Relief..
#11 of Lunar
© All characters and storylines surrounding these characters belong to me, Eben Black..
I dreamed I was floating, floating in the middle of an open ocean. The peaceful, glacial surface smooth and untouched. There was no noise. No movement. Nothing. Just the sweet, sweet scent of vanilla. Vanilla? That sounded so familiar somehow. I floated on the surface and traced my fingers through the cool sea that surrounded me. I took a deep breath. That smell filled my mouth. I could taste vanilla now. What was I doing here? I shuddered. There. It was faint, but there was gentle beeping noise echoing. It beeped twice, stopped, then beeped two more times. The sound grew louder and louder. The skies I stared up at whitened and whitened. It almost blinded me. I closed my eyes and heard a rush of noise.
There was a blaze of white and then everything around me focused. The stale smell and sterilisation and that sweet hint of vanilla again. I looked around in a dazed confusion. I was in a hospital bed, nude under the sheets. What had happened? I ached all over and noticed thick bandages that traced my abdomen and lower thigh. I groaned and tried to sit up, but stopped. There was someone lying down, his head in my lap. The fall of charcoal grey fur, a chequered dress shirt that I recognised as my own. Eben? I touched a hand to his head fur and he moaned as he woke up and looked at me. His eyes looked dazed at first and then he woke up, he embraced me, those slender arms snaked around me as he crawled onto the hospital bed and cuddled against me.
"Snow. Snow I was so worried. Its been eight days. Eight days of seeing you unconscious!" he sobbed as he snuggled against me.
"Eben? Eben, back up a little. I ache all over."
"Sorry. Sorry." He spilled off the bed and sat back down in the hospital chair he'd been handed. I glanced around the private room and saw a blanket pooled upon a small couch. He'd slept here?
"How are you feeling?"
"Like someone beat the crap out of me." I winced as I sat up slow, and eased back against the mound of pillows behind me. My tail slinked up the bed and draped over the edge. Even that looked exhausted.
"Do you need me to call a doctor?" Eben asked as he looked at me, worry in those beautiful blue eyes.
I shook my head and asked, "What happened to Ethan?"
Eben had a sad smile in place now. "He died. You killed him, Snow. He bled out and died."
"Good."
"It was an act of defense for both of us. Eddie ruled Ethan insane and even explained to the other authorities that having him dead was an act of defense, otherwise he'd have killed me"
"So no prosecution on our parts then?" I asked. Eben nodded. There was a knock at the door. Eben went and answered it. He looked tired, but apart from that he looked unharmed. He was bandaged here and there where Ethan had done small damage, but I was the one with two bullet wounds and a case of severe blood loss it seemed. The things you do for love, eh? I ached and cursed under my breath as Eddie Harlan entered that room. The ache was nothing now compared to the sudden hatred I had for this man. It burned like a flame, flickering and waiting for the gasoline to ignite it further. The gasoline being anything this man said.
"Your awake then?" Eddie asked.
"What do you want?" I growled.
"Snow, Snow, please wait a minute. It wasn't Eddie."
"Excuse me? This man handed us to the lunatic who had been hunting us down."
"No he didn't." Eben looked defiant, as he joined me at my bedside and looked up at Eddie. "Explain everything to him, Eddie."
Eddie nodded and said, "I never arranged the car underground, that was a member of my team. Ethan got to him and the arrangements to have the car unuseable and the car park to be sealed was all him. The blame fell on me because I was the one who handed you the car keys and have the order. When you mentioned me as the betrayer, Ethan took it as another chance to antagonise you. Believe me, Mr. Valentine. The last thing I'd have done was send you down there. Eben told me he had threatened to kidnap my children from a school playground? I have one son. He's twenty-seven and lives abroad in Australia. It would've been impossible."
I considered the Doberman for a moment. Those proud, strong, green eyes glimmered with the truth. Nothing more. I relaxed and held out my hand for Eben.
"He's dead now. He won't bother us anymore, Snow. I promise." Eben touched his muzzle against mine as I twinged with more pains. Was every inch of my body bruised and battered?
"When's the funeral?" I asked.
"Funeral?" Eddie repeated.
"Burial, cremation, whatever the authorities do with dead bodies?"
Eddie nodded and explained, "The body, regardless of crime, returns to the hands of the next of kin. Since Eben is his closest of kin, he can decide. He can hand the body to us and we'll cremate him."
"That's what I planned on doing," Eben added with a sad smile.
"No. Can we have him cremated with us present?" I demanded.
Eben looked a question at me.
"I need to see. I need to make sure that wolf doesn't rise from the grave or anything. I want to watch him burn for what he became and what he put Eben through."
Eben looked at me, tears burned in those beautiful eyes, but he nodded and looked at Eddie.
Eddie nodded. "I'll have the body detained and you can go from there. Cremation will be the police department's pleasure."
Eben and I nodded in unison.
"You sure about that, Snow?" Eben asked.
"I'm sure. I said I'd protect you, and I nearly failed. He almost killed you. I need to make sure he won't return anytime soon," I growled as I touched my other hand to the canine's cheek. Tears burned in my eyes now. "I was so afraid. Afraid he'd killed you. Afraid he'd ruin you. I wanted to kill him, I wanted to make him suffer. I'd have strung him up and beat him like a punch bag. I'd have watched him bleed to death from the beatings. He made me think all these things. He made me turn violent! He made me a monster!" I sobbed as the tears spilled in heat down my face.
"Snow? Snow, look at me," Eben said as he touched his hands to my face.
"You almost died, and I almost turned mad with rage," I growled.
"But you didn't just lose control out of madness or anger, Snow. You defended someone you cared for."
"I defended someone I loved, and still do love, so much," I breathed as our lips touched, a chaste brush of warm flesh. I deepened the kiss as those tears burned and streaked heavier and heavier.
Eddie gave us an apologetic look and then left without another word. I ached but I sat on the edge of the bed, Eben standing between my knees like he'd donned when he'd helped fix the cut above my eye.
He touched lips to mine as our fingers laced together. His tail swished behind him, while mine curled and moved across the white sheets of the bed.
"You look so beautiful," he assured me as I held him there, thankful that the madness was over, and thankful the bastard was dead and gone.
"Your beautiful." I touched lips to his stomach as we cuddled there. "We need a vacation somewhere. Somewhere far, far away from here, Eben."
"What did you have in mind?" Eben asked.
"Miami. Alaska. Anywhere will do?" I admitted, "Just somewhere where we can be safe and together for a while. A cabin in Canada maybe?" I slid a hand down over his rump. A caress of love, nothing more. The wolf moaned a little and looked at me from inches away. He leaned close and I kissed him, I kissed him gentle and full of the love I had for him. "Don't ever leave me?" I pleaded as the tears ran down my furred face. Eben smiled at me from inches away and answered by licking the tears from my cheeks.
"You have nothing to worry about there, Snow Valentine." He cuddled me close against his chest, his hands playing with the head fur that spilled down the back of my neck. I purred and closed my eyes while he touched, caressed and held me. I sobbed and purred, thankful that we had survived this insane ordeal. The last few days had been Hell on Earth, but it had to be a sign if we survived this and we're still together. I'd never let this wolf go. I'd care for him and love him forever and a day. So long as I breathed, I'd never let anyone harm him again either. I trailed a hand down his arm and found his bandaged hand where Ethan had stabbed him. I touched the hand to my chest, over where my heartbeat. He looked at me, smiling but looking as sad as I felt. We were exhausted that much was certain. Sleep was what we both needed.
"You have my heart and soul, Eben. For the remainder of my days alive you have them both."
"And you have mine, Snow. I love you."
"I love you too," I stood in a slow, awkward ache and wrapped my muscled arms around his shoulders, kissing his forehead and holding him close. "I love you," I whispered as I cuddled him. We sobbed together as the snow outside the hospital window continued to fall. The blizzard rained on and on for weeks to follow. Not that it mattered. I was with the wolf I loved. A bit of bad weather was not my main priority. Besides, when you were huddled in a warm bed in the middle of the night. Snow bathed in moonlight looked beautiful, almost poetic. We healed, we recovered, we had nightmares. But we cradled one another, we held one another when we cried, and we were there for one another when the skies were dazzled with the purest, white snow for the rest of our days.