The sound of splashing water filled the
bathroom.
"My name is Orion Sendöw, and I am your mate." He whispered, the body sponge soft in his hand as he ran it over her back.
He squeezed the water over her bumpy and ropy flesh, washing the suds from her skin. Her scars were still purple, though not as dark as usual as the warm water heated her delicate skin. She sat with her chin on her knees, staring at the wall ahead of her. Her hair was drawn over her shoulders, resting down by her sides to expose her back. The water and suds covered her above her waist, and Orion was tentative in his cleaning of her back. The last think he wanted was to cross a line with his mate, especially with her already traumatized state.
She hadn't spoken still, and Orion couldn't get her to move to the bath room those days ago. He gave her two days of her silence, waiting for her to grow the strength for bathing. Sitting beside her bed, listening to her silent tears hitting the pillow beneath her head, he spoon fed her, when she would allow it. The third day he had finally had enough, his instinct to care for her overcoming his need for her comfort. He had no qualms lifting her tiny frame in his large arms, it made him feel stronger. Like in some way, by carrying this (practically) stranger, he could carry their relationship as well, until she was well enough to carry it with him. And when she could communicate, they would go from there.
"I know the bond is new, and you may not trust me, but please know I would never do anything to hurt you," the sound of splashing water echoed in the tiled room, "or betray you." The sponge dipped into the water again to swell with liquid and be brought back to her shoulder.
Orion felt her flinch, as he moved closer to her upper back, where her scars seemed to have accumulated the most. They varied in age, showing this had been a punishment received more than once, though with the frequency of the heavy purple scars he could presume she had received a terrible lashing recently, and it had been the worst even he had seen. He mumbled an apology, lifting the sponge from her skin in fear of hurting her delicate body.
"Doctor Novache told me that your name is Scarlet." He spoke softly to her.
Though she wasn't speaking, didn't mean Orion would keep himself from trying to comfort her. He would talk to her, because he hoped she was listening. He would care for her, because he loved her despite knowing her for so little time. And he would help her become the woman and mother he knew she could be, because he would hope that if the situations were reverse she would do the same for him. He wanted nothing more than for her to find happiness and to be a strong woman, not for his selfish motives, but because this was the woman the Goddess blessed him with. She was his hope, his salvation, his call for help finally being answered.
She was the lighthouse to his lost ship.
He hesitated before placing the sponge in the same place, noting no flinch he squeezed the warm water down her back.
"I think that is a beautiful name, strong name." Her back was almost cleared of all the grime that covered it and he slowly moved with her reactions to finish cleaning it.
"I can imaging your confusion as to where you are, or how you ended up here." He sighed.
He placed the sponge to the side, before reaching for the shampoo on the counter beside the tub where he kneeled. "I'm going to wash your hair while I speak with you, Scarlet. If you get too frightened, we can stop." He spoke softly, pulling himself to her face to see if she had any reaction.
Her crystalline blue eyes stared vacantly ahead, tears welling along her waterline and traveling down her cheeks as she stared at the white tiled wall.
After not receiving a reaction, he squeezed the shampoo into his hands and slowly began to massage it into her tresses. She gave no indication of discomfort, and Orion took that as a better reaction than the flinch he received earlier. He lightly dealt with her tangles, using his fingers to break them apart, before realizing it might be best to remove them with the conditioner and a brush as there seemed to be too many. "We had flown to Malkún to view the exchanging ceremony." He started.
"Augustus had passed his title to Apollo," her first flinch since he started and he pulled his fingers from her hair, gauging her reaction for a moment before going back and continuing his menstruations, "and he decided for his first act he would exile." A shake started in Scarlets chest and Orion reached over to turn on the warm tap again for a few moments to get the water warmer.
"They were going to exile you, and you were in so much discomfort. So injured. When my wolf caught your scent and heard your scream, I could do nothing but save you from them. I needed to save you from them." He took the cup from counter and filled it with the newly warm water, and slowly poured it down her long brown locks.
"We brought you to my pack, and my warrior Sabina called for a medical team, you were very weak, very injured." The shampoo smelled of roses, and Orion felt his wolf in the back of his mind settling into a comfortable gaze.
He was caring for his mate, he was helping her in the only way he knew how. He would make her healthy again, he would help her be all that she could be. He just wanted the best for her, and he would help her get there.
"Doctor Novache came to help care for you. To give you the best odds we could provide. But, my mate, you have not lived an easy life, have you? I hope one day you will feel comfortable enough to share your life with me, being a rogue must have been a scary fate." He ran his hand down her hair and made sure all the suds were cleared before grabbing shampoo.
"When you would like to share your life with me, I would hope you will allow me to share my life with you as well." He whispered, working the rose conditioner into her tangles.
He moved to grab the comb, lightly lifting it from the counter so no noises would startled her, when he heard a sniff. He held the small item tightly, turning to see his mate with shaking shoulders as she silently cried. He waited for her to move, to try to claw at her stomach again, though she just wept.
"Scarlet, I wanted to discuss something with you. I know you are.. upset with the way things are going." The brush slowly helped take the knots out of her hair and he worked tenderly, afraid to hurt her.
"This is your decision, to keep this child. You are the woman, it is your womb, and I am the last Alpha that will force any woman in this pack to do anything with their bodies that they are uncomfortable with. But if I weren't to tell you my feelings on this, as your mate, I fear I would hold negative emotions for the remainder of our lives." He already felt selfish for putting this in her mind in such a fragile state, but he had the gut instinct that it might help her.
If she knew that he supported her, and that he loved her and her child, maybe she would snap out of this. Knowing she had a support system, knowing she had someone to rely on during the hard times and the bad memories. That was all he wanted her to know, was that he was there. But with his age, and with his selfish want for children, he had to tell her this.
Even if she wasn't listening.
"Scarlet, you are young. And with the life you've lead I couldn't guess if you have ever wondered about kids. I have. I don't know if you know my name, but it is known that I am the oldest werewolf to have not found a mate." He moved to a new tangle.
"I am," he sighed, the weight of his years settling heavily on him," five-hundred-forty-two years old." He stared at the leaves and debris in her hair, pausing before dragging the comb over the area lightly.
"I have dreamed of finding my Goddess given mate, of finding you, for centuries. I have dreamed of having my Luna to sit beside me, to hunt with me and share food from the first moments I was able to watch my mother with my father. To build our home from trees we collect, and to create our little world together. I have dreamt of growing old with someone for so long, my soul yearns for it. I have dreamed of chasing our children on our land, and hearing them laugh while they run. Teaching them how to be respectable young children, teaching them how to love each other and grow to be amazing adults." He paused, realizing his message he was trying to relay to her had turned into him playing the clips he had made up for all these years in his minds eye, verbally spilling his every hope and dream.
He dropped the silky section of hair and moved to the next dreaded mess.
"Scarlet, what happened to you was nothing short of despicable. It is something that would kill the soul of the strongest people, and I couldn't venture as far to say I understand what you are thinking, but please know that this child growing within you doesn't have to be a terrible thing from a terrible deed. I have yearned for children for so long, that knowing you have a young inside you, my wolf cares not for who it's biology comes from, it wants that pup as its own." He shook his head, realizing his territorial wolf was nudging for his two cents to be inputted.
Her hair was tangle free now, and the water was a murky brown. He sighed, reaching for the cup floating in the water and beginning to rinse her hair of the conditioner.
"I know it would take a while for you to get there, but we could have this pup together. Raise it together, as mother and father. We could love it, and care for it, and start our family, and heal from the trauma that was forced on you. I would be with you every step of the way." Her sniffles increased, and Orion stilled his rinsing of her hair.
He didn't know if her reaction was good or bad?
"I don't mean to overwhelm you, Scarlet, if that's how you might be feeling. But I want you to know that I already feel a bond with your child. I would see it no different than my own, and you would never be without support. This child would not need to know the way it was conceived, it would only know love. Our love." He has gone practically to a begging tone, as much as he hated to admit it.
He needed to give their baby a fighting chance.
A sob left her, and her body trembled. The water was still warm, and he knew this was from his message.
He did not expect her to turn, for her strikingly sky blue eyes to round on him with disgust alight in her stare. Her mouth trembled with unsaid words, and her body shook with rage. Her flesh boiled red, spreading from her face down her chest, even tinging the skin of her arms a deep crimson.
"Shut up!" She screamed at her mate, the force of her voice echoing off the walls of the bathroom.
Oh shit, what does scarlet have to say?
Do you think Orion went too far?
Yikes.