by Lisa Daniels
The man gave a sigh as he put her hands on her shoulders, “You are certainly passionate.” The way he looked at her caused Kerensa’s heart to flutter, almost like she had just answered a particularly difficult question correctly. “But you still need to be careful because you will never heal if you aren’t more careful. Speaking of more careful,” a crease formed along his alabaster brow, “What were you doing endangering yourself like that?”
Kerensa blinked at the man, “I don’t understand what you mean,” she finally responded.
“After I hit my head. You shielded me. I may not have been fully conscious, but I can remember the way you pressed your body up against me when your ribs were broken. Why did you do that?” His eyes were full of concern as he looked at her.
Kerensa smiled and looked at her hands, “Even if I were not indebted to you, there is something about you that is….” Her voice trailed off as she realized that she could not finish that sentence.
Heath cocked his head and looked at her, but he did not press her to finish the thought.
Kerensa looked over at him, “I thought you had things you needed to do.”
“Oh, yes, I do.” Heath stood up at her words. He paused as he stood over her bed.
“What is it?” Kerensa saw that he had something to say.
With a quick shake of his head, the man dismissed whatever he had been thinking. “It is nothing. I will return. Make sure that you rest the entire time I am gone. If you do not, I will be able to tell when I return.”
Kerensa could not help but smile at the threat, “There is no need to worry. I know how to be a good patient and will make sure that I am no worse off when you return.”
The shifter flashed a smile at her before heading to the door. With his hand on the door handle, Heath turned to her, “Thank you for protecting me. It was the kindest thing a human has ever done for me. But please, in the future, just let me be. My body can handle a lot more than yours, and seeing you in agony causes me far more pain than any furniture could. Please, be careful with yourself.”
Kerensa looked at the man wanting to ask so many questions, but having no idea how to bring any of it up. Where Heath seemed completely unfettered by taboo topics, years had taught her to skirt any discussions that would cause more than polite debate. Even among the scholars they did not like for her to get emotional – as soon as she was emotional, they would not listen to her arguments. It was strange and liberating, but she was not yet ready to jump into discussions that she had been avoiding for most of her studies. If she were, Kerensa would have launched right into a serious discussion about Heath’s shifting abilities. She knew next to nothing about them because she had poured her interests into other types of mythical creatures. For the most part, she had avoided anything that was humanoid. Because she was not comfortable with her own species, she had assumed that the others would be too similar.
Kerensa’s eyes stared at the door for a while after Heath had left, her mind racing with questions and topics that she had never considered about other humanoids. It sounded like this shifter was accustomed to humans, but he did not seem to expect much from them. He was also very open about not being human. From what little she knew about shifters, they either avoided talking about their species, or avoided humans entirely.
Knowing that she was not going to question him, Kerensa tried to put her attention back on her book. The hour passed slowly as she fought to keep her mind on her studies. When the door opened, the young woman could not help but smile as she looked over.
The two talked for a while before Heath was satisfied that she was alright. Though she seemed to be in less pain than expected, the shifter refused to leave her for the night.
“What would happen if you ended up harming yourself in the night?” His eyes bore into hers as she tried to object.
“I am quite certain I will be fine,” she said, thinking that the man was perhaps a little too cautious.
He shook his head. “Have you thought about how you will sleep in your current condition? It is not like we have the proper restraints here to keep you from moving as you sleep, and I am certain there are not many others who would have in your room at this time.
“I don’t think that it is your responsibility to be here either.” It was the only thing she could bring herself to say, even though she knew she should point out that it was socially unacceptable for him to be there overnight.
There was a smile on his lips as he shook his head, “This isn’t a matter of responsibility, it’s still about doing what is right. Do not worry, it does not bother me at all, and I will do my very best to ensure that you have minimal discomfort over the coming days.”
Kerensa was not able to put up much of a fighter after that. For the next few nights, they shared her cabin for most of the day and all of the night. Heath had taken to sleeping on the floor near her bed, despite her best efforts to get him to sleep somewhere a little more comfortable. He simply laughed and said that he would not give her the room to slip out of her cabin.
It was a strange arrangement, but something about it made Kerensa incredibly happy.
Chapter 5
The Unexplained Visit
The only people to learn of her injuries beside Heath and Chadwick were the other researchers. When the researchers came in to check on her, they found her in tolerable shape. Deciding to carry on with their research, the four of them discussed what they needed to do. Chadwick sat nearby taking notes and trying to help where he could. Heath was always present near the foot of Kerensa’s bed where he could keep an eye on her and make sure she did not attempt anything that would compromise the healing process.
Though she was not entirely comfortable, Kerensa did not feel that she could complain about the arrangements. After all, no one could find out who she was, nor would they be able to guess if they thought she was sea sick. It pained her to be trapped in a cabin since it meant missing so much of what she had wanted to see. On the other hand, there was no chance that her behavior or mannerisms would give her away. As much as she wanted to see everything, Kerensa could not ignore that this actually gave her time for additional instruction from Heath. He was very strict with her healing, but when he deemed her ribs to be mending adequately nearly two weeks later, he helped her start to correct her gait so that her hips would not sway as much.
The first lesson was very distracting for her as the shifter kept a hand on her at all times. The coolness of his touch was something that she could not easily ignore as his hand helped to hold her up. The shifter did not have any problem putting his hands all over her, over emphasizing the movements that he said were too feminine, then showing her what he meant by doing the movements himself.
Kerensa had often thought that women walked in a way that was too obvious. Then Heath began to point out the things that she did, and the young woman realized that she was not immune to certain aspects of the way women walked. The hips seemed to have a mind of their own, and it was very difficult to persuade them to sway less when she walked.
Kerensa looked straight ahead of her and moved forward. Feeling like she was making progress, she turned to find out what Heath had to say. He was shaking his head and approaching her.
“No. Your hips still sway far too much. Here.” He stepped behind her and placed his hands on her hips. Kerensa shivered a little at his cool touch, but he said nothing about it as he began to press her forward a little. “Right foot. Left. Right. See? Notice how you can feel my hands lifting as you step. Men do not do that.” He turned her around and turned his back to her. Without looking, he took her hands and placed them on his hips. Her face flushed at the familiarity, her mind having trouble focusing on the lesson. They walked a full circle around the room like this, the shifter telling her what she needed to know. At some point the words began to sink in and her hands felt the way the hip muscles worked.
“Your turn.” Heath turned her around again. This time he took her hands and put them on her hips, then held his hand
s over hers. “Right foot. Left. Do you feel how the muscles are moving a little differently? You need to quiet these muscles,” his hands slipped over her and onto the front of her pelvic bones. His fingers traced the bone and muscle back up to her hips. “If you can focus on these muscles,” his arms wrapped around her and his hands rested on her stomach, “tighten them.” He gave her stomach a little press, and she automatically tightened the muscles in response, her breathing getting a little shallower. “There. Now keep these tight,” he tapped her stomach again, “and these will do what you need them to do.” His hands traced back to her hips. Kerensa fought the urge to lean back into the man. The way his hands felt was so calming, she almost wished to find out what other kinds of reactions they could inspire. Mentally shaking off the thought, the young woman focused her thoughts on walking.
“That’s better. Yes, much better.” Heath’s voice sounded pleased as he pulled his hands off of her hips. Kerensa took two steps forward, stopped, and looked at him. The shifter motioned for her to keep walking. Kerensa turned and tried to keep her hips from swaying. Without the pressure of Heath’s hands, she found it a little harder to keep the muscles still. The shifter’s melodic voice caught her ears. “You were doing better. I know it is a little harder on your own because the muscle go back to what they know. Put your own hands on your hips. Feel the way the muscles move. Those are the ones you need to quiet.”
“I think it was the extra weight that was making it easier to keep them still.” Kerensa’s mind was trying to analyze why it was so much different, and she half spoke the truth as she stated the difference.
A quiet laugh filled the cabin, “You can’t exactly walk around with my hands on your hips.”
Kerensa looked at him with a smile on his face, “It would certainly draw unwanted attention if you did.” She placed her hands on her hips and tried to apply more pressure. The lesson lasted another 10 minutes. She was feeling a little tired after so much effort to keep her movements under control so soon after being confined to a bed.
Slowing making her way back toward him and the bed, Kerensa found her mouth asking one of the questions that had been running through her mind. “Are you a teacher back in your homeland?” She had to fight the urge to clamp her hand over her mouth as Heath tilted his head to the side. There was definitely a look of surprise on his face as she had managed to keep from asking personal questions over the last couple of weeks.
“Me? No, I am no teacher.” As he shook his head, the shifter’s hair moved like grass on a breeze day. “You are just a very enthusiastic and quick learner. It makes the job that much easier. I am one of the last people to be asked to teach back home.”
“I find that difficult to believe,” Kerensa said as he helped her back into bed.
“That is alright, you do not have to believe me for it to be true.”
“Why would they choose you last as a teacher. You are patient and very thorough.”
“That is not always the case. If a student does not learn to my satisfaction, I tend to lose faith in instructing using the more traditional methods. You could say that I can be downright scary when I get bored or bothered.” There was a shy smile on his face.
Kerensa laughed, “Now I know you are lying to me.”
He just smiled back at her, “It looks like you are healing very nicely. You just laughed without wincing.”
Kerensa looked down at her ribs, “You are right. I had not even realized that.” She couldn’t resist poking them where they had hurt before, almost as if she were trying to cause herself pain. “I didn’t feel anything at all. That was far faster than I usually heal.”
“I would imagine that in the past you never stayed still long enough to heal properly.”
“I don’t know what makes you think that.” The young woman tried to make her tone one of hurt, but she was too impressed by the guess to pull it off. Just as Bree had seemed to know what to say, Heath seemed to have an innate understanding of what she was like. She began to wonder if the other humanoids were actually much more astute than common humans.
He laughed again as she looked away to hide a blush. “I have known enough humanoids like you who refuse to believe in their own limitations. Once you know how to tame one….” His eyebrow was raised as she turned a frown on him. He had brought up something that she had been thinking about, and it made her wonder if perhaps the man had read her mind.
“No one is taming me because I require no taming.”
Heath simply laughed his melodic laugh, something she had come to realize after so much time together. The man had seemed happy, nearly boisterous at first, but over time Kerensa had noticed something sad in his eyes. Perhaps it was just that his eyes were so startling that she could not see it at first. Once she noticed though, it was nearly impossible to miss the sadness that was there. As much as she wanted to ask, the young woman didn’t feel she could without potentially offending him. Heath seemed open and affable, but in truth he seldom talked about himself.
With a glance at his watch, the shifter said, “I have a few things to attend to. Though you seem to be doing better, please remember that you are not fully healed and restrain your enthusiasm. I strongly recommend staying in your quarters for another week.” He gave her a knowing look.
“Are you telling me to stay, or telling me that you hope I will stay while you step out?”
“It is a recommendation. If it were a command, I’ve no doubt that you would ignore me entirely. So I offer my advice and hope that it will convince you to do the right thing.” The smile on his face was gentle, almost sad. Without another word, he turned and left.
Kerensa’s brow creased as she thought about the conversation. The more she learned about him, the less she understood. The young woman had no idea how the shifter had managed to pretty much reach the point where he could read her mind, yet she was still so clueless about what he was thinking let alone what he had been through. Then again, he had been traveling so far from home, while she had been confined to a few places where her father could take her. Though she had been to far more places than most of the women she knew, it was nothing compared to what Heath must have seen.
156 actually, but that does not change the fact that I was there.
The words were his on that first day when they had met. Kerensa’s head tilted to the side as she wondered if that had in fact been true. If shifters lived that long, then what could Heath tell her about the world?
Kerensa decided that she did not want to put off asking her questions anymore. It was clear that Heath was in control when he was in her cabin, so the young woman doubted she would be able to find the courage to ask questions once he returned. The shifter would take control of the conversation and steer it in directions that were incredibly interesting, but that ended up teaching her nothing about him.
Slowly, she rose and dressed just as he had showed her that first day. There had been no occasion to get fully clothed since then, so Kerensa took the time to review her notes before reviewing her appearance in the mirror. With a quick nod, she decided it was good enough. Her ribs had been a little sore as she had added layers, but the young woman was not about to let that stop her as she headed toward the door.
As soon as the door was open, the intellect realized that she needed to be more cautious about her walk as well. Holding her head high and pulling her stomach muscles in, she made her way toward the lodgings of the few leisurely passengers. It was only as she approached one of the doors that she realized she did not know which one was Heath’s. Biting her lip, the young woman thought about how to approach it. Finally, she decided that it really didn’t matter. Whomever answered would be able to point her to the right room.
Taking a step forward, she knocked on the door closest to her. After waiting a few seconds, Kerensa could hear someone walking toward the door. The handle turned and she was face to face with the man who had entered her cabin a couple of weeks ago, just after the storm that had injured her. His eyes looke
d her up and down and a strange smile passed over his lips.
Kerensa hid a shiver with a demure smile, “Excuse me, but I was looking for Heath’s cabin and was wondering if you could point me to the right one.”
The man opened the door a little wider and stepped close to her. He gave a look back before closing the door behind him. “Perhaps you don’t need him.”
Kerensa’s brow drew together slightly, “I have a few questions that I need to ask him.”
“I may be able to answer your questions. There is no need to constantly rely on a foreigner. After all, who can better enlighten you,” his eyes moved up and down her body again, “than a fellow countryman.”
Kerensa stepped back, not sure what to say.
“Velius!” The firm voice caused both parties to turn their head to look for the source. To Kerensa’s relief, Heath had stepped out of his room and was heading toward her. There was a wide smile on his face, but she had gotten to know him well enough to know what the look in his eyes meant – he was upset with her. His hand slid behind her back as he led her to his room. The shifter turned his head toward the passenger who had detained her, “Thank you for attempting to help him find his way. I guess I did not explain the directions clearly, so I apologize for the disruption. Good night.”