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Smithe and Cameron escorted us back to our dorm and after making sure we were comfortable left us alone. It was the first time in six months that Isaiah and I had been left alone together. Isaiah was weak. Hell, we both were. There was no disguising it. What we needed now was sleep, but firstly I needed to help Isaiah heal up a little, and there was only one way I could think to do that at this moment in time.

I filled the bath tub with semi-warm water and helped Isaiah undress and clamber into the tub. Like my previous dorm room, this one was similar in that it held two bedrooms, divided by a lounge area. Each bedroom had its own en-suite bathroom too.

Isaiah lowered himself into the bath water and winced. His tanned skin twitched over the muscles, his face contorted with pain, as visible steam hissed from his naked muscular body. Was he in pain? Did the water hurt him? He never screamed for help, or tried to clamber out. I noticed his skin seemed darker, his eyes distant and haunted. He soon settled and seemed to just leave the room, as thoughts drifted through his mind. I sank to the bathroom floor and peeled the sweat-soaked vest from body. It dropped to the bathroom floor with a squelch. I turned and settled back against the side of the bath tub, I could feel the cold water through the tub as I suddenly felt exhaustion swallow me. Thoughts of seeing Isaiah confined rushed to the forefront of my mind. I hoped, I prayed that Isaiah would recover from the trauma of the heat exhaustion. I remembered Havok and the mystery of what she was. I remembered what she had told me about Broderic. Broderic, the psychopathic werewolf whose DNA had been spliced with my own. It was just flesh. Right?

So why did it feel like he was there? Hiding in the dark, watching.

Tears spilled down my cheeks. I cried and sobbed as thoughts of Broderic's death filled my head. How many more times was I going to cry in this fucking place? I huddled against my knees and let the depression and exhaustion swallow me. It was then as my body shuddered with a deep, racking sob, that I felt warm fingers play through my hair. I looked up and saw that Isaiah had hunkered forward, drawing his knees to his muscular chest, he rested his face against his knees as he gazed at me with those pale green eyes. His fingers continued to play through my dark hair. "Your awake?" I breathed as our eyes met. "I've wanted to do something since I saw you in that chamber earlier," he said with his deep gravelly voice. "What's that?" I asked quietly. "This." Isaiah leaned suddenly, one hand gripped the edge of the tub, while the other craddled my jawline and angled my face back. He lowered his mouth to mine and let the supple flesh of his lips brush mine. I sighed into the kiss as his tongue danced across my bottom lip. He broke the kiss and leaned back. I was breathless. "Your hairs gotten longer," he whispered as he settled his muscular arms on the edge of the tub and grinned at me. His fingers still playing through my hair. "I know. I need it cut." "Don't." "Don't get it cut?" I asked. He nodded and said, "Your choice, but I like your hair longer. It suits you." "You think?" I couldn't help but smile. "How are you feeling?" Isaiah asked. "I'm good." Isaiah gave me a cautious, suspicious look. I blinked back and said, "Honest." "You sure?"

In that moment part of me wanted to tell Isaiah about the DNA splicing with Broderic. Part of me screamed to have someone know about what had happened to me. But the other part of me was anxious, worried. What if Isaiah suddenly didn't trust me? What if he thought I had become some backwater experiment of Haven? I needed him. I needed him here with me. He had kissed me. The first conscious thing he had done after six months of heat exhaustion had been kissing me. I needed that bond.

No!

I wouldn't tell him what had happened to me in these last six months. Not now.

I smiled back at him. "I'm good." He still looked suspicious, but he let it go. "How about you? Feeling any better?" I asked. "I'm still feeling a bit rough around the edges, a bit fragile, so don't expect anything from me tonight except cuddling and kissing tonight," he grinned. I couldn't help but blush. That in turn made him laugh. A deep, gravelly sound. His throat was healing, but he still sounded hoarse. I couldn't help but grin back at him. I suddenly felt grimy, unwashed. I needed to get clean as soon as possible. I stood, slowly and gripped the edge of the tub for balance. Suddenly Isaiah's laughter died and as I made to leave the tub's side his hand found mine. "W-Where are you going?" he stammered. His words sounded so small. His pale green eyes a little wide, and there, shining in that pale green colour was...panic? "I'm going into the main bedroom to get us a change of clothes." "Don't go...too far, okay?" Isaiah breathed. What had Haven done to him during the last six months? I hadn't really known him that long, but in the short time I had he didn't strike me as the type to tremble and cower in bath water. That was not how I envisioned the werecrocodile at all. I did the one thing I could think of that would make him feel better and give him some kind of assurance. I leaned down and kissed him. A gentle moan escaped his lips as a single scalding tear trailed down his cheek. I broke the kiss and promised, "I will be right nextdoor. I'm going to get us a change of clothes and then come straight back to clean up. Promise." Isaiah really looked at me, and for a heartbeat I thought he didn't believe me. Then, slowly, he sank back into the water and let his hand fall from mine. I smiled down at him and went for the main bedroom we would share from now on. The kiss and Isaiah's sudden fear of being alone seemed to have assured me we would be sleeping in the same bed from now on. I left the bathroom door open and strode toward a dresser. I reached for the top drawer and happened to glance up at the mirror that hung beside the door to the bathroom.

There. Stood in the reflection of the mirror behind me was a man!

He was tall, slender and had long black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail that trailed down his back. He wore a tattered pair of tailored black pants, dirtied black loafers, and a white dress shirt spattered and soaked in places with blood. His tie hung loose and ragged around his slender throat, while he watched me with rage-filled amber eyes and a manic smile that bared his yellowed teeth. Knife-like claws slowly slid from his half-human, half-wolf hands, as his pale skin seemed illuminated in the semi-darkness.

I screamed and reeled around, expecting to find Broderic there. What I found was...noone.

I was dazed and confused. What was happening to me? I heard a slosh of water and a second later Isaiah was stood, leaning heavily on the door frame and out of breath. He scanned the room and found me alone and unharmed, if not a little spooked. "You screamed," he assured me. "Who did?" "You did." "I did?" I pointed at myself. "Yes, you did," he pointed at me too. "Me? Screaming?" "Yes." "Really?" I asked. "Yep." "Are you sure?" "Yes, I heard you scream, Jack," he growled back. "Me? Jack? I screamed?" He just blinked at me this time and slowly turned back to the bathroom.

What had just happened? A fine tremble danced throughout my body as I felt a familiar sensation wash over me. It was that sensation that someone was watching me. I gazed into the mirror and saw...nothing. I took a shallow breath and exhaled. I grabbed a few things from the dresser and returned to the bathroom to clean up.

I was exhausted. That was all it was. Exhaustion. Yeah right!