I awoke to a weird feeling, my right leg was wet and was being lifted. I pushed my thoughts through the fog as my eyes slowly opened. I was still in the cabin, still naked, and he was still here.
I reached for my wolf in my mind but she was barely conscious, and couldn’t do much for me. I looked down; the blanket and sheet had been removed and David was giving me a sponge bath. He was sitting at the end of the bed with my legs over his. “Really? Do I smell that bad?”
“Your smell is wonderful, love, it’s just a bit strong right now. I thought you might feel better if I got you cleaned up a little, got the lake smell off of you.” He stroked the sponge down my calf. “And I don’t mind, it gives me an excuse to lay my scent down on you later.”
I huffed a little and laid back, still a little woozy from the drugs. “Can I get something to eat and drink, then? I’m starving.”
“That, my dear, depends on how much you cooperate.” He set my right leg down and picked up my left, starting to clean it from top to bottom. I considered asking him to stop, but this wasn’t the battle for now. He had removed the leg chains, and that was to my advantage. I had to bide my time, I thought, and wait for an opening. I’m sure he felt I was too weak to fight him, and right now that was true. I don’t know if I could have lifted my leg on my own.
I decided to play along, hoping to lull him into making a mistake that I could take advantage of. I started to lean into his touch, making soft little moans when he caressed sensitive places on me. Thankfully, he didn’t push it by going for the boobs or the delta, though I’m sure he thought of it. When he was done, he released one of my hands, locking the handcuff to the headboard, so I could roll enough to put fresh sheets on. I have to admit, I was glad he did. I would have preferred a hot shower, but it was better than nothing.
I behaved and when he had put the stuff away, he returned with a glass of orange juice and a sandwich. He put some pillows behind me so I could sit up a little, then helped me as I had the first meal since that welcome barbecue. He was actually being pleasant to me, and I didn’t want to be punished further. We had a decent conversation, as I learned about his life and his family.
Our moment was interrupted by the sound of a car. David jumped up and looked out the door; Doc was back. David looked at me, then back at Doctor Andrews who was getting out of his car with his bag. “What’s going on, Doc? I thought you didn’t need to see her for a few days.”
He walked past him and set his bag on the table. “I made some phone calls, and I need to examine her before I come to any conclusions.” He opened up the bag and put on gloves. “It will only take a few minutes.”
“Fine.” Clearly, David didn’t appreciate the interruption.
“Any reaction to the wolfsbane?”
“Yeah,” I said. “It hurts like a bitch and I’ll rip the throat out of the next person who gives me one.” They looked at me like I was kidding, I wasn’t. I hated that stuff.
“Well, if everything goes as anticipated you won’t need one.” Doc peeled the bandage back from my neck. “See? I was right, it was her wolf fighting the claim. These have scabbed up nicely, I’m going to put a dressing back over it but you can take it off in a few days once the scarring is complete. Has the bond started to form yet?”
David closed his eyes. “I can’t feel it.”
“It is as I thought, then. That bite won’t take, you’ll have to give her another.” He finished with the bandages and tore his gloves off, tossing them into the trash can. “Come on, we need to talk.”
He grabbed his bag and they went outside, closing the door behind him. The move didn’t keep me from listening in on what they said, though; the wolfsbane hadn’t affected my hearing. “So, I contacted my colleagues and they were stumped, no one could recall this ever happening. So we went to the Elders and asked them to search Pack histories, and we finally got our answer.”
“And?” David wasn’t the patient type.
“First, describe to me the sequence of events when you marked her.”
“She was already drugged when I got there, Olivia linked that she was furious when she found out what was going on. She must have linked her parents because that is when they tried to leave the conference room. Dad said that turned violent quickly, and he was killed. She screamed when he died; you know how it feels when the family bond is broken.”
“What then?”
“Well, me and the boys were still traveling across the island, and she was fighting the girls. She got some shots in, but the drugs were taking effect. I heard her scream again when her Mom died. By the time I got there, she didn’t have much fight left. She was in the water, she had tried to get to the boat but couldn’t even sit up anymore. I picked her up and carried her back to the beach.”
“So both her parents died before you got there?”
“Yes, my Dad told me what happened as I went to pick them up. Apparently it was a hell of a fight, even four on two we didn’t get away unscathed. They fought well, they wouldn’t submit so they had to kill them.”
“And then?”
“They held her up in a sitting position, I tried to calm her down but it didn’t work, she was fighting me right up to the point I bit her. She screamed; I expected that, but you know, it’s supposed to turn into pleasure almost immediately? Well, it didn’t. She screamed until she passed out. The wound was angry, and wouldn’t stop bleeding. I covered it with my shirt and Olivia and I took the speedboat back to the dock. From there, I drove here, and you know the rest.”
“I see. That explains it them.”
I was on the edge of my seat now. Well, not literally, I was still chained to the bed.
“The bite of the male initiates the claim on a normal female. Even if the female is a higher rank, it still has that effect. However, she was no normal female.”
“What are you saying? She’s a werewolf, both her parents were werewolves.”
“This hasn’t happened since the 1475 in Europe. That’s where we found the answer, in the Pack records of an Austrian pack. Their Alpha pair had died in an attack, leaving their only daughter. She became Alpha at nineteen. The Pack was vulnerable, so the elders called an allied Pack and begged for help. They sent an Alpha’s son to take over. The daughter, however, didn’t like him and didn’t want him, but they didn’t give her a choice. He bit her.”
“And it didn’t take?”