Atticus by R.E. Butler

Chapter Seventeen

Lori slept like the dead. Or, rather, she slept so soundly and so dreamlessly that she woke up wondering if she had died for a while and just hovered in some weird in-between.

But then she felt Atticus’s arms around her and touched his warm skin with her fingertips. There had been fur on his skin before, but it was gone now. She could feel his breath on her neck and the way he curled around her like he was protecting every inch of her body.

It was heavenly.

And she had to pee.

Maybe sleeping like the dead made you have to pee.

“You okay, sweetheart?” Atticus’s low rumbling voice tickled her ear, and she shivered as goosebumps rose on her skin.

She wasn’t sure she could talk, but she thought she’d give it a shot. “Just thinking about death and pee.” Her voice was scratchy like she hadn’t used it in a while, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had the day before.

“Uh, what?” He lifted his head and she wiggled to her back to smile at him.

“I have to pee. And I woke up thinking I slept like the dead. My whole train of thought was really weird.”

“Well, far be it from me to stop you from peeing.”

He let her free from the warm cage of his arms, and she climbed from the bed. If nature hadn’t been calling, she would’ve been happy to stay there.

Her phone was on the nightstand and plugged in. She touched the screen and saw that it was after nine in the morning. She’d slept a long time.

“How do you feel?” he asked. “Your voice sounds tons better.”

She straightened and let out a low groan at the aches that sprang from every joint and muscle in her body. “Sore. Better though.”

She smiled at him and winced when her lip ached sharply. She went to the en suite bathroom and shut the door. She flicked on the overhead light and squinted at the brightness. And then she really winced.

She looked like death warmed over.

Holy crap, she couldn’t stop thinking about death. It must be what happens when you almost die.

Both of her eyes were ringed with purple, the left one badly swollen. Her lip was split and her nose was swollen too. But she was alive, and damn it she was going to hold onto that.

She used the toilet and washed her hands, then splashed some water on her face to freshen up a little bit. She’d take a shower after she got something to eat.

The bedroom was empty when she walked out, but she followed the noises to the kitchen and found him at the fridge looking in.

“I thought you might be hungry,” he said without looking at her. “There’s tons of food in here, but if you don’t want any of this we can order from the market.”

She joined him and he straightened to let her inspect the interior. It was packed from top to bottom with everything she could think of. She remembered Adriana said she’d stocked it for them and was thankful for that.

“Yogurt,” she said.

“That’s it?” He gave her a raised brow.

“I don’t know if I can eat more than that,” she said with a shrug.

“You got it.” He pulled out the container she’d pointed at and had her sit at the small two-person table while he set the yogurt in front of her and grabbed a spoon from the drawer. He heated up a mug of water and steeped one of the special tea bags in it.

After he thawed a breakfast sandwich in the microwave, he brewed a cup of coffee and joined her.

The yogurt didn’t bother her throat, and neither did the tea. She’d been worried it might hurt to swallow. She took a pain pill to help get her through the morning but was hopeful she wouldn’t need to take them too long.

“How are you?” she asked.

“I’m great. It’s one of the benefits of being a shifter.”

“I can see your wounds are mostly better. They were pretty bad.” It was clear that Atticus was a fast healer.

He gave her a wry smile. “Shifting into one form or the other accelerates the healing. But even without shifting, I have accelerated healing anyway. An injury has to be super severe to not be able to heal it quickly. And there are things we can’t heal fully, like losing a limb.”

“That would be handy to be able to heal quickly.”

“You feel better than last night, though? The tea and pain pills are helping?”

“I do. Even if I look like I got run over by a truck.”

“Not a truck, a very determined polar bear.”

She chuckled and finished her last bite of yogurt.

When they’d finished in the kitchen, they took a shower together and he washed her very gently, taking such care to clean her skin as if she were made of glass. He patted her dry and gave her one of his shirts to wear even though some of her things had been brought over.

“How about we hang out in bed and watch a movie?” Atticus asked. He started piling the pillows up against the headboard.

“You can go to work if you need to,” she said, her voice a little stronger.

“Nah,” he said. “I’m the alpha, I can stay with my mate if I want to.”

“Alpha is boss?”

“Yep. There’s an alpha for every group in the park. Joss is the wolf alpha; Caesar is the lion alpha; Alistair is the elephant alpha; and Marcus is the bear alpha.”

“Five groups?”

“Yep. We all have private living quarters underneath the park, as well as a central marketplace that serves food for every meal and does deliveries too. And there’s also a general store, a nail salon, and a makeup shop.”

“Wow. I had no idea.”

She climbed into bed, feeling the pain pills kick in and her aches easing. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

“Well, it’s a serious secret.”

“I understand why you have to keep it secret. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“I trust you.”

“Good.”

He joined her, wearing a pair of track pants, his muscular upper body on display. He was so sexy. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have found him despite her years of running and hiding. Fate had certainly smiled on her.

“Get that sexy look off your face, sweetness,” he chided with a grin. “You’re injured. No nookie.”

She snuggled against him, his strong heartbeat in her ear. “Did you just say that?”

“Absolutely. I said it as much to myself as I did you. You’re very tempting.”

“You are too.”

“I’m so glad you’re in my life.” He gave her a one-armed hug as he grabbed the remote from the nightstand. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Something light and fun, nothing scary.”

“Got it. I saw a trailer for an animated movie a while ago. Hope you like movies that take place in cold, imaginary places.”

“I do.”

The last thing she remembered was the opening scene of the movie, and then she was asleep, safe and content in Atticus’s arms.