Chapter 5:
1652 Words
WREN
“You’re well enough now,” I said quietly while leaning back against the chair. “So you’ll be leaving?”
Ash looked at me for a long moment without answering.
I was tired, down to my bones, but I forced myself to hold his gaze anyway. He was dangerous, I kept reminding myself of that. Whatever strange calm existed between us did not change the fact that he snapped a man’s neck like it was second nature.
Before Ash could answer, a loud knock echoed through the apartment door, causing me to flinch. Ash's expression sharpened as his gaze shifted toward the entrance. Even injured, his entire body seemed to react automatically to potential danger. I hated how quickly I noticed things like that about him now.
Another knock sounded, followed by a familiar voice. “Wren? Are you there?”
Upon hearing Kara's voice, I felt an instant sense of relief.
“Kara,” I muttered before standing up.
Ash watched me while I crossed the room. I unlocked the door and pulled it open to find Kara standing in the hallway wrapped in two oversized coats with snow dusting her boots. Her graying hair stuck out wildly beneath a knitted cap, and she looked exactly the same as she always did — tired, and permanently irritated with the world.
“You’re late on rent again,” she greeted immediately.
“Good morning to you too.”
“Morning stopped being good around forty years ago.”
Despite myself, I almost smiled.
Kara owned the mechanic shop downstairs along with the rooms above it. When I got released from the Silver Pits with no Pack standing and a murder conviction attached to my name, every landlord in town slammed their doors in my face.
Kara had been the only exception, and with the cheapest room available. Though she had given me just one condition then; “You pay every Friday. No trouble. No men. And if the police show up here because of you, you’re out.”
I didn't think of it as something much, because I was very good at keeping the rules. But outside of that, she didn't ask questions. And I still didn’t fully understand why.
“Have you heard about the Rogue activity near the border?” Kara asked while stepping inside and brushing snow from her sleeves. “People are saying two patrol wolves went missing last night.”
Suddenly, her eyes darted from me to Ash who had been silent the entire time. Instead of panicking like a normal person, she simply raised one eyebrow and looked back at me knowingly.
“Well,” she said dryly, “about damn time.”
I blinked once. “What?”
“You’ve been living like a nun for the past few weeks.” Her eyes flicked toward Ash again. “Maybe having a man around will finally stop creeps from bothering you.”
I nearly laughed in disbelief, if only she knew. Ash remained perfectly calm through the entire exchange, which somehow made it worse.
Kara walked farther into the apartment while digging through her coat pocket for her rent notebook. “That supervisor at your motel’s been circling you for months. Men like that usually back off once they think somebody else got there first.”
The room went awkwardly silent, Ash’s gaze shifted toward me slowly.
I looked away immediately. “Can we not discuss my terrible life choices this early in the morning?”
Kara snorted softly and opened her mouth to reply, then suddenly stopped. Something changed in her expression so quickly that my stomach dropped instantly.
“Kara?” The notebook slipped from her hand and dropped to the ground. “Are you alright?”
She didn't say anything.
She looked like she was going to fall, but I was fast enough to grab her just before she hit the floor completely.
“Kara!”
Her body was hot against my skin, like her inside was burning with massive fire. Fear wrapped around me as I lowered her carefully onto the bed. Sweat covered her skin despite the freezing weather outside, and her breathing increased.
Ash pushed himself upright instantly despite his injuries. “What’s wrong with her?”
I grabbed Kara’s wrist and checked her pulse. Then I noticed the silver discoloration spreading faintly on the veins near her throat.
My blood went cold. “No,” I whispered, shaking my head. I was trying so hard not to believe she had contracted a silver fever. “That can't be possible.”
Kara groaned weakly while her body trembled violently beneath my hands. Her temperature was already spiking hard enough that I could feel it through her clothes.
“How long has she been sick?” Ash asked.
“She probably hid the symptoms.” I swallowed hard while checking her eyes quickly. “Damn it.”
Silver fever didn’t just happen naturally, wolves developed it after prolonged exposure to contaminated silver; usually weapons, traps, or infected wounds. And when left untreated, it destroyed the body from the inside out. Which is more to say; a straightway to death.
And the medication needed to stop it wasn’t available through legal channels anymore. Not for people like us.
Kara’s eyes fluttered weakly open for half a second. “Rent…” she mumbled deliriously.
I almost laughed. “You’re dying and still worried about rent.”
“Business first,” she muttered faintly before drifting again.
Kara had every reason to leave me homeless after my release. Housing a convicted felon brought attention nobody wanted. Instead, she gave me a room when nobody else would. Now, I wasn’t letting her die.
Ash watched me from beside the bed. “You know where to get the medication?”
I nodded once.
There was a black market operating near the Pack border. Everyone in town knew it existed even if nobody admitted it openly. Rogues, exiled wolves, smugglers, illegal healers; people surviving outside official Pack systems traded there constantly. Off-grid medicine moved through those channels all the time.
It was dangerous and expensive, but it was the only choice I've got.
I stood up immediately and grabbed my coat.
Ash frowned. “You’re going alone?”
“Yes.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.” The answer came too quickly than I intended.
His expression hardened. “You don’t know what’s waiting there.”
“And I definitely don’t need anyone realizing I’m hiding a Rogue in my apartment,” I shot back while pulling on my gloves. “The fewer people who know about you, the better.”
For one second, I thought he might argue again. Then his eyes shifted toward Kara struggling weakly for breath on the bed.
“She needs treatment fast,” I said. “And we can't leave her here alone. Someone has to watch over her.”
He looked at me but said nothing.
I grabbed the small pistol hidden beneath the sink afterward and shoved it into my coat pocket.
“You carry a gun now too?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.
I shrugged. “One must kill a life to save a life.”
That almost earned another faint reaction from him.
I moved toward the door quickly, trying to avoid whatever second thought that could slow me down. “Watch her while I’m gone.”
“I will.”
The black market was hidden beneath an abandoned freight warehouse near the Pack border. Officially, the building had been condemned years ago after a fire. Unofficially, everybody knew business never truly stopped there.
The moment I walked inside, every nerve in my body went taut. There were too many eyes on me. After all, a lone woman walking into a place like this always attracted attention. People stopped talking while I moved deeper inside. I kept my expression calm despite the fear drumming in my chest.
I reached the medical supply section near the back of the warehouse and approached the nearest table. “I need silver fever medication.”
The older wolf behind the table barely glanced up. “Everyone does.”
“I can pay.”
“So can everybody else.”
I gritted my teeth. “Someone needs it, and she's dying.”
That finally earned a proper look from him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t sympathy.
“Doesn’t matter.” He jerked his head toward a closed office farther down the hall. “Nothing moves until Briggs gets treated.”
I frowned. “What?”
“Silver wound.” The man shrugged. “It won’t heal. And he shut everything down until somebody fixes him.”
“Can I go in?” I asked, pointing towards the door.
He shrugged, as though letting me decide my fate myself. “Your choice, not mine.”
I was halfway to go in when suddenly someone started to laugh.
“No damn way,” a voice called from the hallway.
Several people turned, including myself, to see who it was. A broad-shouldered wolf stepped out from a corner and stared directly at me in disbelief. I didn't seem to know who he was, but unfortunately, he seemed to know me.
His expression changed immediately into hatred.
“Well,” he said softly. “Look who finally crawled out of hiding.”
Every muscle in my body locked up. More faces turned toward my direction.
“The Silver Pits doctor…” he said while coming towards me. “The woman who poisoned the Pack. The doctor who killed everyone.” Then he pointed at me. “That’s her.”
My pulse started pounding heavily.
The wolf near the doorway laughed harshly. “You’ve got nerves showing your face around wolves after what you did?”
I stepped back while several wolves began moving toward me at once… coming to kill me.
- Writer
