Untamable Resolve: The Witheridge Witches

Ch. 12 - Delia

"Delia?"

I said with relief as a wide smile grew on my face. I ran over to give her a big hug when what I saw stopped me dead in my tracks. My excitement turned somber as my smile fell and I realized she had a significant bite mark exposed on her neck. 

Noticing my horror, she said, "No, it's okay. Really."

But it wasn't okay. None of this was. I bit my tongue as a million emotions filled me, and I didn't know what to say. I wracked my brain trying to think of any way I could help her.

"When did he do that to you?"

"Two nights ago."She answered as she pushed away from the subject and instead eyed the bathtub and went to turn it on.

 My hands were sore but feeling much better. I started to unwind the bandages from my left arm before lifting the gauze that covered my wound, causing me to wince. The dark red scabbing and stitches went from my hand to my elbow and cut to the bone. I sighed deeply, knowing my right arm was worse. I would need at least a month of treatment and antibiotics. Which meant I would have to stay here for at least a month before I made any attempt at escape. An infection in an injury of this magnitude meant the almost certain loss of limb if not death back home.

There was the question of my tracking bracelet. I would need to take it off in order to dress my wounds and bathe. Delia seemed to be thinking the same thing when she pulled a key out of her pocket. Did they trust her enough to give her a key? She unlocked the bracelet and helped me to take off my other bandages. The pain was almost unbearable as the ointment on the gauze had stuck like glue to my skin, but I managed. 

Then I stepped out of my silk nightgown, and she helped me keep my footing as I stepped into the bathtub and sat down. It had been many years since I had taken a bath like this. She grabbed a white pitcher from the vanity and filled it up with warm soapy water before coming back and sitting on the edge before asking me to close my eyes. I squeezed them tight as she poured the contents of the pitcher onto my head and body. I hissed as the soapy water stung the raw flesh on my arms. 

She then lathered my hair with shampoo and started scrubbing my scalp before saying, "I don't know how we are going to do this. Us, humans, mated to the Alpha and Beta."

Internally I screamed. I thought being paired with a Beta was terrible—my poor Delia.

I would have to find some way to get her out too. She finished rinsing out my hair when she said, "It could be worse, right?"

I mean we could be dead, but that might not be worse.

She chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. I looked at her and started laughing because our whole situation was so fucked. She joined in laughing too, and then suddenly she lost her balance and fell into the tub with me splashing water everywhere, making both of us laugh harder.

It was a happy moment between us.

 The laughter ended when she helped me up, and we both grabbed towels and wrapped them around our bodies. In the silence, I grabbed the materials and ointments I had found stored in the bathroom drawer and showed her how to dress my wound on my left arm so that she could do my right. As she finished up doing as I instructed on my right arm, I grabbed my tracking bracelet.

"This bite... it's changing me. I don't know how long I'll be able to resist the pull I feel towards Silas."

Using both hands to hold on to her shoulders, I brought our foreheads together. I looked her in the eyes and said: "We may lose, but we will never lose ourselves."

We couldn't lose our resolve. I would never lose myself to them, and if I could manage it neither would she.

She nodded in understanding. And I gave her a small smile before straightening my spine while holding my head high and handing her the bracelet as I held my wrist out for her. A little surprised she opened the bracelet, and I placed my wrist inside before she clasped it shut. I heard the electric beep signaling that it was locked.  My fate was unclear; however, one thing was certain. I would be in control of it.