Beauty and The Alpha Beast

Riley's Condition

Riley's eyelids fluttered open as she blurrily stared round the room, the machines beeping entering her subconscious as she took in the cold white walls. The gown she wore was hiked up to her hips and she quickly smoothed it down, the cannula in her arm stinging slightly with the movement. What the hell had happened?

A young woman in a white doctors coat came in, wearing plain black trousers and red blouse, stethoscope hanging around her neck, big purple spectacles that enhanced her blue eyes and loose blonde hair down her back. Riley liked her instantly. Her name tag read Dr Susan.

"Good morning" Dr Susan said with a friendly smile, clipboard in her hands as Riley awkwardly sat up straighter, blanket covering her lap.

"Morning" Riley muttered wincing at the soreness in her throat, her chest feeling tight as she wheezed while talking.

"You are lucky, another day or two and you might have died" Dr Susan said consulting her chart "as it was we don't know who brought you in, you were dumped outside our doors."

Of course she was thought Riley bitterly. God forbid they actually showed some humanity and actually flagged down a person to help instead of dumping her like a piece of trash. She felt humiliated as Dr Susan looked at her with something akin to pity.

"You have a severe case of pneumonia" she said leaning forward "I would like to know your name though because it's very impersonal to talk without it."

"It's Riley" she coughed.

"Well Riley" Dr Susan said with a twinkle in her eyes "we have you hooked up to some antibiotics to try and get you better as well as some medicine. You'll need to stay here for a few days under observation before going home."

Riley sucked in a breath. She'd be punished if she didn't go back but if she did she faced dying. She'd stay but she couldn't help being frightened at what it would cost her when she got back to the pack house.

Dr Susan was watching the tumultuous emotions on her face, drawing up a chair and sitting right beside the bed as she viewed her patient thoughtfully. You would have to be blind to not notice the stark amount of fear she was exhibiting.

"Riley can I ask something?" Dr Susan spoke softly, trying not to cause any more distress than the poor girl was suffering from.

Riley nodded hesitantly biting her lower lip in anxiety.

"You're severely malnourished, dehydrated and there are numerous healed broken bones and fractures that were picked up on the x-rays." Dr Susan continued in a hushed whisper "are you being mistreated by your pack?"

Riley hung her head and said nothing, Dr Susan instantly suspecting the answer was yes. She wasn't part of the Shimmering Lakes pack, came from another but worked in the hospital that was between the two territories. She'd heard of the pack though and its belief that wolves only mated with other wolves. Being wolf less would no doubt have put a target on the poor girl's back but for everything she'd discovered, Riley had been abused for months even years. Who would do something so cruel or allow that to happen in their pack? It was disgusting to think about.

"I needed to lose weight anyway" Riley mumbled as Dr Susan shot in a shocked breath at the words. Could the girl not see her true beauty? Sure she was slightly plumper than the stick thin wolves that constantly came in from that pack, but this girl had the most beautiful curves in all the right places. Dr Susan was in fact envious of her figure.

"Riley you are a beautiful, gorgeous woman and do not ever let anyone tell you otherwise" Dr Susan admonished her as Riley's head swung back up and she looked at the doctor with tear filled eyes.

" You do not need to lose weight and quite frankly if you lose any more you're going to be in a lot more trouble than you already are. You need proper food and nutrition to function, plenty of fluids and fresh air. You're low on vitamin D as well as though you hardly ever go outside."

Well that was kind of correct thought Riley unsurprised. The only time she did go outside was to do a very quick errand or to be punished. Being in the basement as her bedroom was hardly beneficial as well.

"I'm going to ask one more time Riley and I need you to answer me properly" Dr Susan said firmly, eyes fixed on Riley's and boring into her "are you being mistreated by your pack?"

"Yes" Riley whispered "everyone hates me for being without a wolf and for being fat."

Tears welled up in the corner of Dr Susan's eyes as she blinked them away with a tremulous smile "thankyou Riley. I'm going to get you some help. You should never have to go back there. Not with the way you've been treated. Not all packs treat their member's this way I promise you."

Riley obediently nodded but wasn't about to get her hopes up. Nothing good ever happened to her so something like this wasn't going to happen or at least that was what her mind was telling her. Sure her pack would be glad to see the back of her but at the same time, Riley did the majority of cooking and cleaning for the pack. Somehow she didn't think getting away from them was as easy as Dr Susan seemed to think.

"I'll go organise some real food and check over your blood results. Also some clothes, sadly the ones you were in were unsalvageable I'm afraid."

Riley gave a small smile at that, already eyeing the bathroom desperate to get clean and take care of her business. Dr Susan instantly read her mind, pausing the iv and unhooking it from the cannula.

"You can shower just be careful and I'll have the nurse knock on the door with the clothes. There should already be a towel hanging in their. If you need help press the emergency button. Alright I will come and check on you later."

Dr Susan sailed out as Riley gave a half hearted wave, shuffling to the bathroom like a little old woman, every single muscle in her body still in pain. The hot water would help she thought and a shower. Her thoughts drifted back to Dr Susan and her insistence on helping. She seemed nice and Riley liked her, she just hoped the Dr wouldn't get too upset when she learnt that there was no way Shimmering Lake's Pack wouldn't let her go. After all what would they do without their slave and punching bag?