by Melissa Haag
“Thank you so much for the bed,” Mary said again, grinning as she watched us cross the room.
“You’re welcome.” Gregory kept looking back at her, throwing the mattress off balance.
Pay attention, I sent him. We’re coming up to some stairs, and I’m not landing on my tail because you’re staring at your Mate.
He turned forward and grinned at me a moment before he shoved the mattress into my chest. I almost lost my balance.
Where’s your respect for authority? I sent him. You’re as bad a Grey.
“Wait right there,” Mary said when we reached the hallway at the top of the stairs. She moved around us and went ahead to open the door.
“We need to move her bed. This one won’t fit with hers in the middle of the room.”
I nodded, and we set the mattress down.
Walking into the moonlit room, I was once again assailed by her sweet scent. She curled on her side under the covers. Her hands were tucked under her cheek and her knees drawn up. Her pale hair spilled over her shoulder. Even with her face shadowed in the gloom, I could see the circles still under her eyes. Why wasn’t she looking more rested? Her words about not knowing how to care for a human rang more true. I knew the basics. They needed more warmth and got sick easier. But beyond that, I didn’t know much.
“She looks cold,” I said softly.
“She doesn’t use her second blanket because she thinks I need it. I have my own now so she can’t say no to using it.”
I took the extra blanket and covered her gently before moving to the head of the bed.
“Lift it slow and steady,” I told Gregory softly.
It wasn’t Winifred’s warning that had me worried, but Charlene’s well-being. She needed her sleep, it seemed.
As soon as we had the bed settled near an interior wall, I left the room so Gregory and Mary could set up the new bed. Henry was already gone.
With no one around to see me, I stepped into the room next door and stood near the wall. I could smell her through the wood planks. The knowledge that I needed to leave her, even for the night, hurt. Setting my hand on the wall, I closed my eyes against the pull to go to her.
Maybe I was wrong about humans. About their destructiveness. About her. Or maybe the pull and her scent were clouding my thoughts.
Turning, I walked out the door and made my way outside. Grey took one look at me and fell in beside me.
Talk to me, he said.
History has shown us again and again that humans are dangerous, destructive creatures. That’s why we’ve done everything we could to keep their existence from spreading further north.
We moved deeper into the trees then stripped out of the pants and shifted to our fur. In the dry leaves of last fall, I lay down and rested my head on my paws. My brother flopped down beside me, sending leaves up in a cloud. I shook them from my head, appreciating his attempt to lighten my mood.
Winifred’s right. Charlene is different. I can’t deny it. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t still dangerous. This pull is telling me to accept her. To try to Claim her. To protect her with my dying breath. But my head is telling me not to be so stupid. And I’ve seen too much of what they can do to ignore the warning. What am I supposed to do?
Hmm… His thoughts echoed in my mind. Listen to your head or your balls? That’s a tough call. Balls usually win, though.
I huffed a laugh and closed my eyes. Grey’s breathing quieted quickly while it took me much longer to relax. The pull didn’t ease up with distance. Eventually, I drifted off.
After only a few hours of sleep, we moved back toward the buildings, already dressed in our man pants.
We found Winifred leaning against the truck, watching the males emerge from the trees when we entered the clearing.
Gregory came out of the building just then.
“See?” Grey said. “Balls.”
Winifred shot him a look and then turned to watch Gregory.
“Thank you for leaving before she woke. Humans have different rules when it comes to relationships. There’s time if you’d like to hunt and bring something back for Mary.”
“Thanks, Winifred.”
He looked at us. We all needed to eat. Since the sun wasn’t yet up, we ditched our pants and set out west. It didn’t take long for each of us to down a hare. After we ate, Gregory sniffed out a second one to take back to Mary.
“Do you think I should get another one for Charlene?” he asked. “I don’t want Mary to have to share.”
“Charlene doesn’t seem to eat as much as we do,” I said, remembering the small portion of bird she’d picked at. “If Mary does share, she won’t starve.”
But his question did make me regret not returning with something for the girl.
When we reached the yard the sun had risen and already lit the building.
“She’s awake,” Winifred said to Gregory. “If you want to take—”
A scream of denial tore through the air.
Winifred and I bolted for the door at the same time. She was faster. I raced after her through the main door and up the stairs, where Mary stood frozen on the steps.
I wanted to ask her what had happened. Why had Charlene screamed like that? But I smelled blood and couldn’t stop. I needed to see Charlene. Needed to know she was okay.
Mary quickly followed us as we sped past.
Heart racing, I sprinted through the door then froze. Panic and fear hit me hard at the sight of Charlene laying on her bed, gasping and wide-eyed. She clutched at her throat, and I watched the blood pool between her fingers.
Winifred knelt beside her, talking to her softly when something moved to my right. I turned to look.
Crumpled against the wall, the male shook his head. Blood smeared around his mouth. Her blood. Rage ripped away my fear for Charlene. I didn’t think. I stepped toward him and closed my hand around his neck. Lifting him, I called my shift forward so my claws sunk deep into his skin.
“She isn’t yours,” he gasped. “She never will be.”
“Mary, your sheets,” Winifred said behind me.
I squeezed and kept squeezing until his soft flesh bulged around my fingers. Then I jerked him up and to the side quickly. The pop and cracks weren’t loud enough to drown out Charlene’s desperate gasping breaths. I watched the light fade from his gaze and his mouth go slack.
“You’re wrong,” I said softly, dropping the man.
“Thomas, we need to get her to a hospital,” Winifred said.
I moved to Winifred’s side and looked at Charlene. The blood wasn’t slowing. She would die without help. Yet, taking her to a hospital would endanger us all.
“They will ask questions,” I said, aching with the decision Winifred would likely make. Our laws bound us as much as they did her. She physically could not do something that wasn’t in the best interest of our race.
“I know,” she said, looking at me.
If I die because of this, don’t stop what she’s started, she sent me. I truly believe she is our only chance at a future, Thomas.
Shock filled me that Winifred believed so strongly she would willingly give her life for the girl.
Charlene closed her eyes and sobbed.
“I’ll carry her,” I said.
Winifred nodded and started to stand.
“Mary, hold the cloth. Keep moderate pressure on it. I’ll get the truck.”
“Truck?” Mary said, bending to take over.
“We can’t run with her. It would hurt her more. The truck is the best option we have.”
While Mary kept the pressure on Charlene’s neck, I moved to gently slide my arms under her shoulders and legs. It was then that I noticed she wasn’t wearing a shirt. The male had attacked her while she was dressing. I wanted to kill him all over again.
The weak flutter of Charlene’s pulse worried me.
“Stay with me, Charlene,” I said softly as we hurried down the hall.
I tried to hold her as still as possible, but
she whimpered in pain with each step. At the bottom of the stairs, she went limp and panic gripped me.
“She’s breathing, Thomas,” Mary said. “We have to move faster.”
Winifred had the truck started and turned so the passenger side was aligned with the door. Mary stepped into the truck backwards, never removing the pressure as I eased into the seat with Charlene in my arms.
Don’t lose her, brother, Grey sent me as he closed the door. I’ve never heard of second chances.
I knew that. Yet, as her blood continued to flow, I didn’t know what I could possibly do to prevent her death. Human doctors were her only hope.
“Go, Winifred,” I said.
She drove fast out the long drive, trusting Mary and me to keep the pressure on the wound through the bumps and ruts.
Gravel spit from the tires as she turned on the road and accelerated. No one spoke. We were all listening to the one very precious heartbeat. Minutes and miles passed. Winifred kept the pedal to the floor. Vehicles were dangerous. Especially on the gravel. Gregory and I had taken out our share of humans that way by running in front of them. But as I noted the way Charlene’s pulse slowed, I understood why Winifred was risking it. Charlene was dying.
Fear ate a hole in my chest.
* * * *
I pushed the door open before Winifred came to a stop. Mary moved with me as if her hand was permanently attached to Charlene’s throat. As I rushed toward the building, I spoke to Charlene.
“We’re here. They will help you. Don’t leave me.”
Before we reached the door, Winifred was there opening them.
“We need help,” she called.
Nurses moved toward us, asking questions.
“We think she was attacked by some animal,” Winifred said. “We found her east of Mill Road. The wound on her neck is deep and the bleeding hasn’t stopped since we found her.”
Two men with a bed on wheels rushed toward us. One helped me ease her onto the clean chemical-smelling sheet as the other took over Mary’s spot. She and I both stepped back out of their way as they started looking Charlene over and talking to her. She didn’t respond.
Mary moved beside me and wrapped her bloody fingers around mine. I clasped her hand, falling apart on the inside as I watched them rush her through another set of doors.
Winifred’s voice carried in the otherwise quiet room. I only half listened to her explanation of what had happened. Her lies disassociated us from Charlene in order to protect those we’d left behind at sanctuary. We were strangers who just happened to see her on the side of the road.
“Did we make a mistake?” I said softly.
“No,” Mary said. “Losing someone as unique and gentle as Charlene would have been a greater one.”
She tugged me toward the chairs. A clock ticked loudly on the wall, marking each second the doors remained closed. Had they stopped the bleeding, yet? Were they healing her?
Minutes stretched and several people came and went to speak to Winifred, but no one approached us. No one offered any explanation for what was taking so long. Had she woken up yet? My gaze never wavered from the double-doors as minutes turned into an hour.
Finally, a man walked out the double-doors. He headed directly toward Winifred, who had been asking for an update at the desk.
Mary almost stood, but I put my hand on her leg and shook my head.
“Listen,” I said softly.
“Winifred Lewis?” he said, approaching her.
“Yes?”
“Your intervention saved that young woman’s life. She’s resting now and recovering. We’ve asked her name, but she hasn’t answered. Standard procedure is to contact the authorities. They may have some questions for you.”
“Of course,” Winifred said. “Do you know when she’ll be well enough to be released? I want to stay until I know she has somewhere to go.”
“We’re watching her vitals. She lost a lot of blood, and we’d like to see her blood pressure increase before we discharge her.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” Winifred waited until the Dr. walked away then joined us.
“Thomas, I think there might be a shirt in the back of the truck. I’ll get it and you can clean yourself up.”
I looked down at myself and saw Charlene’s blood covering my chest.
“Mary, you should clean up too.”
Winifred went outside while Mary walked to the bathroom. I stood, and the woman behind the desk looked at me with pitying eyes.
She didn’t see me as a mongrel or a homeless human but a traumatized boy who’d carried in a bleeding girl. I gave her a slight nod, and she smiled at me.
Without wanting to, I was starting to see there might be another side to humans. Was it enough to make up for their destructive nature though?
* * * *
Mary and I waited as Winifred spoke with the law enforcer. She kept to the story she’d already told. We were camping on some land to the east and, on our way into town, found the young woman on the edge of Mill Road. No, we hadn’t seen what had attacked her. We checked for a pulse, picked her up, and brought her in. No, we weren’t aware that she had old wounds indicating prior attacks.
The man went back to see if Charlene was able to talk. I tensed and focused on the doors to try to hear anything beyond.
What’s happening? I can feel something’s wrong, Grey sent me. Did she…?
She’s alive. The doctor said we saved her life by bringing her here. The law man is going to talk to her. You and Gregory need to clean that room and remove the body. Did anyone come forward to identify that mutt?
No. Did Winifred figure out how he’d broken the law?
His question had me frowning. With my worry over Charlene and what she would say to the law man, I’d forgotten about the command Winifred had issued days ago. No one could bite a human without permission.
He had to have had permission, I sent Grey.
I asked both Elders and both swore they did not grant it.
What was happening to our people? I glanced at the doors in time to see the lawman reemerged. He smiled at Winifred, who was standing near the television on the opposite side of the room, then went to speak with the woman at the front desk.
“She’s still tired and unable to speak. I’m going to go check out by Mill Road. Please call me when she’s rested and able to talk.”
Relief washed through me. I waited until he left before I stood and went to Winifred.
“How was the mutt able to get to her?” I asked, quietly.
“I don’t know.”
I could see and feel her confusion and honesty.
“We need to find out, but I can’t leave here until she’s discharged. Are you willing to go back and start asking questions? There are enough eyes and ears there that one of them had to notice something,” she said.
“We shouldn’t wait. We need to get her out of here before the law man comes back,” I said. “We can’t risk that she might say something.”
“She won’t,” she said firmly.
I didn’t try to contradict her.
* * * *
No one seemed to know anything about the mutt we’d laid out on the grass. Each male present stepped forward to look at him and denied ever seeing him. I detected no lie from any of them. With nothing else to do, we carried the body off property and buried it deep.
A long while later, the rumble of the truck echoed in the trees. Everyone turned toward the noise. What we saw didn’t just surprise me.
Charlene walked through the tall grass as the truck idled slowly behind her. She still wore a bloodied hospital gown for a shirt. When she saw us, she stopped walking and turned to Mary. Winifred cut the engine so we could all hear her words.
“Can you help me take the bandages off?”
What was she thinking? I’d watched the blood pour from her wounds just hours ago, and she wanted to unwrap them?
Mary slowly unwrapped yards of the thin material. Even from a distance, I saw
the way Charlene occasionally winced. Mary stepped back, the wad of bandages in her hand. Charlene exhaled shakily and started walking again. Her steps were slow, and the pale line around her mouth gave away how much effort it cost her.
No one moved as she approached. She wove through our numbers, making her way closer to where I stood with Grey and Gregory. I could see the fine black threads holding her swollen skin together and hear her shallow breaths. I wanted to go to her and scoop her into my arms and carry her inside, but the determined set of her shoulders and the scent of her anger kept me in place.
In the center of the yard, she stopped and slowly turned. I knew the rest of the males were staring at her horribly damaged neck. Did they feel the same rage I did that someone had abused her?
“Biting hurts,” she said. “Stop biting.” She met my gaze. “Kindness and consideration are not games.”
I nodded so she knew I understood her message. She wasn’t playing games. She didn’t want to be bitten because she didn’t heal like we did. She needed a bed because she was fragile. She was human and needed different care. None of us would forget that again.
She turned to look at all the males around her.
“I need a week. Please, leave me alone. I just want to sleep.”
They wouldn’t deny her anything when she looked as weary as she did. Without waiting for a response, she shuffled inside with Mary. When the door closed firmly behind them, a number of the males moved off into the trees, obviously taking her request seriously.
I turned and found Grey studying me.
“You going to make it a week?” he asked.
I wanted to go to her and see if there was anything I could do to ease her pain. To comfort her. But I knew I would need to give her some time. Not a week, though.
“She didn’t mean that literally. She’s tired and needs to rest. She hasn’t been getting enough of that,” I said, moving toward the trees. “I’m sure she’ll feel better in a day or two.”
FIVE
“There’s no one left willing to challenge you, Thomas,” Grey said from beside me as I surveyed the yard.
Frustration and anger still boiled under my skin, and I clenched my fists, wishing I hadn’t exhausted my outlet for them.
