Broken Doll {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 46

I couldn't figure out how I'd managed to sleep with Tobias without so much as my breathing getting too fast, despite what we were doing. I knew it was him the entire time, his was the only voice I heard, even when I'd fallen asleep I didn't have any bad dreams, and when I woke up, my entire body felt refreshed. My hips ached slightly, but there was no serious pain as I stretched, running a hand through my hair and smiling when I felt Tobias' arm tighten around my waist, his bare chest pressed to my back.

"You're awake already?" he asked sleepily, and I hummed, reaching my hand back to tangle through his hair.

"My bad."

"Go back to sleep."

"Just because you're still tired doesn't mean I have to be," I chided, twisting around until I'd turned to face him, winding my arms around his waist and hiding my face against his chest, rubbing his back before feeling over the bandages around his shoulder, frowning when I noted they'd loosened a bit, "We should get up. Adalwolf needs to rebandage this."

Tobias immediately gave a growl of protest, squeezing me, "Later, still tired."

"Don't be stubborn. Are you hurting?"

"It's fine."

"Tobias," I spoke slowly, in a somewhat low voice, hoping to get across I wasn't playing around; tired or not, this was too important to ignore, he could sleep in later, or even take a nap and relax, but right now he needed to be looked over.

He'd tensed up when I spoke, relaxing with a sigh after a moment and unwinding the arms around me so he could roll onto his back before sitting up, a heavy pout weighing on his lips as he looked down at me with tired eyes.

"Did last night really tire you out that much?" I asked with a smile, rolling onto my back to stare up at him, and the corner of his lips twitched, pushing my hair back with a hand.

"No," he answered, "I just stayed awake for a bit is all. After we took our shower. I wanted to make sure you were really okay, so I waited for you to fall asleep and watched over you for a bit."

I gaped at him in surprise before sitting up and leaning against him, my head on his shoulder, "I really was okay, Tobias. I'm still okay. I'm really happy," I reached out, taking his left hand with my right, holding it so I could slide my thumb over the wedding band on his finger, smiling, "I knew it was you the whole time. Talking to me the way you did really helped. It feels like something heavy has finally lifted off me."

Tobias turned to face me, squeezing my hand and bending down to kiss me, his forehead against mine, "Danke Gott..."

"This doesn't mean I'm healed of everything," I reminded, "We still have to be careful."

"I know, but we're allowed to celebrate something like this," he decided, chuckling, "I'm happy."

The smile he wore was contagious, and I felt myself smiling with him, "I am too..."

He leaned in to kiss me again, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. My eyes hadn't closed in anticipation yet, so I was able to see the change in his expression, how the gentleness in his eyes hardened and his face twitched to a look of annoyance, though the frown was more of an indignant pout than anything else. I was the one who tensed uncomfortably at the voice that called through the door.

"Sorry to disturb your sleep, sir, Doctor Meisner asked me to bring you medicine to take before eating," it was Reiner who spoke, and I felt myself panic at the fact I wasn't wearing clothes.

It wasn't just that either. Reiner was close friends with Hans, who'd been close friends with Anton, someone Emyr never trusted. For good reason, considering he'd been hounding Bryn for years. By association, one could assume Reiner was just as untrustworthy, and going my own instinct, I really didn't want him to see me naked in bed.