***

Her breathing slowed and it eventually turned to the steady rhythm of sleep. I reached up and turned off the shower with one hand while keeping her in place with the other. I fumbled for the towel hanging on the outside of the shower door, then wrapped it around her the best that I could. I knelt and gathered her in my arms, afraid that I would hurt her with any quick movements. I pushed open the shower door with my foot and made my way quietly down the hall.

I hesitated at the bed. The blankets were rumpled and I didn’t know if she would prefer to be above or beneath them wearing wet clothes. She shivered in my arms and I opted for beneath. I pulled them back with a free finger, then slid her underneath and tucked them around her body. Her face looked pale with her long black hair splayed wetly around her. I put one last blanket above her feet and turned to go, then she said something so softly I couldn’t make it out.

My heart gave a strange sideways thump and I knelt quietly next to the bed so I wouldn’t wake her if she was talking in her sleep. Her eyelids fluttered, but her eyes didn’t open. “Would you stay with me?” she repeated. Her voice was so small and forlorn I had to swallow past a lump that rose in my throat.

After all she had been through, I couldn’t deny her anything. My heart pounding, I walked quietly around to the other side of the bed feeling more like a lurching bear than I ever had before. I climbed as gently as I could on top of the blankets and lay down about a foot from her. I lifted my arm awkwardly, wondering where I should put it, then she turned without a word and burrowed against my side with her hands tucked under her chin. I hesitated, then lowered my arm slowly so that it rested along the outside of her body. She gave a small sigh that sounded like a sob, then her breathing grew steady once more.

I lay in my bed with a girl sleeping against my side. I had never touched a girl, let alone had one in my bed. I told myself that it didn’t matter, she was a Hunter and would no doubt hate me in the morning; but with the midnight stars winking down through the glass ceiling above and the cinnamon scent of the red rocks mixing with her feminine vanilla and sunflower aroma, it did matter. For the first time in my life, someone truly needed me.

My heart lurched at the thought. At Two I told myself I was needed, that the werewolves would fall apart and not know what to do with themselves if I wasn’t around, but we were older now and most were ready to begin their own lives. My parents had long ago made it clear I wasn’t a pivotal part of their existence. No one had ever looked at me with need and loss so bright in their eyes.

The Hunter’s heart beat against mine and I closed my eyes, but sleep was the furthest thing from my mind. My heart raced and I reminded myself that it was alright. I wouldn’t hurt her. I would keep her safe. I had never been so close to a woman. Her scent filled my nose, strange and female, an aroma of flowers amid the musk and brawn of the male werewolves who inhabited Two. My muscles were tight and my arms strained not to hurt her. It would take a mere flick of my wrist to snap her neck. The thought scared me and I wondered why she wasn’t more afraid.

I was a good guy. I kept telling myself that over and over. I saw in my mind’s eye the image of me pulling down her Hunter friends one after the other. I tried to remember that they had come to kill us first, but with her huddled beneath my arm in pain because of their deaths, it was hard to keep things in perspective. Guilt filled me as I watched her breathe, her face serene in sleep. I wondered how she could trust me enough to rest beside me after all I had done.

Her eyebrows pulled together as I watched, a look of pain crossing her face. I hesitated, then touched her cheek softly with the back of my fingers. Her expression relaxed and she rolled closer against me. My heart pounded in my chest at her nearness. Her black hair drifted across my pillow in a soft wave, her head light on my arm. Sleep eluded me as I watched her, awed by her trust and presence. Hours passed and emotions warred through my mind as I held her.

The golden light of dawn filtered through the thick glass of the ceiling by the time she stirred. I hadn’t moved a muscle, the sound of her breathing and the beat of her heart enough to keep me perfectly still so I wouldn’t awaken her. I told myself I was foolish. She had fallen into a deep sleep long ago and wouldn’t have noticed if the roof fell in on her. I wondered if my presence had helped her sleep so well, then told myself that it was her injury and the stress she had been through.

I watched the way the morning light brushed across the curve of her cheek. She was beautiful and graceful, tiny like a dancer but strong willed and ferocious when she needed to be. Her presence set my whole world on a tilt, but I would do it again without hesitation. Her breathing changed and her eyes opened slowly to stare into mine. The regret and anger I expected to see in them never appeared; instead, she watched me in silence and her hand rested on my arm, a simple touch that said so much more than words ever could.