Secret Santa Surprise (Kindred Tales)

Strong just hoped his brother was right and that Melanie would understand as well. If she didn’t, they could be in a very sticky situation once she woke up…

6

When she woke up, Melanie was lying on her left side, cradled in warmth and darkness. There was a hard, firm pillow at her back and one in front of her too. The sensation of being held between them made her feel safe and protected and she sighed deeply and stretched luxuriously before cuddling down again between the warm pillows.

Only, who ever heard of pillows that breathed?

Because these pillows were breathing. They seemed to be moving slowly up and down in perfect rhythm with each other. In and out…in and out…

There was also a delicious smell in the air, Melanie realized. It was actually a combination of scents—a warm, spicy, masculine musk mixed with a sharp, clean scent like the tang of a northern ocean. Combined, the notes made her whole body tingle when she inhaled it.

Mmm…so good! She sniffed again and realized the scent was coming from the two breathing pillows that were holding her between them. Was it some kind of Kindred therapy? She remembered vaguely that she’d hurt her hand. Was this part of the treatment?

She shifted again and lifted her hand to study it in the dim light. It looked all right. At least, there was no hole in it now. In fact, though it was difficult to tell in the low illumination, it looked perfectly normal.

Experimentally, she used her hand to stroke the pillow in front of her. It had a smooth, warm texture that felt good under her fingertips. Melanie ran her hand up and down its surface, enjoying the tactile pleasure of touching without any pain whatsoever.

“Enjoying yourself, little one?”

The deep, rumbling voice coming from the pillow she’d been petting made Melanie gasp and jerk her hand away.

“What—?” she began. And then the pillow moved and turned over.

Before she knew it, she was face to face—or face to chest—with Strong, Clear’s twin brother.

“Oh!” she gasped, looking up at him. “What…what are you doing in my bed?”

“You’re in our bed, actually,” Strong told her. He frowned. “I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t want to just leave you at the Med Center at the end of my shift. You’d been through a lot and I wanted to keep an eye on you.”

“So you and Clear brought me home and put me in bed with you?” Melanie demanded. “Is that what you usually do with patients you want to keep an eye on?”

“Not at all,” he assured her. “It’s actually very unusual.”

“Before you get upset, let me assure you that nothing inappropriate happened.” This was Clear, speaking from behind her. “We asked the nurse to put you into a gown for greater comfort. Neither Strong or myself saw you or handled your body while you were undressed.”

Melanie gave a little jump and looked over her shoulder.

“I never said I thought you, uh, molested me,” she protested. “This just seems…like a strange kind of treatment—bringing me home to bed with you. You know?”

“It may seem strange to you,” Strong rumbled. “But when a Twin Kindred becomes attached to a female, there is healing to be had by holding her between himself and his twin.”

“We can’t bite you and heal you like a Blood Kindred can with his mate,” Clear added. “But when we have a female we care about between us, we exude a kind of ‘healing energy.’ Does that make sense?”

“Um…I guess so…” Melanie wasn’t quite sure she believed them, but she had to admit that though it was an awkward way to wake up, it was certainly true that she felt a thousand percent better than she had the day before.

“How does your hand feel this morning?” Strong asked, looking down at her, with more than professional interest, she thought.

“Much better, I think.” Melanie held it up and flexed, then snapped her fingers, showing that the pointer and thumb were working just fine.

“Let’s have a look. Lights on low,” Strong called authoritatively.

A warm glow lit the dim room from some recessed fixtures Melanie couldn’t see in the floor and ceiling. Sitting up, Strong reached for her hand and examined it closely, peering at the spot between her index finger and her thumb with careful attention to detail.

“It’s definitely much better,” he said at last, looking down at her as she lay there, still cradled from behind by Clear’s big body. “And you say it feels good too?”

“It does.” She nodded and flexed her fingers again. “Those nanites really did the trick. But you were right—they were horribly painful.” She shivered with the memory of the awful pain she’d endured.

“You were extraordinarily brave,” Strong rumbled. Then, to her surprise, he kissed her hand gently, right where she’d been hurt and then healed, before letting it go.