Chapter 8
eight
Troy
“Damn it. How the hell did you get here?”
Thank fuck my brothers made me take my phone with me for patrol because now I can call them to come and help me.
“Yeah? Did you find something?”
“I'm going to need you to bring out the ATV. Yeah, I found…something. Female wolf, on the smaller side, pretty rough condition. She’s got a stick piercing her leg pretty good.”
I’m met with silence, and I creep closer to see if I can figure out more about the poor animal.
“A wolf wolf, or shifter? And where are you at?”
I look around, trying to find some sort of marker.
“Honestly? Not quite sure yet. I called you before I investigated too much. She’s maybe 50 feet west of marker 12?
I'll send you my pin. I'm going to try and get a closer look; I don't think she's going to make it much longer otherwise.
It looks like she's been here for a while.”
My brother starts cussing, but I don’t have time to calm him right now. I need all my attention to be on this pretty wolf that needs me.
“Hey there beautiful, I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I'm here to help you. I'd appreciate it if you kept your teeth firmly in your mouth.”
Up until now, she hasn't even moved. I can see from her rib cage that she's still breathing, at least somewhat, but her breaths are growing shallower by the minute.
I try and talk to her while looking at her mangled leg, wanting the stick out but wary of making her bleed out. “I'm so sorry this happened to you, we're going take care of you though, alright?”
She's still not really reacting and judging by her size I think she's a regular wolf, but as I get close enough to her to touch her, I can smell she's actually a shifter. That should make this easier, and safer. In theory. Should also make this situation about a thousand times more interesting.
I carefully prod around her injury, trying to see how bloody it might get if we pull it out; as soon as I start working though, she's whimpering, and it goes right to my chest. “I know, I know. It hurts. You must have been too exhausted to get this out yourself. This isn’t going to feel great, but it will only take a second, and then we'll make sure you're taken care of, alright? I’m going to get my jacket wrapped tight around that leg to try and staunch the bleeding as soon as I get this nasty stick out. I’m hoping your shifter healing will kick in.”
I take a deep breath so I can be steady for her, preparing for a snarl or something when I pull the stick out, but she's too weak to even fight me.
In addition to the open wound in her leg where she clearly tried to gnaw herself free and only succeeded in getting more injured, she's also dehydrated and lethargic.
“I'm going to carry you over here and then my brother's gonna come pick us up, okay? That way I can get you home faster. I’d just carry you back, but that would be pretty bumpy, and I don't want to jostle you too much.
So short walk, and then we're home free.
I don't know if you can hear me or not, but you're welcome to shift back if you feel like it.
I'll give you my shirt to cover up if you want.”
Still no response, but that's okay. I grab the water bottle I fortunately brought with me and trickle some into her mouth, tipping her head back so she can swallow without choking.
That gets her attention; she shows a little bit of life as she tries to get as much water as possible. “That's it, drink it up. Plenty more where this came from soon as we get home.”
While I wait for Wiley to come get us, I start walking, wishing there was something else I could do to make her more comfortable.
There’s a lead weight in my stomach when I try to imagine how badly it must have hurt to have that in there as long as it was, and I wish I could take all the pain for her.
When we get back, she's going to be pampered, and me and my brothers are going to make sure we do everything we can to help her feel better as fast as possible.
Wiley doesn't say much when he picks us up, he's too worried about her. I know we'll be checking the cameras later to figure out maybe where she entered our property and when she got the stick through her leg, but there’s a lot of blank space between cameras.
The other thing weighing heavily on my mind, and likely my brother’s too, is the fact that a female shifter just landed in our territory, and that kind of changes the stakes.
“I know, don't even say it. We need to be focusing on her and her health, though.”
Wiley rolls his eyes. “I'm not dumb enough to think we need to be considering anything, I just think it's interesting is all. Jake is going to be pissed he wasn't here. I swear the guy has a knight in shining armor complex.”
I look down at the beautiful dark wolf on my lap, petting her head softly. “Don't listen to him. He says stupid shit.”
“Rude. She’ll be more herself soon enough. Aren’t you a pretty wolf? I'm Wiley, by the way. The nice man holding you is Troy. I don't know how you got all the way into the middle of our territory, but you're more than welcome. We don't have a lot out here, but we do all right.”
Unloading her as smoothly as possible, I bring her straight to the bathroom so that we can give her a bath and get all the mud, sticks, and blood out of her fur.
By the time I've got her wrapped in the biggest towel I can find, Wiley’s there with a steak he must have just grilled.
He even cut it up so she won't have to spend too much energy tearing into it.
“I know you don't feel good, but eat something for me, would you? I'm going to wrap up your leg with some clean bandages so it can heal a little bit better,” Wiley coaxes her.
She sniffs a little towards the plate before diving into it, whimpering when she puts too much weight on her injured leg. That whimper damn near breaks my heart.
“Shh, come here, beautiful. I’ve got you, okay?” I scoop her onto my lap carefully once more, cradling the hurt leg so it doesn’t get disturbed, and I pick up a bite at a time for her to swallow. She takes the meat from my hands gently, trying her best not to injure me.
I can already feel some sort of bond attempting to form, and it’s so hard not to give into that, but I can’t do that to her.
She’s likely just passing through and needs somewhere to crash while she heals.
Never mind that there are very few people that could find themselves so far into our property.
Big fan of sticking my head in the sand when I’m scared to want something good.
My brother is staring at me, clearly reading my internal struggle, but I don’t pay him any mind.
All my attention is on the wolf. “There you go, sweetheart. Good stuff? Yeah, he does pretty alright with the grill. Here, let’s get some more water in you.”
Wiley hands me a cup and I tilt it into her mouth and help her not to spill it everywhere, unable to resist petting her fine coat.
“Let’s go get you comfy somewhere, shall we? You’ve been stuck in those damn woods, and I bet you haven’t slept well in a few days. I’ll even let you pick where you want to sleep.”
I help her to stand, trying to take as much weight off of her injury as I can. We limp along together, me kind of suspending her hips while we walk through our halls, until she shows interest in a bedroom.
It’s Jake’s of course, and she sniffs at it curiously before nosing her way in and trying to jump up on the bed.
Ha. He hates getting fur in his bed, but he wouldn’t want me chasing her out of here, so he can deal.
“In here? Okay, wolfie. Let’s get you situated.”
I lift her and fluff the blankets around her until she’s comfortable. When I go to take a step back though, she whines, so I freeze in my tracks and turn back to her, unable to leave. “You want me to stay?”
She does this adorably cute thing with her head between her front paws, her tail thumping against the bed, ears back like she’s embarrassed, but she gets whatever she wants while she’s in this house.
“Alright, I’ll lay down with you. I guess I could use a little nap. Slept pretty shit last night myself.”
I tuck myself onto Jake’s pillow and extend a hand for her to smell, then she’s scooting forward and getting closer to me.
Before I know it, I’m being woken up by the front door shutting and footsteps accompanied by hushed voices in the hall that grow steadily closer.
I take a peek at my charge and see she’s still out cold, so I take a minute to admire the markings on her face, the silvery stripes of fur over her nose and around her ears, the slight wave she’s got on her coat and her smaller than normal paws.
They’re torn up a bit like she’s been wandering for way too long without proper rest, and I feel a surge of protectiveness escape.
She’s clearly been through something; a wolf doesn’t wear herself down like this unless something really fucked has happened. She doesn’t smell mated though, so I’m not worried about any potential mates coming to claim her and getting pissed at us for harboring her.
Jake’s door creaks open, and he pokes his head in, so much damn hope on his face that it’s physically painful.
“She’s still sleeping,” I whisper.
He nods and creeps inside, avoiding the floor planks that squeak the loudest as he kneels before the bed. “Fuck, but she’s a pretty one. No idea where she came from?” His voice is just barely loud enough to be heard, not enough to disturb her.
“No. I was just on normal patrol and found her out by marker 12. Don’t know how long she’d been there, but her leg was pretty mangled.”
He reaches out carefully, stroking the edge of her paw. “We’ll make sure she feels better. Wiley said she ate already?”
I nod. “Yeah. No interest in shifting yet, though.”
“That’s fine. If she’s having a rough go of it, her wolf is probably trying to protect her. She can take her time.”
Her breathing changes, and I think we both know she’s awake, but she keeps her eyes closed, thinking she’s fooled us.
I smile, already feeling like she’s mine to feel good about. That’ll likely prove to be a mistake, but I’m not going to try and ration my feelings out just in case. “Yeah, she can take her time. We’re not going anywhere.”
“Can’t believe I missed it. Figures, the first time in a month I head to town to drop shit off and pick up supplies, this beauty appears. Now she’s going to always remember you’re the one that saved her.”
I try to bite back a laugh. “Wiley was right. You do have a white knight complex, don’t you?”
“Shove off, man. You know I loved all the fairytale shit when we were younger. And now look, we’ve got our very own princess.”
I pet the back of her head and grin when she leans into it. “Yeah, we do. She likes your scent the best though, she chose your room. Didn’t even want to see ours.”
“Man, that’s probably because she knows I change my sheets the most often. And shower the most regularly. You guys have enough dust bunnies under your beds to knit a sweater with.”
I scoff. “You know I can’t knit worth shit.”
“Yes, always the biggest disappointment for mom.”
At this point, she’s clearly decided we aren’t a threat because she flutters her eyes open, putting on a show like she just woke up. Cute.
Her big, amber eyes are so clear and rich I feel like I could get lost in them.
“Wish we knew your name, but for now we’ll just have to keep calling you beautiful, I guess,” I inform her.
“You’re safe here, okay? Wherever you came from, whatever you’re running from, you don’t have to run while you’re here.
Stay as long as you need. Seriously. We just want you to feel better.
Seeing you with a stick through your leg scared the shit out of me, little wolf. ”
She stretches her neck to lick me up the side of my face, making my brother crack up.
“Nice. Thanks for that. You know, I do actually shower, you don’t have to bathe me. Regardless of what my brother said a minute ago; I know you were listening.”
She turns her head to Jake, and then Wiley walks in, having picked up on us talking. “She up?” He props himself against the end of Jake’s brass bed frame and immediately gives all his attention to the wolf. “Hey there. Feeling better?”
The pretty wolf looks to him and ducks her head in admission, and I once again can’t help but run my fingers through her fur. This time, over her back. “You want to stretch your legs for a minute? I can help take the weight off the injury for you.”
She stands on shaky legs and looks to me, waiting for help. Ah, fuck. She already trusts me, and she’s looking up at me like that, and I’m fucking gone.
“Come here, love.” I scoop her up and set her carefully on the ground. After she’s had a nap, a meal, and feels safe, her healing is kicking in. She walks on the leg without whimpering, just a bit of a limp.
When the gorgeous wolf looks up at me for approval, I scratch the thick fur at her neck. “Good job. Come on, you want to explore more?”
She looks to my brothers, and they smile in a way that’s been missing for far too long around here.
“We’re coming, don’t you worry,” Jake tells her before opening the door for her.
I don’t need a translation of the look he shoots me. She could be the one.