The Heir's Shadow

THE STRANGER IN THE RAIN

Chapter 6

Mireya’s POV

As I drove away from the packhouse the sky rumbled out, the clouds darkening. It looked as if a storm was coming my way.

I couldn’t go back to the pack house right now I would have to stop at one of the safe houses we had along the way.

My phone rang multiple times, blaring through the car. I ignored it, swiveling the car to turn to the street of the nearest safe house.

My headlights flashed on something by the roadside making me pause. What was that? It looked like a person.

I got down from my car hesitantly, moving closer. It was a person! I moved to help the person when I noticed he was heavily injured, one of his eyes swollen shut.

“Hey, can you stand up?” I asked as rain droplets pelted down on us. He tried to say something but I couldn’t hear him over the howling of the wind.

“Let’s get you out of here first” I told him as I wrapped one of his arms around my neck. I hefted him up, causing me to stagger to a side before I straightened.

I managed to open the door to the backseat before I dropped him into the car. His head lolled to a side as I shut the door close.

I drove to the safe house, hoping the stranger I had picked up doesn’t die. I parked in front of the safe house, scrambling to open the door before I went back for the man in the car.

“s**t, hey. Open your eyes!” I tapped him on the cheek to get his attention. He was out cold, his bruised face lax.

I carried him into the safe house, laying him on the single bed in the room before I fished out my phone to call Tara, the pack’s healer.

“I need you to come to the safe house by the Old man’s tree” I said into the phone immediately she picked up my call.

“Okay, I would be on my way” She replied before we both hung up. I peeled off the bloodied shoe on the stranger’s feet, wondering what had happened to him.

A soft knock on the door had me darting to open it, my shoulders relaxing as soon as I saw Tara. “Are you okay?” She asked me, her eyes taking me in.

“I am fine, I am not the one who needs your help. He is” I gestured towards the man on the bed. “Oh, my goodness! What happened to him?” She asked as she wore her latex gloves.

“I had no idea. I was on my way here when I saw him by the roadside” I disclosed, my eyes fixed on the unconscious man.

“He broke quite a few bones” Tara said as she placed her hands above his arm which looked twisted.

The stranger groaned out in pain, his face twisting in agony. I winced with him as I saw the purple skin turn normal.

As a healer, Tara could mend broken bones and ailments with her powers. “He would be fine, Mireya. I have taken care of the worst of them” She reassured me as she worked on his face.

The man didn’t look like anyone I have seen before, maybe he was new to the pack and had been mauled by a wild animal.

That in itself was strange. As werewolves, we scare away wild animals just back looking them in the eye or by snarling at them.

This could only mean he was attacked by another werewolf. Mindless rage wasn’t tolerated in the pack. No matter how angry you are, the case must be brought to the packhouse for settlement.

“That is all, now we wait for him to wake up” Tara informed me, packing up the instruments she used in cleaning up his bloodied injuries.

“I would stay, you can go back to the pack” I told her. She wouldn’t want to leave her mate and her three-year-old daughter alone in their house.

“The rain hasn’t started yet; I would take my leave now. Call me if anything changes”, she told me as she stepped out of the house.

My wolf paced in me, feeling agitated for some reason. The stranger twitched every now and then but didn’t wake up.

I searched through the cupboards in the kitchen for something to eat and was relieved when I saw the place was stocked with groceries.

I tore open a noodle’s nylon, pouring in the noodles into the boiling hot water. I didn’t have the strength to cook something complex this night.

I poured the seasoning into the mixture, steering everything together. As I waited for the noodles to be ready my mind flashed back to the scene that made me flee away from the packhouse.

Xander really thought that low of me. I wonder why I didn’t see it earlier. Or did I just ignore all the signs, blinded by the bond pull?

It all didn’t matter anymore, what is done is done. At least now I know better, I know I only had a mate in name only.

My buzzed with a ring, Xander’s face flashing on the screen. I ignored it; I didn’t have anything to say to him.

I served the noodles, slurping a forkful into my mouth. I had refrained from eating noodles after I had lost two pups consecutively, thinking my unhealthy cravings had been behind it.

Now I would eat what I want, I was going to get divorced from my fated mate so I didn’t see the need to stick to that plan anymore.

I slurped another bite, groaning as the flavors busted across my taste buds. The stranger let out a groan, turning his head side to side.

He was awake! “Where am I?” He questioned; voice hoarse. Just before I could answer him, a loud knock shook the door, startling me.

I moved towards the door staying silent. I peepe

d through the peephole at the same time the stranger shouted out.

“Don’t!”