The Blood Moon Luna

The Mine -Charity

“NIKKI!” Silvie and I shouted in unison. She didn’t see the slight drop just before the mine and went slightly airborne. Then she crashed and burned. “Nikki, are you okay?” Silvie cried out. I bent down to roll her over and saw the gash on her head. There was a lot of blood, but I know that the head bleeds more than other parts of the body.

“Is she breathing?” Silvie asked as she knelt next to our friend.

“Yes, she’s breathing, but she is out cold. I know we shouldn’t move her under normal circumstances in case of neck injury, but we have to get into the mine,” I replied.

Silvie looked over and said, “We don’t have a choice; it’s less than 10 yards. I will grab her feet, and you can get her under the arms and support her head as best as you can.”

“On 3, ready? 1… 2… 3 lift,” we counted together.

We entered the mine entrance, and I could feel a wall to the foreman’s office, now to feel for the door. I tried not to think about what bugs and other creatures could be with us as I cautiously felt along the wall for the door.

“Here it is. It is jammed, let's set Nikki down so I can use my whole body to shove it open,” I said.

We laid Nikki down, and I grabbed the handle and pushed hard. No go, so I adjusted my grip on the handle and slammed my hip and shoulder against the door. “Okay, I got it open. Let's grab Nikki, and we’ll get her in the room,” I stated. It smelled like mildew, and the air was stagnant.

“I wonder if there are any matches or candles in here,” Silvie said.

“Hang on a sec.” I dug into my pocket, pulled out a lighter, and flicked it to get a look at the room we were in.

“Why do you have a lighter, Charity?” Silvie questioned.

“For my eyeliner, duh. Oh, look, a lantern, hopefully there is a little oil in it,” I said after looking around. I lifted the globe and flicked the lighter at the wick, and it lit right up. After replacing the globe, Silvie and I got Nikki on the desk to get a better look at her head. “Looks like the bleeding has slowed. Rip off a piece of my shirt so I can use it to put pressure on her wound,” I told Silvie.

This was not an ideal place to treat a wound, and since Nikki didn’t have her wolf yet, healing would be slow. “Charity, when do you think it will be safe? Do you think we will hear the all-clear from here?” Silvie asked, sounding worried.

“Honestly, Silvie, I don’t know either of those things. We’re safe for now, and we can’t just leave at this point. We either have to wait for help, or Nikki will have to wake up,” I replied.

“Do you think we will have to be here long? It’s dirty, and it smells gross,” Silvie whined.

“I really don’t know Silvie. It depends on how long the fight lasts,” I replied.

“I wish Nikki would wake up. It scares me that she got knocked out from her fall. I mean, she already had a black eye from defending you from Sidney,” Silvie said.

“Yeah, two blows to the head in a short period of time can’t be good,” I replied.

Suddenly, someone pounded on the door. BANG! BANG! BANG! Silvie and I shrieked loudly in unison.

“Who is in there? We’re looking for Nikki and the Richards twins. Open this door,” a voice demanded.

“It sounds like Frankie,” Silvie said.

“Who is out there? This is Charity Richards. My sister Silvie and Nikki are with me,” I told them.

“It’s Frankie, Tatum, and Marcus. Open this door, now, please,” Frankie instructed.

I scrambled over to the door and removed the chair Silvie had shoved under the handle. Then I gave a couple of good yanks on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. I called out, “It’s stuck, Frankie. We had to work hard to get in here. Can you try to force it open?”

“Okay, then stand clear, just in case the door breaks or something,” Frankie replied. With that, Frankie counted to three, and then the guys all rammed through the door.

Frankie

“I just messaged the Alpha that we found the girls,” Marcus said.

“Good. Is everyone okay here?” I asked.

“Nikki is unconscious; she lost some blood. We don’t know if there are any more injuries yet,” Charity replied.

I took two strides and stood beside Nikki, looking down at her still body. I removed the torn piece of cloth from Nikki’s head and could see that it was still very lightly bleeding. I bent over and began to lick the head wound.

“What are you doing? That's gross, Frankie,” Silvie said with absolute disgust.

“Alpha saliva, Silvie. The saliva of an Alpha or a wolf’s mate can help with healing. Since Nikki isn’t old enough for a mate and I am the next Alpha of this pack, I can at least stop the bleeding,” I replied.

“Are you two girls okay?” Marcus asked.

“Would you lick me if I said I wasn’t?” Charity replied.

“Oh, I'll lick something, alright. Except I am a Gamma, and since you aren’t of age, the most that will happen is you moaning out my name when I do,” Marcus taunted.

“ENOUGH!” I shouted and then lowered my voice. “Okay, first things first, how long has Nikki been out? Second, how did she get the gash on her head?” I asked.

“We don't exactly know a specific amount of time, but maybe if I tell you how things went, we could figure it out,” Silvie said.

“Okay, Silvie, talk fast so we can determine how best to help Nikki. Tatum, can you link the pack doctor and have Dr. Lynn bring a stretcher and a transport vehicle?” I asked.

“Okay, we left right after the apex like we said we would. It must have been about five minutes after we left and heard the attack start. We took off running to escape, since we didn’t have our wolves to help us. When the pack warriors came running toward us, we ducked behind a big boulder to get out of the way. Then we remembered the old mine wasn’t far and ran in this direction. Nikki was in an all-out sprint and must not have seen the minor drop, and went flying. She landed and hit her head. Charity and I picked her up and brought her in here. And she still hasn’t woken up,” Silvie recounted.

Dad, Beta Bill, and Gamma Xavier walked in just ahead of Dr. Lynn with the stretcher. “Tatum, Marcus, walk the Richards twins home, and then you guys can speak to the warriors and tell them how this mess started. After we get Ms.Gaffney to the pack hospital and settled, we’ll all meet up,” Dad ordered.

“Okay, gentlemen, I put a neck brace on Nikki here, and we just need to slip the stretcher underneath her carefully and transfer her to the transport vehicle,” Dr. Lynn informed us.

“Dr. Lynn, do you think there could be more damage? Charity and Silvie had to pick Nikki up to move her in here to safety?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, just yet, young Alpha. The neck brace is a precautionary measure until we can get Nikki in for an MRI. Then we'll see if there is more damage than what we see on the surface here. She must have bounced or rolled, seeing as the bruise is on one eye and the gash is on the opposite side of her face,” Dr. Lynn commented.

“Uhm… the bruise was there before the fall. Charity and Sidney had words, and Nikki pushed Charity out of the way of Sidney’s fist. So the black eye was separate,” I explained a bit sheepishly.

“Sounds like it was quite an evening even before the attack happened,” Dad said, arching his eyebrow while looking at me.

“Yeah, uhm, I will fill you in on the details later,” I replied.

“It looks as though the gash on her face is already healing, so that looks promising,” Dr. Lynn said while checking Nikki out in the lights from the back of the transport vehicle.

“She was still bleeding a little when we found her and the twins, so I licked her,” I explained, a little embarrassed.

“That was good thinking, Frankie. Alpha Kieran, you taught him to think clearly even in stressful situations,” Dr. Lynn said very matter-of-factly.

“He is very level-headed; his mother and I are proud. Once he finds his Luna, I can retire without hesitation,” Dad responded, patting me on the shoulder.