The Healer

by Theresa Hissong

  “Don’t touch that!” he barked, rushing toward her, but she held up her hand to stop him. “Put down the scalpel, Luna. There is no need to harm yourself. I promise you will be fine and people are here to help you work through what happened.”

  “I’m trying to teach you something about white wolves,” she said, rolling her eyes. The healer looked stunned at her actions, but she was offering him the information he was seeking. “I can heal myself.”

  The healer made a strangled noise in his throat when she opened her left hand and used the tool to slice into her palm, ignoring the burn of the cut.

  “What have you done?” he gasped and reached for a glass jar full of gauze. “Let me see your hand.”

  “Watch,” she ordered, holding out her unharmed hand to stop him from fretting over something to clean up the blood.

  Luna dug down deep, past where her wolf slept silently in her mind. She felt the healing power and harnessed it, pushing it out through her palms. A warmth began at her fingertips on both hands; the glow from her magic grew like a bulb warming up on an antique lamp. She didn’t look up at the healer’s reaction while she concentrated on stitching the damage she’d done to herself. With such a simple wound, the magic worked quickly and thoroughly. It only took half a minute to seal the wound. She looked up at his shocked face. “See?”

  “How did you do that?” he asked, sitting down heavily on the stool behind him. She was shocked he landed directly on it, because the healer looked like he had seen a ghost. The male was pale and his eyes widened as he watched the scene before him.

  “Magic,” she shrugged.

  “I…I don’t understand,” he said, looking at her in awe.

  “I healed myself as soon as we arrived here. I was given food and water, and it strengthened me enough so I could repair the damage to my body.” She smiled, but it was sad. The look on the healer’s face worried her. He looked concerned and almost angry. “Maybe I shouldn’t have showed you.”

  “No,” he jerked, shaking his head. The male’s features softened, and Luna let out a soft gasp. He was absolutely stunning. The male’s eyes were a bright icy blue as they locked gazes with her own yellow. “I will not say anything to the others, unless directly asked by the alphas. If you do not want this known, I swear to you, you have my utmost confidentiality.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, the tension in her shoulders releasing with his promise. “I don’t know who I can trust, but I trust Theo, and I know if he brought me here, I should trust your pride as well.”

  “We are a peaceful pride,” the healer told her. “All we’ve ever wanted to do is live happily amongst our land, and now that the humans know about us, we just want to be left alone with our families.”

  “Do you have a family?” she asked quickly, the heat from embarrassment creeping up her cheeks. “I’m sorry, that was too personal.”

  “No, no. It’s okay,” he replied. “I haven’t mated, and my family was killed twenty years ago in a fire.”

  “Oh!” Luna gasped, feeling tears well up in her eyes when she realized this male had also lost his family. “I’m so sorry, Healer.”

  “Harold,” he corrected her. “You can call me Harold.”

  “Harold,” she nodded, testing the sound on her tongue and liking the way his name fell from her lips.

  Dane sipped on his beer, his eyes narrowed on the middle-aged human men who were ordering their dinners across the bar. Olivia was working a double shift that evening since Winter had taken Nova and their son, Atlas, away on a sudden vacation a few hours ago and wouldn’t be home for another three days. Liberty was working on payroll in the office and had left Cole in charge of the bar for the night.

  Dane’s panther was prowling in his mind. The past forty-eight hours had been hell after returning home from recovering Evie and finding a handful of other shifters on that island with no families or homes to return to once they were rescued. Thankfully, a new little development was brought into the light.

  Who would’ve thought that any alpha could run a misfit bunch of shifters? Dane sure was dumbfounded when he’d learned that little fact. Theo was the alpha to two black bear shifters, a white wolf, and a lion shifter who wasn’t even through his prime yet.

  Dane shook the thoughts of the others from his mind and let his eyes scan the crowd. For a Thursday night, the place was very busy, and Cole was working feverishly behind the bar. Dane had seen him watching Olivia from time to time. The male seemed overly concerned about the new waitress. Yes, she was tiny, and Dane found himself keeping better tabs on her than anyone else who worked the evening shift.

  “She’s not my mate,” he mumbled and took a swig of his beer.

  His gaze swung over to the human bartender. He and Cole had forged a strong friendship over the past few years. Dane found himself quizzing Cole on safety and his knowledge of the guns he kept hidden behind the bar more than a few times a month. He was concerned for the male. He didn’t have the strength of a shifter, and the thought of Cole getting hurt because of a feral shifter caused Dane’s panther to snarl inside his head.

  “Get the hell out of the bar!” Olivia’s voice rang out over the music coming from the overhead speakers. Several men at the pool tables stopped their play and set their sticks across the table.

  In a blink of an eye, Dane was out of the booth, and he caught Cole’s scent as the man rounded the bar to come to Olivia’s aide. “What’s going on?”

  “Mr. Lawson seems to think his hands belong on me and not the table while he eats his food,” she spat, shifting her body to the left when Dane got a little too close. The female had already learned the protocol about touching the panthers, and Dane’s beast snarled when he realized she put so much distance between them.

  Cole grabbed the man by his collar and pulled him from his seat. “Apologize to the lady.”

  “Man, I didn’t do shit!” the male snarled. Dane looked over his head and raised a brow at the bartender. Cole’s eyes darkened a split second before he spun the male and pulled Mr. Lawson’s back against his broad chest.

  “You are not allowed in here ever again,” he said, taking a step toward the door, but the male was obviously sparring for a fight. “If I see you even drive into the parking lot, I will call the sheriff. Got me?”

  “Fine,” he snapped. “I’m gone!” The human jerked out of Cole’s hold and stormed out the door. Dane pivoted on his feet to address Olivia, but she was nowhere to be found.

  “Where did she go?” Cole asked.

  “She went in the back,” Liberty said as she came up to the table. She inclined her head to both men. “Thank you.”

  “No problem,” Dane replied. He really wasn’t paying much attention to the alpha’s mate. His concern was for the tiny blonde who had run off undetected. He started toward the back but paused when Cole went to make the same move.

  “We should check on her together,” Cole sighed, shaking his head. The male let out a harsh breath before he spoke again. “I wanted to kill that man.”

  “Are you sure you’re not a shifter?” Dane teased, holding out his hand for Cole to go ahead of him to the backroom.

  “Last I checked, I didn’t grow fur.” Cole shrugged and walked away. Dane let out a short laugh and followed the male to go find Olivia.

  “May I ask how old you are?” Harold continued.

  “A woman never tells her age,” Luna remarked. Harold knew she was trying to lighten the mood in the room, but she had to be scared out of her mind. She was a misfit among the cats, but he didn’t want her to worry.

  “My apologies, ma’am,” he said with a grin.

  “I’m kidding,” she shrugged, “I don’t care about telling you how old I am. I’m twenty-nine. Are you going to tell me your age now?”

  “I’m forty-three,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I pegged you for much younger.”

  “I don’t think I would ever want to go back to a younger age,” she replied, her nose scrunching like the i
dea repulsed her. Harold chuckled as she continued. “I’m kind of happy where I’m at now. Well…I mean before.”

  “I’m extremely sorry for the trauma you have endured,” Harold said sincerely. He was a doctor by human standards, but the beast inside of him wanted blood for the things done to her, regardless if the men who violated her were already dead. “I know a few counselors you can speak with and they can help you move past this.”

  “I think we will be leaving as soon as Theo make arrangements.” She frowned. “Maybe I can find one wherever we are going?”

  “I can help you with that,” he replied, but his panther snarled at the idea of the female leaving the Shaw pride.

  “Thank you. Is there any way I can get some clothes?”

  “Oh, yes!” He cringed, realizing she had nothing to her name. “I will have a female bring you something immediately.”

  Harold’s hands shook as he left the room, closing the door softly behind him. Marie, Evie’s mother, answered immediately. “How may I help you, Harold?”

  “The female wolf needs some clothes,” he stated. “Can you gather up some?”

  “Do you know what size she wears?” Marie asked.

  “Ah…”

  “Don’t worry,” Marie chuckled. “I will personally come by there and speak with her if she is well enough to have a visitor.”

  “I’m sure she would like to meet some more females,” he told her. God, he hadn’t even thought about her sizing. Hell, he had no clue what she’d need. Did she like jeans or slacks? She would need bras and panties, too. The healer blushed at the thought.

  As soon as Marie hung up, Harold walked into his office and took a seat behind the desk to shake the need to provide something warm for the female to wear if she got cold in his office. Was the blanket he had in that room going to be enough?

  Harold brought his hands up to cup his head. He didn’t even know how to care for a female beyond his skills as a healer. He’d dated a few females in his time, but he’d never mated. He just needed five minutes of quiet to get his thoughts in order. A knock on the exterior door told him he wouldn’t be getting off that easily.

  “How is she?” Theo asked as he stepped inside.

  “She is doing very well, alpha,” Harold replied, not knowing just how much Luna wanted known to her alpha. “I think you should talk to her, but if you could wait until one of our elder females bring her some clothes, I would appreciate it. She seems stable, but I would rather she rest for a little longer.”

  “That is fine,” Theo nodded, “I think we all need some rest.”

  “I would advise that for all of you,” Harold replied, leaning against the door frame. He crossed his arms and looked down at his feet. “What do you know about white wolves?”

  “Nothing,” Theo answered. “I’d never heard of a white wolf until I saw her shift at the lab. They’d brought her into the cages a month ago and she had already shifted. It was early in the morning and her growls woke all of us. As soon as she was locked in there, she returned to her human form and I had to pinch myself to believe what I was seeing.”

  “Why have none of our histories spoken of them?” Harold wondered aloud. “We know about the variety of bears, the feral wolves, foxes, and panthers…but no white wolves.”

  “She’s very docile, and I just don’t understand how.” Theo said, his eyes flickering to the door where Luna rested.

  “Wolves are feral,” Harold reminded the alpha. It was best he reminded himself of that as well. “This is a fact, and one that has been proven over thousands of years. Luna is different, I agree, but what makes her not like the others?”

  “We will find out, Healer,” Theo promised, holding out his hand to shake Harold’s in a sign of respect. “I’ll be at the main house if she needs me.”

  “Thank you,” Harold said. “Please get some rest for yourself.”

  “I think I will.” The old alpha yawned and left the healer’s home.

  Harold returned to his office and took a seat in the old office chair. His elbows rested on the top of his desk as his eyes scanned the papers scattered there. He really needed to get his charts in order, but at that moment, he had no care in the world to work on such a daunting task. Maybe he’d wait until things calmed down with Luna and the others.

  A female voice registered as the door to the home opened again. Harold called out for his visitor and smiled warmly when Marie appeared. “I’m here to see the female. Is that alright?”

  “Sure, let me introduce you,” he said, pushing back his exhaustion for at least another hour or two. He was grateful there weren’t anymore injuries to his pride or the others who were rescued from the island.

  “Luna?” Harold called out as he raised his hand to the door. Knocking twice, he waited for her to reply, but after a few seconds, there was nothing. His panther snarled in his head as his body tensed. Where was she? Was she okay? He didn’t hesitate to push the door open. When he did, a relieved breath rushed from his lungs. The female was curled up on the gurney, fast asleep. She’d covered herself up with the quilt Marie had made for his patients. The wolf looked like a small child laying there in her slumber. Her vulnerability tore at the healer’s heart.

  “She’s close to Evie’s size,” Marie whispered, backing out of the room. Harold closed the door softly and turned toward the older female. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

  “Thank you, Marie.” Harold smiled and held the door open for her to leave.

  Once the house was quiet again, Harold tried his hardest to return to his office to wait for Marie to return with some clothes, but his panther was pushing to override his desire to stay away from Luna. As much as the healer pushed at his beast, the animal returned it ten-fold. Before he realized what he was doing, Harold cracked the door to the room to watch the wolf sleep in peace. Luna’s light brown hair was curled around her throat and her long lashes rested softly against her pale cheeks. His panther relaxed in his mind once it was satisfied she was okay.

  Chapter Three

  Luna blinked several times, trying to get her bearings. A new day had dawned and the light coming through the window had woken her in a fright. She’d forgotten she wasn’t in the underground lab, but now safe on the panthers’ land. She’d spent the night at their healer’s home, and today she’d move over to the main house to stay until Theo was ready to return them to his land in New York.

  The thought of leaving the healer’s home made her wolf agitated, and she pushed back the beast when it demanded release. It was also the night of the full moon, and she knew she’d need to shift tonight. It wasn’t as if she had a choice, either. The moon ruled her animal and her human side. Looking at the clock, she knew she only had about twelve hours before darkness fell and she’d have to hunt.

  But did the panthers do the same?

  Would they allow her to shift after dark?

  Luna nibbled on her bottom lip and cursed when her canines grew to lethal points in her mouth. She growled low in her throat, but it was more a sign of agitation with her wolf than it was at the idea of holding her true self back because of the cats.

  “Luna?” The healer came to a halt at the threshold of the door. His eyes flickered from icy blue to amber and back again. She watched him in awe for a moment before feeling her own beast slink away into her mind. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?”

  “My wolf,” she sighed, waving her hand dismissively.

  “Is she okay?” he asked. The healer was a gentle male. He’d done nothing but treat her with respect and dignity since she had arrived. His concern for her brought a tear to her eye, but she quickly wiped it away before it could fall over her lashes.

  “Tonight is the full moon,” Luna announced, squaring her shoulders. There was no way she could skip out on this shift. If she did, the wolf would most likely force itself out, and she’d be in pain. The pain would be a thousand times worse than what she had endured on that island. “I must shift and hunt after sunset.
”

  “I don’t see any reason why you can’t shift tonight. Are you unwell? Is this why you must shift on the full moon?” Harold questioned, his eyebrows pushed together in thought. The male appeared to shake away his thought before he looked up into her eyes. “I’m sorry, I do not mean to pry. I’m just very curious about you.”

  “My nature is ruled by the moon,” she said, her voice only above a whisper. She knew to trust the healer, but not giving away her secrets was ingrained in her. Her pack had been hidden from others for thousands of years, and she’d been told stories of monsters coming for her in the night if she ever told anyone who, or what, she was. Those were old tales from the elders of her pack, and now, she believed the monsters they spoke of were the humans. Now that the humans knew of shifters, what else would come for her?

  “What happens on the full moon, Luna?” Harold pressed.

  “I have to give over to my wolf.” She swallowed hard, praying to the gods that this healer would not shun her for who she was. There was a lot of talk since she’d arrived about the wolves being feral. She wasn’t deadly. Quite the opposite. She’d been protected by her pack.

  “Luna?” Harold whispered, moving closer. When Luna looked up into his eyes, she saw those amber sparks again, and there she found peace. He wouldn’t harm her.

  “On the full moon,” she sighed, “my wolf will be in control. I’m not actually aware of what’s going on, and I cannot control what she does. The night belongs to the wolf and has for eternity. I am just her chosen host.”

  “Can you shift back at any time?” Harold asked, taking a seat on his short stool. The large male looked at her in awe, and while it made Luna a little uncomfortable, she kept telling herself it was just his doctor side that wanted to learn more about her kind.