Page 24 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part One

“Underwear?” I frowned, though the term sounded familiar.

I felt like I’d answered wrong because she took a deep breath, and her smile faded. “Are you okay with being nude in front of me? For the shower?”

Nude? Wait, I did know that one. Without clothing. I shrugged. What did clothing or nudity matter? I was the same in or out of clothes.

“I don’t care.”

“Okay, then, why don’t we get you out of that shirt first? Or at least what’s left of it, and then your shorts. But if you’re uncomfortable at any moment, you tell me, okay?”

“Of course.”

I could hardly imagine being uncomfortable in Ven’s presence. She was like a dampener to all things awful, a soothing poultice like the ones she’d put on my side when I’d been so injured. I was stressed. I was upset. I wasmourning. But she made it so much more manageable.

“Okay, then, here we go.”

It turned out to be not that much work to get the tattered fabric off me. Once Ven reached out to the long strings connecting the largest chunks of it, it basically crumbled at her touch, falling into the tub.

“I would say we should burn that, but I’m not sure there are any pathogens in it,” she said with a slight laugh. I didn’t get the joke, but I was happier that she was smiling. “Now, these shorts are a little more substantial. Do you think you can just slide them down your legs?”

I could do that, and I did. It seemed that even some things could still be simple even as a human.

But what was interesting was how Ven’s eyes were sort of sliding around me, not particularly looking at me, almost as if she were trying to avoid actually seeing me. Her face was growing redder by the second. And was I hearing her heartbeat picking up?

That was puzzling, but I didn’t have much time to think about it, because then she was reaching behind me.

“I’m going to turn the showerhead on and point it to your feet. It’s going to be a bit nippy at first, but it’ll warm up pretty fast. Tell me if it gets toowarm though, all right?”

Water at my feet?

An image of the metal basin in her kitchen downstairs came to my mind. Specifically how she’d turned a knob that had water pouring out. Was this going to be like that? I didn’t know if I would like that.

“Are you ready?”

Ven’s earthen eyes met mine, a soft smile around those plush lips of hers, and I felt myself relax ever so slightly. “Yes,” I said, even though I was very muchnotready.

When she reached behind me again, I could have sworn there was a creature rumbling from within the walls. I jolted, but Ven’s soft hand on my shoulder stilled me.

“It’s okay, I’m right here. I promise.”

She was. She was right next to me. Ven had saved me from the two bears who had attacked me and risked her life to treat me. She let me stay protected in her clear house and then, when I transformed out of nowhere, she fed me and gave me a place to lay my confused head. She was kind, and she was brave; she wouldn’t let any harm come to me.

Butwhyhad I transformed? What had broken my curse when its hold had been so tight around me that I couldn’t so much as recall my own name?

I didn’t know, and the answer didn’t come before freezing cold water suddenly sprayed at my feet. I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. Was it pleasant? No. But it reminded me of times I spent standing in icy rivers, hunting for fish.

“There you go. You’re doing great.”

Ven’s voice continued to guide me through any dark thoughts, panic, or animal instincts that came over me. Just like she said, the water did grow warmer. Then warmer. Until it was finally hot.

And it felt incredible.

I couldn’t believe the sensation of it as it licked across my feet and toes, the water turning black before disappearing down the drain. I wanted to melt into it, to soak myself from head to toe. Suddenly, I was no longer dreading whatever was happening in the tub, but wanting more.

“There we go. I’m going to hand you the showerhead now. I want you to get your whole body wet, especially your hair, okay? And if you want to just stand under it for a bit, you can turn around and put it in the holder just above your head. I’m going to sit over here, but I won’t leave.”

I nodded, taking the showerhead from her. She was still only half-looking at me, but I didn’t mind.

Once I had a solid grip on the thing, I slowly moved it up my legs, then my middle, then my chest, and finally over my head. And,oh, if that wasn’t an experience and a half. Rivulets of hot water poured down me, taking dirt and grit with it. It was like my skin was renewing itself in real time, shucking off bits of the wolf that were still clinging to me, allowing me to beLeo.

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