Enigma

Chapter 28

Noah closed the cabin door quietly.

He had left to get Eva and help her get what she needed from the infirmary. Then the two of them made a detour to get an electric fan from the pack house. Since the temperatures in the summer usually didn't go over a hundred degrees, none of the cabins in the village had air conditioning. But there was a small stock of electric fans in the pack house, just in case.

Eva went ahead of him into Lillian's room. She paused in the doorway.

"Uh, Noah? Wait for a second, okay?" Eva linked him.

Noah frowned, tilting his head to look around Eva's frame. Before she closed the door in his face, he caught a glimpse of Lillian, laying on the bed with her back to the door, the white sheets down to her waist.

Noah cursed under his breath and turned around. The curve of her waist and the line of her pale back was an image he had no doubt would stay inked into his memory for the foreseeable future. Trying to think about something else, he decided to check on the twins.

He cracked their door open and peeked inside. They were sound asleep. Elijah slept upside down on his bed, his feet on his pillow, and Ezra sprawled, starfish, their soft snores filling the room. He smiled at the sight, his earlier indecent thoughts subsiding for the moment.

Eva opened Lillian's door and ushered him inside. Lillian was now on her back, decent and heavy-lidded. Her pulse thudded rapidly, as it had been doing the entire evening, and her skin glistened with a sheen layer of sweat.

"Heat exhaustion," Eva said, sitting beside Lillian. "She needs to cool down and drink plenty of fluids. She says her headache isn't as bad anymore."

"So she'll be fine?"

When Eva nodded, his heart no longer felt like lead in his chest.

Noah brought a full pitcher of water and a glass, put them on Lillian's bedside table, while Eva turned on the electric fan.

Noah was restless. His wolf wanted to climb in bed with her, lick her entire body up and huddle around her. Noah was tempted to do just that, but reasonably knew he couldn't. He hated seeing her ill.

Lillian was made for running on a warm spring day, for snow fights on a white winter afternoon. She was made for sunshine and laughter, for first snows and warmth. Seeing her limp with sickness was such an abnormal sight that Noah felt nothing was right with the world anymore.

Eva left. Noah sat beside Lillian on the bed and made her drink glass after glass of water, the cool air from the fan seemed to help. And an hour later she looked a whole lot better. Under the soft whir of the electric fan, her pulse was no longer wild and her breathing evened out. She lay on her side, eyes wide awake.

A small smile played on her lips. "Thank you, you didn't have to stay and... you know."

"I know," Noah cocked his head at her. He had long ago realized she wasn't one to depend on others. Being part of a pack had cured her of that to a certain extent, especially when the twins were concerned.

"I know you don't like being fussed over. It means a lot that you let me do it," Noah said, his voice low.

"It's not that I don't particularly like it." A furtive glance away before her blue latched to his gaze again. "I'm just not used to it. I've always had to take care of myself. Ever since I could remember."

"The orphanage..." Noah trailed off. He knew almost all about her life before she came to the pack. Harvey's report was extensive. But they were just facts. A series of events recorded on paper. Life was much more than that.