by Jenna Aileen
It took me almost an hour of searching before I was able to find a trail of blood, which along with huge muddy footprints, led me right to her. I immediately ran over to her and tried to wake her. A strange feeling of déjà vu washed over me, causing panic to rise in my chest when she didn’t immediately wake up when I touched her face.
“Conan?” Kathryn whispered, her voice filled with pain as she tried to sit up.
“It’s alright Kathryn,” I said, scooping her up into my arms and carrying her. Hospital. We need to find a hospital.
“Where are the others?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter right now.”
“Where’s your shirt?” she asked, mildly confused.
“It was ripped to shreds when transformed,” I replied.
“I-II think I can walk,” she murmured in protest. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Um, I don’t think so.” “But—”
“Now shush, save your strength.”
Her breathing slowed to little gasping breaths as I carried her away, trying to be as gentle as possible. She was shivering, her skin clammy. Her clothes were soaked with both blood and sweat. An odd feeling struck me. Something I hadn’t felt in what seemed to be ages, but it seemed all too familiar.
Fear.
Fear of what?
Fear of losing her.
“Conan,” she rasped as her nails dug into my skin. Pain was written all over her face as she shivered in my arms. She rested her head against my chest. Her sigh turned to a whimper of pain, and I knew I had to get her help. I could sense the fear coursing through her veins as if it was my own.
“Stay with me darling, it’s going to be alright.” I found myself trying to comfort her as I tried think of the quickest way out of these woods and into the city.
“I’m so cold,” she whispered, her eyelids fluttering. I felt an odd pang in my chest.
Does this scene seem familiar? My wolf taunted. I couldn’t help the growl that escaped my throat. Kathryn seemed a bit startled, but soon drifted back into her feverish state.
I shook my head and forced myself to ignore the beast as he tried to bring back painful memories.
“I know, sweetheart, we’re going to get help soon. Hang in there,” I replied, holding her closer and increasing my speed.
It was almost twenty miles to the nearest town, which was still too close to the rogues for my liking, but I had no other choice.
I ran for all I was worth. Kathryn went limp in my arms. Her breaths grew shorter and more ragged, and she shivered even more. I cursed my human legs for not being able to run faster. If I could turn into my wolf, I’d be able to double my speed, but then there was no way for me to carry her. She’d have to hold herself up and I knew she didn’t have the strength to do that even if she was conscious. And there was no telling whether I’d be able to stay in control if I transformed. The beast inside had been in an aggressive mood of late, and I didn’t trust him.
Finally, we reached the hospital. By that time, I could barely feel or hear her breathe. I handed her over to the doctors who rushed her away. I knelt on the floor, trying to catch my breath. My skin was numb from the cold, but soon began to tingle and twitch as I warmed up.
Somebody – a doctor? – knelt beside me and tried to talk to me, but I stood up and pushed him away. It wasn’t until after I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a mirror, that I realized he was probably asking if I needed medical attention as well. My face had taken quite the beating, though I knew it would heal much quicker than what they were used to seeing. That was the least of my worries.
I refused to leave Kathryn. I followed them into the room where they cut her clothes away and started to assess the damage. Part of me felt guilty watching, and I knew if Kathryn were conscious, she would be screaming at me to leave. But I had sworn to Vladimir that I would let no harm come to her while we escorted her to join the rest of the pack. Well, not exactly that, but I promised to get her back all in one piece.
Kathryn woke up screaming when they began to clean the wounds out, and I almost decked the doctor for hurting her. It wasn’t on purpose really; I’m not even really sure what had gotten into me. This sense of protectiveness had hit me and I lost it. Hell, I’m surprised my wolf didn’t try to make an appearance; I was so worked up.
In the end, I was dragged out of the room as they sedated her, and they questioned me about what happened. For obvious reasons, I didn’t tell them the reality of it all as that would have probably sent me straight to the loony bin. So I made up some story about us being on our honeymoon and that we were camping when Kathryn was attacked by some wild animal. They seemed suspicious and I mentally kicked myself for not coming up with a better alibi.
It was the first thing that came to my mind, and I just spat it out without really thinking. The irony of the story I made up didn’t strike me until later. That is, if you find the cruelty of fate ironic.
One of the nurses showed me to a waiting area, and told me she’d let me know when I could see Kathryn. She winked at me before leaving but I tried to ignore it and not gag. The entire time I was “explaining” everything to her and the resident doctor, this lady was totally checking me out.
It was downright creepy, considering the fact that, number one I was “married” and number two…well, she was a homely little thing. I mean—not my type. Her little girlstache didn’t escape my notice. Neither did her coffee-stained teeth with weird purple-ish lipstick stuck to them. Not my type at all.
It was barely dawn, but as soon as the sun was up, I’d have to find a shirt to wear. For the time being, I had pulled on Kathryn’s sweatshirt. It fit me better than it fit her, considering it was a men’s size large. It felt weird wearing her boyfriend’s clothes. And Kathryn would need something to wear, too, seeing as all her clothes had been cut off and thrown into the trash.
I’ve always hated buying women clothing. If it was too big, they were offended because I would be “implying” that they’re fat; and if it was too small, they were offended and
embarrassed to say that it didn’t fit. At least that’s what my wife always used to do.
I was completely lost in thought when the nurse walked in. I looked up at the clock and realized that a few hours had passed.
“If you’d follow me, please. Your wife is in stable condition.” She said the word wife like it left a weird taste in her mouth. I thanked her and stood up, trying to ignore her small eyes watching my every move.
Never in a million years, woman. I thought to myself as we walked through the halls of the hospital to the room that Kathryn was in. The nurse was rattling on about what they did to her-- something about giving her a blood transfusion. She asked if I knew about any previous head injuries that Kathryn had, and I didn’t even remember what I said, I was just relieved to see that she was alive.
I rushed over to Kathryn, who was sound asleep, completely tuning the nurse out. She lingered a moment longer, and I have to say just her presence in the room was irritating.
“Oh Kathryn, my dear, my baby. You’re okay,” I breathed, grabbing her hand and kissing it. Maybe I was overdoing things a little, but I heard the nurse inhale sharply as I leaned in and gently kissed Kathryn’s lips and stroked her hair. The nurse mumbled something under her breath before finally walking out. I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in the chair next to her bed. Safe…for now at least.
*~*~*
“Conan, where on earth are you taking me?” Selene asked, trying to lift up the blindfold.
“No, don’t!” I said, grabbing her and covering her eyes before she could see anything. She huffed and stuck her lip out but I knew she wasn’t really upset. She loved surprises. I kissed her soft, pink lips and slid the blindfold back down over her beautiful blue-gray eyes. She giggled.
“Well, I liked that surprise,” she murmured, the corners of her lips turning up in a smile. My heart welled up with complete love and adoration for the woman whose hand I was holding.
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“Alright, you can take the blindfold off,” I said, letting go of her hand. Her slender fingers untied the blindfold and her eyes lit up when she saw the picnic blanket lying in the middle of the meadow in front of her.
“Oh, Conan…” She gasped, her eyes disappearing as her face lit up with a smile. She laughed and threw her arms around my neck. “I love you,” she whispered in my ear, kissing my cheek and then pulling back. Her eyes bright with joy.
“I love you, too,” I replied, kissing her lips once more, then picking her up and twirling her around.
*~*~*
I awoke disoriented and in a sour mood. I rubbed my eyes and looked up to make sure Kathryn was still okay. She sighed and mumbled something in her sleep. Her cheeks were flushed and she looked a lot better than she did when we had arrived at the hospital.
Still feeling drowsy, I moved the chair forward and rested my upper body on the bed.
A few minutes later, just as I was drifting back to sleep, I felt someone scratching my head. I sat up again, wondering what the heck was touching my head. To my surprise, it was Kathryn. She was twirling my hair around her fingers and giggling.
“You’re awake,” I grunted, stifling a yawn. She giggled and nodded.
“Great. What the hell are you on?” I glanced over at the IV bags hanging by the bed. Valko would know what those were. I, on the other hand, knew nothing about medicine.
She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Uh, what?” I replied with an awkward nod. What the heck are they giving her?
“You have nice abs,” she said, her words slurring together. “That’s pretty sexy.” She giggled some more.
“Thank you?” This was perfect blackmail material. If only I had a camera.
“Hey, Abel has that shirt too,” she said, looking confused. “Did the elves steal it?” She gasped. I couldn’t help but laugh at her as she looked down at the hospital gown she was wearing and gasped again.
“Where’s my shirt?” She looked down and grabbed her chest.
I had to try hard not to laugh when she looked down her hospital gown and her eyes widened. “I don’t have a bra on.” “Yeah, why don’t you get some rest, love? You’ve had a long night.”
She looked at me and nodded solemnly before laying back and closing her eyes. I chuckled quietly to myself and looked at the clock. It was around noon. Now that I was more awake, it would probably be a good time to go and find more acceptable apparel.
Unfortunately, I was a little short on cash so I had to pick some pockets. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long.
What if Desmond comes looking for her?
No, she’ll be fine. I would just make it a quick trip. It couldn’t take longer than thirty minutes to go get clothes. *~*~*
My errands took a bit longer than I expected. Picking someone’s pocket was easy, and I was able to find a shirt for myself in less than ten minutes. Kathryn, on the other hand, was harder to shop for.
It didn’t help things that the stupid saleswoman had followed me all around the store, trying to push stuff at me and convince me that I should apply for the store credit card. Picking out clothes, and unfortunately, underwear was stressing me out way more than it should.
Finally, I returned to the hospital, relieved to see that Kathryn was still sleeping soundly. Her eyebrows were knit together and her face was all scrunched up. She looked troubled. There was a decent sized bruise on her cheekbone and another on her jaw. I wondered how they treated the scratches on her stomach – whether they stitched or bandaged them – and how caring for the wounds would affect our journey.
Kathryn sighed in her sleep and started to stir. It wasn’t long before she awoke with a perplexed look on her face.
“What…where are we?” she said in a low, scratchy voice.
“In the hospital. Do you remember anything? What happened last night?”
She slowly shook her head and winced. “Did I get run over by a bus or something?
“I’ll tell you later,” I whispered as the nurse walked in. It was the lipstick lady again.
“Oh, Mrs. Wolfman…you’re awake,” she said in a strained and slightly annoyed voice, pasting a fake smile on her face.
Kathryn slowly nodded, looking confused. “The doctor should be in in a few minutes to check on you.” The nurse turned and flashed me a big smile before walking out. She still hadn’t gotten that lipstick off of her teeth.
“Mrs. Wolfman?” Kathryn turned, one eyebrow raised, giving me her famous you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look.
“Well, dearest, actually um—”
“Hello, Kathryn. How are you feeling?” asked the doctor, a friendly looking man in his mid-fifties.
“Hi. A little, um, sore,” she said, wincing. Her eyes still looked a bit glazed over, and there were dark circles resting beneath them.
“That’s to be expected,” the man said with a chuckle. “Do you remember anything that happened to you?” he asked her.
She paused and looked at me for a moment.
Oh shit, this is it, she’s going to tell them I kidnapped her.
“No, not really…I was attacked by something.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. She was a good actress. Although I was somewhat puzzled as to why she had lied to them and didn’t have a complete meltdown and go off on a rant about her “stupid wolf man” kidnapper.
Chapter Seventeen, Kathryn As soon as the doctor left, I turned back to Conan and demanded an explanation as to why he told them that I was his wife.
“Well, that stupid nurse was hitting on me and I wanted to make her stop so it just slipped out, I’m sorry,” he said defensively.
“That’s completely ridiculous Conan!”
He shushed me, sticking a finger to his lip.
“That’s completely ridiculous,” I said a little quieter. “I
mean c’mon, daughter would have been a bit more believable than wife.” Conan’s mouth dropped dramatically and he pretended to look hurt. “I’m not that much older than you, love. Maybe older brother would have been better?”
“Uncle—maybe.” “That’s really mean. I can’t believe you’d even say something like that. I’m barely ten years older than you.”
“I’m just saying,” I tried to shrug but felt sharp, burning pain in my back.
“You okay?” Conan asked, looking concerned.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I shifted around a bit, trying to find a more comfortable position. “I’d be a trophy wife if I ever was your wife anyway,” I said.
“Alright, alright, enough. Anyway it’s too late so just shut up pretend to be my wife. We won’t be here that long, so just pretend not to hate me at least while the doctors are around. They’re already suspicious. We might have to sneak out tonight while staffing is lighter.”
“I shall do my best to be civil,” I replied, not really feeling like arguing. I was tired and wondering if my pain medication was wearing off. My stomach started getting really sore and achy.
It was coming back to me a little…what had happened, just as I drifted off to sleep.
*~*~*
I was in the backseat of mom’s van, crying hysterically. “Be thankful you got a chance to say goodbye, not everyone gets that,” mom said before the car came to a screeching halt. I heard a loud smack and the sound of glass shattering. My eyesight grew blurry, blue and red lights smeared across my vision. A high pitched metallic sound rang in my ears.
“Just relax, you’ll be okay, help is coming,” a strangely familiar voice told me. Hands gently brushed my hair out of my face. I started to relax until they found their way to places they had no business being. I struggled under the weight of what felt like another human, whose face I could not see. The word help was stuck in my throat, but no sound escaped my lips.
*~*~*
I awoke panting and completely covered in sweat. The wounds on my back and stomach felt like they were on fire. Conan held my hand gently, slowly rubbing his thumb
back
and forth to try and sooth me. His presence gave me comfort for some reason. He didn’t say anything; he just sat there and looked at me with concern.
“It was just a dream…” I sighed, sitting back. A few moments passed and Conan didn’t let go of my hand. I made no move to pull away. The dream had startled me enough that I didn’t want to fall back to sleep.
“Are you alright?” Conan asked after a moment. I nodded my head in reply, staring at the foot of my bed and trying to figure out where that mash of thoughts came from. They felt more like memories than a dream, but I wasn’t sure where they had come from.
“What’s wrong, Kathryn?” Conan asked, being more straightforward.
“It’s nothing really, I’m okay,” I responded half-heartedly.
He grunted, and gave me a skeptical look, but said nothing else.
As hard as I tried to stay awake, it was impossible because of the meds they were giving me. Thankfully, I didn’t have any other nightmares.
Conan was asleep when I woke up, his hand still resting on top of mine. Though it had previously been comforting, his touch now irritated me. I bit my lip and resisted the urge to rip my hand away, not wanting to wake him up. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts.
Oh how I wished that none of this had happened and I was back home with Abel. I guess I was finally getting the adventure that I had always wanted. Only half of that wish had come true though. I didn’t want to be alone on a grand adventure. Deep down I had hoped that somehow I would find myself having adventures with Abel.
I glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was almost midnight. I sighed and looked around the room, bored and in pain. That’s when I noticed the phone next to my bed.
Abel. I could call Abel and tell him where I was! If I knew where I was… Maybe the police could trace the phone number back to this hospital. They had to be looking for me still.
I slowly pulled my hand away from Conan and started to dial Abel’s cell phone number. In a matter of seconds, Conan dove across the bed and tried to rip the phone from my hands. I growled and tried to dial faster, ignoring the searing pain in my back and stomach as I pulled the phone on the bed. He straddled me and tried to pin both my arms above my head so he could get the phone out of my hands. My wounds were hurting like crazy but I was determined to call Abel if it was the last thing I ever did.