Savior of the Wolves

Jess’s POV continued

Josh gave me a soft smile, “Our kind heals rather quickly. He’s not quite there yet. He had a lot of breaks.”

“Breaks!” I gasped as my crying worsened. Then, with a shocked look, I looked back at Josh, “Your kind?”

I was about to make Josh explain when I heard a voice and I looked toward it.

“Jess?” The voice came from inside the room. It sounded so weak. I hadn’t even seen his mouth move but his eyes slowly opened and looked over at me. I swear I felt him pulling at me.

No, I felt out of my mind. That’s what I felt...no touch with reality.

“Aiden…” his name slipped off my tongue and it sounded so desperate that I swear Josh seemed to cringe as I walked by him into the room.

His right hand rose up to me and I hypnotically walked towards him, tears streaming down my face from the looks of him.

The door closed behind me, and Josh was gone.

There was a chair next to the bed that I could only assume had been Josh’s seat just seconds ago. I sat in it and scooted even closer to the bed.

His hand raised even further, reaching for my cheek. I instinctively leaned into him, and he wiped the tears from under my eyes with his thumb. It was soft and caring. I was lost in his expression. I urgently needed to be inside his head. To understand what was really going on with him. He hardly liked me but was laying here, mangled, because he jumped off a cliff...a cliff...for me.

Maybe he was just as insane as I was.

His hand lingered on my cheek, and I placed my hand over his. I needed to touch him, and this looked like it could be the only part of him not injured.

I hadn’t noticed at first that my fingers were caressing the back of his hand.

Feelings began to overcome me. I felt a need for him to be okay. I could feel us falling again and I felt such guilt that he was in this condition because of me. Because I ran into the woods. It was crippling.

As the visions replayed in my head, the tears increased, and I hid my face in my hands.

“Come here,” he said so softly that I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly.

“What?” I asked softly, confused, looking down at him again.

“I can’t move so you’ll have to come to me,” he clarified with almost a snicker as his face grimaced. He was in so much pain.

I didn’t know what he was asking. Did he want me closer to his face? Should I slide the chair in further, but something about the way he was looking at me led me to believe that it was neither of those two things.

He picked up on my hesitation and patted the pillow beside him. “Stay with me.”

His voice and eyes were weak, and I was too exhausted to say no.

Once my head touched the pillow, I buried my head against his and all of my fears began to resurface, “You weren’t breathing. God, I was terrified. I thought...” I suddenly didn’t care about what I sounded like. I had been fighting my feelings for him. I had been angry with how he abruptly left me all the time...I was madly jealous of the girl who purposely made my days hell here...but then he jumped off a cliff to save me. Nothing made any sense.

I felt him touch the side of my face again, “I’m okay,” I could hear a smile in his reply as I felt sensations erupt through my body.

“You don’t look okay,” I cried.

His hand lowered at my side and found my hand, holding it tightly. I could feel the heat in his hand, and it made my hold tighten on his.

He gently pulled my hand, prompting me to move closer against his chest as he held my arm around him now. I was scared to put the weight of my head on him and hesitated until his arm came around me and held me against him. With my head against him, I could feel it again...us falling. “This is how I thought I’d die,” I whispered my confession. I felt his chest rise roughly against me. He was breathing heavily too.

I could’ve sworn I heard the lowest growl from within him…and I thought about the wolf.

“What were you thinking?”

I felt his shoulders shrug and he grimaced.

My arm held against him more tightly. My brain began envisioning these men around the compound making these impossible jumps. Was this part of the training I didn’t see? A part that wasn’t done in the firm. “How did you know that you could survive a fall like that?” I spoke against his chest desperately. I had to know.

“I hoped I could.”

“You hoped!” my voice reprimanded in several octaves higher than my own. I pulled my head back, looking at him. “You mean you didn’t know?”

His eyes looked so heavy as he looked back at me. They closed slowly as he said, “I know now.” His lips formed the most beautiful smirk and then it faded away. His lips were still, slightly parted, and he was quietly breathing. I stared at his lips for a while before realizing I was lost somewhere else. Lost in my thoughts. My confusion.

He was asleep...with his arms wrapped around me. I became worried. What if someone walked in? What if Josh did? What about his parents? I was thinking I should try to move but his arm was heavy against me. It clung to me.

As my thoughts ricocheted frantically in my head, I kept coming back to the same important detail. No matter what he had put me through in the past few days he saved me again. He selflessly saved me.

I laid my head back down on his chest and his words began to whisper on repeat in my thoughts. I knew so little about this man. About these people. But just hours ago I learned that some were wolves.

Could most or all of them be? Even his parents?

Just as my mind was racing, his breaths became deeper. The rise and fall of his chest began to feel like a rocking motion to my head. I began to instantly calm and the worry of being seen with him faded. I felt like I began to melt onto him. I don’t know why, but somewhere in my subconsciousness, I realized that my lips were close to his bare skin. I’ve never been so bold, but I tilted my head slightly and placed my lips against his chest and kissed him. His skin felt so soft on my lips, and I wanted to kiss him a hundred more times but instead, I turned my head back, flat against his chest again...then I swear I heard a growl.