(Amaia)
Groggily I wake up with the throbbing in my shoulder reduced to a slight numbing pain.
Where was I?
As my eyes adjust and travel down, I find myself in a single bed covered with white sheets. To my horror, the black uniform is gone, and my body only has a thin gown.
Quickly, my hand goes to my precious necklace, and relief washes over me, feeling it's still there.
I try to sit up and observe my surroundings.
"Not so fast, Sleeping Beauty. Keep lying down," Alnitak's playful voice has my head turning towards the right side. Only then do my senses start to work properly, and I am hit with his scent.
The smug male has propped himself against the side wall of the infirmary. Tons and tons of glass bottles and jars neatly line the shelves behind him with an array of liquids and powders inside them.
His thick muscular arms are wrapped over his buffed chest, feet crossed at ankles. His scent dances all around him, and I have to inhale through my mouth to avoid getting overwhelmed, or my brain would refuse to function.
"Quite a wound you had on your shoulder. It wasn't from today's fight. What happened?" He asks, the smile waning on his lips. His hypnotic eyes search mine for answers.
"Nothing, just a scratch." I try to avoid his pulling gaze and deep voice. My fragile heart couldn't take any more pain. I guess that's the reason I fainted, too. Overstimulation, being in the proximity of three mates and not even one of them knew or recognised me.
"Nothing?" He snorts. "The poison from the infection it caused was about to reach your heart. Untreated for a few more hours and we would have been burying you now. Are you always this casual?" He asks, and a small line of confusion crosses his perfect forehead.
'No but the fact that my mate rejected me. A man cast a spell on me who wanted to keep me as a bride, and I found three new mates who don't even know what I am to them. This, all in a matter of just three days, has wiped reasoning and common sense from my brain,' I think to myself but can't bring any of that to my lips.
The wish to just jump out of my bed and wrap my arms around his muscular body invades me like the sweet smell of flowers on a spring day, or whatever flowers our world has remaining
Our gazes remain locked, the air sizzles with his energy, his aura, and the world fades for me.
I don't want to look away. But clearing of the throat cracks up the illusion I am building, the illusion of having him as my mate.
I drag my gaze away, the ache this action causes has me sharply drawing in a breath.
The old man who had treated Mintaka and Kacir earlier walks near me, carrying a tray with food and medicine on it.
"How are you feeling, young lady? You are very lucky to be alive."
"Better, thank you," I mumble.
He places the tray in my lap and sternly orders, "Eat and take your medicine. Don't know why everyone is hell bent on dying today."
I glance at the tray. Two apples, one bowl of white rice, one bowl of chicken soup and some salad. Along with a small vial with a yellowish-green liquid inside it. My stomach growls with hunger as I pick up the juicy-looking apple and take a bite.
~Crunch~
"Thank you for taking care of me and the food," I offer my gratitude to the old man who I am guessing falls somewhere between a healer and a doctor. The lines between these professions have blurred since the apocalypse.
"I am Healer TJ Wakla. You can call me TJ. Or Wakla. Any time you have a health issue, you come to me and do not hide it. Clear," he instructs in a stern voice and I just nod my head, knowing he is just trying to do his job.
"You are getting bitter by the day," Alnitak jokes, his voice taking on that jovial touch again. His mischievous eyes focused on TJ.
"And you people, crazy," he mutters with a roll of his eyes.
Alnitak laughs it off. "That should be a normal day for you. Wait until the training begins."
My thoughts drift to Mintaka and Kacir, so I inquire, "How is your brother and Kacir?"
Alnitak unpeels himself from the wall and takes bold steps towards me. My body instantly reacts and goes stiff. He bends down, his long fingers curve around the other apple and he picks it up. Tossing it in the air, he catches it and takes a large bite out of it. Slowly he chews before answering.
"Mintaka has already been discharged. You know wolf genes, easy healing. But Kacir will need time."
I find that odd. So Kacir is not a werewolf? Is he just human or some other species?
A drop of juice seeps out from the side of Alnitak's full lips and trickles to his chin. I want to drag my tongue along this skin, tasting him and the juice.
Where am I getting these wild ideas from?
He flashes me a smile with a wink before turning around and leaving the room. Waving with the back of the hand holding the apple. His flaming red locks dance on his broad shoulders.
"Thanks for the apple and your help in the battle. Come see me when you are healed and want to hang out."
Quietly I watch as the silence invades the space when both men have left the room.
I finish my food and take the medicine, my body is still sore and aching from the emotional and physical turmoil it's going through.
Before I can lie down again someone enters the infirmary. A curtain separates me from the main area which they most probably use for male patients. So I can't see the person but his redolent scent reaches me before he does.
Old forgotten books and fresh pine almost resinous.
My body tenses, eyes widen as they wander to the curtain and stay.
Elegantly, it shuffles aside, and he enters like a refined emperor of an old era. With his silver streaks flying and cape flowing behind him.
His furious eyes bore into me. The way his nostrils have flared I know I am in trouble again.
"You have got some nerve to lie to me. It was you who killed the Barzaker. Didn't you? His venom was found in your system. That wound on your shoulder, he gave you that. Didn't he?" He fumes and I flinch at the angry tone of my mate.
The dread that follows is worse, knowing he already thinks so low of me and now my lying was going to be just the cherry on top of the cake of hatred he has baked.
I am so screwed.