MY HEAD POUNDED as I woke with a start. The sheets were damp from the streams of sweat pouring from me. I was hot and cold; restless and tired. Breathing came in short, ragged gasps until the world began to focus. I was in bed: check. I was tangled in the sheets: check. It was another damned dream.
In a chair beside me, Ethan sat slumped to one side as he had the morning before, his feet covered by the same sheets that trapped mine. With a careful struggle I freed one of my legs and I pulled the rest of the sheet away, managing to knock Ethan’s feet from the bed in the process. He dropped to the mattress in a single swing, and with his face part-buried in the duvet his arms were sprawled out as if waiting to be embraced. I held my breath. He didn’t stir. Thank goodness. I remembered flashes of a dreamt-up conversation and a voice I didn’t recognise in my head.
Sleep now, it had said, repeating words already spoken. Its air was undeniably female. Why did it fill me with such unreasonable terror?
In his sleep, Ethan was peaceful – almost like an ordinary man – and in that moment I really looked at him. Each scar, each darkened mark, was a memory. I’d forgotten so many faces that it was rather a determination and a promise that I wouldn’t forget another one.
The pale, morning light filtered through the dusty curtains and greeted me with a soft glow. The slightly-open window provided a gentle breeze and the wonderful smell of mist and rain. I moved to pull free from the last of the sheets when my hand brushed over Ethan’s outstretched arm and I drew back quickly. I had to check twice. His skin had been cold like snow. For a moment I thought the worst, but as I laid my hands on his forehead and along his other arm, warmth spread through my fingertips and collected in my chest.
On his left arm, Ethan’s rolled-up sleeve revealed four parallel scars I’d failed to notice and a leather cuff that covered his wrist. I ran my finger gently down each of them, feeling the dreadful cold of the skin, and tried to wrap my head around an explanation.
I turned my attention to the cuff and traced the letters embellished in faded script: ‘E.K.’. Something peeked out from under it; something that contrasted with the warmth of his skin. I glanced back at Ethan quickly, making sure he was still unconscious, before loosening the straps of his band. For some reason I felt bad, like I was rummaging through his pockets for change or taking advantage of him while he slept. It fell away and I brought a hand to my mouth.
Beneath the leather was an emblem that, although the design was beautiful, had been burned into his skin so deeply that it would never heal. Its lines all joined. The three points of the main symbol stuck out in a triangular fashion as a circle ran around it, linking the symbol together. Beneath that, five petals lined the base, each peaked with a thicker, darkened edge as three lines pointed outwards on the east, south and west sides.
I wrapped my hands tightly around him, choking his wrist as though afraid his hand might fall off. Then large, rough fingers clamped around mine. I snapped up, pulled away and found Ethan glaring back, his face filled with impatience.
“If you’d noticed I was awake before you started fondling my arms, I would have explained first and foremost that this mark certainly wasn’t my choice. That way we could get through this conversation in a way where I didn’t have to die of boredom.” Ethan released my hand and pulled the cuff tight around his wrist. “Then again there was something to be gained from watching you attempt to be stealthy. Honestly, how have you survived up until now?”
“Judging by my position I’m obviously not doing a great job of that.” I cocked my head to the side.
“You just need to practice a lighter touch if you’re going to be running your hands over unconscious bodies. I was awake the moment I felt your skin on mine.” He flexed his fingers and rested his chin on his fist. His gaze was intense.
“Now, now, you sound disappointed,” I said, leaning closer. His eyes flicked to my lips and back as he sat up from the bed. “I didn’t realise you were so tired of my presence.” My voice was barely a whisper. I stretched my legs out behind me and leant closer and closer; close enough to share the same breath. In one swift motion I rocked back from him, savouring the glorious chill the floor sent through my body as it cooled the raging fires within. “How selfish of me,” I said lightly.
“Out of the kindness of my heart I’m just pre-warning you. Don’t get accustomed to this kind of treatment.” Ethan gestured between the chair and bed and got to his feet as quickly as I did. “If you develop a taste for my body I’ll have to install a lock on my door.” He paused and ran a hand over the corner of the bed. “Or I’ll just have to join you in here next time and show you how good it can feel.”
My cheeks flushed and I’d almost lost my composure then and there. I bit my tongue, facing away so he couldn’t see it. So, he wanted to play that game-
“I think someone’s being a little over-presumptive.” I turned back to him and glanced at his upturned sleeves. “Though, I’d love to hear the story behind those scars one day.” I brushed past him, deliberately grazing his arm with one…long…stroke…
I dragged the chair back to the dresser and wrung out a cloth in the wash bowl. He leant over me, pressing his chest to my back. The heat from his body was stifling, even between our layers of fabric. I raised my eyes to his through the mirror and watched that smug twinge of a grin tug on his lips. He lowered his mouth to my ear, breaking our eye contact. I had to supress the shudder that rocked me as his breath tickled the sensitive spot between my shoulder and neck.
“What do you think happened?” Each word vibrated through my body and for a second I couldn’t think of an answer. I couldn’t even remember what we’d been talking about.
I cleared my throat as my sense returned. “I don’t know,” I said. “Drunken brawl? Bar fight? Cheating at cards?”
“How little you think of me, Ava,” he said. His words whispered across my skin. And my name – the sound of my name on his lips – “You were right about the fight. But it was against a friend, not a stranger, and not because I was being an asshole.”
“Who?” I ran my hand quickly along my neck to rub the chill away. He leant into me further, grasping the dresser table either side of me. Impulsively I ran another finger along the cold scars and caught his eyes in the mirror again.
“You weren’t the first to have an unfavourable past with Ric,” he said, smirking. “Skinwalkers have venom in their teeth and claws that slow our healing process down entirely.
“But-”
“But bad news for us; bad news for Berserkers.”
“I thought you guys were so close though?” I turned to face him. The swiftness of that movement startled him but he didn’t move back from his position. If I thought we were close before I was sorely mistaken.
“We are now.” Ethan stepped away after an achingly long silence and pulled the curtains fully open. “When he first arrived we were distinct opposites.”
“How did you-”