Byron
I never knew that watching someone eat could be an erotic experience. But watching Bella take a bite, close her eyes, hum in appreciation, and savor every morsel, was seriously turning me on. She was sitting at the table in her pajamas, with her hair coming undone all around her face, and even with the bruises and bandages, I swear I had never seen anything so beautiful.
There was something so guileless and innocent about her that made me feel almost guilty for wanting her. But I couldn’t help but want her. My wolf was begging me to complete the process. I tried to bring it up, but Wyatt shut me down. “She’s not ready, you idiot. Be patient.”
He was right, I knew he was right, but I hated him for being so god-damned patient. But the last thing I wanted was to scare her or chase her away. One sweet nap curled up against her, with her frail body in my arms, and I knew I needed her like I needed air to breathe. I couldn’t live without her.
We ate in companionable silence, each of us seeming to be lost in our own thoughts. I enjoyed my meal while discretely continuing to watch her eat. She finished about half the bowl of soup, half a slice of bread, and a few bites of meat before she put a hand over her stomach and sat back. It was a pitifully small amount of food, especially for a wolf. Any she-wolf in our pack could put away three times the amount of food that was on the girl’s plate. But I guessed a lifetime of malnutrition had made her stomach shrink.
We finished our meal and then took her back up to her room. “Why don’t we pick out some clothes?” Wyatt suggested.
She eyed us in confusion. “Oh… have clothes been discarded today?”
“Uh, what?”
Her brow furrowed. “Are there clothes in the trash that I can pick from?”
I groaned out loud and saw Wyatt’s mouth pressed into a thin, unhappy line. What had they done to my girl?
“No, sweetheart. You aren’t picking clothes out of the trash. We’ll go online, and pick some off the internet.”
“Internet?”
“Have you ever used a computer, Bella?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I’ve seen them. The alpha had a laptop in his office. But I was not allowed in the office, and they would never let me touch something so valuable.”
Wyatt went across the hall to get his laptop. We sat her between us on the couch and opened it on the coffee table in front of her. I had already made up my mind that as soon as we went to bed, I would order her a laptop, or maybe a tablet, of her own. As it was, she was staring fearfully at Wyatt’s device as though it might explode, or shatter into a million pieces if she touched it. With a few clicks, he had it up and running, and had opened up a website for a popular woman’s clothing line.
“Here, you can scroll through the pictures by clicking here.” He took her hand and showed her how to move the cursor with the touchpad.
“No. No, I can’t, I’ll break it.” She said, snatching her hand back and hiding it in her lap as though the member had offended her. It sounded silly, but her face was genuinely terrified.
I put my hand on her forearm. “It's fine, Bella. You won’t break it, and even if you could, it wouldn’t matter. It's just a machine. It's not that important. If it breaks, it can be repaired or replaced, and no one will blame you.”
Still, she twisted her hands together anxiously in her lap. Wyatt sent me an exasperated look over her head.
“Okay,” I said patiently, “We will teach you how to use the computer another day. We’ll help you today. I’ll scroll through, and you tell me if you see anything you would like.”
“I can’t!” she whispered, recoiling further, pressing her body into the cushions of the couch. “Those are new clothes… expensive new clothes, and I don’t have any money.”
“Sweetheart, you don’t have to pay. We are going to buy them for you.” I saw that Wyatt was struggling to be patient with her. It wasn’t that he was angry with her, it was the whole situation. Who ever met a woman who was afraid to select a few articles of clothing? What a horrible life she had to endure, that even shopping for clothes online was a traumatic experience. “All you have to do is tell us what you like, and we’ll take care of the rest.”
“But… why?” her panicked gaze flickered between the two of us. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
I trapped her hand in mine, “Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and kindness, Bella. You are special to us, and we want to help you.”
She slumped and hung her head.
Okay, this wasn’t going quite how we had planned. “I have an idea. We’ll pick out just a couple of things for you. Then, when our sister is home on the weekend, she can sit down and help you.”
Wyatt shot me a grateful look. “Good idea. Daphne will love to go shopping with you.”
Our younger sister Daphne was away at college. She stayed on campus during the week but came home to the pack house on weekends and holidays. It would probably be good for Belle to have another woman her own age to help her navigate this new life. And Daphne was a sweet and sensitive soul, she would know how to handle our fragile, broken mate.
Wyatt leaned forward and started scrolling through the pictures of models wearing different designs. I noticed Bella peeking at the screen like she was afraid to show her interest. “Keep going,” I mind-linked Wyatt, “She’s watching.”
“Oh, what about that? I like that.” I said when a simple but elegant top came up on the screen. I don’t know much about women’s fashion, but the simple blouse with three-quarter sleeves and a line of delicate buttons down the front seemed like it would suit our mate. Wyatt quickly made the selection. It came in black and burgundy, and he automatically chose the burgundy. Without having to speak, we had the same thought.
We didn’t want our girl in black.
We kept going, selecting a pair of jeans, a pair of soft cotton leggings, and a couple of tops.
“What about this?” He said, stopping over a flowing maxi dress. It was a blue floral pattern, with a high waist and a long, loose skirt. I saw a flicker of desire in Bella’s eyes as she looked at the dress on the screen.
“Do you like it?”
She flushed and looked down at her lap. “Yes,” She whispered. “It's beautiful.”
I smiled triumphantly. It was a minor victory, getting her to admit she liked something, getting her to voice an opinion, but it felt like a win nonetheless. Wyatt added a few other necessary items, some bras, panties, and a pair of slip-on shoes. We didn’t know what size she wore, and we decided to make a guess. I didn’t want to ask her, and embarrass her, because I had the idea that she had never owned a pair of shoes. Wyatt paid for overnight shipping and closed out the website.
“See, that was easy, right?” I smiled at her. She looked at me with big, incredulous eyes. Then, as she so often did when she realized she was making direct eye contact, she dropped her gaze submissively.
I sighed.
“Okay love, let's get you ready for bed.” Wyatt stood, and helped her to her feet. “There is a new toothbrush in the bathroom.”
Bella
I stared at the toothbrush. It's gross, but I never had a proper toothbrush. I had broken off branches from the crab apple tree in the yard, chewed the end of them, and used that to clean my teeth daily. I pulled it out of the box, squeezed a little toothpaste on it, and started to scrub the soft bristles across my teeth. The strong minty paste actually made my mouth burn a little, but I reveled in the clean feeling.
Back in the White Pines pack, I had heard the luna read fairy stories to the twins when they were small. I felt like I had fallen into one of those books, complete with pretty illustrations. Everything had this unreal feel to it. I was confused, and I couldn’t make sense of anything. I didn’t know why the alpha brothers were being so nice to me. I didn’t know why they were offering me freedom and giving me nice things. I didn’t understand why I kept finding myself between them, why they kept reaching out and touching me. I didn’t know why they smelled so good, or why being near them made me feel so strange…dizzy, intoxicated, and strangely content.
I frowned at my reflection and rinsed my new toothbrush in the sink.
I opened the door a crack and peeked out. The bedroom was empty, so I slipped out, and slid back into that heavenly soft bed. Not only was it the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in (well, the only bed!) but when I pressed my face into the pillows I could smell that delicious masculine scent. I was a little embarrassed by my obsession with it, but I hugged a pillow to my chest and kept that scent close to my nose. I was just about to close my eyes when the brothers popped into my bedroom.
They stood there, side by side, looking strangely vulnerable, as they looked at each other, and then looked at me. “Bella…” Byron shifted his weight between his feet. “Would it be okay if we slept, with you, on one bed?”
“Nothing else,” Wyatt assured me quickly. “Just sleep.”