The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Noah froze for a fraction of a second and his eyes shifted in black- the monotone expression on his face was starting to creep me out and his hold wasn’t loosening. Instead, he turned around and yanked me after him out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.
I screeched from the pain of trying to run on my broken leg. It felt like the broken bones were bouncing on top of each other- scraping as bone dust gathered under my skin- and when Noah started up the stairs, I lost it. I ripped my arm from his hold and raised my hands with the blood rushing to my face.
“Are you fucking blind?! My leg is broken, my ribs are broken, I have cuts all over my fucking body…” I looked down when I felt something wet trickling down my leg.
“And now my wounds opened. Great!”
Noah stood on the stairs, and it pissed me off how bored he looked- like he couldn’t fathom what I was saying- and since there was no universe in which he would ever apologize or admit he was wrong, he hurried down, lifted my legs, and carried me bridal style up the stairs.
“I thought I told you not to speak.” He said as he cradled me against him.
This mountain of stupidity was something else, and I feared for our pack’s future. The dear doubled when Noah took me down the hall and past my room. I looked back. Where the hell was he taking me? He passed two more doors and opened the third, his scent lingered on everything from the carpeted floor to the bed and the drapes covering his open window where a breeze blew in. The dark colors blended well with his stoic personality, and for a moment, I gawked at the way that I could see him in his room. Like, really see him. The baseball on the shelf and the pictures of him and Logan as kids, the rows of books with torn spines after being read over and over, and the knives that hung meticulously on the wall- polished and sharp.
“Why-“ I started and realized I should panic, but it took me a while to get there. Noah put me down on a chair, my fingers trembled against the armrest, and I looked around frantically.
I was in his room, holy fuck. The panic slowly rose only after I started to summon it, and then it flooded me completely.
He disappeared into the bathroom, and I heard a faucet being turned on. I rose, the blood rushed from my head, and I fell forward and grabbed onto the table. The lamp shook on its foot and nearly fell, but when I stabilized myself, the lamp stood still.
“Sit down.” I heard him behind me and turned slowly to face him. My eyes widened, a warm breath dried my parted lips, and my brows rose. He’s not wearing a shirt; why would he take that off?
Noah didn’t seem to mind my ogling, and I couldn’t help it. His chiseled chest was right there in my view, and I flickered my eyes down his contorted abs and again to that V that disappeared down his low-hanging jeans. Shit, I was getting warm, I looked away and licked my lips, gathering courage and a smidge of self-respect as I looked back at his eyes but that’s not where my eyes fall. They fall to the shadowed smirk on his lips.
“Enjoying yourself?” he asked.
“No.”
He pointed to the chair.
“Sit.”
“You’re bossy,” I said and limped with a hand on my waist when I felt the bruise throbbing against my shirt.
“You’re defiant.” He groaned and fixed the cushion as I sat. Even if I wanted to leave- the door was right there- I didn’t have it in me to walk another step.
“Lift your arms,” my jaw dropped, and I shook my head.
“No!” I shrieked and hugged my arms around myself, ignoring the stabbing pain in my ribs.
Noah stood tall in front of me; he pressed a knee between my legs and pinched my chin, tilting my head back.
“Lift your fucking arms.”
I swallowed the lump building in my throat, but it was replaced by another right away.
“I’m not getting naked in front of you,” I said and looked toward the door.
“I have a shower in my room if you can just...” Ugh, I didn’t want to say it, but I didn’t have a choice. “If you could just help me there, I can take care of the rest myself.”
Being an invalid was not my thing; I felt weak and helpless and hated every second of it.
“Yes, but you don’t have a tub.” he grabbed my hands and lifted them over my head. When I pulled them down, he repeated the motion and tightened the grip around my wrists with a warning glare, like he was saying: try that again.
Did he have a tub? Why didn’t I have a tub?
Noah grabbed my shirt, and I closed my eyes; this was not how I wanted him to see me. Not that I wanted him to see me naked at all, but my body was covered in cuts and bruises, my thigh had a big ass bite mark on it and only the smaller wounds were starting to fade.
The shirt came off, and he squatted to work on my shoes.
One after the other, he tossed them aside and lifted me from the couch. At least he left the pants on.
The tub was filled to the brim with steaming water and bubbles, I did not picture Noah Reed as a bubble bath type of Alpha.
A giggle rippled through me before I could stop it, and he tensed behind me as he put me down on my feet.
Maybe he thought I was laughing at him.
He drew a sharp breath, the heat from his body brushed against mine, and I felt naked under the intensity of his gaze even though I couldn’t see it.
“I’ll leave you to it.” He said darkly.
I heard him step out, and the door closed behind him.