His Funny Little Wolf Girl

Ch. 3: Hospital Trip

(Aaron’s POV… Cont’d)

Blake leaned towards her again and spoke in a gentle voice as he said, “Are you hungry? I can get you some food. Or water, if you want it.”

No reaction other than for her to watch him carefully. So I leaned down a bit closer and said, “Does that hurt? We can take you to a healer.” Still no answer. But this time she picked her head up and looked at me. Then strangely started sniffing at me in a way that made me feel like she might just take a bite out of me. I was pretty sure that was the case when her soft tongue came out and lapped at my hand a few times.

“Jeez. Think she’s trying to see if she’ll like the taste of me?” I chuckled, but I also moved my hand away which seemed to cause her to whimper a little before putting her head back down. Only this time, she didn’t lick at her wound. She just let out a huff and closed her eyes as though we were insignificant.

“Dude. When’s the last time you had a she-wolf totally ignore you?” Blake’s voice betrayed his shock which was also written all over his face. I knew what he meant, though. I’m an Alpha and he’s a Beta. As ranked wolves we tend to get a lot of female attention, even when it’s unwanted.

“Never.” I stated simply, my gaze never once leaving the she-wolf. “Yeah, me neither. How are we supposed to get through to her when even our male charm doesn’t work?”

I had to laugh at that. But he did have a point. Unfortunately, I had no answer for him though I did notice she opened her eyes when I laughed. Maybe my ‘male charm’, as Blake put it, was working after all?

“Okay, new plan. I’m going to try to carry her back to the pack hospital. You’re going to have to clear the way for me, though. We’ll try to make this as quick as possible.” I told Blake who was looking at me like I’d just lost my mind.

“Okay, man. It’s your neck.” I inwardly cringed at his comment. He was right in both a figurative and literal sense. Literal because with her in my arms her mouth, and all those sharp teeth, would be near my throat, figurative because my Dad had no idea what we were doing.

I guess I better mind-link him and let him know what’s going on.

I took a second to do that before attempting to pick the she-wolf up. “Uhh, Dad? We’ve got a little bit of an issue here…” I began, then quickly gave him the ‘cliff notes’ version of what happened and told him I was taking the wolf to the hospital.

“I’ll meet you there.” His answer came in a quick, curt tone that told me he wasn’t happy about something. I just hoped it wasn’t anything to do with me.

“Something’s up. My Dad sounds miffed about something.” I told Blake quietly, trying not to disturb the she-wolf too much. “Easy girl. I’m not gonna hurt you. I promise.” I cooed as I squatted down and gently slid my hands under her body.

She picked her head up and looked at me cautiously, but amazingly enough, she seemed to trust me, so I just went slowly and lifted her into my arms. Her brown coat was covered in slick mud and blood, some of which I didn’t think was her own.

“She looks like she got a few good licks in of her own.” I was surprised by how light she actually was. And how small. It made me wonder just how old this she-wolf was. “Yeah, I thought the same thing when I got a better look at her wound. It’s still bleeding but it’s too fresh to have gotten under the mud that way.”

“Dude, she’s really light and small. Do you think they were holding her prisoner? She could be suffering from malnutrition.” I couldn’t explain this sudden feeling I had that was making me want to protect this girl. She’s nobody to me. Which is not to say that she has no value, just that I don’t know her at all.

“Could be. Maybe she escaped and that’s why they were chasing her. We caught one of them, so once we get her to the hospital, maybe we can get a few of these questions answered.” I nodded in answer, and we spent the rest of the walk back in silence.

Once we got to the hospital, I carried her inside and the doctor made a face as he said, “Why is she filthy? I can’t work like this.” He was actually standing between me and the bed, unwilling to let me lay her down.

“Yes, William, you not only can, you will.” My Father’s voice came from behind me and the doctor straightened up immediately and intoned, “Yes, Alpha.” Then he got out of my way so I could lay her on the bed.

We all stepped back, so the doctor could work, but as soon as he got close to the she-wolf, she’d growl and bare her teeth, causing him to quickly move away again. “Aaron, go around that side and hold her still. Try to keep her calm if you can. Blake, you stay by the doctor and if he needs you to hold her steady do so.”

My Dad went around the other side of the bed, at the she-wolf’s back, and placed his hand on her side to firmly hold her in place. Her head came around and she growled at him, but didn’t try to snap at him. Instead, she started sniffing at him the way she had done with me and within seconds she was gently licking his hand as if apologizing.

“Well that’s… interesting.” He commented, more to himself than to us. I took my position and gently held her paws in one hand while running my free-hand over her head and neck in a soothing way as I spoke softly to her, reassuring her no-one would hurt her.

It wasn’t until the doctor poured antiseptic on the open wound that she fussed, yelping in pain then snarling at him as she tried to j*rk her leg away. Blake grabbed a hold of it and held it still for the doctor who swiftly cleaned the wound and bandaged it up.

Once he was through he quickly left while saying, “It should be fine. She’d heal faster if she shifted, but it’ll heal on its own either way. If you can get her into a bath we can redress it once she’s clean.”

Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone move so fast in my life. As he said the word ‘clean’ he was closing the door behind him. I couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped out. The poor Omega was probably somewhere right now breathing into a brown paper bag.

“I’m sorry to do this but I need to ask you two to stay with her until I say otherwise. We need to keep her quiet for now. I don’t want this getting out to the other packs just yet and Alpha Esteban is on his way to meet with me. Apparently, the rogues attacked Crystal Moon too.”

My Dad raked his hand through his hair as he spoke, his tone filled with frustration. “I hope to the Goddess this isn’t the beginning of something. The packs barely kept it together the last time the rogues did this sort of coordinated bullsh*t.”

“I remember my Dad talking about that. We were just babies the last time, right? That’s when the old Alpha resigned because they killed his family and it broke him.” Blake, who was sort of a history buff, asked the question I had no idea needed asking since I don’t remember any of this.

“Yes. You kids wouldn’t remember him but he was a good man, and a great Alpha. We used to call him ‘Box’ because it was his last name and he was really good at boxing people in when he wanted something or in a battle. But that day broke him. Losing his daughter and granddaughter that way? It’s amazing he didn’t shut down completely. He’s out there, somewhere. Maybe even still looking for his granddaughter.”

My Dad had a sad look in his eyes as he spoke but I frowned and said, “You just said the granddaughter died. How is he looking for a dead girl?” My nodded, raking his hand through his hair again as he said, “She did. She was just an infant when the rogues attacked. Her Father tried to bring them here for safety but they never made it. The problem is… the baby's body was never found. So Box got it in his head that she was still out there. Somewhere.”

“That’s kind of sad, really. Poor guy. Spending his life looking for someone he’ll never find.” Blake sounded depressed, as if he were somehow personally involved in the story. I mean, I feel bad for the former Alpha too. But he’s gone now and his obsession with finding his dead granddaughter has no effect on our lives now.

“How long did the rogue raids continue back then, Dad?” I asked, trying to change the topic a little. “Well, they started about a year before you kids were born and stopped about the time you were all turning one. So about two years.”

“Weird. What became of the rogues?” I asked. My Dad just looked at me, his eyes turning cold as he said, “We killed them. Or as many of them as we could hunt down.”

“Well then, if they’re back, then they can join their predecessors.” My tone was firm and confident, making my Dad chuckle softly as he said, “Spoken like a true Alpha, son. But for now we need to make sure our allies are still with us. Jorge is a good man. I’m sure he’ll want to stay allied. And since he and I run the two largest packs in this region, I’m pretty sure a good many of the other packs will align with us as well.”

“And having a wild wolf running around the grounds right now won’t help the politics of it all, I’m guessing.” I looked at the now sleeping she-wolf who was still lying on the hospital bed all curled up in a tight protective coil.