The Ember In The Dark ( book one )

Chapter 24

“Pain is life,” Danny.

.

Present time –

After texting Blake, Danny injects herself with another dose of morphine as the pain of her injuries starts creeping in.

Today wasn’t going to be the day she would return to the twin’s house. She could barely stand; she had her morphine shots next to her on the bed and medicine supplies scattered next to her bed.

Hours later –

She wakes up wet from her sweat. A quick glance out the window showed that it was already nighttime. Sweating means a fever, and fever she might have an infection from her injuries.

This was not new to her; she’s been here before, she’s done this before, care for her injuries. Fever, cold sweats, the pain of countless injuries she has had over time while training with her father.

She has watched him so many times, and he has also taught her how to medicate herself. It was all part of her training to join the hunters.

For the most part, for Danny, though, it wasn’t about being a hunter. It was helping her deal with her trauma. Whenever she felt disassociated, or her senses were shot. Pouring her energy into training or even getting hurt calmed her. The more she trained, the less she wanted to cut herself. The more she got hurt, the less her night terrors were.

It’s time for some antibiotics. She tells herself as she conjures all her energy to try to get out of bed.

“Ahhhhhh,” She cries in Agony. She breathed in deep, and with her right arm, she reached out for the medicine box with the damaged medical supplies next to her bed.

Successfully getting the box, she opens it while still lying down, And looks for the antibiotic. She managed to take the syringe to the antibiotic bottle and extract the dose she needed. After jabbing herself with the antibiotic, she curses after seeing the time. It’s not yet anywhere near the time for her next morphine dose.

She knew how addictive morphine could be despite the pain and struggled with an early onset addiction to pain meds in early high school. She has been cautious when it comes to pain meds.

Besides, She’s already addicted to Rivotril, a drug that calms her nerves. The last thing she wanted was to be addicted to another drug.

Her father once told her most hunters were addicted to something. Because of their injuries from fighting wolves, most of them were addicted to pain meds. So there was no shame for her being addicted to it. However, you won’t be the best hunter if your pain tolerance is low.

“Wolves are an abomination, and they are natural-born killers. What we hunters have that’s above them is our mind. And your mind won’t be any use to you if you’re drugged up.” Her father once told her.

A day turned into two, then; three days; until it was finally the weekend. It took several days for Danny to walk normally. To get her mindset as she always was able to do. She was able to compartmentalize the pain of her injuries. This means she can pretend she was not injured. The pain was a reminder for her to get better. And it strangely calmed her.

Pretending wasn’t new to Danny either. She’s been hiding her injuries from training throughout her high school life. Nobody noticed her bulky clothes, how she would limp one day, or how she would hide a casted arm under her oversized hoodie. Danny’s body was covered in bruises and scars and conveniently covered by her oversized clothing.

But going back to the Twin’s house was different; they would see if she was wincing in pain just from sitting up.

Dammit, she thought to herself.

That f*****g wolf did me good. Dad would be so pissed to know that I couldn’t handle that mutt. She told herself.

Yet she still wondered why it spared her life. It could have easily bitten her head off when she was knocked out. Not that she wanted it to.

Maybe it was afraid of the armor; she tells herself she knew the hunters’ reputation for wolves.

She debated if she should go back to the twin’s house. Did it matter? I’ve had their little reunion. Who was she going back for?

“The twins,” She tried convincing herself.

When her body betrays her and longs for Blake’s touch.

“the twin,” She convinced herself, “I am going back for the twins” She was partly right in some respect, as being with them made her forget even just for a moment about the horrific attack. She even managed a night without her night terror. She also didn’t need to take her meds with them.

Convinced she was going back for that. For one last moment of just feeling like her old self. Ignoring the force that was pulling her go back because of Blake.

“Dammit, Danny, get a grip. You could barely sit, yet you want to see him.” She scolded herself.

What if I told him the truth, she debated with herself. To say to him she wasn’t well. That she needed help, would he come? How many nights did she call out his name until the fever broke?

All she knows is that she is longing for that feeling of comfort. Suddenly the thought of wanting to be near Blake was a need her body was asking for.

As the weekend rolled in, Danny managed to suppress enough pain to pretend she was ok. She had ordered her cocktail of Pain meds to keep her upright.

She wrapped a bandage around her waist and then put on a shirt and a hoodie. She looks at herself in the mirror. The bruises on her face have healed, and she could easily cover them up with concealer.

Moments later, she was standing by the entrance to the twin’s house. She had no choice but to hire a Lyft to get to the twin’s place. She needed to rest in the car.

As soon as she arrived at the twin’s house. She spots Blake leaning in the doorway. Her heart flutters as she sees him. His muscles bulge out as his arms are crossed across his chest.

“So finally decided to join us, Dans,” Blake calls out to her as she gets out of the car.

“How did you know I was coming? I did not text anyone.” Danny grabs her backpack gently from the seat next to her. She slowly got off the lift.

“I can tell when my girl is coming,” Blake teased as he continued, “Seriously, it’s a long driveway; I spotted the car as it came.” He lied; he could sense that she was arriving even from a mile away. His wolf was already excited when he spotted the car. He knew it must be Danny.

Blake was glad his wolf was talking to him again. It has blocked him out the whole week. She tells him they must have done something wrong to their mate, but even how many times Blake explained the situation, the wolf didn’t understand. It kept crying out for its mate until it blocked off Blake.

“My Girl? Danny is whose girl? ” Jacob interrupts as he runs out the door to greet.

Danny held her breath as she knew a bear hug was coming her way. As Jacob was about to, she placed her hand on his chest. “Easy now, you big bear.” She laughs her nerves off.

Jacob tilted his head to one side and looked at her. “Something’s off with you” He looks at her curiously.

Not to be found out, Danny quickly replies, “Am just hungry, you big log. Now, where is all that food Lucas promised me if I should get back here?”

“Oh, and that’s not all” Lucas walks behind Jacob. “We also found all our old DVD collections, and would you believe it, the DVD is still working.”

“Also found the old Dungeons and Dragons set. We’ve been trying to convince Mr. Popular other there,” Jacob points to Blake as he continues, “To get his Dungeon’s Master Hat on.”

“Well, sounds like it’s going to be a fun weekend then,” Danny quips.

“Weekend. So you are staying over?” Blake blurts out as Lucas looks over at him with a smirk.

“Yep, Dad said yes. Besides, he had to go out of town again. He only needed to go home to grab a few things.” She lied.