Changed Ch. 09

Karen didn't even know what hit her as she was bowled into the ground, face first. Grunting she quickly moved to dislodge the weight on top of her, and sprung into a defensive crouch, facing to wolf who had bowled into her.

"Cuddles?" she asked as she noted the soft grey fur and the light gold eyes of just the wolf.

The wolf growled at her, in a posturing stance. Slowly he circled her, as Karen moved in time with him. She didn't understand why the wolf was acting like this, but her instincts kicked in, and she was forced to look at the wolf as that, a wolf, not Theo, or Cuddles. Without warning, the wolf lunged, and Karen let him knock her back, but she used his momentum, and kicked up with her legs, swinging the massive animal over her head. She heard his grunt, but was scrambling onto her feet so she didn't see where he had landed. She also didn't notice the crowd who had gathered, or that one of the wolves who had taken off towards the hospital. Again, the wolf circled her, snarling viciously. Again he charged, but instead of jumping on her, he slammed his side into her legs, sending her tumbling again, the breath getting knocked out of her. She gasped, slightly disoriented, her instinct screaming at her to get up. She clambered back to her feet, just as he charged again. She let her mind go blank, moving on instinct. As the animal approached, she freighted to the left, and stuck out with her right leg, making contact with his ribs, staggering him. He quickly regained his balance and struck out again, catching her arm in his jaws. She grunted at the sharp pain of his teeth tearing into her arm. Lashing out, her other fist made contact with his muzzle, making him let go. Then she attacked, fury and fear pushing her, this was not her wolf, this was not her man. She landed a fury of blows, causing the massive wolf to jump back.

"KAREN!" a terrified voice screamed. She looked up to see Becca standing there, white as paper.

The distraction was all the wolf needed as he pounced on her again slamming her into the ground. She let out a wheeze as the breath was stripped from her. The wolf stood on top of her, snarling in her face. Karen simply stared up at him defiantly, which made him growl more.

"Karen," Becca's voice shook as she slowly moved closer "You need to yield. You're challenging his position."

Karen made a snarled face and didn't look away. Without warning, his jaw were around her neck.

"FOR FUCKS SAKE KAREN LOOK AWAY AND TILT YOUR CHIN UP!" Becca screamed.

Fury, pain, and fear made tears leak out of her eyes, as she closed her eyes and tilted her chin up and away, bearing more of her throat to the wild animal on top of her. Moments passed but still the wolf didn't move, his teeth puncturing her neck slightly and little drops of blood dripped down. Still the wolf didn't move. Suddenly a booming voice filled the air.

"Theodore Farland," the power in the voice was stunning "release the girl."

The wolf growled, but didn't let go.

"Ah," the voice said and slowly, purposely approached as the wolf growled louder.

Karen cracked her eyes to see a massive pair of feet stop by her face. The man bent down to be eye level with the wolf clamped around her neck. The wolf let go of her, snarling at the man. Once they made contact however, it seemed like everything stopped. The wolf shook his head a few times, before looking back at the man, and then down at her. The tears continued to flow down her face, making tracks in the dirt that was there from hitting the ground so many times. Slowly the eyes shifted from the light gold, to Theo's honey brown. He looked down at her confused, then down at her neck, where four little holes still bled slowly. He shook his head again, and backed off of her, shifting back to human.

Karen scrambled up, swaying slightly, the wound on her arm bleeding freely. Theo gazed at her like he had never seen her before.

"Karen?" he asked taking a step towards her, but she quickly stumbled backwards, falling down again, her fear potent. "What..." he asked softly, looking to his alpha. The large man simply glared at him with disapproval, before turning to the shaking girl on the ground.

"Shhhh, now dear," he said softly to Karen "Can you walk?"

Her fear now taking over, she shook her head no, her terrified gaze looked on the man she thought she had feelings for.

"Okay," the giant said "I'll carry you. Is that okay?" She finally looked at him, the tears still flowing. He smiled gently, sending her waves of calm. "We have to get you to the hospital so Becca can fix you up."

Karen simply nodded as the behemoth of a man gently scooped her up like a child. Theo growled, and took a step forward, which caused her to flinch and huddle into the chest of the man carrying her. The man growled back, a much deeper growl, which shut down the other wolf.

"You lost your right to having anything to do with this female when you attacked her. Stand down. I seriously doubt you want your ass handed to you in front of the pack, pup."

Theo looked confused, but took a step back "I didn't attack her." he said incredulously.

"Right," the large man rumbled "Some other grey wolf attacked her, or maybe she just magically got her arm torn up and her neck punctured." He began walking towards the hospital, stopping when he was level with Theo, turning his body to shield the woman. "I suggest you have a serious talk with your wolf, and put some clothes on. I expect you in my office immediately."

Theo just looked at the ground in shock as the Alpha stormed off.

********

"Thank you." Karen said shakily as the large man laid her in a hospital bed.

"It was nothing my dear. My name is Brett Farland. I am the alpha of this pack," he said gently as he cover the tiny, shaking woman with a blanket, before pulling up a chair and sitting by her bedside. "I'm sorry that this is the first time we've had a chance to meet" he gave her a sheepish smile "my..." he paused briefly "wife, just had our first children. Its not an excuse, but I have been preoccupied with that."

Karen gave him a small smile "It's okay," she said quietly "Congratulations."

"Thank you," he said before getting serious as Becca came in with a tray of tools, a scowl on her face. "I'm sorry to ask you this, but do you know what happened? Why Theo lost control of his wolf?"

Karen's tears starting up again. "I don't know," she hiccuped "We had a bit of a fight I guess, he insulted my upbringing." she sniffled angrily "I yelled at him, told him that I didn't need anyone, and then I left. I was heading to see Becca." She gave the female wolf a small smile, but it wasn't returned as she gently began to work on the tear in her arm, slamming down the tools when she was done with them. She cleared her throat "I was actually hoping to come talk to you to be honest."

Brett nodded, raising an eyebrow at her last statement "Oh?" he asked.

"My mother, the spyrim, was a holder of knowledge, and I was given the coordinates to it. It has invaluable knowledge of my past, as well as things that will help explain my future. I was wondering if you would allow me to go." her eyes brimmed with tears again. "I was going to go with Theo, he was going to ask you, but after the fight I was going to ask to go alone."

Brett gave her a soft, sad smile. "I understand how much this must mean to you, but I cannot let you go alone. I'm sorry"

Without missing a beat Becca growled "I'll go with her."

Brett smiled, "Who will run the hospital?"

"Timothy is ready, this would be a great test to see how he'd handle the hospital alone. Besides, most of our wounds heal on their own."

Brett thought for a while, looking between the two women, one tearful and the other fuming.

"Very well," he said standing "You may go, if only to make up for what Theo did today" He gently patted Karens knee "I'm going to find out why this happened. If you ever need me, Becca can get in touch. Okay? I'll get everything ready for your trip. I'm assuming you want to leave as soon as possible."

Karen nodded, new tears streaming "Thank you so much."

Brett simply smiled at her and nodded at Becca as he left.

Karen looked over the the female wolf, and for the first time saw the flecks of gold in her eyes.

She sighed heavily "I'm sorry Becca."

Becca growled, but caught herself "What on earth for?" she said tensely as she started to stitch up the wound on her friends arm

"You're mad at me." Karen said softly

Becca met her eyes and hugged her close "Oh Karen, I'm not mad at you. You did nothing wrong. I'm furious at Theo. I'm sorry it's bleeding over. I'm really trying to keep a handle on it."

Karen hugged her back, hissing slightly as the rip on her arm pulled slightly

"Oh crap! I'm sorry." Becca said as she finished the stitches and wrapped up the arm in a clean bandage. "Okay, lemme look at your neck."

Karen obliged, hissing when she cleaned the small wounds.

"These aren't bad, I'm just gonna put a band-aid on them." She held up a few different boxes. "Do you want, Sparkly, rainbow, or my little pony?" she smiled.

Karen laughed shakily "I'll take the plain cloth ones for my neck, but a sparkly one on my arm would totally make me feel better."

Once she was all patched up, the two women went to the lounge to watch T.V. Without even speaking, Becca knew that Karen would want to stay at the hospital to avoid being close to Theo.

They watched tv for a while, before Becca turned to Karen.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly

Karen shrugged "There really isn't a whole lot to talk about it. Last night was my finally trial, I called for Theo to come help me. We spent all night together," tears welled up "He was my first, and it was great, until breakfast." She shrugged again wiping her eyes on the sleeve of a borrowed shirt "I told him about my mom's library. Aparently it's in the Amazon, and he was talking about how difficult the trip was, so I started to tell him about all the trips my dad sent me on. I showed him a scar I got from a leopard and I guess he saw all my other scars and he flipped his shit. He started going on about how my dad was crazy for training me so hard." she shook her head her angry flaring again "Theo just doesn't understand, that my dad did what he had to to make sure that I knew how to protect myself. I understand why he was so hard now, I'm the last of my kind. I HAVE to be able to protect myself. I told Theo that, and he went off about how I needed him and how he's the only one who could protect me. So I got mad and told him that I would never need him. Then I walked out, coming to see you."

Becca hugged her friend close. "I'm sorry," she said softly. Karen chewed on her lip and shrugged fighting the tears.

"It's okay," she swallowed and smiled "besides now we get to go on a super cool adventure!"

Becca smiled back "Hell yeah!"

The girls laughed it off, watching tv until late, falling asleep together on the couch.

******

Theo stared at his feet as he sat in the Alpha's office. He had tried to speak to his wolf, but his other half had locked himself away, leaving Theo feeling empty. The best he figured was his wolf had taken Karen's words as a rejection, and the fear and hurt that the man felt must have been magnified to the primitive side of his wolf. Theo sighed, his eyes prickling. He blinked his eyes rapidly, and stared as a single tear landed on his clasped hands. He wiped his face, it had been decades since he had last cried.

The door was kicked open, as he Alpha stormed into the room, as Theo jumped to his feet. He bowed slightly, waiting for Brett to sit down first.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Brett bellowed, his hands fists on his desk.

Theo flinched slightly, it had also been many decades since he was last in serious trouble, and remained silent.

"So?" Brett asked furiously "You want to explain why you attacked the woman you said was your mate?"

Theo swallowed, "The only thing I can think of is that my wolf took what she had said as a rejection. Her words might not have meant to be hurtful, but they cut deep in both me and my wolf. I think he went feral out of the hurt from her words and the fear of losing her." His eyes stung again and he shook his head but a tear fell anyways. "I let him take control, trying to hide from my pain as well, without my reason, he must have just spiraled down, and lashed out at the thing that was hurting him. He won't even talk to me, I can't even feel him right now. I've lost the woman I love, I've lost my wolf, I feel so empty right now." He finally looked up at Brett

Brett nodded once, understanding showing through his eyes. "Every great wolf, has been there Theo. You're wolf will come back soon, when he's done berating himself. However, what you did to the young lady was unacceptable." Brett shook his head, and ran a hand through his hair.

"What am I going to do with you Theo?" he asked heavily. "The whole pack saw basically you lose control. You're next in line to be Alpha." he said exasperated "How are you going to instill trust and loyalty in the pack, if you turn on your own mate?"

Theo sighed and simply shrugged his shoulders. " I don't know."

Brett gave him a stern look "We're going to hold a meeting with the pack, and you'll explain to them everything. Then, you are to go around and help each and every one with their job, to reaffirm that you are a part of this pack. Lastly, we will have a tournament, to reaffirm that you are still strong and IN CONTROL of your wolf."

Theo nodded, before realizing that it would take weeks to do everything. "If I may, I do have a request." he said solemnly.

Brett gave him a raised eyebrow "You really was to ask for something while you're sitting in the fire?"

Theo nodded and Brett shook his head.

"I'll listen but that doesn't mean I'll grant it."

"Karen found the location for her mother's library. I would like to take her to retrieve whatever may be there."

"No." Brett said evenly

"Please," Theo asked "It's so important for her to go and see what her mother left her."

Brett was silent for a minute, "You're right."

"So we can go?" Theo asked hopefully,

"No."

"But..."

Brett cut him off with a raised hand. "She has already asked to go on this trip. I agreed to let her."

Theo breathed a sigh of relief, before it came crashing back down. "She can't go alone," he said fiercely, jumping to his feet.

Brett growled and slowly rose as well "Watch your tone pup, you're still in hot water with me."

Theo lowered his eyes and sat down with a mumbled apology.

"I am well aware that she can't go alone, Becca will be going with her. "

Theo huffed, but didn't say anything more.

"They will be leaving in a few days, once Karen has healed," he emphasized the word.

Theo shrunk away slightly "How bad is she?" he asked miserably.

Brett sighed. "She had one laceration on her arm that needed stitches, there were also shallow puncture marks in her neck." he shook his head and sighed again.

"You really fucked that up, Theo." He ran a hand through his hair again. "To be absolutely honest with you, I don't know if you can fix things with her."

The let out a shuddering breath, blinking back more embarrassing tears. "I have to." he said shakily.

Brett looked at him thoughtfully, "I will talk with Becca, though I've never seen her so mad. Perhaps, once you've re-established yourself with the pack, I may let you go and be with her on her trip"

Theo jumped up, and bowed "Thank you,"

Brett just shook his head and shooed him out "Go home, get some sleep. Your work begins tomorrow."

*****

Karen woke up, feeling better than she had in the past few days. Today was the day they were leaving to go search for the library. She bounded out of bed, and bounced downstairs. Even though she had cried herself to sleep, again, she had tons of energy. Yet as soon as she entered the kitchen, everything was sapped out of her. Standing there, staring into a steaming cup of coffee stood the very man she didn't want to see.

She skidded to a stop, her socks sliding on the hardwood and she quickly took a step back, her jaw clenching painfully.

He turned around, and met her eyes. She started, when she saw the emptiness in his once lively eyes. "Karen," he said gruffly, in an almost reverent tone.

"Wha..." Her voice cracked from all of the crying she'd done. She cleared her throat and tried again "What are you doing here?"

He sighed heavily, and swirled his coffee cup "I..." he swallowed, and she almost pitied him, until her anger flared to life. She looked at him expectantly, crossing her arms over her chest. His eyes instantly went to the bandage that was wrapped around her forearm. "I... " He tried again, shaking his head and setting the coffee cup down "I have some bad news," his voice cracked slightly.

"What?" she asked, standing up straight, ignoring that she was only dressed in an oversized t-shirt. She took a steadying breath, and walked past him into the kitchen. She wasn't prepared for his scent to affect her, but it socked her in the stomach. She cleared her throat, choosing to ignore it. Though his soft groan as her smell hit him was much harder to ignore. The soft sound had her skin tingling, and her spyrim screaming at her to throw herself into his arms. This only made her madder, and her tattoo began to glow softly.

-He loves us!- she screamed.

-No. If he loved us, he wouldn't have attacked me. He had my neck in his jaws for christ sake.-

-He's a wolf,- she retorted, like that made everything okay.

-Enough,-Karen shut her down.

She made herself a cup of coffee, refusing to look at the man whose eyes she could feel boring into her.

Theo cleared his throat, and ran a hand through his hair. "We should wait till Brett gets here."

Karen's heart dropped to her stomach. "What's going on?"

Theo opened his mouth to answer, when a knock on the door silenced him. Glaring at him, Karen moved around him to go answer it.

"Good Morning, Karen." Brett's deep voice was like a balm to her anger.

"Good morning." she said shakily, moving aside to let him in. Brett made eye contact with Theo and nodded once.

"What's going on?" Karen asked nervously, her heart dropping to her toes.

"There has been a change in plans." brett said softly.

"Where's Becca?" Karen asked, finally noticing that Becca's coat, shoes and wallet were missing from besides the door.

"Becca and Cody have been called away in a family emergency." Brett sighed heavily "Their birth mother is very ill, she has asked them to be with her. Becca got the call last night. She didn't want to wake you because you were actually sleeping." Karen turned bright red as her eyes unconsciously looking to Theo, whose concern only made her mad. She swallowed.

"I'm fine," she said stubbornly, earning her a patient smile from Brett. She swallowed again, her hopes for the trip being dashed. "So what does this mean?" she asked. She couldn't stay at the compound without Becca there to be with her. Not with Theo living right next door.

Brett sighed again, and Theo shifted his weight a couple times, looking at the ceiling.

"You have two options my dear," Brett said calmly "We can postpone the trip, though it will be weeks, if not months before Becca gets back. Or..." he paused and looked at Theo, who was now staring at the floor.

Karen stared in shock. "No." She said, and Theo flinched.

"Karen," Brett said softly,

"Is there no one else who can take me?" she blurted out.

Again Brett sighed, "I'm sorry, there is no one else. We either postpone the trip, or you go with Theo."

She glared at Theo, her eyes and tattoo glowing blue. She began shaking as she held back the angry tears that were threatening to spill over. She clenched her jaw and shook her head, looking away in disbelief.