The Lost Wolf

CHAPTER TWO.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. 

    The beeping and humming of the machines were almost comforting. Almost. Except, I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know what happened. I willed my eyes to open but they were so heavy, like they suddenly weighed a thousand pounds each. 

     Think, Kenzie. What happened. I remembered being in school with Taylor, remembered talking about Paris but not really being able to pay attention because of the weird headache. I remembered seeing a boy, a beautiful, dazzling boy and then nothing. 

     Considering the beeping and the humming I have to be at the hospital. The school probably sent me here as soon as I passed out. I wiggled the fingers on my left hand. My left foot. This is a good sign. My right foot. My right hand. But they wouldn’t move. I started to panic and my eyes fluttered, trying to break the barrier so they could open. I let out an almost inaudible grunt and they finally flew open. 

     The scene before me made absolutely no sense. The room was set up like a hospital but certainly was not a hospital. It looked more like a cabin of some sort. I was in a large bed and the room was cozy, there was a fireplace on the opposite wall that set decorated but unlit. I looked down at my right hand and realized that I couldn’t move it because the boy was holding onto me with his head down on my arm. He was sleeping. Where am I? My heart picked up its pace and the boy raised his head like my pounding heart had awoken him. Raking his gaze over my face with those eyes.

     “How do you feel?” His voice husky from sleep but laced with concern. He kept his hand laced through mine and drew lazy circles on the back of my hand.

     “Where am I? Who are you?” My voice was hoarse. 

     “I’m Carter. I brought you to the pack doctor here. I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do.” His words were making no sense. “Pack Doctor?” My words accidentally came out loud, “When can I go home?”

     “Yes, the doctor that takes care of my pack. I am not sure where you’re from so I brought you here. I am unsure when you can go home. Let me ask Morris, the doctor.” Carter stood up and gave my hand a light squeeze before walking out of the room. 

     A few minutes later he returned accompanied by a small, older, man with big, thick glasses and a clip board. 

     “Hello, miss. I’m doctor Morris.” His shaky voice giving away his age, “we’ve given you some medication to make you comfortable but can you tell me what landed you here today?”

     “A headache. A really bad headache.” I replied, “My parents… do they know I’m here?” 

     “That must’ve been some headache. How old are you? There are no records for you here.” He completely ignored the question about my parents which sent shivers through my spine. Carter walked over to me and sat down in a too small chair beside my bed, taking my hand in his once again and sending warmth up my body. 

     “I’m eighteen. I’ll be nineteen next month, the 19th.”

     “Mmhmm.” Morris hummed his response and looked at Carter with curious eyes. “That explains everything, you haven’t yet shifted into your wolf?” He raised an eyebrow at me. I must’ve looked as stunned as I was.

     “My WOLF?! Are you people insane? Where have you brought me?!” Panic rose in my chest as I yanked my hand out of Carter’s and pulled the IV’s and probes off my arm. 

 “She doesn’t know?” Morris said, looking at Carter.

     “Calm down, we will explain everything and I’ll take you home.” Carter reached out to touch my face and I flinched away. Wolf?! People don’t turn into wolves. I need to go home.

     I hopped off of the bed and Carter led me to his car. I brushed my hand through my hair and felt the clawing come back but not as bad as before. I opened his passenger side door and an awkward silence filled the air as he drove me home. What is he going to explain to me? What is he going to say? Wolf? I am not a wolf. This is all a dream. A crazy dream. It has to be.

     He parked just down the street from my house and I turned to look at him. He reached out and cupped my face, his eyes holding mine as his thumb raced my bottom lip. Moving closer to me, he flicked his eyes to my lips and then back up to hold my gaze. Holy s**t. He’s going to kiss me. I was transfixed. In a daze. I couldn’t move away and part of me didn’t want to. I couldn’t explain it but here, with him so close to me the clawing has stopped. 

     Carter leaned in, I could feel his breath on my lips, his warm hand on my skin and then I snapped out of it. Tyler. This is not okay. This wasn’t fair to him. He had been my boyfriend for two years now and I didn’t let him kiss me until a month in and here I was with a stranger. Not just a stranger but someone insane. A crazy stranger who thought I was a wolf of some kind. Or thought that HE was. The details were still unclear. I grabbed the car door handle and flung it open.

     “I have a boyfriend!” I screamed at him as I jumped out of the car and ran into my house as fast as I could. Forgetting all about the questions I had and the things he promised to explain. I clicked the deadbolt to lock and I rested my head on the door. Taking deep breaths to try and sort through my day.

     “Kenzie?” I jumped at the sound of my name and spun around. My mom was wearing her chestnut hair in a messy bun and was draped in an apron. She was holding a bowl of what looked like to be brownie mix. “You’re home early. It’s not even three yet.” 

     “Sorry, mom. I had a bad headache and came home.” 

     “Where’s your car?” She asked peering out the window.

     “Uhm… a friend drove me. Do you mind if I go nap in my room?”

     “Sure, honey.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth I began racing up the stairs taking them two at a time. I got to my room and softly shut the door and then sat down behind it bringing my knees up to my chest. 

     Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. What the heck had just happened to me? I started going through my day backwards. Carter tried to kiss me, I woke up in a strange hospital or makeshift hospital, Carter thought ware wolves were real.. I passed out at school from the headache, I woke up late, that weird dream. I stopped. My breath halted for a second and it hit me like a Mack truck. His eyes. There was something familiar in his eyes. My brain became fuzzy but not fuzzy enough because at this moment I felt like the crazy one. 

     They were HIS eyes. The wolf in my dream and Carter had the same eyes. The same golden colored eyes that peered into my soul. Were wolves real? WAS Carter crazy? Or was it me? That’s when the scratching and tugging came back. I shook the thoughts out of my mind crawled to my bed and under the blankets. Crap.