Until my last howl

Chapter 16 - The Alpine pack

"Rose, wake up my princess, we almost there" came Charles voice through my head.

I tried to lift my head up but it felt too heavy, I just wanted to sleep.

I opened my eyes and slowly looked around me. My eyes were rather blurry...

"Halt, who goes there?" I heard a voice ask.

Charles let out a small whimper and I could feel him turn slowly around and lower himself to the ground.

"Follow me" the voice said and Charles started walking forward again.

"Princess, we have arrived and don't worry, they will take care of you." Said Charles.

I wanted to respond to him but I just simply couldn't, I didn't have the strength.

After a while it felt like I was been lifted and placed down on a soft bed.

I heard Charles talking to somebody, it sounded like he was telling them our story and the reason why we came all this way.

I tried to sit up but was gently pushed back down again.

"Stay down dear, it's oky, we will take good care of you" said a sweet soft feminine voice.

I felt a jab in my arm and somebody covering me with a nice warm blanket but I wasn't too worried about it.

I felt at peace and so closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep...

I woke up hearing a lot of chattering around me and the sound of a machine that was beeping. I slowly opened my eyes and tried to adjust them to the light.

"Rose, you are finally awake, I was so worried about you" said Charles as he wrapped his arms around me and helped me sit up.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"You caught a very bad flue, which started turning into pneumonia, luckily the doctor caught it in time." he said while putting my hair behind my ears.

"Where are we? What's going on?" I asked him starting to panic.

"It's oky my princess, don't worry, we are safe in the Alpine pack and they have accepted us as one of their own" He said while trying to calm me down.

"You were out cold for 3 days!" He exclaimed.

"What? Really?" was my rather shocked response.

"Yes my princess" He said just as a man came walking in dressed in what looked like a doctors outfit.

"I see you are feeling much better, I'm doctor Albert, welcome to the Alpine pack." He said with a smile.

"I'm Rose and thank you for helping me" I told him politely.

"It's an absolute pleasure my dear" He said while checking me over and checking the machines.

I stared at him, not sure whether I could trust him or not. Following his every move when Charles voice came through my head, "Relax princess, he's just doing his job."

"Well everything looks normal and you are free to go just as soon as the nurse comes to take out this drip" He said while walking out the little room with a smile.

I turned to Charles and said "he seems friendly."

He laughed and responded to me saying "Everybody here is friendly princess."

I looked around me, there was a machine that was monitoring my heartbeat and my blood pressure, a stand with a drip bag, a small coffee table with 2 chairs, what looked like a file cabinet and medicine cabinet and the bed that I was laying on.

"It's a rather small hospital, only space for a total of 5 patients at a time" said Charles as his eyes followed my every move.

"Hi there, I'm nurse Theresa" said that feminine voice which I remember hearing.

"I'm here to remove your drip, give you your medication that you need to take for a further 5 days and then you will be free to go" she said smiling.

I wasn't too sure about all these smiles, everybody seemed way too friendly for my liking. They must have hidden agendas I thought to myself as Charles put his head in his hand and shook it with a sly smile on his face...

"There you go dear, you are all set" the nurse said as she handed Charles a brown bag with medication in.

"Can I go now?" I asked with a small voice.

The nurse laughed slightly and said "Ofcourse dear."

Charles helped me stand up and took my hand in his as we made our way out of the small hospital. I noticed that somewhere along the line, my clothes were changed. I had a grey tracksuit on me with a hoodie.

"Where did the clothes come from?" I asked Charles.

"I got them for you my princess." He said as the Doctor and nurse greeted us just before we walked out the door.

"Alpha" said Charles as he made a small bow just outside of the hospital door.

"Alpha?" I asked with worry in my eyes.

"Oh don't worry Rose, I'm a good alpha" he said while laughing. "I'm alpha Michael and welcome to the pack." He said while shaking my hand.

At this point I was really feeling confused but caught on quite quickly.

"Charles told me all about the problems that you two are facing but have no fear, you are safe with us" He said smiling.

Why is everyone smiling so much?...

"Thank you alpha" I said rather quietly.

"Please call me Michael" He responded before turning around and leaving to go do something else.

"What's wrong princess?" asked Charles as we were walking to goodness knows where.

"I'm confused." I told him quickly.

"I can imagine but lets get you home" was his response.

"Home?" I asked him.

"Yes princess, home, don't worry, you'll soon see and I hope you like it" He said while kissing my forehead.

As we were walking, I looked around, taking everything in.

There was a large field, some children were playing in it, not too far from it seemed like a few small shops and a restaurant and infront of us seemed like small cottages all joining to a single path. There was snow everywhere so clearly winter had arrived.

We took a left turn on the path and stopped infront of a small cottage.

"Welcome home princess, said Charles as he put his hand around my waist.

"Home?"...