Shielded: A Valkyrie Saga Book 1

Late Night Healing - Chapter 11

We just kept screwing up where Ray was concerned. I wasn't entirely sure that her life was better with us in it and I felt guilty for outing her to the twins. We needed to do better. We needed to show her that Valkyrie stood for helping people and supporting our clans. That there was nothing better than when you were completely surrounded by other Valkyrie you knew would do anything to keep you happy and healthy. And I really needed to heal her. Letting her go to sleep in obvious pain made me nauseous and I stayed up all night thinking of ways of convincing her to let me help her. I was worried that if I asked her permission to heal her wounds that she would turn me down like she did yesterday and I didn't know if I could be near her and not heal such serious injuries. But I also didn't want to do something without her permission first. We all saw how badly that went yesterday.

--Max

I woke to a small hand pushing my hair from my face and I opened my eyes to find Maria squatting by my head. When she saw that I was awake she scrambled off the bed and ran to the door and tried to turn the locked knob. This little girl hadn't spoken a single word to me, but she was excellent at communicating. I stiffly rolled out of bed and winced as the rows of stitches pulled when I stood up. Now that the pain meds had worn off I was realizing just how much these next two weeks were going to suck. My entire left side hurt and any time that I tried to twist I could feel the skin between my stitches pull apart. I was going to have to walk around like I had a permanent rod up my back to keep myself from ripping open the cuts on my side.

I made it to the door and let Maria out who took off down the unknown hallway. Uh-oh I had no idea that kids were so slippery. I followed as quickly as I could and harshly whispered yelled for her to wait for me, but my little charge was on a mission and could care less what I wanted. She was running from door to door and pushing them open to look inside until she finally found what she was looking for and disappeared inside. I glanced into the now open doors as I rushed to catch Maria and saw two different offices, a room with a couch and a large TV, and another that looked like some kind of art studio. When I reached the door that Maria had picked I followed her in to find that it was a bathroom and Maria was trying to climb on the toilet. God I was an awful person. I didn't even think about what Maria might be needing right now.

I rushed to help her do her business and then gritted my teeth and ignored the pain as I lifted her up to help her wash her hands. I then set her on the counter and looked into her beautiful heart shaped face and bright eyes. "Are you hungry?" I asked and she vigorously shook her head causing her curly hair to fly everywhere.

"Okay, let's go find some food," I said and lifted her down. I checked my watch and saw that it was four thirty in the morning. I didn't feel right invading the kitchen and taking food without permission, but I wasn't going to deny Maria if she was hungry. I took her hand and together we walked at a slower pace down the plush carpeted hallway. We continued down the same way Maria had run off in because the spare bedroom was at the end of the hall and I hadn't seen a kitchen. The hallway opened into a huge room with vaulted ceilings and large bay windows. It was hard to make out all the details in the dim light, but I could just make out a fireplace on the far wall and two couches facing each other in the middle of the room.

I paused to scan the space and saw a wide entrance way and what could only be a kitchen off to the left. When I felt hardwood under my feet instead of carpet I paused and ran my hand along the walls until I hit a light switch. An overhead light blinked on and we stood staring at one of the largest kitchens I had ever seen. The white and grey marbled counters made a large U shape with one side forming a breakfast bar. Huge stainless steel appliances were nestled into the counters making the kitchen look like something out of a professional cooking show or commercial kitchen.