Beauty And Her Beast9
Lydia's POV:
Warmth.
That was the first thing my mind processed.
An intense feeling of warmth and comfort that was half-way pulling me to fall back asleep.
At least, that was my plan before the previous day's events caused my body to do the exact opposite.
Basically every muscle in my upper body tightened as I forced my eyes open and sat up with a gasp.
Within the first few seconds of just trying to regain my bearings, I realized I was alone in a large bed.
That was the only thing I processed before my hand came up to my forehead as I attempted to remember what happened.
I don't even remember falling asleep.
The last I remember we were about two more hours into our trek and I definitely felt like I was going to quite possibly die if we didn't take a break.
Luka mentioned that we were very close, but still easily complied and let Angus and I recuperate by a lake.
I decided to lay in the cool grass to catch my breath and then...
Oh my god...
A heat crawled up my neck in embarrassment, my hand lowering to cover my mouth.
God, please tell me I didn't fall asleep right there and make Luka somehow bring me the rest of the way here himself.
Yet despite my pleas, I couldn't recall anything happening after that.
How on earth did he manage to do that?
I wasn't a heavy enough sleeper for him to somehow maneuver me back onto a horse.
Which really only left the possible conclusion that he carried me himself.
The heat spread quickly to the rest of my face.
I was definitely going to have to apologize to him about this later.
But first I needed fo to figure out where I currently was.
My hand lowered onto my lap as I allowed myself a deep breath, inhaling that subtle hint of cedar and oak as I got a detailed look at my surroundings.
The dark logs were the first thing to catch my attention, being the things that made up the walls.
It didn't take a close inspection to tell that it was hand made.
A quick look around the rectangular room told me that everything was.
From the door straight ahead to the nightstand to even the bedframe, each looked to be expertly well made.
Even the quilt on this bed looked expertly handstitched.
I gently ran my hand across the fabric, noticing that the quilt itself looked and felt old, yet the stitching had been carefully kept together.
All in all, I had to admit that I was impressed.
If just one room of this house looked like this, I was curious to see what the rest of it looked like.
I let out a small sigh, looking over the bed I was sitting on.
Lifting the pillow that sat beside me onto my lap, I admire the stitching on it as well.
At least I was until a long, white piece of hair sitting upon it caused my eyes to widen in the sudden realization that the bed I was in
was his.
This was his room.
My head darted to the other half of this bed, both relieved and saddened by the fact that there was no indication of anyone being there recently.
There's no way this boy both carried me here and went out of his way to sleep somewhere that wasn't his bed when he could have so easily set me on a couch or something.
A part of me felt bad about it, like I had kicked him out of his own bed on top of making him carry me here.
Of course, I knew that it was his choice and he was probably just being nice, but I don't know...
I tended to strive to do things myself and not inconvenience others.
I brushed some hair from my face as I let my legs hang off of the bed.
No matter, I can apologize for all of this once I find him.
Find him and wherever he put my horse.
I looked towards where a bit of sunlight was streaming in, lifting myself to see if I could maybe spot him outside.
As I approached, I quickly noticed that my perspective had deceived me and that this window area actually jutted out of this room's rectangular shape, almost creating a half-hexagon shape made of three different window panels within it.
Parting the deep blue curtains, my jaw dropped at what I saw.
A gorgeous lush plain sat seemingly endless from where I could see, houses of different colors and shapes dotting the landscape and even more people going about their day.
Well, people and wolves.
Despite partially accepting the whole werewolf thing, this sight made it all the more real.
Still, that was actually a thought that kept itself at the back of my mind.
Instead, I marveled at the scene before me.
Children, both human and wolf, playing in the grass and dirt, people exchanging greetings as they passed each other.
It looked... peaceful.
My eyes trailed further, noticing the subtle decline this area had to it, and spotting what looked like a large community garden full of what I could barely differentiate as a variety of crops.
Just past that, I saw the unmistakable figure of my horse grazing carelessly in a field.
Drawing in my perception of the area closer to this house itself, the realization finally came through that the room I was in was actually on the second floor of this house.
I also realized that the slim river that divided this area actually seemed to flow from right under this house.
And not too far from the house I could see a small group of men and women sparing.
It took me a good five minutes to process all of this and take it all in.
This place had a strange energy to it that I couldn't quite explain, but I found myself smiling just slightly at the sight of it all.
My breath caught in my throat when I finally spotted Luka as he parted from the sparring group, the group itself seemingly done for the day.
I watched as he chatted with one man as he walked towards the house, the looks on their faces looking serious.
The man eventually parted with him and left him walking alone.
My body betrayed me once again as butterflies began to swarm in my stomach at just the sight of him.
I forced myself to turn, knowing I was going to go meet up with him.
Deciding to leave the curtains open, I made my way to go do just that.
I found myself walking strangely, almost cautiously.
I knew this wasn't my house and I guess I wanted to be a good guest and not mess anything up.
The door didn't even creak as I opened it.
My eyes wandered on their own accord as I stepped out of it, seeing the hallway directly to my right that held four more doors an equal length from each other, and the stairs a little bit away from in front of me.
I could explore later, right now, I needed to talk to him.
I ran my fingers through my hair at a half-attempt of brushing it as I went down the stairs, that stupid urge to be with him reappearing with the knowledge that he was approaching.
As I stepped off of the last stair, I found myself in the kitchen with a variety of cabinets and appliances that I didn't recognize.
I again had to force myself to keep walking, my curiosity to explore everything making me want to stop and do so every other second.
The sound of the front door opening and closing finally snapped me out of it, causing me to halt instead.
Anticipation grew in my chest as his footsteps approached before he finally turned the corner and spotted me.
A smile hit his face before that warmth spread in my body at his gaze.
"Ah. I was just about to come wake you," He began casually, continuing his way over towards me, "I have some time before I have to head out again, so I was going to make breakfast. do you want anything specifi-"
I placed a hand on his chest, stopping him before he walked past me.
He just looked at me expectantly, I could feel it, but I was too embarrassed to look for myself.
"Did you... carry me the rest of the way here?" I asked quietly.
"I did," He responded, turning his body to face me.
I finally looked at him.
"Why?" I questioned.
One of his brows rose as if my question was obvious.
"What was I supposed to do? Wake you up?"
I just blinked at him.
"Yeah?"
I thought that would obviously be the go-to.
"Why would I do that? You told me before that you had trouble sleeping recently, and we were only two miles away, so I figured I'd let you sleep. Angus followed no problem." He spoke calmly.
My eyes continued to bulge at the fact that he would have rather carried me two miles than just wake me up.
And the fact that he spoke of it like the feat itself was effortless.
I mean, of course, I was grateful. Knowing myself I probably would have been really bitchy if he woke me up and I didn't really want him seeing that part of me.
But still...
"So you set me in your bed?"
He nodded, "Yeah. Its the warmest room in the house and I didn't want you to get cold."
His kind words were doing weird things to that feeling in my chest.
I wasn't used to men going out of their way for women.
I had only really seen the other way around in an attempt to marry them into thier family.
I had only seen kindness born from desiring something in return, so it took a moment for me to wrap my head around this.
"Where did you sleep?" I asked.
I think he heard a bit of guilt in my voice because he gently took hold of my hand that I still had on him.
"There are five bedrooms in this house, Lydia, I was fine, I promise." His voice now held a comforting tone.
We just kind of looked at each other, the look in his eyes somehow calming me as the seconds passed.
Eventually, I relaxed with a sigh, coming to the conclusion that I guess he saw the situation differently than I did.
"If you promise then... thank you...," I spoke quietly.
There were still just so many new things.
He gave my hand a small squeeze.
"Of course. Now, what would you like for breakfast?"