Fairytale - A Blue Lake Falls Novel

Chapter Six

Empty dark space void of the concept of time clouded his mind blocking out all of where he was and what had happened. He didn't remember a thing, nothing other than searing pain and endless agony, torture. He must have been captured and tortured he was sure of it, but if that was true then why couldn't he find Mac, he searched through his mind trying to find him but he was met with a solid wall. Mac needed time to heal, whatever happened kicked his arse big time so Roman knew he was on his own. Don't worry Mac, I got you big guy, I'll sort this out he promised. Slowly taking his time to bring all his senses back to a more equal balance one by one. Lavender, that was the first thing he picked up whilst inhaling deeply until the white burning pain scorched his whole right side creating a dark fog in his mind pushing him back towards inviting oblivion. Not this time he decided, pushing through and taking smaller breaths until the pain subsided and he could start to think straight. He attempted to reach out to each one of his limbs, getting a feel for what he was laying on because whatever it was smelt amazing and felt unbelievably soft. He could quite happily lay in this lavender haze for years he sighed when his brain triggered a memory. Flowers, he fell asleep on flowers under the tree last night, small purple flowers with yellow bulbs growing all around like a carpet. He had crashed out from utter fatigue and exhaustion from burning out his s****l tension created from something, something new. What was it? He wished he could remember what made him exercise his body to the point of death. He tested his claws one by one on both feet, he felt no pain or anything actually when he tried to push them out. They were dangling off the end of something he was obviously too big for, whatever it was he was laying on must have been a bed he decided after a while, one fit for someone a lot smaller than him. He tried his hands next, slowly raising each claw and squeezing his fists as tight as he was able to with the long weapons of death placed at the end of each finger, again he felt no pain that was until he tried moving his right arm. Bad idea, the unbearable agony returned ten fold, it travelled from deep within his right bicep into his shoulder and covered the whole of his right rib cage. What the hell happened to us, I've been in fights and battles before but never injured as badly as this he noted, Why haven’t I healed myself? He spoke within his mind. He stopped trying to move and used his other senses to fill in the blanks, he couldn't hear any beeps or pumping sounds so he knew he wasn't in a hospital designed for supers, that and the fact his feet were hanging off the bed. The lavender was fresh and mixed with something else he couldn't quite work out, something sweet hit his nose after he inhaled slower this time, vanilla. He knew lavender had the power to help calm people when necessary and he obviously had needed it, in copious amounts it seems. There was no breeze on his fur, that ruled out being with the Fae, they lived outside in their woodland tribes where they built their homes with a floor and roof but no walls or windows. He loved touring their lands with Channing every summer before The Hunt started but a man needed some privacy every now and then, especially at night times when it called for it. He decided to pause for a moment and pulled what he knew together to help form a better picture of his current predicament. He was indoors, on some sort of bed made for smaller people, he was in a lot of pain, he could feel his limbs all intact but Mac was gone, healing himself from what happened. Roman continued to ferret in this mind through the memories he was able to grasp hold of as they flashed in and out like a random pattern. We had fallen asleep under the tree on top of the soft flowers, I remember now, I had woken when I heard something run past carrying with it an awful smell, rotten flesh with a stale fishy undertone but I couldn't focus my thoughts. He remembered now, as everything piece by piece came back to him from the fog in his mind. It had burnt his nostrils causing him to awaken violently, he ran as best he could after the maker of such a stench but he couldn't focus his eyes, everything was blurry and spinning around as if he was drunk but of course how could he of been when he was in the middle of a f*****g forest. Come on man, think! I had hit a tree, again he noted mentally rolling his eyes. I struggled to get over it and by then the stench maker had gone taking with it any trace of that disgusting smell, he had finally stumbled over that tree and had fallen straight on his side landing on the trap! The bloody trap, we fell on pissing bear trap Mac! Now he knew why it hurt so much but as quickly as he rejoiced at remembering the previous night’s events he also remembered how he had encountered a bear trap before and how he also had just ripped it off with ease and if that was what he fell on then why couldn't he move his body and why was he still here and not Mac, unless. 

Unless it wasn't a usual bear trap but one made especially for his kind, a werewolf trap was made of pure solid silver, thick enough so it couldn't be broken unless you had the key to unlock it. Once a wolf was in such a contraption the silver burned through flesh, muscle and bone until the infection it created slowly started to spread from their injury into their blood and to the rest of their body killing them within days and leaving them in agonising pain and suffering which made the wolf try to kill itself first before the spread did. Most wolves were accompanied with fellow pack members when they ventured into the forests that surrounded his lands for this very reason. The hospitals for supers had the key to getting these off quickly and the medicine to stop the infection. The victim healed slowly within a day, allowing their natural healing abilities to take over and finish the job. Werewolves were hunted like this for their pelts and heads by the sick and twisted rich elite as a way of showing their wealth and dominance over those below them. To kill a werewolf in wolf form was said to bring wealth and abundance into your life but in what manner was up to the Goddess herself because as much as she was kind and loving to her creation she was wrathful to those who would cause them harm. Often the killers would find themselves richly rewarded but after a while their prize kill would bring them nothing but the same pain and suffering they had inflicted upon the person they had killed, torturing them until they could bare it no longer as everyone around them also succumbed to the same fate. 

Roman decided to open his eyes and survey his surroundings rather than dwell on things he couldn't change, thankfully since he took the throne no wolf under his rule suffered such a fate and wouldn't either for as long as he lived and beyond that. What he saw when he braved his current situation shocked him a lot more than the fact he fell straight onto a trap, he was in a woman's bedroom. Light painted walls held up pastel shaded picture frames, their contents showing off various friends and family members along with pictures of buildings and scenery. People and places she loved the most if they were hung in here he guessed, his eyes roamed the room from right to left. On his right was a white washed night stand with a simple lamp and what looked like medical supplies, a set of three draw chest drawers topped with a small vase full of white sand and sprigs of pastel pink silk peonies and plastic eucalyptus pieces. Next to those we're mirrored boxes, probably containing jewellery he thought letting his eyes roam over towards the open door and the large pale Oak wardrobe placed at the foot of the bed near to where his feet skimmed the floor. On his left was another matching night stand with more artificial flowers in a smaller jam jar from this angle and one massive chunk of an amethyst crystal. However his eyes turned cold when he noticed the amount of bloodied sheets, towels and bandages that formed a pile underneath the opened window stretching the total width of the window sill towards the wardrobe. It wasn't a large bedroom but he had to be careful not to ruin it entirely with his massive bulk of a body when he was able to leave. With his eyes still on the pile of blood covered towels he cursed himself again for not stopping to get a handle on his situation when he ran after the person leaving behind that vile odour. There was a lot of blood, more than he had realised he could have in his body, no wonder he couldn't feel Mac or anything else for that matter. He cast his gaze down his body and found himself to be covered by a thick bed sheet with tiny rosebuds covering the top, someone had cared for him. Someone had taken him from the forest where he would have bled out indefinitely, dragged his sorry ass back here, through the house, not only patched him up but had then taken the time to put a fluffy plump pillow behind his head and cover him with a very feminine blanket. He was speechless, no one other than perhaps Mother Rose would have done something so special and loving for him, and especially whilst he was still in this form Roman realised with pure shock. Also he wouldn't have let anyone else other than Mother Rose tend to him so diligently, he couldn’t allow another woman to see him in a vulnerable position when he was supposed to be the biggest bad around, the one used to scare children into their beds at night with one look at his face. Damn, they had fixed me whilst I was in wolf form, if someone was to have seen him now they would be able to see the utter look of shock plastered over his face, whoever did this needed every medal they could ever make. Taking his left hand he ever so slowly lifted it higher towards the top of the quilt and raised it so he could peer underneath at his wounds, what he saw made his stomach try and force all of the bile settled at the bottom up and out immediately. From the bottom rib to the top of his shoulder and even on his bicep were large arrow shaped wounds sown together neatly but not hiding the severity of the damage the trap had caused. He counted 18 in total from those he could see and deep too as the pain ran into his body and out the back whenever he took a normal breath, cursing as he released it out slowly taking the pain it caused with it. Another glance to the window gave him a plan, he knew he had to leave, as much as he wanted to stay and sleep off what happened until Mac came back he didn't know long that would be or what the person would do upon their return. Roman was too weak to even lift his head off the pillow so instead relied on his hearing but he found he couldn't hear anything other than the sound of his own frantic heart beating out a new rhythm that even the most energetic training session couldn't achieve. He turned his head towards the door concentrating on what lay beyond, focusing intently giving him a headache in the process but slowly he started to pick up movements and tiny sounds which no doubt were louder than what he could hear at the moment. Come on Roman man, you've got to move your massive ass and get back home urging himself to get up and over to the open window. It was definitely big enough if he was careful, easily done if he had all his senses and abilities at full strength he could slip through there without making the curtains move but not now. Moving his left hand down on the bed he pushed himself onto his elbow leaning all his weight on it and slowly rolling onto his left hip avoiding his right side completely. His right arm was gripped over his waist making sure to shield the needlework that held his wounds closed, he didn't want to ruin yet another one of this woman's bedsheets, they looked expensive. I'll repay her once we're home deciding right then to make amends with the person who saved his life by replacing whatever he broke or bled on whilst she risked all to patch him up. She must be one hell of a fearless creature he reflected once he had sat up fully on the edge of the bed making it creak and bow dangerously underneath him. She had fixed me in my wolf form, she had seen me, all of me, I can’t believe this he thought with shock, in my wolf form with stitches neatly sewn into fresh skin which must have taken a long time with nerves of steel never knowing when I could wake up.

His resolve to leave wavered as the interest in just who had put him back together rose to match it, but he decided he had to leave. He had put this woman in too much danger already, he shifted his feet onto the floor and felt the plush carpet underneath take his weight, he had never felt something so soft under his pads before. Gripping the window ledge which was easily within his reach, Roman pushed himself up slowly leaning most of his weight over on his left leg still taking extra care of his right side. He was about halfway to standing when he wobbled forward too much from the blood rushing to his head and his feet causing him to become disorientated fast. Through reflex as he started to pitch forward he shot out his right arm instantly roaring in torturous agony as some of his wounds ripped open making fresh blood course out of his body and into his fur, this development only made him wobble more sending him flying backwards straight onto the tiny bed which of course happened to fall apart under his ginormous bulk of a wolf shattering into pieces as soon as he came to a stop. He couldn't help but cry out his sorrow and distress, he must look like an absolute mess in what was a beautiful bedroom fit for a woodland Princess with all the flowers, crystals and pale matching decorations. 

"I'm in deep s**t now" mumbling under his breath whilst shifting a large piece of headboard out from under his thigh. "I'm stuck in this house, bleeding on her sheets in my wolf form. If only Mac could see us now, pathetic".

Outside the door stood the woman who rescued him. He hadn't noticed how she had stood watching him try to get up and escape through the window only to fall back on the bed completely breaking it as well. She was utterly transfixed by what she had seen and what she was now looking at as well. After a few minutes Roman still hadn't caught her scent to notice how she stood there watching him, her eyes glued to him as the end of her large shotgun loaded with silver bullets pointed in his direction, he calmed himself slowly allowing the pain to die down and the blood to stop flowing out. He looked down at himself and saw he had bled out onto another bed sheet like the one on the floor by the window, he grabbed some of the bloodied towels and tried to mop up the blood hoping to limit the damage he had done but he was only making it worse.

"s**t on it!" He cursed the room, grabbing another towel he tried again but this time pressing it against his wounds hissing out from the contact. His eyes went down to the floor where he saw in the corner the large amethyst crystal on its side broken in half, "Not her crystals, Roman what the f**k have you done".

He picked up both pieces carefully, trying not to cause any more damage to his body and began to work out how they went together. He still hadn't noticed the woman watching him from the door, as she peered over his shoulder she couldn't help but smile at the thought of him trying to repair the damage he had done. Yes it was her favourite crystal but to see this no longer sleeping werewolf sat amongst the rubble of her trashed bedroom attempt to repair the two halves made her chuckle inside, maybe, just maybe he wasn't such a big bad wolf after all. She watched him a moment longer when she decided it was time to announce herself and see what the next step was in this twisted Disney movie that was her life now. She had put the gun back in its cradle on the wall behind her, still loaded of course should what she was about to do go t**s up. Roman gave up and placed the pieces back on the floor and dropped his head in his hand, the right one went back to holding one of the bloodied towels against his rib cage and sighed "Now what dumbass".

A cough and a knock on the door behind him had his head snapping up so fast he thought he had broken something, she was there in the same room as him, watching. Roman didn’t know how to react, his heartbeat had reached a crescendo in his ears whilst his palms started to sweat profusely, “What the f**k is happening?!” he shouted out through his mind hoping Mac would return, and fast. His body started to come undone in her presence on its own accord causing Roman to become flustered and embarrassed at being caught like the figurative deer in headlights.

"Are you alright?" the woman asked.

His heart skipped a beat, her voice, the sound of angels mixed with the smoothness of a bourbon on the rocks. What I wouldn’t give to hear that voice purr my name Roman thought. She expected a reply, which could only mean one thing, she had been watching him make an absolutely ass of himself smashing her bedroom up, bleeding on everything, ruining her hard work at sewing his wounds but worst was she had heard him talking to himself, she was looking at him in his wolf form and not screaming the house down, he was in over his head. Something he promised to never let a human do was allow them to see his wolf side as well as knowing he could quite easily communicate with them and because if his senses were all back to working order that is who was behind him now, a human.

"Urm, I er...." Roman cleared his throat hoping this would free up his voice box "....the bed.... I ah, I'm sorry about the bed".

Roman kept his eyes fixed to the floor curling his huge shoulders round hoping it would make him appear smaller as he eyed the fresh puddle of his blood on her floor, he didn't know what was worse, that this human behind him had witnessed everything showing him up to be weak and feeble or the fact he had ruined his favourite thing about this room, the plush carpet which was now no longer cream and spotless but in fact soaked with his blood and smashed bedframe and crystal.

"Thank you for apologising but that's not what I asked. Are you alright? You're bleeding again and I need to close those wounds". His head spun from the melody that came out of her mouth, he was falling apart just hearing her speak, he had met humans before so there was no reason why he couldn't handle this situation until Mac decided to show up and take over. Move slow, make myself smaller and keep my teeth hidden, claws facing inwards, we got this he reasoned with himself it was then that he opened his mouth and took a chance on this human. 

"I guess I could do with some help. I promise on my life I won't harm you. King's oath" he replied as nicely as he could because he did truly mean every word, keeping his voice as light as he was able to make it was next to impossible as it sounded as though he drank nothing but neat bourbon and ate stones for breakfast. 

"If you need me to help you then I need you to turn around, I can't reach you from here" the woman came closer, he could hear her heart beating. Her heart rate was steady and beating calmly as she approached the smashed bed frame with the medical kit in her hands, taking a long deep breath in Roman turned slowly round trying not to destroy any more of the bedding in the process but he couldn't find it in him to raise his eyes.

"I need you to lay down if you can, I won't hurt you either, I promise. Nurses oath" he could hear her saying the last words with a smile playing on her lips, he sighed aloud, she was disarming him completely and he honestly didn't mind. Shifting back further on the bed slowly as not to hurt himself he angled his upper body towards her noticing her lower body was now less than a metre from him, slowly raising his eyes higher whilst keeping his head and snout down, he skimmed them over shapely lush hips and a slightly smaller waist, over her breasts but making sure not to linger because it simply wouldn't do to ogle at the woman who saved his life and finally up to her face and her eyes. Deep pools of endless blue stared back at him from under perfectly arched eyebrows the colour of milk chocolate. Set in a heart shaped face and framed with tendrils of brown hair that had fallen from her messy bun she positively glowed at him, nothing about her screamed danger and yet he felt she had an edge to her. An edge which when needed could cause alot of damage in a short space of time, this woman knew her inner strength and his body was completely at her mercy. As he continued to look into her eyes diving deeper in their seas than he wanted but where his soul was forcing him to go as if it needed her to give him oxygen, his last memories decided to use that moment to kick themselves to the front. 

He had finally remembered everything, but the only words that left his lips was what shocked the woman the most about this whole situation, "You".