I gently touched the wound on my stomach with a faint wince. It pulsed with pain and looked a bit swollen. I was questioning if I had rubbed it wrong during the night but I didn't move much, if at all. The only other explanation was that perhaps I had pulled or stretched it a bit too much during our kitchen table escapades. My body shivered at the reminder and I shoved the thoughts away as I once again prodded the wound, letting the pain push them away completely.

It didn't look good but I couldn't be certain because the bruising and the burned flesh obscured it too much. It was a horrible looking mess. I couldn't remember the last time I had a wound look that bad but other than the whipping wounds I had received, there were none. I honestly didn't count the whipping I had received. That had been quantity more so than general horribleness.

I picked up the wet cloth I had grabbed when I had noticed the poorness of the wound and gently wiped at it. I let out a low hiss as I pressed against the tender and hot wound. It seemed a bit more sensitive than it should have been. I scowled at it darkly as I gently pressed the cloth to it and held it there. I had been getting dressed before the stupid thing had caught my attention and I decided to tend to it.

The shower shut off and I wanted to let out a small sigh. I was not looking forward to his verbal barrage towards me. It wasn't that I was getting attached and it would hurt my feelings. It was more of an I was fucking exhausted and sore and I didn't have the energy to deal with his elitist rhetoric. I rubbed at my forehead with my free hand before I lifted the cloth up from the wound. I stared at the blood on the cloth with a faint feeling of irritation.

"Fucking thing." I looked down and I could see the wound had opened slightly, leaking blood in a small trail down my stomach towards the top of my sweatpants I had thrown on. I quickly wiped it up so it wouldn't soak into the band of my pants. "Stupid..." I gently patted at the wound once again, "Just had to open up, didn't you?"

"What are you doing?" At the voice I turned slightly, my back turned to him.

"Nothing." I didn't need him to start mocking me. He hadn't yesterday and I was fairly positive that it was going to be in his schedule for the day. Written darkly in his schedule book would be five words, 'Piss off the rat today'. He would have circled it too, with some stars. I mean I couldn't entirely say anything about irritating people because I loved doing it but there was a viciousness, a cruelty, to when Revan did it that mine lacked.

"Don't start that attitude with me." His tone held a hard warning that I rolled my eyes at. "I thought my lesson would have lingered a bit longer than that. I can almost guarantee your ass is still sore." My cheeks flushed as a wave of heat rolled through me. I remembered the faint ache that my ass did indeed have when I had woken up. I had never thought I could damn near get off on spanking but it was becoming a distinct possibility.

I didn't know what to truly make of me being so submissive with him but he got me off so well that I was hesitant to complain about it. A girl needed to get while the gettin' was good and not get offended over a bit of submissive tendencies towards a rather irresistibly, sexually dominant male that was honestly wickedly attractive. I might not have liked his elitism or his rather aggravating personality but I wasn't blind. He was highly sexually attractive to me.

Faint footsteps came closer and I stifled a sigh. "What are you doing?" I ignored him as I tried to get the small bit of bleeding to stop. Hands grabbed me and I was turned around. "I asked you a question and I expect it to be answered." At the statement I rolled my eyes. He wasn't entirely the most observant person.

"I did answer. I said nothing. My answer remains as it was." He didn't need to start nitpicking everything I did. He had seemed to grow... needy after our bouts of sex. I wasn't sure about it. Then again my own mind was in such a fucking mess about it that I had no clue what I wanted to do or feel half the time. This entire situation was completely fucking messed up to me. Revan wanted to eradicate mongrels and those he deemed were of lesser blood but he sought me out, no longer looked at me like I was something he wanted to destroy.

It was weird. The entire situation was fucking weird. If I didn't know better I would have thought that perhaps he had grown accustomed to me, that he might have actually enjoyed my presence. It was a laughable thought at best.

I was gripped around my ribcage and lifted to sit on the counter. I let out a surprised little squeak, my eyes widening as I reached out to grab Revan's shoulder to support myself. His skin burned against my palm and I yanked my hand back as I gave him a dark scowl. My mouth dropped open to give him shit when he bent down, taking a closer look at the stab wound.

"This is infected." He glanced up at me with a rather disapproving look, as if I wanted the fucking thing to get infected. He dropped his gaze and snagged the washcloth from me before gently pressing it to the wound. "It's not a full blown infection yet but if we don't get it clean you will get seriously ill." He rinsed out the cloth before draping it over his shoulder and forcing himself between my legs. His hand smoothed down my back before he cupped my ass and lifted me off the counter. I gave another squeak of surprise and wrapped my arms around him quickly as he carried me to the kitchen table and set me down.

I quickly let him go, ready to snap at any remark he would make when he simply turned back and moved towards the cupboards without a word. I watched him curiously, trying hard to ignore the faint throbbing in my stomach as it pulsed from the wound. The stupid thing. I looked down, looking at the destroyed flesh. It really was ugly and I knew it would not scar nicely. There was the sound of a pill bottle rattling and I glanced over at him again a touch warily but the pill bottle he had was the ibuprofen. I relaxed slightly, swinging my legs lightly in an attempt to ignore the pain as he turned on the water and the pill bottle rattled as he put it away.

He moved to stand in front of me again and held out his hand. I held out mine and he pressed two advil into my palm and handed me a glass of water with what looked to be only one large drink in it. I shrugged my shoulders as he moved away and tossed the two pills into my mouth and gulped down the water. It had a bitter taste and a gritty texture that had me coughing. "What the hell was that?" My gaze immediately zeroed in on him and he seemed intent on his task as he ignored me.

"Hey, stinky, what the fuck did you put in that water?" The taste lingered and my mouth seemed to feel a bit drier than normal and my arms started to feel a bit heavy. He came to stand in front of me again as my head drooped. What the hell had he done? He grabbed the back of my neck and slowly guided me to lay down. I shivered against the cold top of the table as my vision grew fuzzy.

"I crushed half of one of your sleeping pills and put it in the water." His voice sounded nearly far away and I lifted a hand that felt like it weighed eighty pounds to my forehead as his burning hand on the back of my neck retreated.

"Why?" The word came out slurred and I felt the warm and almost soothing touch to my jawline before it disappeared.

"Because I don't want you awake for this part." His words seemed to echo in the darkness swallowing me whole and then I knew nothing of his echoes or the world around me.

****

I woke up feeling groggy and when I went to sit up I had a large hand press me back down. I was confused and slightly disorientated. I couldn't even crack my eyes open and the hand moved to the back of my head and lifted it slightly. "Drink." The command was followed by the rim of a cold glass touching my bottom lip. I opened my mouth and the moment the cold water hit my tongue I started drinking heavily. I had been unaware of just how thirsty I had been. "That's enough." The glass was pulled away and another hand pressed to my stomach where it faintly pulsed with pain.

The bed dipped and a warm hand touched my forehead. "How are you feeling?" The hand moved to my cheek and I finally managed to pry my eyes open. I felt really tired but not too bad. Basically it felt like the time that I had been roofied at a bar and Ginessa had taken me home after gutting the bastard who had done it.

"Like I was drugged." I managed a glare towards the male who was sitting beside me. Revan looked completely unrepentant as he tilted his head at me. His icy eyes had a tinge of amusement to them.

"That would be because you were." He shifted on the bed and pulled the blankets away from my body. I became aware I was completely naked underneath them and I almost wanted to squirm in slight uncomfortableness. There was a difference between being very horny and wanting sex and having a critical look sweep over my body. I didn't want to feel overly concerned with what he thought about me or my body but my stupid hormones were being ridiculous.

His hand reached for a bandage that had been placed on my lower left abdomen and gently lifted the one edge. He looked under it before he gave a satisfied sound and carefully took it off entirely. "It's looking better." I lifted my head slightly to see the stab wound and while it was still slightly red it was not swollen or throbbing with pain and it was stitched. "I'm going to lift you to sitting." I gave a short nod and with an easy move he slid his arm under my back and I was lifted to sitting. I winced slightly but the pain wasn't nearly as unbearable as it had been the last time.

I lifted my hand to touch it and he slapped it away lightly. "Don't touch." Without warning he slid his other arm underneath my legs and picked me up. I immediately wrapped my arms around his neck, afraid he would drop me and make that faint throbbing of my wound worse. I wouldn't have put it past him to do so.

However he merely carried me to the bathroom as set me into the small bath gently. I hissed slightly as the wound was submerged. I was surprised he had even drawn me a bath let alone was taking care of me. It was weird and I didn't like it. I wanted things to go back to how they had been. When I threw caustic comments at him just to watch him squirm. However I didn't see a reason not to do just that. "If I knew it would have made you this courteous I would have fucked you weeks ago." I reached for a washcloth and threw a glance at him. He had stood up and had his arms crossed over his chest.

"I can't say the same. I knew you would beg for it the moment I set my eyes on you." He gave me a rather smug smirk as he turned around and left. I felt a faint flush tinge my cheeks and I dunked the washcloth into the water and scrubbed at my face to get rid of it. Once I was sure that the redness was sufficiently hidden I stopped my scrubbing.

"What fucking time is it?" I looked up at the grimy bathroom window but there wasn't much I could do off of. It looked dark but I wasn't sure. I had wanted to go to the stall before dick face had drugged me. I still felt a bit sour about that.

"Nearly six in the morning." At the casually said words that came in from the open bathroom door I scowled darkly. I had been out for the entire day? I gave a small groan and glared at the open door.

"Thanks for that roofie by the way." I spat the words out. Was never going to let him give me anything ever again. I had lost nearly twenty-four hours because of that little glass of bitter water. It was fitting that the man with the bitter scent gave it to me.

"You are welcome. You should also thank me for the second one I gave you as well because I didn't give you that glass of water yesterday. I gave it to you the day before that." He sounded amused and my mouth dropped open. I was going to kill him.

"You mother fucker!" I attempted to get out of the bath and gave a short cry as the wound pulled with mind searing pain. I stiffened, unable to move as the pain tore through me. There seemed to be an answering snarl that echoed in the apartment as I grabbed the wound with a teary wince.

"Don't you fucking tear those stitches, Emily!" His voice was growled and I closed my eyes tightly as the wound throbbed with pain. I slowly slid back into the water as my breathing came out in heavy pants.

"Emily now?" I choked the words out as I pressed on the wound and closed my eyes tightly as I breathed through the pain, my other hand gripping the edge of the tub tightly.

"What damage did you do to it?" There was a rumble to his voice that spoke of something I did not want to figure out. "Come on, get up." He grabbed my arms and I hissed as he slowly lifted me to my knees. I blinked my watery eyes open and watched him with a faint curiosity as he knelt down beside the tub. "Move your hand." I let my hand drop from my stomach and he grabbed my hips, his face pinched as he stared at the wound. He twisted my hips with his hands and I tried to ignore how they seemed to brand his touch into my skin.

"Cloth." He didn't look at me as I fished the cloth from the water and handed it over. He gently pressed the cloth against the wound with a look of concentration.

"Worried, stinky?" I needed to create a barrier between us, to maintain that feeling of distance between us when I felt like we were getting far too close. I didn't like the feeling. I didn't like the thought that I was somehow getting attached to the elitist pureblood bastard.

"I cleaned the wound, stitched it, and I got you through a rather nasty fever that had you muttering incoherently about lilies." At the word my breath hitched in my chest and I felt my heart nearly stop. Scents of heavy perfume and cosmetics filled my nose almost as heavy as the despair that had always tainted the air of the harem thickly.

Such a pretty mountain lily you are.

Dark eyes of a predator always looked me over at the word, the name. Lily.

I shuddered slightly. The gaze has always felt like daggers drug across my skin. Nothing could get rid of that feeling. I ached for claws to tear into those eyes and rip them out, to never let his foul gaze touch my skin again. MacIntosh would pay for what he had done to me. One day.

"I am simply irritated that you would try to ruin all of my work in keeping you alive." His voice snapped me back to reality. I shoved the memories away. I couldn't think of that and I certainly couldn't let him know about it. It was the one thing that coated my soul in such a thick dredge that even the blood of those who had wronged me could never wash off.

I swallowed, trying to find my voice. "Why even try?" It came out a bit more strained but if Revan noticed he didn't show it as he moved the cloth from my wound and swiped it across my belly almost methodically.

"I still have use for you, rat." The words were said sharply and the cloth drug up my side and he then swiped it across my rib cage. I wasn't sure what he was doing, my body certainly enjoyed the care being taken but it made me feel weird. I was used to stinky being predictable, he was now acting very out of character. Well as much out of character as a psychopath possibly could act.

"Not really." I watched as he tilted his head, his eyes following the cloth as he continued to drag it over my skin. My hips got the same methodical cleaning as the rest of my belly had. "You could simply get rid of me and stay here yourself. This area still has a heavy concentration of lesser bloods." I had really no use to him now. There was none. By now he had to have figured out the mold situation and the fact that no one could really find him in the apartment.

"Tempting, mongrel, however I cannot deal with those that come to your door." He trailed the cloth down my outer thigh and I gave a faint shudder as he pulled the cloth away and repeated the gesture to my other thigh.

"Sounds like an excuse to me." At that his gaze snapped to mine, his hand halting in its movement.

"Do you want me to kill you?" His light blue eyes were slightly darkened as he narrowed his eyes at me and I tilted my head as I looked at him.

"Do you want to kill me?" At the question his eyes narrowed further and he stood up, dropping the cloth in the water.

"Clean yourself up." The words came from between gritted teeth as he turned around and stalked out of the bathroom. I raised an eyebrow at that before slowly sitting back in the water with a faint whimper from the pain. I bowed my head as I ground my teeth together, reaching for the cloth. I dragged it up my arm, wiping away the sweat that must have accumulated during my fever. I ignored my hair as I continued to clean up. I doubted I would have been able to clean it in the tub. I didn't particularly care, I would have a shower after I came home from the stall. I knew I could wash my hair in the shower.

I finished up with the washing and got to my knees once again, looking out of the tub with a determined expression. I had to be smart about getting out of the tub. I turned around and lifted myself to sit on the edge of the tub before I carefully turned my entire body and carefully lifted my legs out. I hissed as the wound pulled slightly and warned me not to do any sudden movements or it would have me curled up on the floor in a puddle of tears.

My stomach growled lightly and I ignored it as I slowly got to my feet, wrapping myself in a towel. I finished up my routine in a rather stiff fashion. I didn't exactly know what stinky had done to the wound but it felt like he had scoured it with a brillo pad and then stitched it up with a rusty and jagged needle. My stomach let out another growl that was quite a bit louder than the last and I let out a small sigh as I slowly made my way out of the bathroom.

I looked around and stinky was staring at the kitchen table with a rather curious look on his face. I watched him for a few moments but he seemed intent on just staring at his spot at the table. I shook my head slightly and moved towards my clothes. I knew I had a large jumpsuit I could wear. That seemed so much easier to get into than anything else. I let the towel drop as I grabbed a pair of underwear and looked at it with a slight sinking feeling in my stomach. They were going to be a bitch to get on.

I pressed my hand to the stab wound and ground my teeth together as I bent down. The pain flared hotly as I did so and I bit of a sharp cry. Either stinky had done something to the stupid thing when he cleaned it or all the drugs were now out of my system and I was at the brunt of the wound's complete and total fury.

"What are you doing?" The words were hissed out and I rolled my eyes as I straightened slightly, trying to take the pressure off the wound.

"Trying to put my clothes on." I would succeed in doing so as well. I wasn't a whimpering and crying ball because of a measly stab wound.

"You are going to tear the stitches." He gave a faint growl and I could hear him moving closer. I turned around slowly, taking care not to twist too sharply.

"Why do you care?" I glowered at him and he he returned the look before he snagged the underwear from my hand.

"I don't. I couldn't care less about you." His gaze held a bit of fire to temper the ice blue of his eyes as he crouched down in front of me. "However I need you functional before one of your little males comes looking for you." He spat the words out as he grabbed one of my legs and lifted it, slipping the underwear onto it.

I sneered at him slightly, unable to help myself. "Jealous, stinky?" I had no clue why he would bring up that stupid shit. I grabbed his shoulder as I stepped into the other side of the underwear when he tapped my leg.

"Not at all. However if you aren't alive to tell them to fuck off they will become a pain in my ass that I do not want or need." He slipped the lacy underwear up my legs and settled it into place before he glared up at me.

"That lame excuse? Please." I spat the words at him, anger rolling around my belly. He gave me a deadly look as he snagged a pair of his sweatpants from the edge of the couch.

"Lame excuse?" He crouched down again and held them out for me. "After you spent fucking days telling me about how they come in here and run a fucking train on you. Why would that not fuck with my plans in laying low?" I grabbed his shoulder again, the stab wound throbbing as I stepped into them.

"That sounds like jealousy to me!" I narrowed my eyes at him. He was a fine one to get fucking jealous after he spent his time with that unknown female. He had come back smelling of her more than once. He didn't hear me bitching about that like he did with my non-existent train for males. He yanked the pants up with a dark growl.

"Why would I be jealous of any male you come into contact with? You have nothing I want or need." He stood up before he turned and grabbed one of my tank tops.

"Please! What do you need, Revan?" I mimicked the same tone I had used when I had asked that question before as I tied the sweatpants. They hung slightly lower than I normally would have had them before I grabbed a bra. "We have been well over what you want and need from me." I attempted to put the bra and and gave a sharp cry as my movements yanked on the throbbing wound. I hunched forward, my hand immediately going to press on it.

"Be careful! And don't you fucking bring that into this!" He grabbed the bra from me, yanking the straps up my arms before reaching around me and doing it up smoothly. "As I recall you begged me to let you come." I slowly straightened and I gritted my teeth as the wound throbbed under my hand.

"Because you were an asshole who wasn't letting me! Even the most frigid bitch would beg in that state!" I knew how orgasm denial went. Anyone would have begged for it in that state. He shouldn't have let it go to his head. He was just so infuriating.

"Keep telling yourself that, rat." He sneered the word before he tugged the tank top over my head. "Next are you going to tell me that you were so hard up for some cock that anyone had looked good? That I denied you your legion of followers to get jiggy with so you used what was available?" Why did it always come back to them. What was going on in his head that made him focus solely on that? I let him pull my arms through the arm holes of the tank top. He wasn't as rough when he pulled my left arm through, his hand pressing against the wound as if in an attempt to protect it.

"Please. I haven't had a single male come to that door since you showed up. A smart person would realize I was fucking with them." I glared at him as he tugged the tank top down, his hand retreating from the wound as he did so.

He looked at me with narrowed eyes. "What?"

"I said that because I knew it bothered you and you made it so damn easy to poke at. As if I would let some fucking street punk get handsy with me!" There was no one out there that I would allow to come into my space. "As if I would bring any male back here at all! That is just asking to get fucking caught!" I snapped my teeth together tightly at the little slip. He did not need to hear that.