Chapter 37

Mira

The first light of day was coming through the windows, and I cursed the sun for rising.

My head was pounding and my mouth tasted like sand, and I could barely remember where I was when I woke up in the early hours of the morning.

I tried to think back to the evening before, only seeing images of an argument with Dominic and something about Lila and charcoal.

She winced as the effort brought a flash of pain behind her eyelids. She would need to take this recollection slowly.

Dominic was asleep in the big reading chair, which now seemed to be their favorite big sleeping chair. He was shirtless, but still wore the trousers he wore to the banquet last night. At least he took his shoes off to sleep.

I groaned as I moved my bones up and out of the bed, needing water and to wash last night’s crustiness off my face.

I walked closer to Dominic, noticing something red smudge on his neck and jaw.

It was lipstick. And it was all over him.

The fury started to overshadow anything else I was feeling, until I caught sight of the back of my own hand.

It had a similar smudge of lipstick as Dominic’s skin.

I walked on into the bathroom, and confirmed that it was indeed my own lipstick. Gazing at my reflection, I saw that it was smeared off my lips, as if someone had kissed it off of me.

Or maybe I had just roughly rubbed it onto Dominic…somehow.

I felt a bit of embarrassment wanting to creep in, but knew I shouldn’t jump to conclusions before talking to him first.

I washed my face, drank some more water, and made myself feel slightly more human than when I woke up.

Placing a hand on his arm, I gently nudged Dominic until he started to stir. His face goes wide as if he has seen a ghost, then returns to calm as he realizes he is awake and I am alive.

“You really shouldn’t sleep like that,” I said. “So bad for you back.”

“Said the pot to the kettle,” he joked, stretching and cracking his joints back into alignment.

“You can come to bed, the bed,” I said, hoping my words didn’t sound too suggestive. “I mean, I’m feeling much better. So you know, you don’t have to worry that I’ll puke on your or anything.”

“Now that is a relief,” he said, keeping things light in spite of my nervous innuendo.

He stayed in the chair as I walked back and climbed back into bed. I worried for a moment that I had said something last night that upset him, and he now he wouldn’t want to be near me.

Drawing a clear line in the middle of the bed, I curled onto my side facing him.

He sighed, and took his time to cross over to first sit on the edge of the bed. I wondered why he had paused, until I saw him bending down to remove his socks. He seemed to have decided that he would just keep his trousers on rather than remove them and find a replacement.

Taking his time, he stretched himself on his side of the bed, only tucking his feet underneath the sheets. He always ran at a high temperature, and this morning was no exception.

We lay there, facing one another, not forcing words but simply enjoying the early morning quiet. I felt my eyelids getting heavier, and were about to close for a few more hours of sleep.

“Hey,” Dominic said softly, pulling me back up to the surface. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright? I was pretty worried about you last night.”

“I’m, yeah I’m okay,” I searched inside myself for the truth, not sure where to find it. “Was I completely out of it?”

“You were…in and out, for a while,” his response felt a little too clean.

“Oh no,” my fears were taking over, “I didn’t say anything crazy to you, did I? Or do anything, I didn’t try to find or hurt you or anything?”

“No, no, you didn’t try to fight me,” Dominic said. “Sort of, the opposite… at times…”

He trailed off, not looking at me, but I saw color rise in his cheeks.

“What does that mean?” I felt like I wanted to disappear. “Dominic, what?”

He was smiling to myself. Now I wanted to fight him.

“Nothing, you were just…funny, silly, a bit loopy, you could barely stand up on your own,” he seemed to be spiraling a bit, trying to dismiss it all. “I carried you home, gave you some charcoal, put you to bed.”

The charcoal, that made sense.

“Thank you, for that,” I said earnestly. “I’m so glad you remembered what I told you about clearing toxins from the body.”

“A very wise doctor has been teaching me about natural medicine,” he smirked.

My memory was tweaked by his statement, but I didn’t know why.

We settled back into the quiet, and soon enough we were both fast asleep once more.

In my dream, we were wolves again. We were side by side, standing at the spot Dominic had shown me a few days before.

It was his mother’s special place, and in the dreamworld I could swear that I felt her presence with us. She was happy for us, and seemed ready to finally rest in her otherworld now that Dominic had found a proper Mate for his future.

We were silent, he and I, as we looked out over the calm water of the lake and followed the path of the breeze as it touched the tall grasses of the plain.

With one simple movement, Dominic placed his giant head just on top of mine. I stretched my neck up to meet him, and we stayed just like that for a long while.

We were connected, supporting one another, and not overly concerned with anything outside of this moment we shared in our secret safe haven.

I woke again with a smile on my face, and noticed my cheeks were wet from a few tears that had fallen down my face.

I gently wiped my face, wondering if these happy tears were another symptom of whatever drugs were in my body last night.

Dominic sat on the edge of the bed, facing away from me.

I had the urge to reach out and stroke his bare back, but thought better of it at the last moment.

“Good morning,” I said instead.

“Mm,” he responded.

He was often quiet upon first waking, but this seemed especially terse given the night we’d just had.

“Everything…okay?” I asked carefully.

“Yes, well…it’s nothing serious,” I could hear in his voice that his brow was furrowed.

“Dominic.”

This time I shifted towards him, reaching a hand to brush his arm. He flinched, initially, then softened and turned his head to me. He attempted a smile to appease me, but I knew something was upsetting him.

“What is it? Bad news?” I glanced at the phone in his hands.

“A message from step-mother,” his eyes finally met mine. “It’s about her son, Lucian.”

“Is he alright? Did something happen to him?” I was suddenly worried and braced for family tragedy.

“No, he’s fine,” Dominic said. “He’s come back home.”