Hunting Wolves Ch. 02

I started to cry as I thought about Doug. Shit, what would he think?

He'd find the tent and the blood. He'd think I was dead.

I kicked the covers down slowly so as not to make things hurt too much. Whoever put me here hadn't tied my feet down. It wasn't a pretty sight. There were numerous cuts and scrapes on my arms, chest, and legs from the claws of that thing. I had a couple of deep bites, too- my arm ones I could see, the neck one I could tell because it hurt to turn my head from side to side and there felt like there was a thick bandage around it. Some of the deeper cuts had been crudely stitched together, it didn't look like a professional job, more like some young girl's first sewing project. The rest looked like they had been glued together. At least I didn't look like I would bleed to death, but my bikini future was severely challenged.

Hey, I have a weird sense of humor, deal with it, it's my story. I started to laugh, but then my chest wounds started to hurt and my chuckles turned to tears. I guess I made enough noise to attract attention, because the door opened and a man stepped in.

He looked at my naked and bound form in a clinical way. "Good, you're awake. I'm Mike. I'm the medic here." Mike looked to be in his fifties, about six feet and slender with salt and pepper short cropped hair.

"Why am I being restrained?"

"You've been having repeated nightmares, we had to restrain you to keep you from tearing your stitches out."

"How long have I been here?"

"You arrived four days ago. My instructions were to patch you up and monitor you, I'm not authorized to tell you any more." He checked how my wounds were healing and pulled the bandage at my neck away. "You are healing well. This can come off now." He slowly removed the bandage; I couldn't help but see the dried blood as he lifted it away.

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Yes, I'll help you in a moment. There is a tub in there, I'd like you to clean yourself gently, no soaking yet. When you are done, let me know and I'll help you get into your nightclothes."

He removed the leather restraints and carefully lifted my shoulders from below until I was sitting up, then he helped me swing my legs to the floor. Everything hurt. "I don't know if I can walk." He put his shoulder under mine and we slowly stood up. It sucked, but I was so relieved when I finally made it to the toilet. It felt like I hadn't gone in days. The bath left me somewhat refreshed. By the time he had me tucked in again, I was so exhausted I couldn't keep my eyes open.

When I awoke again, a different man was sitting on my bed and looking at me with interest. "Good morning, young lady. My name is Joel. I am in charge here."

Joel looked to be in his mid thirties, and was a BIG man. Barrel chested, arms as big as my legs, a bushy black beard and medium length black hair with a hint of gray at the temples. Put this guy in a biker bar and he'd be left alone. I smiled back and said, "Hello, Joel, my name is"

"I don't care what your name was. Your old life is gone, never to return. You will be given a new name at the pack introduction." His eyes bored deep into my soul as he told me this. I wanted there to be anything else in them but what they showed- that this was the truth.

I started to tear up. "But... my boyfriend, my family..."

"They already mourn your loss. Your boyfriend has been arrested for your murder."

My jaw dropped and I started to choke up. "No, Doug wouldn't ever hurt me, he loves me, I'm carrying his child..." I turned away from him so he wouldn't see the pain on my face.

"It's a tragic story, really, all over the news now. A beautiful young girl and her Marine boyfriend, seemingly so happy, but then it all comes out. The blowout fight that almost got the cops called, the positive pregnancy test, the desperate text messages where you confessed how nervous you were about telling him about the baby... and then he kills you on a remote lake and tries to make it look like a bear attack."

"NO! I have to go, I have to let them know I'm alive!" I started to sit up but a strong hand on my neck pushed me back into the pillow. I tried to struggle but I was just hurting myself.

He stopped pressing down when I stopped moving, but he kept his big hand around my throat. "Perhaps you didn't hear me. Your old life, family, memories... all gone. The sooner you realize that, the better your transition will go."

I looked up at him with confusion. "Transition? What transition?? Why can't I just GO HOME??"

He sat back by my hips again. "It's easier to process the change if you accept that you died back there in that tent, and something new lives in you now. It does. You were bitten, and now share in our curse."

"What curse? Rabies? Did that wolf give me some disease?"

Joel's face was grim. "In a way, that is true. Tell me, what happened in that tent?"

I closed my eyes and thought back to that time. I told him the brief story- our time in the tent, waking up without him, the wolf entering the tent. The attack, fighting this thing off, the pain and the blood. How I was getting weaker and weaker until I started to black out. The weird dream I had about chasing him, seeing his throat torn out, watching the life leave his eyes. Then waking up in the bed.

Joel didn't interrupt or laugh during my story, which was odd because the story was so weird. You'd think he would laugh and tell me I was imagining things.

He didn't. He took my hand in his, gently, and looked into my eyes wet with tears and fear. "That was not a dream. That is what happens when the wolf takes over."

"Wolf? What wolf?"

"The wolf that attacked you was no ordinary wolf. His name was Ted, he used to me one of my best friends until he left my Pack to seek his own. Ted, me, Mike- we're all werewolves. You were bitten and survived, and you now share our curse, the curse of the wolf inside us."

"Werewolves? What, like that Twilight shit? I think I need to go back to sleep, this dream is too weird."

"You can deny what you think, but you cannot deny what is now inside you. None of us can. Your wolf is most impressive. For a bitch newly turned and injured to chase down and kill an experienced Beta is not something we would have expected. It will be quite interesting to see how my little white wolf stacks up against the other bitches in my pack."

My jaw would have hit the ground if I wasn't in bed. It took a few moments to start breathing again. I hadn't told him what color paws I saw in my dream, I didn't go into that much detail. How the hell would he know that I saw white? "Why did it seem like a dream then?"

"We have the wolf inside us, we have the human inside us, but they don't talk to each other. One is primary, the other is shoved to the back of your mind. When one side comes forward, the body follows. But, your human side is not disconnected from your senses, it just isn't in charge of your body anymore. So, you see what your wolf does but it's like seeing it on television. You can see and taste and feel and hear with his senses, but nothing you want to do goes anywhere. You just watch in horror, in fascination, in whatever, until finally the wolf gives up control and you take the front again."

I closed my eyes and covered my face, not willing to let him see the emotions running through me as I tried to process this. After what seemed like an hour but was probably only a few minutes, I opened my eyes and looked directly at him. "What happened to me when the wolf was in control?"

He sighed. "You saw what happened. You changed into your wolf while he was raping you, and chased him out of the tent. Your wolf then chased him down and killed him. My pack and I knew he was around, he was testing the boundaries of our territory, hoping to attract one of my bitches away with him to start a new pack. I was patrolling with some men when we heard the sounds and investigated. By the time we found you, Ted was dead, baby. You were almost dead, lying on the ground next to him. Since the threat was gone, my wolf gave up control and the other wolves with me changed as their Alpha did. We patched you up as best we could and carried you back here. It was touch and go for a while, for obvious reasons we couldn't bring an injured werewolf to the hospital and it took two days before you were strong enough to shift back."

"Wait- how did you know he raped me? I never told you that."

He tapped his nose. "To a wolf, it was obvious from a distance. Our wolves are primal creatures, very similar to what you see in the wild. They want to hunt, run, sleep, play and make little wolves. That is why they can be so frightening to us when we are watching, because they aren't confused by morality or fairness or love. They understand kill or be killed, they understand where they stand in the hierarchy of the Pack, and they understand mating."

"But why would a wolf rape me? Surely he knew I wasn't a wolf."

"He could smell your sex as easily as I could, and I don't know if his wolf cared. Once a wolf leaves the Pack, they tend to go a little nuts."

"But why did he leave your pack?"

"I told you mating was a primal instinct. In a Pack, though, only the Alpha and Alpha Bitch get to mate. If any of the other bitches try, the Alpha Bitch will kill them or drive them away. Same thing with the males. Attempting to mate is the equivalent of challenging me to a fight to the death. Ted's wolf took advantage of me being out marking the edge of my territory and tried to force himself on my mate. She drove him off, and once I smelled him on her he knew better than to come back here. You did me a favor by killing him."

Just then there was a knock at the door. A striking woman with long brown hair entered, she was dressed simply in shorts and a T-shirt. She didn't seem to need a bra, I noticed with some jealousy, even though she appeared to be in her thirties. She had an air about her of being in charge, of being someone who had worked her way there and deserved respect. I felt myself shrinking a little from her as she approached the bed with a tray of food. "Ah, I'm glad to see you are back with us, you gave us a scare. You need to eat as much of this as you can, slowly so you don't get sick. You need to build your strength back up, young one."

The food smelled wonderful, it was plain country fare- venison, potatoes, vegetables- but I'd never smelled such wonderful food in my life. She saw the expressions on my face and smiled. "Part of being a werewolf is that your senses are expanded, even in human form. My name is Emma, but to you I am the Alpha Bitch. We will talk more later as we get you ready for your pack introduction." With that, she left the room.

I was still a little in shock, so I took advantage of the food to think about all that had been said, asking questions in between bites of food. I was famished, and finished it off easily, the flavors were amazing. When I was done, Joel gathered the dishes onto the tray and then set it by the door. Sitting again on the bed, he gently stroked my face. "Get some sleep, my little white wolf. It will help you heal." As I started to settle back and close my eyes, he had my right hand back in the restraint and was on my left before I could think to struggle.

"Why are you doing this? What are you going to do with me?" My pleas fell on deaf ears.

"I am protecting you, from the nightmares that may come. I am also protecting us. You cannot return to your old life, but you haven't accepted that yet so we have to make sure you stay here. If you need something, just yell- there will always be someone in the house to help you."

I stopped fighting just as another question popped into my head. "Joel... is my baby all right? Was he hurt in the attack?"

Joel grimaced as he turned back from the doorway. "I'm sorry. Pregnancies do not survive a shift, that is why in human form we avoid pregnancy, and after our wolves mate they remain in that form until the pups are born. You miscarried while you were unconscious."

He closed the door on my screams and my sobbing. Everything was gone, my baby, my boyfriend, my life. If I could have gotten out of bed, I would have killed myself.

I think they knew that too.