Imagine Being Loved By Me

Chapter 2

As cautiously as he could, he gently turned her from lying on her front to her back. Initially, he tried to keep her covered since her upper body wasn’t clothed, but he gave that up when she didn’t even stir at his moving her.

His eyes widened once he was able to take in the full view of her face.

She was gaunt and worryingly frail. Her small face was all forehead, sunken cheeks, and jaw that led to a thin neck and bony shoulders. He could see the outlines of where her breasts were, marked surely by her darker-colored n*****s, but they were overshadowed by the protrusion of her collar bones, chest plate, and bulging ribs.

He tried to place what familial clan she might belong to based on her appearance. She could’ve been a part of the Sandsun clan, the Field-walkers clan, or the many clans of the mountainous region in the Middle East.

He pushed up her lips to expose her teeth, noting that they were white, still strong, signifying she hadn’t been in that condition too long. And he did the same to her eyes. Although the white was dull, it was still white enough even while being tinted a slight shade of pink. She wasn’t sick with some disease, she was just severely malnourished. This fact was only supported by the evidence that the length of her chain only seemed to go as far as inside the bathroom, but definitely not as far as to the exit of the bedroom.

He looked around the gold collar for a way to remove it but found nothing but a keyhole, as if it was sealed around her neck never to be taken off.

There were many clansmen, generals, and even lieutenants that boasted of having slaves even though they referred to them as personal attendants. Liam never felt the need to have a personal attendant, nor did the other seven lieutenants of Octan. They were still plenty capable of taking care of themselves.

But this?

This was on another level.

No one he knew who had personal attendants had them in chains. And this woman, in particular, had a chain attached to the wall behind the bed which only regulated her to the bedroom. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what kind of personal attendance she used to provide for the fallen general.

His eyes roamed over her gaunt face again as he shook his head, “Lieutenant Hannan, Sir? The perimeter is secure.”

Liam met the eyes of one of the security members, knowing that the man couldn’t see the figure in bed from where he was standing, “Very well. You and the others can pick rooms to clean and sleep in while we are here. The electricity and water are on, so you can wash the sheets in the washroom we found downstairs.”

He didn’t mention the one he found upstairs, wanting to use that one for himself.

“Yes sir!” Came the quick and loud reply.

She reacted to the noise, only a flinch but something as her face balled up slightly before relaxing. Quickly, he made his way into the bathroom, scurrying over the countertops for something that could carry water. He found a makeshift thing, washed it out until it was clean, and filled it with the cold tap.

He returned to her side, flicking his wet fingers her way so splashes of cold water could fall against her face. He could feel himself becoming angry. Finding a woman in such a condition because of her circumstances was doing a number to his nerves. She stirred again, letting out a hoarse groan, but nothing more. He stooped lower, lying his hand underneath her head to lift her slightly. The covers slid lower, revealing a completely concave abdomen and dangerously sharp hip bones.

Liam wanted to recoil at the sight.

Health and medicine weren’t his specialty, Aeson wouldn’t have at all been bothered, but the man wasn’t there. And that was reason number two why he hated assignments that separated him from his fleet. Everything encountered on that assignment was meant for the one assigned to deal with, whether they were comfortable with it or not. With Octan, eight made one cohesive unit. There was nothing that had to be done alone between them.

With great care, he trickled water from the container between her parted lips. The water ran down the sides of her cheeks, but he was sure he saw movement at her throat, so he repeated the action in intervals.

If she was regulated to this room and the ensuite since the general was dispatched, that meant she hadn’t had food for at least two months. She probably lived off whatever scraps were left in the room and the tap from the faucet. He had arrived when she was at the end of her rope and nearly catatonic. Hopefully, with water administered regularly, she’ll gain enough strength to be able to process food.

He really wished Aeson had been there with him.

He could set up an IV drip alright, he just wasn’t confident, nor was he mentally prepared to handle something that wasn’t paperwork.

“Sir, a courier just stopped by. You have a letter from your fleet,” another officer appeared, just as Liam was lowering the woman back onto the pillow. He could see the question in the officer’s eyes, but he chose not to acknowledge it as he took his letter and dismissed the man.

Conley apparently read his letter in a timely manner, and for that he was glad. The fleet was assigned to the Sycuron system in the Andromeda Galaxy to oversee a new outpost. Liam wished he was with them, there was nothing like the freedom of being a Pirate. The thrill of fighting and subduing other territories, stealing information and secrets for his own clan's use, the camaraderie of his fleet, there was nothing like it. He put the letter in his breast pocket, at least he knew where to go if he needed to make a quick escape.

This woman would need priority if she was going to live. He needed to find a way to get that collar off of her without snapping her incredibly thin neck. He also needed to clean her and wash the sheets she was lying on. Based on the initial smell of the room, there was no telling when either of those things last took place. She needed an IV, and hopefully, once she was able to fully wake, he could slowly start to administer food.

This was certainly the last thing he thought he would be dealing with.

He shrugged out of his overcoat, as he made his way back into the bathroom, careful not to jostle the many pins and chains on his uniform, and then undid his tie. After rolling up his sleeves and unbuttoning the top buttons, he examined the in-ground bath. It was dusty, with clear signs of a lack of use. He stooped to run water within to rinse it out and wipe it down, then he prepared a warm bath. It would take quite a while for it to even get halfway full, so he left out to tackle the other situation of washing the sheets she was lying on.

Gently, as if she was a newborn, he reached below the sheets to lift her under her knees. Once he was able to lift her, he took her to the couch nearest the light and laid her down. She was so thin, her thighs didn’t touch at all from her crotch down to her knees. He was a slender man himself, and the members of his fleet were also on the leaner side, but they had muscle and meat to add a little thickness that took a naturally thin frame and made it lean.

However, she had the thin-ness of a person already passed.

As quickly, and unobtrusively as he could, he examined her skin from head to toe, front to back for any open wounds or cuts. He didn’t want to put her in the bath and make a bad situation worse. She had quite a long body and her skin was perfectly smooth. No cuts or wounds, barely any discoloration or bruises, other than the collar around her neck and her abandonment, there weren’t any other signs of abuse. Her hair was almost a cold black if not for the light revealing its brown undertones. It was long, and it looked like it was cared for for the most part, though now with the lack of nourishment, it was terribly brittle and matted.

Overall, she seemed well taken care of, and yet what he saw before him was telling a different story.

It had been a long time since he last saw someone so helpless because of circumstances they couldn’t control or prevent.

To his personal sense of justice, it was unforgivable.

He left that thought alone as he stripped the bed of its sheets and comforter. There was a washroom in the other hallway that he could use. He left her on the couch in the sunlight, hoping she would soak up some of the vitamin D the sun would provide.

After setting the sheets to wash with the leftover detergent he found in the closet, he returned to the room. The bath was still less than half full, but he didn’t bother waiting much longer. He poured in the oils and body wash that was lying near the tub and flicked his hand through the water to mix it up, then went to retrieve her prone frame.

She was so easy to lift and then lower into the water it was almost shameful. He admitted he wasn’t the strongest man, nor was he the most sturdy. Instead, he was lean and quick on his feet, swift and graceful, so the ease with which he was able to carry this woman was alarming. He kneeled behind her, keeping his body out of the water, but near enough to wash her.

Carefully, he splashed water up onto her shoulders and neck, then into her hair and against her scalp. She stirred again once the water ran from her scalp down her face, but not enough for her to wake fully. He kept the process going until he retrieved a towel and actually began washing her to the best of his abilities. It was decidedly easiest to wash her hair since he didn’t have to bend so low to reach.

Combing through her hair with the conditioner was a troublesome process as every time he passed his fingers through, more and more hair was shedding around his fingers. He’d never seen so much hair fall from someone’s head without there being an obvious bald spot from where it came. He checked through her scalp, looking for any thinning near her roots, but was relieved to see that it wasn’t so bad to the point of balding. He assumed the stress and lack of nutrients was what was causing her hair to shed, but she had so much of it, it was beginning to look like a tangle of black webs around his hands.

He pulled the wet strands from his fingers, before running his hands through her hair again, tediously removing every strand that stuck to him.

Once her hair was fully detangled, he did a repeated wash, pleased to see far less shading the second time around, and attempted a braid so it wouldn’t get tangled again so easily.

The water was decidedly murky once he was done, so he left her sitting in the bath until it was completely drained. Once it was empty, he ran the tap so he could rinse her off with clean water. This made her stir more until eventually, her eyes peeled open a little.

He had the bathroom door open and his flashlight pointing up to the ceiling to illuminate the dark room as much as possible, but it was impossible to miss the muddy brownness of her irises and the pinprick size of her pupils as she dazedly tried and failed to focus her sights. He stooped down into the now empty bath to hold her face still, facing him. Her thin eyebrows furrowed, but she didn’t attempt to re-open her eyes, so he wrapped her in two big towels and lifted her again, after which he could feel her stiffen. It was weak, but it was definitely there.

She was awake and there was no hiding it, especially when he laid her back onto the couch in direct sunlight and she let out a painful groan. He went to grab the container he fed her water from earlier and brought it back to her. All members of Earth were instructed to speak Standard as a general rule established by The Ruling Class, even if their original clan culture taught them a different language. So he relied on this as he said, “Here, some more water.”

He said it as softly as he could even though she still stiffened worse than before at the sound of his voice. He pressed the container against her lips while he lifted her at her back. She kept her lips tightly pressed together while squeezing her eyes shut. Just those small actions seemed to tire her out greatly as she eventually loosened and began breathing deeper as if she were tired after a run.

She gulped at the water, not pacing herself and choking, “Slowly,” he reprimanded. She stiffened again but listened as the water went down much smoother. He laid her back once it seemed she got her enough.

His mind wandered to the other things he needed to finish when it came to this woman. But first, he grabbed his uniform blazer that was decorated with his medals of honor and placed the thick fabric over her bare frame.

He knew the sheets weren’t finished, though they should be done washing. The machine should’ve clicked over to dry them by now, but it would take at least another hour before they were fully dry. He walked over to the curtain, closing it enough to where the light wasn’t shining in her face but was still covering the rest of her body. She needed as much Vitamin D as she could get with her health being in such a condition.

Eventually, he returned to her side, seeing she was trying to peep her eyes open again without such obtrusive light. She opened them to slits before allowing them to open more. She had a delicate eye shape, with an unruly amount of eyelashes lining the top and bottom. After some time, her eyes were able to focus as she looked directly up to the ceiling and nowhere else. She didn’t say anything, though he didn’t expect her to. She just breathed and kept a laser focus on the ceiling while he watched her closely.

“We’ll get you back to health,” he said calmly.

Knowing his words was a promise to himself more than to her.