Chapter 11 - One Step at a Time
1368 Words
Several days passed before Raven could move around the cabin without needing to stop every few minutes.
Her recovery was slow, but there was a noticeable difference from the woman Silas had carried through the forest. Each morning she managed a little more than she had the day before, and although her movements remained careful and occasionally clumsy, she was beginning to trust her body again.
The bruising along her ribs faded from deep purple to yellow, and the pain that had once made every movement feel impossible had settled into a constant ache that Raven could tolerate. Her face was another matter. The wound still pulled whenever she moved her expression too quickly, and the scar was becoming more visible as the swelling disappeared, leaving a curved mark running from her temple toward her cheekbone.
Raven had stopped avoiding mirrors.
The woman staring back at her looked different.
Harder.
More dangerous.
She decided she could live with that.
Her wolf remained silent.
That frightened her more than the scar ever could, but Raven had learned to stop checking every few minutes because each attempt left her more frustrated than the last. Silas had told her that healing would take time, and she was beginning to understand that patience was going to be forced upon her whether she liked it or not.
She still trained herself in small ways.
Every morning, she walked the length of the cabin several times, gradually increasing the distance until she could make it from one end to the other without holding onto the furniture. Then she began walking outside, first as far as the porch and back, then toward the garden and eventually along the narrow path behind the cabin.
She was still slow.
She stumbled more than once.
On one particularly humiliating morning, she caught her foot on a tree root and nearly landed face-first in the dirt before Silas caught the back of her shirt.
Raven straightened and looked over her shoulder.
“I had that.”
Silas released her shirt.
“You were falling.”
“I was adjusting.”
“To the ground?”
Raven glared at him.
He walked away.
She couldn't decide whether she wanted to laugh or throw something at him.
By the end of the week, Raven had regained enough strength that she could make it through most of the morning without feeling as though her legs were about to collapse beneath her. She still moved carefully, and anything requiring sudden movement was beyond her for now, but she was improving.
She was also beginning to understand Silas's routine.
He woke before sunrise, checked the traps around the property, gathered whatever food was ready in the garden and spent part of the day either hunting or preparing supplies. He rarely wasted movement, and Raven had noticed that he seemed to know exactly how long everything would take.
He also refused to let her help with anything that required too much strength.
That morning, Raven watched him pull on his boots near the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To check the traps.”
“I'll come with you.”
Silas looked at her.
“No.”
Raven frowned.
“I've been walking every day.”
“I know.”
“I can manage.”
“You're still limping.”
“Barely.”
“You're still slow.”
“I'll get faster.”
Silas reached for his coat.
“Stay here.”
Raven crossed her arms.
“I've been inside this cabin for days.”
“You've been outside.”
“For ten minutes at a time.”
“That was enough.”
“It wasn't.”
Silas looked at her for a long moment.
Raven could see the refusal forming before he even spoke.
“No.”
She stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because the path is uneven, you're still recovering and I don't have time to keep stopping every few minutes.”
“I won't ask you to stop.”
“You will when you fall behind.”
“I won't.”
Silas's expression remained completely unimpressed.
Raven stepped closer.
“I need to start going farther. I can't recover by walking between the bed and the kitchen.”
Silas was silent.
Raven knew she was pushing him, but she also knew she was right. Every day she spent sitting inside the cabin made her feel as though another piece of her independence was slipping away.
She needed to know what her body could do.
She needed to start preparing for the day she returned to the pack.
Finally, Silas sighed.
“You can follow me.”
Raven smiled.
“Good.”
“I haven't finished.”
Her smile faded slightly.
Silas pulled open the door.
“I won't slow down.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
“If you fall behind, I'm continuing without you.”
Raven lifted her chin.
“Fine.”
“If you get tired, turn around.”
“I won't.”
“You probably will.”
Raven glared at him.
“You're very encouraging.”
“I prefer realistic.”
She grabbed her coat.
“Then go.”
Silas stepped outside.
Raven followed.
The morning air was cool against her skin, and for a moment she simply stood on the porch and breathed it in. She had spent enough time confined to the cabin that even the familiar trees seemed different now.
Silas started down the path.
Raven followed.
At first, keeping up wasn't difficult.
She had spent years training her body to move through forests, and even though she was still recovering, the instincts remained. She watched where she placed her feet and adjusted her pace whenever the ground became uneven.
Silas walked quickly.
He didn't look back.
Raven refused to ask him to slow down.
After several minutes, the distance between them began to grow.
She quickened her pace.
Her ribs protested.
She ignored them.
Silas disappeared around a bend.
Raven gritted her teeth and kept moving.
By the time she reached the bend, she could see him farther ahead, walking as though the uneven ground beneath his feet didn't exist.
“You could at least pretend you're waiting for me,” she called.
Silas glanced over his shoulder.
“I told you I wasn't stopping.”
“I remember.”
“Then keep up.”
Raven muttered something under her breath and continued.
Her legs were beginning to ache, but the pain was different from the weakness she had experienced earlier. This was the familiar ache of muscles being pushed after too much time spent recovering.
She could work with that.
She caught up eventually.
Silas looked at her briefly before continuing.
Raven tried to hide how pleased she was with herself.
They walked deeper into the forest.
The trees became thicker, the path narrower and the cabin disappeared from sight behind them. Raven realized how isolated Silas truly was, because there wasn't a single sign of another home or road anywhere around them.
Eventually, Silas stopped.
Raven nearly walked into him.
“What?”
He pointed toward the trees.
Raven followed his gaze and saw a small wooden trap positioned near the base of a tree.
She looked at him.
“You really built all of these yourself?”
“Yes.”
He crouched beside it.
Raven watched him work, fascinated by how naturally everything seemed to come to him.
“You've been doing this for a long time.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
Silas glanced at her.
“Long enough.”
Raven sighed.
“You know, one day you're going to give me an actual answer.”
“Maybe.”
She smiled faintly.
For now, she was content to let the mystery remain.
She had spent too many days trapped inside her own thoughts, and being out here, moving through the forest again, reminded her of something she had almost forgotten.
She was still herself.
Her strength wasn't gone.
It was simply returning.
And for the first time since Roman had left her bleeding beneath the trees, Raven felt as though she was beginning to take her life back one step at a time.
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