The Lycan King's Healer
The Lycan King’s Healer – Chapter 37

“Get down,” Aldrich immediately ordered in a hushed voice, standing up before positioning himself in a defensive stance.

I shot a glare at him. “You don’t have to protect me,” I whispered, listening intently. There was someone out there for sure; my scent did not recognize them through the vegetation, and I couldn’t hear any breathing or voices amongst the chorus of the forest.

“I’m the war general here,” he reminded me, and barred his arm against my chest. “Stay here. I’m going out there.”

“Can you just shut up and listen for once?” I hissed, grabbing his wrist to pull him down to the floor. He reluctantly obeyed, crouching down over the dust.

His hearing was better than mine. I stared at the floor as he listened outside, holding my breath. Fear made my heart flutter tidal waves in my stomach acid. The moon was dimmer now, casting a ghostly puddle on the floor. I inched away from it.

“Whoever it is, they know we’re here, and don’t know that we know,” Aldrich whispered, frowning. He was on the alert, his whole body straight as a rod.

I chewed on my l*p, feeling a weird form of satisfaction. Suddenly, I was not the one being obliviously watched. It felt nice to not be the prey.

Eventually, I heard the light padding of footsteps disappearing into the thick brush. Whoever it was, they stood outside the cottage, watching, then retreated back into the forest.

I leaned against the wall under the window, contemplating. “Aldrich,” I whispered in the dark, just in case we were still in ear shot. “That must be the figure I saw in the woods one day. He or she might be the person who watches everyone.”

He looked down at me, his nostrils flaring. “I’ll go rip their eyes out so they can never see again.”

“Aldrich! No,” I hissed, keeping him from standing up by digging my nails in his arm, “They can also be the archer.”

“Not a thousand arrows can stop me,” he growled, visibly fuming.

“Don’t,” I asked with an edge of desperation, looking at him adamantly, “please, Aldrich. I just got you back.”

This seemed to extinguish him, and it looked like I poured a glass of cold water down his shirt. He was jittery, as if he was stifling some sort of ancient, deeply ingrained instinct. But he calmed, clenching his jaw before nodding.

“It’s not safe to travel back to the estate tonight,” he only said, his voice softened, “we should sleep here.”

I wondered about how we would even find sleep in a place like this, and remembered the mattress I left behind. The one, narrow single bed. My cheeks flushed.

“I can sleep on the floor,” he said, seeming to understand the reason for my sudden hesitation.

“No,” I said a bit too quickly, and then looked away. “You just came back from literal war. Plus, I want to keep an eye on your wound through the night.”

He had the decency not to smirk or flash one of his cheeky grins at me. “If you insist.”

We stood up from the floor, slowly while we looked out the window. There was no one outside anymore, nothing but the black trees and the crickets. I looked at him and we shared a wordless look before ascending the stairs.

It’s not that I was nervous to sleep next to him, for I had been yearning to be protected in his arms for months, but I shied away from the premise of us being huddled together as if we were cuddling. We had never done that before; something so simple and mundane, but also something I was petrified of. Any probable make out sessions or actions beyond that didn’t scare me.

It was cuddling with him as if we were an established couple that scared me.

We walked into my empty bedroom, and my heart squeezed at the sight of my abandoned living space. The windows were bare, and the mattress was the naked remainder of what used to be a comforter and sheets and pillows. It was bare, the only piece of furniture in the small room. Aldrich came in behind me, his presence more prominent than anything else.

I sat down on my old bed, yawning. At that moment, I realized how long the day had been. Hunting for my hunter in the woods, attacking Aldrich, running from the estate. My body felt even more exhausted than usual.

He sat down beside me, looking sheepish. “Are you sure?”

I nodded before I lost my nerve. “We’ve done much more, Aldrich,” I reminded him bluntly.

Now it was his turn to blush. “I unfortunately don’t remember,” he said, laying down.

We laid not next to each other, but on. My arm was on top of his, our legs tangled unintentionally. It was glaringly obvious how to make this more comfortable, but I was still feeling too insecure to go through with any first moves.

The man told me he loved me, and I was too scared to cuddle him. To make it real.

I looked at him through the dark, and admired the tilt of his nose and the angle of his strong jaw. To entertain the premise of sleeping like two tightly packed sardines, his eyes were closed, but there was an amused smile on his face. I tried to control my breathing, because if it came out heavy, he’d know how fast my heart was beating.

Although he already probably knew.

I watched the moon through the window, trying to calm myself. When I was nervous, I liked to stare at the sky and remind myself that this moment was so infinitely insignificant compared to the rest of the universe. But I knew it was important—important in our little world together—and because of that, I’d never be able to fall asleep.

“Do you think whoever is behind this is trying to kill us?” I murmured, trying to pretend that I was not unable to sleep because of our proximity, but because of racing thoughts and concerns.

“I’ll never let anyone hurt you,” he said back, and I could hear the tiredness in his voice making it raspy. “Go to sleep, my Cathy. You’re safe now.”

Damn it.

“You’re not immortal,” I reminded him. I knew it was wrong to taint him with my own concerns so that I’d look less suspicious, but I had to. “I want to protect you, too.”

“You already do,” was all he said.

“That’s not protecting, that’s healing,” I insisted, peering at him secretly.

“I will teach you how to fight if you really want,” he suggested, as if he was saying anything to get me to shut up and sleep.

“You told me you’d never get in a ring with me,” I argued.

“I’m definitely concerned for my well-being, yes, but I want you to be able to protect yourself.” He yawned.

I bit my l*p, trying to figure out how to keep him awake.

“Cathy,” he said, sighing, “You act like I don’t know you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re afraid,” Aldrich said, not as a question but a statement, “I can sleep on the floor.”

“No,” I insisted, turning on my side to face him. The bed was already more comfortable.

With shaking hands, I slowly eased my head onto his chest, anxiously awaiting his reaction.