DARK DAYS

CHAPTER THREE

The next morning found Micah sitting on his porch once again, this time with a coffee and Dante once again telling him what a big mistake keeping a stranger on their territory was. Micah looked up from the chess game he was currently beating Dante at, "Who's Alpha here? Me? Or you?" When Dante said nothing, Micah nodded, "That's right, now as my beta you either support my decision or I replace you."

Dante returned his attention to the game, "It's too early to be playing chess." He grumbled, but made his move nevertheless.

  Micah shook his head, "You know what your problem is, you don't look at the

whole picture. You have to see not what's happening next but what will happen six moves from now. And with that said checkmate." He said with a grin.

There was suddenly a loud thud and a cry, Micah and Dante shot to their feet and ran into the house. There collapsed on the floor was the woman, not the wolf. She was sitting with the blanket wrapped around her hastily, she looked up at them then down at her hands, which were blistered and raw. "You tried to walk?" Micah asked, carefully kneeling down.

She nodded, "I need to leave, I need to get out of here." She demanded her voice hoarse from lack of use. 

He raised his eyebrows, "You won't be able to go anywhere for a while. You need to heal."

She got very still and turned her leg to expose her calf, "Who bit me?" She asked, staring straight at him.

Micah winced, but it was Dante who replied, "that was an accident, the person who found you got a bit too protective of their land."  

She started to get to her feet again, when Micah moved to stop her she froze and looked at him coldly, "I have to leave." She stood only to have her legs give out once again.

"Listen to me, you're weak right now, your muscles aren't working, you have numerous broken bones. The feds could be on your ass for all I care you can't go anywhere!" He growled. Then felt guilty when she looked up with tears in her eyes. "Dante, go do rounds for me." He ordered 

Once he was gone he went into his room and came back with a shirt, "Look I know you're scared, and you don't know me or where you are, but you really do need time to heal." He said calmly, passing her the shirt. "How'd you break the ribs?"

She watched him warily, "You weren't far off. I got hit by a Volvo." 

Micah looked away with a smile, “You heard that huh. I don’t want you to feel like you’re a prisoner here, you can leave if you really want to but right now the chances of you dying out there are pretty high, it’s getting colder now…” He stopped seeing her tense again, “What are you running from?” 

“Death.” She said simply. “What’s your name?”

He sat against the couch knowing not to get too close, she needed space or else she’d feel caged in. He knew the feeling well and hated it, “Micah Anderson, and you?”

“Christiana.” She said with more than a bit of reluctance, she hated that he held her safety in his hands, but he did. He was alpha here, his pack had been ready to dump her in an alley and leave her for dead. And he was right; she wouldn’t make it much farther. She had been traveling for two weeks straight, sleeping a maximum of two hours a night, always worried Ulrich and the pack would only sleep one and would catch up to her. Right now she needed Micah, and she was not someone who liked needing anything. “Christiana Keller.” She amended knowing her back was up against a wall.

“Pretty name.” He murmured, he looked her over carefully assessing her health and trustworthiness in one single look, “You need to be checked over, I don’t want you to think I’m trying to cop a feel or anything. I could get Deliah to do it, she’s pre-med.” He explained cautiously, not knowing how she’d react

Christiana   thought about it then shrugged before remembering how sore she was, “We might as well do this now.” 

Micah got her comfortable knowing that she was testing him, if he was anything but detached she’d never trust him, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be easy. He lowered the blanket and stared, when he was over the shock he said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone be that shade of purple before.”  Bruises blended into each other all along her ribs and collarbone they even went down to her hip. He felt for the ribs he knew were broken, keeping his eyes on hers, hers were a warm amber color. He was careful knowing she must have felt quite vulnerable lying in his home naked as he examined her.

She winced as his fingers brushed over the worst of the bruises. “I don’t think you’re bleeding internally, but those ribs need to be watched.” He frowned as he looked down at her right hip, “You dislocated it and kept running?” He asked amazed, he didn’t know whether she was tough or just stupid.

She took a deep breath, as deep as she could with broken ribs, “I didn’t have much choice. I popped it back in, I had to keep going.” She said defensively. She thought back at what she was running from, “He’ll find me here.” She whispered before she knew what she was doing.

Micah looked away, he filed that little bit of information in his brain but didn’t pry. She sat up so he could see if there was anything to worry about with her back, there wasn’t. “You can put the shirt on now.” He said quietly. What he really wanted was to scream and ask why in the hell she had run herself into the ground. Who was after her, and why she was so terrified he’d catch her. “Hungry?” Micah asked, getting up.

“Tylenol would be good as well.” She responded looking around, trying to gain her bearings. “And I’m not a dog. I’ll dry clean the blanket if you are that uptight about it.” She said dryly.  

Micah laughed on his way to the kitchen, he thought about what he was getting into protecting her. She was brave, probably a good addition to any pack, but she could also bring a lot of trouble. She had said it herself; people were looking for her when a pack was looking for a beautiful young woman there was a damn good reason. And she was beautiful there was no doubt about that, she had the elegant features that women paid for now. A throwback to the older Hollywood stars, you could tell that before she had run herself into the ground she’d been a knockout, not that she wasn’t still. 

He walked back in to find her hastily wiping at her cheeks, he paused knowing she’d been crying not knowing whether to acknowledge it or not. “You okay?” He asked dumbly, he wasn’t good with tears.

“No, I’m not okay. Do I look okay!” She snapped, her nerves were ready to snap and she knew it. It was that, if anything else happens my mind will break into a million pieces and I’ll never be whole again, feeling. 

“You look exhausted, you look like you are capable of having a nervous breakdown at any time.”  He responded watching her lift her fork carefully, her hand was shaking, “You look like you should be in the hospital actually. You look like you’ve lost someone.”

Christiana averted her eyes; he was too astute for his own good. “It’s better if you don’t know, it’ll just make your life harder. I don’t want to cause you or your pack problems, I’ll be gone as soon as I can.” 

Micah didn’t say anything for a moment, “I’m going to go shower, you okay on your own for a bit?” She nodded still not looking at him; he had set her up with more blankets and pillows. She was as comfortable as she could get for now, once he was gone she finished her meal.