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4: What The Hell Happened To You

I sit on cemetery soil for several minutes after the vamp disappeared. Unsure of what really happened and dreading what I’m going to say to Gretchen when I get back to the shop. Little steps. First, get off the ground. Second, brush yourself off, you just survived a vampire attack. Third, one foot in front of the other.

I don’t see the stares as I wander down the street, filthy and battered. I can feel them though. Other denizens mixed with humans all gawking at the girl who looked to fall off a cliff...or down a hill. But once I stumble into Mystic Moon, I have no choice but to see the looks and speculation.

“What the hell happened to you?” Monty bellows the second she sees me, her mouth dropping open and staying that way for a few seconds.

I want to relish it, because it’s not everyday that Monty is struck speechless, but the effort to concentrate makes my head hurt.

Gretchen rushes in, mother hen to the rescue. “Did Georgio do this to you?”

“No.” The mention of Georgio warms my heart compared to the thinking about vampires. Georgio might be dead, survives on souls and eats rats, but he would never attack someone. “Vampire.” Whereas the words were caught in my throat before everything comes spilling out now. “I could've been eaten, eaten getting toes.” A manic laugh escapes my lips. “How fucked up is that. Eaten for toes.”

“I think she hit her head pretty good.” Monty jokes from behind the counter. “I’m calling Caleb to bring you home.”

The mention of Caleb sobers me up, or so I think it does. “No.” I rush to the counter, but the movement is too fast and the world slips out from under me.

Gretchen barely gathers my limp body. “I think that’s a good idea.” She leads me to my office where she sets me in my chair. “Sit here and rest.” She says before leaving me.

A deep voice whispers my name. “Hazel.”

I groan in protest, but he doesn’t listen and his hands grab at me. Flashbacks of fangs and melted skin flood back into my consciousness. I leap up from the chair, fully awake, swatting at the hands that still try to grab me.

“Hazel.” The roar of the voice is familiar and stops me in my tracks.

“Caleb.” I mutter. My blurry eyes finally clearing to see his horror stricken face stare back at me.

“Lets get you home.” He steps in closer and I let him. My head throbs and my lip leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Blood.

As he ushers me out, Gretchen stops him, placing something in my purse before handing to him. “Balm for her face. Sadly, it won’t help her head though, so she’ll have to be watched. Concussions are tricky and it’s best if it just heals on its own.”

I don’t hear him reply, but feel it. His body jerks with the abrupt nod of his head.

I don’t remember the ride home. I had been placed in the front seat of a car and the next thing I know I’m cradled in his arms, josled as he climbs the stairs of the apartment complex I live in.

“I need to set you down.” he whispers as we come to a stop in front of my door. “Just for a second.”

My limbs become incredibly heavy as he slides me to my feet. He digs through my purse like a crazed mugger with one hand and balances me with the other. It doesn’t take long for the jingle of keys as he frantically unlocks the door.

Standing up gives me false confidence and I take a step forward on my own. I don’t get far before my shoulder slams into the frame of the door. Caleb hurriedly, sweeps me up in his arms again not allowing me to create more damage.

He kicks the door closed with the sole of his shoe and doesn’t bother to turn on any lights as he progresses to my bedroom. His werewolf vision coming in handy. It’s a heave-ho motion as he drops me onto the mattress. Trying to lighten my fall he keeps his hands cradled under me, but as I drop down, he comes with me.

Unbearably close, he leans over me, his arms stuck beneath me, his breath on my face, but instead of bringing back the flashes of the vamp hovering over me, vicious intent in his eyes, Caleb’s familiar woodsy scent engulfs me bringing a peace I didn’t know I needed until I felt it.

As he slips out from under me, I protest. The words exiting my mouth without really thinking them through. “Stay. Please.”

There’s a silence that kills me. We’re off-again and he isn’t obligated to babysit me even though he supposedly told Gretchen he would. Babysitting me from another room still counts.

“I’m not going anywhere. I just have to make a call.”

Even my frazzled brain knows that he has to call Marcus and report to the Alpha. I take advantage of being alone to undress myself not wanting to get my bed any dirtier than it already is and from having to have Caleb do it for me.

It takes a few tries for me to sit up, lift my arms over my head and use any amount of muscle to pry the pieces of clothing off my body. My back twinges with pain everytime I twist, taking my breath away with it.

Time passes at a pace I’m unable to comprehend. It feels like minutes, but could really hours for all I know or the other way around. So I huddle under the blanket and wait for Caleb to come back, but somewhere within the waiting I fall asleep only to wake up as hands dabs at my face applying something wet and sticky that I hope will get rid of the signs of the beating my face took.

Once his warm hands slide away, I’m left shivering again. “So cold.” I mutter between numb lips unaware of how far Caleb is willing to take his babysitting duties.

A warmth quickly envelops me from his body as he slides under the blankets placing himself flush against my back instantly warming me all over. The sense of safety and protectiveness leaden my eyelids, coaxing me into sleep. Sleep just like all those nights before when his large arms wrapped around me. With his face buried in my hair and the scruff on his chin gently scratching the crook of my neck.

But as I doze off, a little thought burrows in the back of my mind, I begin to wonder if we’re about to be on-again.

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