Fragile
726 Words
Jeremy laid in Kara's bed, his eyes wide open, watching over his mate as her chest rose and fell steadily with each restful breath she took. Shortly after she'd fallen asleep, she had rolled over onto her back, not letting go of his hand.
He was content, rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand, making small circles. Sleep never came for him. His mind wandered back to the moments before she'd decided to slow the pace of their relationship, and he released her hand. After a moment, he sat up, careful not to disturb Kara on the queen sized mattress.
Before he had even decided to do it, Jeremy was back at the dresser, pulling open the top drawer. It was half full of junk - beanies, scarves, crumpled receipts, a notebook and some pens. Finally, he spotted the pill bottles. He picked them up carefully and examined the labels of each one. They were all nearly empty. Jeremy read the names of each prescription, but it was all Greek to him.
He had no idea what purpose they served her and the labels gave no clue. He couldn't help but marvel at the fragility of humans. He'd always know that they had no where near the resilience of werewolves, but never cared to think any further than that. Werewolves rarely ever had need for medication. Their blood allows their bodies to heal most wounds of all kinds, usually overnight.
But Kara.. the pills...
Was the medication necessary to keep her alive? Was it just for allergies? Did she have some sort of disease that would shorten her life expectancy? Jeremy's chest tightened at the last thought.
Letting out a sigh, he dropped the pill bottles and closed the drawer. The mate bond was supposed to make him stronger. When he first found Kara, he had been in denial. She had to be a wolf, because like Vanessa said, werewolves just weren't mated to humans. When he realized that she was indeed human, he had considered rejecting her. But only briefly. It had been maybe half a second.
After that, it didn't matter. She was his mate. There was a reason for everything, and it wouldn't serve him to go against fate.
But how much would she - would this bond with a human - weaken him?
Jeremy knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would do anything to protect her. No matter what he was doing, her safety would be the one thing that was always on his mind. And that could be just as much a bad thing as it was good. His worry for her could easily cloud his judgement.
So fragile...
Jeremy made his way back across the room and sat on the edge of the bed, watching Kara's even breathing.
As much as he hated to admit it - as much as he wanted to seal their bond as quickly as possible - Kara had a point. They knew very little about each other. He'd spent a few days tailing her, sure. But the only things that had taught him was that she liked to shop at Target, she loved iced coffees from Starbucks, she was a regular at Taco Bell, and she worked at a gift shop downtown.
It didn't explain her medicine.
It didn't explain what was on her stomach.
Her stomach...
Jeremy reached his hand out and slowly moved the comforter, folding it over until Kara's stomach was exposed. The cardigan she had been wearing was opened, and her soft, pale skin seemed to glow in the night. Jeremy's eyes could see through the darkness clearly, and he could easily make out the bright purple scar. It started at her navel and ran up her right side, its width thickening the further up it went. Smaller scars that had faded considerably decorated the skin on each side of the larger scar, looking like dozens of white scratches.
Kara shivered in her sleep, and Jeremy snatched his hand back. He hadn't even realized that he had reached out and touched it.
She rolled over onto her side, facing him again, and curled up slightly. Jeremy pulled the comforter back over her, tucking it around her shoulder, before he laid back down and reached out for her hand again. Her fingers squeezed his gently, as though she were relieved they were making contact again.
His mate, this human, had a story.
And he couldn't wait to hear it.
- Writer
