundus Meus.

I watched with a terrified fascination as he slowly ripped the rogue's face in half. It was like an out of body experience. I vaguely heard Kaveh's voice telling me that it would be okay as he stroked my hair but my attention was on the beast in front of me.

I needed to keep my eyes on him. I needed to see him, touch him, hear his voice to keep my sanity intact. I was like an addict that craved his drug to keep from teetering off the edge.

When his stormy eyed finally met mine, the anger died and turned into sorrow. I angled my head away from my brother so that he wouldn't see me cry.

I reached out to him. I needed to be in the safety he provided me. In three long strides he crossed over to  me and picked me up like you would a child. I buried my face in his neck to hide my tears.

Now, lying in his arms I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as I remembered what I did. He'd kissed me. He'd pulled me so close against him that I could feel everything.... everything. To think that I had that effect on him had made me bold. God did I really grind against him??  What the hell was wrong with me?  I resisted the urge to let out a tortured, embarrassed groan.
It had just been so electric when his lips met mine. The way my body moulded against his like we were two pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.

I'd felt hollow when he stopped it. He said that we had to wait till I'd healed.  He wanted to fix me. But I couldn't be fixed. Who'd want a girl who had been used beyond repair anyway?  I couldn't even blame him. Nobody wanted filth.

"Do you really believe that he would be so petty? After all he's done for us?" My wolf asked.

I didn't  reply. Gently, I removed my head from under his to look up at him. I wish I could say that he looked like an innocent child when he was asleep, like all his cares just fell away. But it wasn't true.

He looked like he was trying to escape his own nightmares. His lips were pressed into a tight line and there was a crease between his eyebrows.

One thing that didn't change about  him was how beautiful he was. His hair fell over his forehead and I had never noticed just how long his eye lashes were. He looked vulnerable, in the  sense that he couldn't hide his secrets now. They played over his features as he dreamt.

Suddenly his arms pulled me tighter to him. His expression was tortured. I lifted my hand to his cheek and without realising it, kissed him softly on his jaw. Instantly he calmed down. His grip on me wasn't bone crushing anymore and his features weren't so pained. I could make out that I hadn't pulled him from his nightmare. I had just eased it. We couldn't chase away each other's nightmares but at least we could make them more bearable. Mine wasn't half as bad as the ones I was used to having.

I reached up to smoothen the crease between his eyebrows and his eyes fluttered open. My heart melted when I saw how disoriented he looked. If you had told me before that I would ever use the word 'adorable' to describe the mighty Aleksy Kai, I would have collapsed into a knee slapping laughter. But that was exactly what he was at the moment. Adorable.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Okay." I said. "Thank you for yesterday. "

"I should have gotten there sooner. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

I realised then that when Aleksy found me, the damage had already been done. He'd never been there when it was about to happen. The knowledge must have been killing him.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." I said.

See, the wonderful thing about being a werewolf?  No morning breath.