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n*****

n~ SASHA ~

nShe rolled over and opened her eyes. They felt gritty and ached, but her heart raced. Something had woken her.

nShe rolled over and reached for Zev, but the furs were cold and she sat bolt-upright gasping.

nWith a low “Woof!” Zev’s wolf leaped to his feet from his position on the floor in front of the door.

nHe’d been guarding her.

n”Oh, Zev,” she sighed. He looked at her, his eyes piercing, but steady. He was struggling again, she realized.

nThis whole situation had been hard on all of them.

n”Let’s go for a walk, huh?” she said quietly, crawling out of the furs. She dressed quickly, Zev’s eyes on her the whole time. But he didn’t shift back. His hair was flattened by the black suit. If he hadn’t been so huge, she would have laughed. He looked like one of those fluffy toy dogs wearing an over-protective mother’s sweater. Except he was massive.

nAnd clearly deadly.

nWhen she started towards him, he turned, nosing a pile of towels and cloths until Sasha took two, then leading her out the door and down the stairs. When they reached the Courtyard and turned for the main gate, Zev shifted back and, reaching for the towels and soap and rolling them to put under his other arm, took her hand without a word.

n”Are you okay?” she asked him quietly as they passed through the big arch out of the city and onto the dark trail.

nZev nodded but didn’t look at her. “Since neither of us is sleeping, why don’t we go have a bath?” he said.

n”Sure.”

nHe was already holding her hand, but she wrapped her other hand around his arm. It was steel under her palm. He was incredibly tense.

nThe walk was several minutes and his tension communicated to her. Sasha bit her lip as they took a turn in the trail. “Zev… the bathing and… stuff… is this tension because I’m bleeding? Like, does it create problems for you?”

nHe finally turned to look at her, surprise on his face. “No, not at all. I don’t care about that at all.”

n”Then what is it? You feel so tense and…”

nZev sighed. His hand on the towels twitched and she suspected he would have been running it through his hair, but he couldn’t let go of the little burden.

n”You smell like them,” he said finally, his jaw tight and eyes dark on the forest in front of them.

n”I… what?”

n”You smell like Nick, and the compound, and those people and… my body just… it makes me sick.”

nSasha sighed. Of course. She should have realized. Zev harbored his own trauma after his time in the human hands. Of course, that place would have left its mark and of course, that would make things hard for him. Smells were the sense most closely connected to memory. She hadn’t thought about how that would affect a people whose sense of smell was so strong.

n”Always tell me, Zev,” she said then. “Tell me when I’ve got something on me that smells bad. I don’t want to cause you pain.”

nHe frowned at her. “You aren’t causing me pain, Sash. They did.”

nThey clung to each other, walking in silence until Zev pulled her off the trail and down between trees, to a place where the land sloped, then got damp.

nZev kept hold of her hand to make sure she stayed on her feet as they stepped down a natural bank, then the undergrowth opened up and Sasha gave a heavy sigh of relief.

nIt was beautiful. A small pool, the size of a cheap swimming pool back home, but guarded on three sides by a rock face with small trees growing out from its cracks.

nOn the ground, it was completely hidden from the forest by trees and undergrowth. If Zev hadn’t known it was there, she never would have guessed.

n”We can smell the water, so anyone could find this if they wanted to,” he warned her, obviously reading her mind about the privacy. “But if anyone’s nearby, they’ll smell us too, and hopefully choose to give their Alpha and her mate some space.”

nWhen she was steady on her feet, Zev let go of her hand, shook out the towels and laid them over a bush that squatted right alongside the water. Then he started to strip.

nEven in the dim light, Sasha could appreciate the beauty of him when he stretched to pull the tight shirt over his head, and his abs—those beautiful ladders of muscles on his sides revealed, and that line, the V that started over his hips and plunged down—

nSasha cleared her throat and started to undress herself, reminding herself that they were here for a purpose and the rest of that thought was going to have to wait. She needed to get clean. To get these awful scents off her skin and hair.

nShe threw the clothes in a pile, frowning when she realized she’d have to wear them back to the City—and wouldn’t that put the smells back on her?

nShe clearly needed to wash everything in the bag that she’d brought back from the human world… or maybe just burn it all.

nShe stepped to the edge of the pool, the mud in the shallows squishing between her toes. But the water was surprisingly warm—another mineral pool. She detected the sulfur smell of it, but apparently that didn’t bother Zev.

nAs she walked in, sighing with happiness when the warmth of the water curled around her skin, Zev splashed up behind her carrying the soap.

nThen, when she was in water over her waist, he pulled her to a stop and started to cup his hand in the water and bring it up, over her shoulders, to wet her entire body. Then he set to her skin with the soap.

nHis focus was intense, his hands efficient and… delicious. Sasha’s breath got shallow because he was touching her, and he was gorgeous, and his eyes were dark… but Zev’s focus was entirely on getting her clean.

nAs he finished lathering her body, he muttered under his breath like he wanted to curse at the suds he began washing away.

n”…Stink of that place.” A low growl puttered in his throat. “Shouldn’t ever have to stink of that place…”

nWhile he was concentrating, she took the opportunity to draw water over his chest and shoulders. The temptation to lick the tiny droplets that stayed on his skin was overwhelming, but she knew he wasn’t there yet.

n”Let’s do your hair. Sink down and get it wet,” he said quickly, turning her so her back was to him.

nSasha did as he asked, dropping into the water completely so it passed over her head, running her hands through it underwater to make sure it was completely saturated, then standing up with her back to him so it streamed down her back.

nThe moment she did, Zev set at it with the soap, his fingers pulling through it, clawing down her scalp so goosebumps washed down her back and arms.

nHe had her rinse, then re-lathered her hair two more times before he tipped his nose to her temple and inhaled.

nA tiny whine seeped out of his throat. “It’s gone,” he whispered his voice heavy with relief. “You’re just you again.”

nHe wrapped his arms around her and put his cheek against hers from behind, holding her.

n”Are you sure?” she whispered.

n”Yes.”

n”Thank God,” she groaned, then turned in his arms and grabbed his face, pulling him down in a frantic kiss.

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