Juniper

Twenty One

mature content

Juniper stuck her tongue out for the same doctor that'd drawn her blood. It was in the early hours of the morning.

Her arms were covered in a special ointment and thick bandages from her wrists to elbows.

"There's a large amount of damage here," the doctor hummed to himself.

Raphael saw Juniper roll her eyes up to the ceiling.

No shit, he could practically hear her voice.

Her neck was a dark shade of purple. Large hand prints were defined in the bruising and Raphael had to stop himself from tearing the room apart. There was already a hole in the wall besides him.

"You'll heal quickly, quicker if you keep from talking too much. Just for tonight try to keep speaking to an absolute minimum for the pains sake. For the rest of the week just take it easy, I'm going to send you home with some elixirs and pain killers."

Juniper nodded once, showing a thumbs up.

The shadow demon leaned back on her hands, watching the doctor describe the instructions. She didn't listen but she was aware that Raphael was absorbing all of the information.

As he spoke, she pushed herself up. Sniffling quietly, she felt sorely uncomfortable... unsettled by what had happened.

It was like a hard slap in the face, the reminder that things weren't sunshines and rainbows with her mate. That there was still people trying to kill her.

Juniper wrapped her arms around herself, looking at the door for a moment. She wanted to walk out the door and into the car to wait for Raphael there.

But she glanced back at him, as he asked questions about her medications with a hard stare on his face.

Juniper sighed quietly and shuffled over to the berserker. She walked straight into his side, tucking her face into his arm while pressing her chest to his.

He glanced down at her, mildly surprised before winding one large arm around her.

"Thank you," Raphael nodded in thanks while grabbing the meds.

Tugging Juniper into his side so firmly that he was practically carrying her weight, he walked them both out.

The car ride was silent, Raphael was half tempted to fill the silence but as Juniper clutched his hand he decided against it.

Her eyes drooped a little, fatigue written all over her face as she hadn't gotten any sleep and the circumstances were extraneous.

"Let's go to bed," he instructed immediately as he opened her door when they got home.

She dragged her tired eyes up to him in her seat. Juniper wrapped her arms around his neck, Raphael didn't need anymore instruction to lift her up. He wrapped her legs around his hips and carried her inside.

Bear barked loudly, hopping up to sniff Juniper.

"Hi dog," Raphael spared him a greeting for Juniper's sake as she couldn't at the moment. He tossed his keys onto the hook, rubbing his hand up Juniper's back and walking upstairs, the dog on his heels.

Her shallow breaths fanned his neck, her face stuffed in it.

"Stay?" she asked quietly while pulling back to look at him.

He nodded immediately, setting her on the bed.

Juniper sat for a moment, unmoving as her face was unreadable.