Divided

The Sanctuary

He ran and ran. Over hills, through fields, around big cities small towns. Eventually he stopped. He was in a pine forest. It had been weeks since he left home. His wolf was tired and hungry and in such pain.

He laid down under a tree.

It was over. He lost his mate. He lost his home, his best friend, his pack, his Alpha. He couldn’t even hear Steven’s Alpha commands any more. He had broken his link to his pack. He was now a rogue.  He was ready for it to be over.

He closed his eyes and waiting for the darkness of death to take over. What he felt was no darkness. He opened one golden eye and looked up, there was a human woman standing over him.

“Shhh, it’s okay…” she was talking softly, coming slowly towards him. He tilted his head and just stared at her. “We are going to help you, puppy,” she said.

Puppy? He thought. He was wolf, not a dog. Then he noticed a needle in her hand. He growled.

“It’s okay, boy,” the woman said. “We are just going to help you, you are sick and injured.” She signed. “And you look like you understand me.”

Jake tilted his head the other way. She was trying to help him? Did she know what he was?

“Look, boy, my name is Zoe, I work at an animal rescue center. We received some calls about a wolf running around, and here you are. You look like you haven’t eaten in weeks. Let us help you.” She sat back and looked at the wolf. She was going crazy. She was talking to a wolf as if it was a human.

She stood up and started down at him, he seemed so harmless, almost sad. He was lost and lonely. She looked behind her when she heard the 4-wheeler with a cage coming. She had to give the sedative to the wolf so they could move him safely.

The wolf’s head perked up at the sound also. When the cage came into view, Jake stood up on wobbly legs. He was huge. Zoe took a step back and just stared. She had never seen a wolf his size before.

“Bob, stay there,” she called to her partner.

Jake looked over at Bob, then leaned in and sniffed Zoe. She smelled nice, and he was tired.  He moved his head and rubbed her gently. He was too tired to even shift back into human form.

“Okay,” Zoe said as she petted the huge wolf, who was now rubbing against her like a p***y cat. She giggled as she slipped the syringe into his neck. Jake lifted his head, and looked at Zoe in the eyes. She watched the Golden eyes switch to a light brown, then close as he fell to the ground.

Zoe blinked and took a deep breath. For a brief moment she would have sworn a pair of human eyes looked back at her, but that was impossible.

She called Bob over, and between the two of them they helped get the wolf into a cage. Instead of locking it, Zoe got into the cage with him.

“Are you crazy? Get out!” Bob yelled at her. Zoe knew he was right. She slowly petted the wolf, then climbed out of the cage, and they headed back to the Northern Pike Animal Sanctuary.

**********

His head was fuzzy. He blinked and tried to figure out where he was. He was in a cage. He sat up. Still in his wolf form. He looked around the room filled with other wild animals in cages. He remember the human girl. Zoe, was her name. He sniffed and smelt her scent. He laid back down to wait for her.

**********

Zoe walked into the kennel, getting kibble ready for the dogs. She hadn’t slept at all since she had rescued that wolf with the human eyes. He now haunted her dreams. She felt like she had done something terrible, and since he hadn’t waken yet, she was more afraid. They had been feeding him through an IV for the past week. The Vet said that if he didn’t wake up soon, or show progress, they would have to put him down.

That would be murder, she thought.  She signed as she filled up the food bowls. Then she reached the Wolf’s cage, she moved to check the IV, when she noticed the golden eyes watching her.

“You’re awake!” she cried with happiness, and huge smile on her face. Jake started to pant, his version of a wolf smile.

Zoe forgot she was dealing with a wild animal and opened the cage, she crawled into give him a hug. “I am so sorry, Wolfy,” she said. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. You scared me so much when you didn’t wake up.”

Jake tilted his head and looked at her. He liked the way she felt against him. He remembered the feeling of Ella hugging his wolf during that storm, it was the same feeling. One that he was needed.  He liked Zoe, he made the decision that he would stay with her for a bit. Just to see what would happen.

**********

Jake stood up in the small pond, looking around.  He had been in the wild life compound for almost a year now. His days were basically the same. Every morning, Zoe would come in to feed the animals. She would open his door, and he would come out and follow her around while she did her chores.

After lunch she would go into the office to do paper work, and he would go for a run. He used this time alone to become his human self again. It was hard for him to stay in one form too long. After his run and shifting, he would return to the compound for dinner.

Zoe would sneak him in some Steak or Chicken with his kibble.  Then as the night came, she would sit with him in his cage and talk to him. This was the best time of for him, and all he wanted to do was shift to be a man and hold her, like she would hold him.

He grunted as he thought about her how her fingers would run through his fur. He shook his head as he ventured out of the small pond he had found a few weeks into this stay. He used it wash daily, it was his quite spot. He wanted to show Zoe it, to be with her.

He had to get s*x out of his mind. He was a wolf to her, a pet, not a man. He grunted again as he ran his hand through his over long hair. He had to figure out how to tell her who, or what he was without scaring her. So he could be a man to him.

He was about to shift back into Wolfy, when he heard the sound of a shot gun.

“Freeze or I will shoot!” A lovely voice said. Jake turned and saw Zoe standing there. She must be looking for him, he must have lost track of time.

“Don’t shoot,” Jake put up his hands. “I’m not here to hurt you or anyone.”

“You are on private property. Are you a poacher? A naked poacher.” Zoe asked as she let her eyes wonder down his very nice body. She brought her eyes back up to his when she realized what she had been staring at, and since he noticed it had gotten a little bigger. He wanted her so badly.

Zoe blushed as she repositioned the gun. Jake smiled and took a step towards her.

“I am not a poacher,” he said. “Zoe, you know who I am.” He moved closer.

“Stop right there!” Zoe said as she stared at him. His eyes looked familiar. “Who are you?”

“I’m Wofly.” He said with a shrug. Zoe’s face lost all colour. “My name is Jake. I’m… I was a Beta with the Northern Wolf pack.” He frowned. He was so stupid when it came to talking to women. He shouldn’t have started with that, he sounded crazy and stupid. Zoe looked scared, it broke his heart

“How do you know about Wolfy!?” she yelled. “Where is he?”

“I’m right here,” Jake said. He took another step towards her, and she fired the gun.

Jake fell back into the water, blood gushing from his shoulder. s**t, he thought. This was not that way he wanted to tell Zoe who he was. He only had one choice, and it was going to hurt since he was injured.

He slowly sat up and looked at Zoe, who had dropped the gun and was holding her hands over her mouth, in disbelief of what she had just done. Jake closed his eyes, and with a scream which turned into a howl, he shifted to his wolf.

“Wolfy?” Zoe said as the wolf limped out of the water. She was going crazy. She had just imaged that the Wolf was a man and she shot him. She shook her head, and had to get him back to the clinic to get help. She had just shot her best friend.

**********

When Jake opened his eyes, he felt different. He went to move and discovered he was strapped down to a table. And he was in human form. He tried to get up, but couldn’t. A clean white bandage was covering his shoulder, where Zoe had shot him.

Zoe! He sniffed for her, but couldn’t catch her scent.

“Hello?” He called out.

“Hello Jake,” a man with a heavy Italian accent walked into the room. Jake recognized him as the doctor who was bought in to help Ella.

Ella.

 Just thinking about her brought him pain.

“How are you feeling?” The doctor asked.

“Where am I? Where’s Zoe?” Jake asked.

“Zoe? The young girl who bought an injured wolf in, claiming he was a man? She is here. Welcome to the New Rothschild Mental Hospital. Your human is in our Psychiatric Ward. You, my dear boy, are in our Wolf Ward.”

“Where’s Ella?” Jake asked.

“Ahh, the little lost mate,” The doctor laughed. “She’s in her padded room. Unfortunately, I was unable to reattach her wolf to her. So, I experimented on her. Now that I have her wolf’s mate, I can expand my research.”

“I’ll kill you!” Jake yelled as he tried he straps again. He closed his eyes to shift, but it didn’t work. He called his wolf, but he wasn’t answering.

“I have put your wolf to sleep for a bit,” Dr. Siino said as he came around and adjusted Jake’s IV. “It’s our nap time now.”

Jake blinked his eyes as the room went dark. He tried to stay awake, he had to figure out what was going on. He tried to reach out to Steven for help, but had no idea how far he was from the pack, or if he was even able to without his wolf.

His body felt very heavy, and his thoughts started to go fuzzy. He had to find Zoe, keep her safe, and Ella… he had to save his mates…