Chapter 5: Five Years Later
1573 Words
"Mama! He took my dinosaur!"
Leo's small voice shouted from the living room.
"He did not! You gave it to me!"
Another small voice, Emma, our neighbor's daughter.
I smiled from kitchen. I wiped my hands on my white coat and walked out.
Two kids on floor. Leo, 4 years old, black hair messy, golden-brown eyes angry, holding a plastic T-rex. Emma, 5, blonde, holding same T-rex other side.
"What is rule about toys?" I asked.
Leo looked up at me. His angry face softened when he saw me. "Share?"
"Yes. Share. You are big brother, you show Emma."
Leo sighed like small old man. He let go. "Fine. You can play 5 minutes. Then me."
Emma giggled and ran away with dinosaur.
Leo ran to me and hugged my leg tight. He was tall for 4 years old. Strong. His small black hair had silver tips now when sun hit it. Only I could see.
"Mama, are you going to hospital today?" He looked up, golden eyes worried. "You were there yesterday and day before."
I knelt down to his height. I touched his cheek. My hands did not shake anymore. They were steady now. Doctor hands.
"Yes, baby. One more day. Mrs. Johnson is very sick. I need to help her."
"Can I come?"
"No, baby. Hospital has many sick people. Mara will stay with you. You help Mara make herb tea, okay?"
He nodded, but hugged my leg tighter. He never liked when I left.
This was our life for 5 years. Small house behind clinic in human city called Greyton. Two rooms, one kitchen, one small garden where Mara grew herbs.
Five years ago, after we left Silver Stone in blizzard, Mara brought me here. Her old clinic was closed, dusty, full of spiders.
We cleaned it. We worked.
Mara taught me. Every day. No rest.
"White Wolf blood can heal, but you need knowledge," she said. "Read this book. 500 pages. Test tomorrow."
I studied human medicine. At night, while Leo slept on my chest as baby, I read books with one hand, held him with other.
I learned wolf medicine. How to use my blood to make cures. Small cut on my finger, one drop of silver blood in herb tea, and dying wolf could stand in one hour.
At first, I was scared to use my blood. It made me dizzy, weak.
"You are queen, not servant. Your blood is gift, not curse," Mara said.
People started coming. One human mother with sick child. I healed child. She told another mother. Another told another.
In one year, our small clinic had line outside door every morning.
They called me Miracle Doctor. Dr. Sophie Lane, the woman who can cure anything.
No one knew I was werewolf. I hid my ears, my scent, with Mara's herb perfume.
Leo grew. He was smart, quiet, but fierce when someone bullied me. At 3 years old, he growled at a man who shouted at me in market. His eyes glowed gold, like his father's. I had to cover his eyes fast.
He asked about father once, when he was 4.
"Mama, why I have no Papa like Emma?"
We were eating dinner. My spoon stopped.
"What do you think, baby?"
"I think Papa is dead," he said, serious, eating rice. "Because if he was alive, he would come to see you. You are pretty and kind. Only dead man would not come."
I almost cried. I hugged him tight.
"Yes, baby. Your papa... he is gone."
It was not fully lie. Caleb, the boy who loved me as child, was gone. The man who rejected me was stranger.
I thought I would never see Silver Stone again. I thought I was done with wolves.
Until that morning.
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"Mama, TV!" Leo shouted from living room. "Your clinic on TV!"
I ran out, still in white coat, holding coffee.
On small old TV, news lady talked fast.
"Breaking news! Mysterious blood curse spreads in Northern werewolf packs! Silver Stone Pack, the biggest pack, reports 30% wolves sick! Coughing blood, high fever, pups dying! Alpha Caleb Blackwood offers 10 million dollars for Miracle Doctor!"
My coffee cup fell and broke on floor.
Silver Stone. Blood curse. Pups dying.
Behind news lady, video played. Sick wolves in hospital beds, coughing blood. Small pups with oxygen masks. And in middle, standing tall in black suit, face tired, eyes dark circles, talking to elders.
Caleb.
Five years made him more handsome. More man. Shoulders broader. Jaw sharper. But his eyes... his eyes looked dead. Tired. Like he did not sleep for months.
"Alpha Blackwood, is it true pack will die in one month if no cure found?" Reporter asked.
Caleb looked at camera. Golden eyes cold.
"My pack will not die. I will find cure. Whatever cost."
His voice was deeper now. Rough. It sent shiver down my back. My wolf inside me, who was sleeping, suddenly woke and whined. Mate...
I pressed my chest. "Shut up," I whispered to my wolf. "He is not our mate. He rejected us."
"Mama, who is that man?" Leo stood next to me, looking at TV. He frowned at Caleb's face. "He looks like me."
My heart stopped. I knelt fast and turned off TV.
"No, baby, he does not look like you. Let's eat breakfast."
Leo stared at black TV screen. "His eyes are like mine, Mama. Yellow-brown."
Mara came out from bedroom, hearing noise. She saw broken coffee cup, my pale face.
"What happened?"
I pointed at TV with shaking hand. "Silver Stone... blood curse... pups dying... Caleb..."
Mara turned on TV again and watched news replay. Her old face got hard.
"Blood curse? Coughing blood? Fever? That is not natural curse. That is poison. Someone poisons pack."
"Poison? Who would poison whole pack?"
"Someone inside," Mara said. She looked at me. "Sophie, don't. I know that look."
"What look?"
"Doctor look. You want to go back and save them."
I looked down. My hands clenched white coat.
"Mara, pups are dying. On TV, I saw pups with oxygen... like Leo when he had fever at 1 year old..."
"Those pups' pack killed you! That Alpha left you in snow to die! Let them die!"
Leo was listening, big eyes. I covered his ears. "Mara, not in front of Leo."
Mara lowered voice. "Sophie, if you go back, Jessica will try to kill you again. And Caleb... if he sees Leo... he will know. Leo has his eyes, his face. He will take Leo from you. Alpha Law says pup belongs to father pack."
Fear shot through me. I hugged Leo tight. He hugged me back, confused.
"No one takes my son," I whispered, fierce. My wolf growled inside. Silver light flashed in my eyes.
"I know you are strong now. But Caleb is Alpha King candidate. He has army. You have small clinic."
I looked at TV again. Paused on Caleb's tired face. On sick pups behind him.
I am doctor. I swore oath when Mara gave me white coat 3 years ago. Oath to save all, even enemies.
And I am White Wolf. My blood is made to cure curses. If I don't go, many will die.
"Mara, I have to go. Not for Caleb. For pups. And for money. Your clinic needs new roof, Leo needs school next year. 10 million dollars can give us safe life."
Mara sighed long. She knew me. Once I decide, I don't change.
"Then I go with you. And Leo stays with my sister in human city. Safe. Far from wolves."
"No! I want go with Mama!" Leo shouted, hearing his name. He held my coat.
"Baby, Mama must go help sick kids. Like you when you were sick. You stay with Auntie May, okay? Two weeks only."
Leo's lip shook. He wanted to cry but tried to be strong like me. "Two weeks? You promise?"
I kissed his forehead. "I promise. Mama promises."
He nodded, tears in golden eyes.
That afternoon, I packed small bag. White coat, herbs, silver knife, my blood bottles. I left Leo with Mara's sister May, who lived two streets away. Leo cried when I left, but did not scream. He waved small hand.
"Mama, come back fast!"
"I will, my lion."
At 6pm, I took bus to Silver Stone. Five years ago, I left in blizzard barefoot. Now I returned in white coat, with doctor bag, with money in bank and power in blood.
Bus stopped at Silver Stone border at 8pm. Snow fell again, like that night.
Guards opened door with guns.
"Stop! No humans allowed! Werewolf territory!"
"I am Dr. Sophie Lane. Miracle Doctor. Alpha Caleb called me."
Guard checked phone and eyes widened. "Dr. Lane? Alpha said you would come! Wait!"
He spoke into radio: "Alpha, Miracle Doctor is here! At south border!"
One minute later, black SUV came fast through snow, lights bright. Door opened.
And there he was.
Caleb Blackwood. In black suit, no coat, snow on his shoulders. Golden eyes glowing in dark. Taller than I remembered. More dangerous.
He walked to bus. His boots crunched snow.
He looked at me. From head to toe. At my white coat, my long black hair now tied neat, my face no longer thin and scared but calm.
His breath caught. Snow fell between us.
"We have met before, haven't we, Doctor?" he said, voice low and rough.
- Writer
