The Wolf and His Queen

Chapter 7: Action Before Reaction

Jackson's POV:

Once I finally managed to get back to my cottage, I was still holding her in my arms. As I reached for the door handle, I tried to be gentle and not to jostle her about as I did not want to startle her awake at that point. There was no telling what she might think or even do if she woke up in my arms at that moment. Once I managed to get the door open, I moved as gingerly as I could possibly manage. After I was inside, I turned around swiftly and closed the door behind me gently so as to not make a sound that would frighten her any further. When I got the door closed, I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Well, at least the hard part was over, I thought to myself. Now I needed to lay her down somewhere soft. That is when I saw a great place for her to rest and try to wake up on her own.

That was when I walked over, I took her over to my bed, and gently placed her down on it. In doing so, I ensured that I did so in a manner as gentle as I could possibly manage. I did not want to startle her awake and wanted her to wake up on her own terms and come to realize the surroundings around her in a slow manner. I looked around to see what might help her wake up a bit. That seemed to be easier on her than her waking up frightened. I then walked over to the closet and opened up the door.

At the bottom of the closet, in a small box at the very back, were some scented candles. I reached in and pulled out this box, took it back out, and set it on the table. I pulled several candles out of the box and I lit the wick with a piece of bark trim. The bark trim I pulled off some logs that were ready to go into the fire by igniting the trim bark with the glowing embers that were still in the fireplace.

Once the candles were lit, I placed them on top of the fireplace mantle. I was not sure what they were going to smell like, as I did not usually burn candles and used daylight and the firelight for light in my little cottage. Once I was satisfied, I walked back over to where I had laid her on my bed. Now how was I going to make her more comfortable? I knew that I needed to remove the bindings, so that is when I reached into my back pocket and grabbed my knife, and pulled it out. I had intended to use it to gently cut the silk scarf free from her wrists and ankles.

When I touched her skin this time, I felt a tingling sensation in my fingertips, exactly where I touched her skin. Feeling that, I immediately let go of her and watched as her hands fell back to her and landed on her stomach. I did not notice this sensation before when I pulled her out of the water or when I carried her all this way and laid her down there just a moment before. I did try to take into account that I probably missed this feeling before as a possibility due to the fact that my emotions were running on high after my acting to save her life without even thinking about it.

I decided to continue with my plan and then gently grasped her hands once more to free them from the bindings. When I reached for her hands this time, as her wrists were tied together, I tried not to think about the feeling in my hands as much right now. I was trying to remove the bindings from her ever-so-soft skin. Once her hands were free from the scarf binding them together, I laid them at her sides ever so gently. That was when I then noticed that her complexion was like nothing I had ever seen before. I could not help but stare and study her face for a moment as I focused on every little detail that it held and that astonished me.

Her brown hair that fell around her face was a beautiful shade of brown, that almost made the bark of the trees outside look plain and bland. Her lips were even more astonishing. They held a beautiful shade of deep red, one would think that they had never been kissed before except by the warm rays of the sun. I was astonished as I studied her features. Then, at that moment, I could not help a thought enter my mind at that moment. I wondered what the color of her eyes could be. If everything else about her was as beautiful as her outward features, then what could the windows to her soul look like? I was in shock at thinking that there was a creature out there in the world that was this beautiful and the fact that she lay here, before me just now.

I forced myself to look away from her captivating features and looked down at her ankles, which were still tied together. I leaned forward so that I could reach her ankles and then, just before I reached the scarf that bound her ankles together, I noticed something. It appeared that there was something on the inside of her right ankle that appeared to be a red scratch. As I studied this mark, I noticed how it went up the inside of her leg. The scratch appeared to continue to go up under her gown as well, which was precisely where the trim of her gown was torn. I did not know if the tear was from before or after. She was apparently scratched by something due to the fact that a piece of it was missing, showing a split exposing her leg.

At that very moment, I could not help it as I was starting to feel anger as it started to build up in my core. Who could have done such a thing to her? Running a knife or what seemed like a sharp object up the inside of her more inner peaceful parts? The thought of it made me almost boil as I thought about it to myself. I could even tell that my frustration was agreed by my wolf as well, as he was just as angered at the thought that someone would do that to her. Then I had an unexpected question enter my mind at that moment. Where did the red mark on her inner thigh stop? I tried so hard at that point to keep my cool as I grabbed each of her delicate feet at her ankles and cut the scarf free from each ankle. I then gently laid them back down on the bed and stood back up as I was now towering over her.

As I stood there beside the edge of my bed, I could not help the feelings that were building deep in my chest. What was causing this all of a sudden? As I was trying to think about that feeling, I reached behind me and placed the knife back into my back pants pocket. I then looked down at both of my hands in astonishment. I thought to myself, how could touching another person make my very skin feel so attached to another being? It was like it was on fire with this tingling sensation. It was almost as if I was wanting to feel that sensation again and for it not to end.

Mate

I heard an inward voice say. Wait, what was this? I knew that I was a werewolf and yet I had never heard him speak before. Although I knew it was possible for him to speak, even though he had remained silent on so many occasions before now. Could this mean what I thought it actually meant? Could it have been because of my saving her life, meaning that she was my mate due to that fact? Or was the fact that this was actually destined to be my mate despite having saved her life? I did not know but I was determined to find out the answer to the various questions that I had running through my head at that moment. Then that posed an interesting question. Who was I going to ask to find out these answers? Where was I going to look first was the question?

At that moment, I noticed that the outfit in which she was wearing, which was a lightly colored purple, was soaking wet. I did not have any clothes that would fit a woman, let alone a woman who was as beautiful as the one who lay before me just now. I stood there a moment as I tried to think about what she could wear that I had readily available. All of a sudden, I had a shiver that ran down my spine and it was at that point that I realized that I was soaking wet as well. I knew that I could find something for myself but, the question that was more persistent was if I was going to find something for her. I was more concerned about her that I did not pay attention to my own clothes in this condition.

I then looked at the covers that I had tossed over to the side on the back edge of my bed from earlier in the evening. That was when I chose to get up to go for my nightly walk. I reached for my covers and wanted to use them to gently cover her beautiful body up. Once I had her mostly covered with what covers I did have, I noticed that they were not, as they were old and tattered. I was not used to the normal pleasures that most were used to in normal civilizations. But I still wanted to show respect to her, as I was taught to respect others. I had dignity and I did not want her to lose her while she was not conscious.

I was still a bit chilled at that moment so I thought that it would be a good decision to start a fire. The thing that I needed to do next was to make sure that there was enough wood in the fireplace so that I could get a decent fire going. Once I gathered up some wood, I placed it in the fireplace so that I could start to build this fire, and then I could start to warm myself up. It was a bit chilly after our apparent swim and I noticed that her skin was cold to the touch when I removed the bindings that were used to tie her up. It was a calm, cool, and chilly night after all anyway, without having to go for a swim. In the woods, it will usually get cooler at night than in a town.

Once I had the wood placed in the fireplace and it was ready for me to start it, I went over to the dresser and pulled out a shirt for myself so I would have something dry to put on once I got the fire going. I turned around and headed back to the fireplace. I laid the dry shirt on the back of a chair that sat at the table that was positioned in the middle of the room. I did not intend to take a swim so I needed to get changed as soon as I started the fire. I used some of the glowing embers and placed them on some bark tips till they ignited. It did not take all that long till I saw smoke. Not much more time passed before I had a nice roaring fire going to warm myself. As I stood there in front of the fireplace, I turned to stand and face the roaring fire. I took my shirt off, up and over my head. I was looking forward to getting into something dry.

As I lifted my shirt up and over my head, I heard a simple gasp from behind me. I then slowly turned around so as not to startle her. I was caught by surprise as to what I saw next. Her eyes, her eyes seemed to stare right through me as I smiled.