Chapter 17
When we finally did arrive at the Chief’s den we were greeted by his pack. They introduced themselves, then two of them showed us where we would be staying. I was always kept in the middle of my pack so his pack didn’t pick up my scent, that would cause problems.
We were given two, two-story houses to live in at the very far end of a field. His den’s house was at one end, ours on the other end. A good twenty acres between packs.
Then we were given instructions on what trails we could run on. We were given everything we could possibly need to survive on. Then told if we needed anything from town to make a list and their pack would pick it up for us.
Once our guide left, we started checking out our new digs. The first house had six bedrooms upstairs. The second house had four bedrooms. Not near enough for all of us, we would have to double up.
In my case, that was a problem. I wanted Zeke to stay in my room. Rufus, Kyle, Duncan, and Marcus wanted to stay in my room to. Marcus surprised me. I didn’t know my brother cared so much. Since I had been rescued, he had been more of a guard dog than any of them.
“Marcus, I appreciate you wanting to help me, but there just isn’t enough room for all of us in my room. As for you three (I pointed at them Rufus, Kyle, Duncan) I would never be able to sleep, you three would be fighting all the time. Zeke and I get along well. We have learned how to play well together. You three haven’t. If we need anyone else to stay in my room, why not let it be Amos and Cane. We all know how to behave.”
“No way, I don’t want to stay in your room.”
“Fine Cane can sleep outside for all I care.”
“Sis, I didn’t mean it, I was kidding.”
“No, you weren’t. Father?”
“I say if this is how it is going to be we all sleep in the living room under one roof. Now Princess, you have to understand the young ones want to be near you.”
“I do. I know they are scared to death someone else will come for me. I get that. But they’re suffocating me.”
“Princess we aren’t trying to suffocate you. We simply want to protect you.”
“Yeah from yourself.”
“Kyle what does that mean?”
“At the police station, you talked about being the bait. We all know you, if you think for one second it would make a difference you’re going to crawl out a window and run off.”
“Oh, I see, you don’t trust my judgment. I guess I can understand that.” I lost that fight. The one bed was in the center of one wall. On each side, there was a window. Under each window, slept two wolves. Under one slept Rufus and Amos. Under the other window was Duncan and Kyle. In my bed was Zeke. In front of my closed door slept, Marcus. On the outside of my closed door slept Cane.
The first few days went pretty well. I stayed inside as much as possible. Then I got tired of being cooped up. I wanted, no I needed to run. The wolf in me was going crazy. Father agreed, the pack would all go for a run with me.
I went outside and stretched in the fresh air. I was so glad to be outside. Leaving the windows open helped, but it wasn’t the same. I was standing on the porch looking around when I noticed I was being watched. Four young wolves from the Chief’s pack were across the field just a little ways watching me. I was the only one on the porch, so I knew they caught my scent. Just great, I thought.
Just as the young, curious wolves started toward me, Rufus stepped out of the house to stand by my side. He was growling a warning before I even got a chance to move back inside.
“No Rufus. We don’t need any trouble. Come, let’s just go back inside. I can go out the back door.”
Rufus being the dominant male, stood his ground. It was a challenge. The other wolves didn’t see him as a threat they kept coming. I was pulling and tugging on Rufus’s arms.
“Come on Rufus. Please, this pack is helping us, we can’t start trouble. I shouldn’t have come out the front door. Please, Rufus, stop it.”
He kept growling and standing his ground. They kept coming. I howled. It brought wolves from all directions my pack and their pack. Already to fight. I was freaking out.
Zeke grabbed hold of me trying to pull me back inside. Father and Marcus had hold of Rufus. The other pack took hold of their young ones and pulled them away. It nearly became a very nasty fight.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have stepped out front. I wasn’t thinking. Rufus look at me it’s over ok?”
He was still in fighting stance. Father and Marcus still held on to him just in case he ran out front into a fight. He really needed a fight. He had been holding back ever since I got home. I knew it was only a matter of time before he exploded.
“Princess it wasn’t anything you did. Their young males can smell you whether you are outside or not. It was seeing you that made them curious enough to step forward. You just need to be more careful. Now how about we go for that run. Everyone out the back door.”
We made our way out the back door, then everyone shifted. I took the lead. The pack followed all around. I hadn’t gotten to run in so long I was overly excited and careless. I hadn’t run this trail before. I didn’t know all the terrain. I was running and leaping over logs having a really good time. Then I made a vital mistake. I jumped over a log and there wasn’t any ground on the other side. It went off the side of a hill into a gully. The landscape looked like it connected the other side. But when I jumped over the huge log I quickly found out there was a-wide space that only had air. I was free falling and howling like a baby. The fall was a good fifty feet. I could hear my pack scrambling down the sides of the gulley trying to get down to me. I thought I was never going to hit bottom, but when I did I hurt from head to toe. I had to have broken all my bones.
Father was the first to reach me. Then Rufus followed by Zeke, who was feeling my pain. Father sniffed me from head to toe assessing my injuries. Then he lifted his head up in the air and howled. He was sure I was done for.
Rufus shifted. I had already shifted. The minute one of us gets hurt severely our wolf turns back to human. So, there I was lying naked in a crumpled state in severe pain. Rufus didn’t seem to notice I was naked. I am sure he did, but he was all business like. “Easy now. Princess, I am afraid your hurt pretty bad. You must have hit every rock on the way down. I am going to have to carry you. I’m sorry it’s going to hurt.”
The Chiefs’ pack had heard the howling and come to investigate in case Max somehow had found us. When the second in command looked over the edge of the log I had jumped over, he started shouting orders to his pack.
He yelled down that he had sent for a gurney and some rope to wait and they would help get me back up to the top. Father thanked them.
“What were you thinking? Princess, can you breathe?”
I was trying to, but it wasn’t going so well. I was pretty sure I had a broken rib in one of my lungs. Normally that fall wouldn’t have done quite so much damage, but there just happened to be large rocks sticking out with sharp points. I had hit each one bouncing from one to the other till I finally came to a halt at the bottom. Not only did I have broken bones, but cuts, large, deep, bleeding cuts.
“I take that as a no. I think your lung has been punctured. Oh, little wolf why? You have been through enough already. I take it you thought there was land over the other side of the log.”
I shook my head. Yeah, that is what I thought. Guess I was slightly off on that one. I couldn’t talk I was hurting too bad. The other pack brought back a homemade contraption. It had poles on each side and was covered with a canvass. They laid me on the canvass then tied me to it. Then they had Rufus tie a rope around his waist so they could pull him up at the same time they pulled me up. He would have to keep me off the rocks. One of their pack propelled down human so he could get the other end of the homemade thing. Between the two of them, they could carry my makeshift bed while being pulled up. My pack made their way back to the top.
Once up I was carried back to the house. It was slow going because
every bump caused me pain and I was either growling or howling. They had to take it slow to keep from hurting me.
I was a werewolf, I would heal. But I had to have the bones set to heal properly. At the house, they laid me on the living room floor, so they had a hard surface to work with.
The wolf from their pack stayed to help. My pack had shifted and dressed. Everyone was in the living room watching and waiting to see just how bad it was.
Father went over me with a fine-tooth comb. I had six broken bones. Eight almost broken. My right arm was broken in two places. Father told Rufus and Kyle to hold me down. Like that was enough.
When father started pulling my arm trying to realign my bones I came up off the floor swinging with my left arm. I only had my shoulder off the floor, but I still had enough momentum to hit hard. I was in pain and fighting hard. I landed a blow upside my father’s head that made his head bob sideways.
He said a few choice words and told some of the others to help hold me down. Once my arm was set he moved to my left leg. It was broken above the knee and the ankle. Again, he pulled it while they held me down. I was biting and snapping at them. I was hurting and they were hurting me more. Instinct takes over when someone is hurting me.
Once my arm and leg were taken care of father started on my ribs. If they had done them first I would have rebroke them when they set my limbs. Father had to dig into my chest to grab the ribs in my lung. Talk about pain. I passed out.
When I came to some time later I was in bed with bandaged ribs and a room full of worried wolves. Some not from my pack. When I came to the Chief was even there. I don’t know how long I had been out.
Zeke was the first to realize I was coming around. He sat on the side of my bed holding my hand up to his chest. “Hey, you trying to scare me to death as usual. Princess, how do you feel? Can you breathe better?”
“Much. Looks like I did it again, huh?”
“Looks like. Although isn’t it me who usually has the broken bones and you who rescues me? I think you got it backwards this time. Sis, I… I thought I lost you for sure this time. Your heart stopped at one point. It seemed like time stood still till your heart started beating again.”
“Hey, you’re awake.”
“Yeah, wish I weren’t. Rufus, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare everyone. I should have been paying more attention. I was just so relieved to be out and running I wasn’t paying attention.”
“I know, little one. I know. I am just glad you’re all right or will be. How do you feel?”
“Like I have been run over and tossed out of a moving truck and ran over again.”
“That good, huh. Well, you must not have done it right. Hey babe, how are you really?” Kyle smiled.
“Kyle I’m all right. Where is Duncan?”
Duncan’s worried face appeared above me. “Here I am sweetie. You don’t think you’re going to get rid of me that easy, do you?”
“Nope. How are you feeling?”
“Me?”
“Yes, the silver poisoning?”
“Oh, that. It was no big deal.” He still looked a little green. Of course, that could be from waiting to see if I were going to be alright or not.
“I am so glad our teacher was there to dig that bullet out. If you had to keep it too long things might have been a lot different.”
“Does thou ears hear concern for me? Could it be she does love me?”
“Oh stop, you know I care.”
“Princess, it’s good to see you awake. Seems like lately you have been out more than awake. Could you eat something?’
“I think I can manage that, Zeke.”
“Good, it will help the healing. Your cuts have almost healed the bones well, it’s going to be a few days.”
“I know.”
“You know, if you had more meat on your bones, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt so bad.”
“Yeah, and if I hadn’t been drugged for weeks I wouldn’t be in this shape in the first place.”
“Whoa, Princess don’t go yelling, you’re wasting energy.”
“Sorry, Rufus. It’s just I am so tired of being this way. If I ever get my hands on him, I swear I will rip him to shreds. I will…”
“Hi, remember me? Your friendly Chief of police.”
“Hi, Chief.”
“I heard about your fall. I came to check on you. I’m sorry you got hurt. We should have thought and mentioned that crevasse. We all know it’s there. I guess we just never thought…”
“Not everyone would be dumb enough to find it the hard way. I should have been paying attention. It’s my own fault. It was stupid to be running and not paying attention. Especially when I have never been here before. It was careless of me.”
“You know I get the feeling you think everything that happens in your life is your fault. You know what, you’re wrong.” The chief was trying his best to make me feel better, but I wasn’t buying it. It was my fault. If I had just paid attention I wouldn’t have jumped over that log or fallen.
A couple of days went by with everyone coming in every few minutes to check on me. I was getting so tired of wolves asking me how I was. On the fifth day, I got up off the bed and took a shower. I got dressed and made my way downstairs. I had woken up while the rest of them were still sleeping. I wanted to make breakfast for them like I normally did.
I started cooking bacon and sausage, then put on some biscuits. I was mixing the eggs with cheese to scramble when I noticed I had a crowd. I turned around to see six very unhappy wolves with their arms across their chest staring at me. “What?”
“You know what, what are you doing out of bed? And how the hell did you get past all of us?”
“I am cooking like I used to do. You know breakfast. It will be ready in about ten, fifteen minutes. I thought I might make French toast too.”
“Sit down. Your leg is just barely healed. Princess, we will take care of things. You need to let your body heal all the way.”
“I am going crazy laying around. I feel fine now. Go get cleaned up and ready for breakfast. Out of my kitchen.”
Zeke starts pulling plates out. Duncan gets the glasses out and fills them with milk. Rufus is still standing there watching me. I have a limp I don’t want them to see. I try not to move much while they’re watching me. But I need to get the biscuits out of the oven. I walk toward the mitts I laid on the sink while I was working on the eggs. Rufus doesn’t miss my limp.
“See, you’re not healed. You’re limping. Cara, I swear if you don’t get off your leg I am going to haul you upstairs and tie you to the bed.”
“You touch me, and I am going to whip your ass.” Father and the others have now heard the arguing and have started coming into the kitchen. Now it is one against the pack. I argue till I am blue in the face that I am well enough to cook. In the end, I am carried into the living room and sat on the couch.
Now I know they all care and they are just trying to help me, but damn it, I can’t just sit around thinking. When I have nothing to do I think about Max and I don’t want to think of him.
“Now we will finish breakfast and bring you a plate. You sit and watch the tube and relax.” I have my arms crossed over my chest and the maddest face I can wear on. I will wait till they are in the kitchen, then I will go outside. I need some air.
They don’t leave me alone till after we have eaten. The pack has gone out back to have a meeting. I am sure what it is about, how to keep me off my leg. Well, fine.
They make the mistake of thinking I am sleeping on the couch. I am pretending. Once everyone is gone out back, I slip out the front door. Shutting it as quietly as I can. I take off for a walk. I cut across the field into the woods. I walk a long way before I hear them or someone behind me. I keep walking.
I come to a stream. The water is cold. I cup a handful to get a drink. It is so nice to be outside. Once I have a drink, I keep walking, crossing the little stream. I know whoever is following me isn’t from my pack they would have gr
abbed me by now and stopped me. I sniff the air as I walk.
The scent scares me to death. I start howling. It isn’t one I want to smell. Max! I start trying to run, but he steps out in front of me. He was fast enough to circle around me and stop me in my tracks. “What the hell do you want?”
“My mate is that any way to talk to me? I simply stopped by to check on you. I saw you fall. I was scared at first, I thought perhaps you died. Then when I saw them carrying you up I knew my baby was strong and a good fighter. A little fall isn’t going to stop you. It looks like it has slowed you some as you are limping.”
“You killed my brothers, you asshole. I will kill you.”
“Oh, you and who else? Come on, you think you can take me down, go for it. I would love the challenge. It would be fun. Excitingly fun. You make me hard just thinking of wrestling with you.”
I howl again. I know my pack has heard me. Then I lunged at him. He wasn’t expecting me to really attack him. I had him off his feet and flat on his back. I was clawing and snapping my teeth in his face. He wasn’t laughing anymore. He couldn’t shift because I had him pinned. I couldn’t shift if I wanted to hold on to him.
I heard a howl in the background and answered it. I knew they would be with us very soon. So, did Max. He started struggling with me till he managed to free one hand. He hit me upside my head, and I heard bells ringing.
“Sorry baby, but I am not ready for your pack to catch me. I will see you again very soon love.” He tried to get up and run, but I was able to grab his leg. I was about to bring him down again when he shifted. Now I was on the ground looking up at his fangs. He saw the pack coming up the trail. He stepped closer licked my face and was gone.
Rufus flew over the top of me shifting and off he went. The pack gave chase. My brother Cane stopped to take care of me. Then Zeke came back to help.
“What were you doing out here?”
“Taking a walk. I didn’t think he knew where we were.”
One Princess One Pack One Villain Page 20
