Heart of a Wolf

“But this Alpha saved me?” Val asked again, this time directing her attention to Fallen.

“Yes. We would’ve done more if we could, but our Alpha was injured in the process. We have a healer, but her injuries are ones meant for a full staff instead of a single man.”

Val looked at her with disbelief. “And where’s the rest of your staff?”

“Lost.” Fallen bowed her head and left it at that.

Alarmed, my sister looked back at me and said, “And this is really for your own good?”

“Yes. With my wolf still uneasy around everyone else, I can’t risk operating on her. I don’t know when I’ll turn again.

Until I can get a hold on my wolf, I need to stay here.”

Val took an uneasy breath, reached out to touch my hand, then drew back before we made contact. “I’ll do my best. I owe her my life, and if I can offer her a second chance, I will.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s all we ask,” Fallen said, approaching my sister again. “The infirmary’s this way.”

No one came to check on me after that. No one took up the post inside the shed and no one came by to deliver my dinner.

Not that I would’ve been able to eat anything, anyway. My stomach was in knots, and whenever I thought of food, the nausea from earlier returned.

So there I sat, watching the shed door in hopes of hearing some good news before the night was through.

Fallen didn’t explain the injuries, but looking back on what I remembered about the attack, one thing was sure. If Val failed, if she and the healer couldn’t repair the damage I’d done along with Ash’s own rapid healing, then there was a good chance she’d never walk again.

Wolves worked differently than humans. The anatomy might’ve been the same in their human forms, but their rapid healing complicated things even more. If the healing repaired the damage in such a way that it fused bone in the wrong position…

“Oh god.”

I ran to the corner of my cell and lost whatever was left in my stomach. It wasn’t much, and as the dry heaves continued to roll up my chest, I did everything I could to fight my panic back.

I’d asked my sister to do something impossible. Something she’d never have to do to another animal.

I’d asked her to duplicate Ash’s injuries.

All through school, we were told to do no harm, but wolves are different and not something we were taught about until recently. Their rapid healing made it so a break would heal within a week. Blood vessels would mend within a day, and muscles healed the fastest of all. By asking Val to follow the injuries and cut through muscle and bone the same way my wolf had done, I’d put her through a great deal of stress.

Needless to say, when Fallen finally dropped by a few hours later, Ash’s condition and my sister’s well-being were the first things that came to mind.

“How are they? How’s Ash and my sister?” Did she do okay? Did they save Ash?

Fallen turned to me, her expression being one I couldn’t read. However, as soon as she spoke, a small smile played on her lips. “Your sister is a very skilled healer.”

“Oh thank god.” Head in my hands, I took the first breath in what felt like forever as I knelt close to the ground.

“The Alpha should make a full recovery within a few weeks.” This time I could hear the smile in her voice, something I’d never heard on her before. As I did, she walked over to my cell and unlocked the door, stepping aside once it was open.

“Wait. What’s happening?” She didn’t honestly want me to see the Alpha now, did she?

“I’ve been pacing those halls all day and you’ve been trapped in here for just as long. I don’t know about you but I could really use a run to get rid of some of this tension, and seeing as you’re still my responsibility, I thought you might like to join me.”

Was Fallen actually asking me to go on a run with her? The stern, bullheaded wolf who wouldn’t even look at me the first day I arrived?

“Well?” Fallen urged, holding the cell door open as I continued to stare in her direction. “Are you coming with me or not?”

“As my wolf?” My hands shook as I slowly closed the distance between us. How could she trust me when I couldn’t trust myself?