Bites & Bruises (ManxMan)

Fifteen

Rosà let the curtain drop back into place with a mighty sigh before she turned towards us again.

I was sat on the sofa whilst Marius was pacing, enraged that there wasn't even any blood bags in the fridge. My gaze dropped to my mangled hand and a whirlwind of emotions hit me. I didn't know whether to burst into tears or to go out there and rip the wolves to shreds.

"What are we going to do now?"

"About what?"

"About the mob outside."

A snort left Marius' throat and he halted his pacing to shoot the dark haired beauty a look of menace whilst his words dripped with sarcasm. "Oh I don't know, I thought I'd invite them in for fucking tea and biscuits."

"There is no need to be an asshole, I was asking a question, not calling your mother a whore."

"The more you talk, the more I realize you have an IQ of a mere child."

The female laughed, "Me? Sweetheart you should look closer to home."

Marius grunted at her before he strode over to the fridge again and opened it up, nearly ripped the door off its hinges. If my throat wasn't burning I would have found his state amusing especially when he snarled peering into the fridge with a glare before slamming it shut again.

"We need to get rid of them, Payton is innocent."

Marius rocked back on his heels, back rippling with tension. "Don't you think I know that?"

Rosà cocked an eyebrow and sighed again before coming to perch on the sofa next to me. From the corner of my eye I could tell she was examining my beat up body and for the first time in what seemed like forever, I finally spoke.

"It's not as bad as it looks."

"You've always been a bad liar..." She reached out to grab my hand yet I growled and flinched away.

The look she wore would have broken my heart had I been able to feel anything but numb. Numbness or anger, there was nothing else left, the warden and interrogator had made sure of that.

Just thinking about those scumbags had my hands balling into fists, even whilst pain ran through me when my exposed nail beds pressed into my palm.

A sudden sharp pain in my chest had me grumbling and it got both of their attention. Rosà began to fuss over me, a noise of distress leaving her throat as her hands lingered over my bruised and bloodied body.

"Oh my, I should have cleaned these up as soon as you got in, forgive me Payton," She reached for my hand and I forced myself not to shy away. "Come, let me bandage your wounds."

Gingerly, I rose from the sofa and began to trail after the brunette, shooting Marius a side ward glance on my way past. The look he wore was smoldering and I found myself pausing briefly to rasp. "You don't have to worry about me-"

"Don't." His jaw was clenched so tight I thought his teeth would break. "Don't you dare tell me that you're fine. You have no idea what I went through coming back to find the town in chaos and you no where to be found."

My throat came blocked with emotion.

"I would have ripped the Mayors head off if Rosà hadn't have came in a few seconds later."

I couldn't stop the thought of the Mayor being red faced and cursing whilst under Marius' iron grip. He came to our rescue, my subconscious whispered, he's completely smitten with us.

As soon as the thought came, I shoved it away. No, I told myself firmly, there is no way Marius finds me desirable, not like this... broken and damaged.