A Rare Gem

Chapter 3: Taste of the bite

Sam’s POV:

“AHH!” I scream at the stacks of papers on my desk.

I have been avoiding my Alpha duties for close to a month to go partying with the local and visiting she-wolves. Settling my more primal desires. A normal wolf at the ripe old age of 21 should have found their mate by now, but even more importantly I am a 21 year old alpha of a pack with no Luna. I have visited every pack except for one. The pack of murderers. The BloodHunters pack. A pack of murderers lead by one, he challenges other weaker alphas, wins, then gives the pack two options. Bow to him and be a slave or die. Most have chosen death. I won’t even attempt to see if my mate is in that pack. I don’t want a murderer for a mate and Luna. So instead, I have s*x just about every night with any she-wolf that will spread her legs for me. Always with a condom. Don’t want any unwanted pups running around.

It never satisfy the urges for very long and my wolf is always begging me to stop and think about how our actions will hurt our mate. I always remind him of the fact that random s*x is better than a murderous mate. He quiets down after that.

A knock at the door to my office pulls me from my thoughts. Please don’t be more paperwork.

“Enter!” I call out. The door opens to reveal the face of my beta, my second in command, Johnathon. Or John as he prefers.

“Yo. Alpha Sam. Finally catching up on the month of work?” he jokes and jabs at my irresponsibility.

“Hush and isn’t it a part of your job to help with the duties of the Alpha when I am busy?” I snap back.

“Random s*x isn’t important Alpha business that would require me to step in and help you.” He smirks.

He has a point and I don’t like it.

“So why are you here?” I sigh and drop it.

“Oh. Pack updates. So, the….” Snore fest. “The warriors trai….” I got pack updates earlier this morning, “scouts… cabin in the woods… girl…. Captured…” Wait. What?

“Stop!” he stops talking. “Back up. What about the scouts?” I ask.

“Huh? Oh… The scouts came across a cabin in the south woods near the border. They were checking for rogues but instead found a girl. The girl didn’t smell like our pack nor any allied packs. After a short struggle on her part, the scouts successfully restrained her.” he paused to catch his breath. “They reported that she is a wolf but they have never seen or heard of a wolf like her.” he stops to look at his phone.

“Now is not the time to…” he shoves his phone in my face to interrupt me. I glare at him but taking his phone to get a good look at the picture he was trying to show me.

On the screen was a picture of a solid black wolf laying in a meadow of wildflowers. A log cabin in the background. The wolf’s eyes for a stormy, grey/blue and seemed to portray pain and fear. I zoomed in on the wolf to look better at the wolf. Moving the zoomed in picture around I noticed two things. One: her fur, while solid black, seemed to have red sparkles or highlight to it with a tuff of white on the tip of her tail, and two: her front leg was obviously broken.

“Why is the wolf injured?” I ask. Policy is not to hurt but subdue peacefully. Meaning if the scouts or guards come across a stranger on our land, they need to escort the person peacefully to the jail till I can see them and decide if friend or foe. Rogues are to be restrained but still escorted to the jail.

“Injured while resisting the scouts.” He answered plainly. “I know it’s out of policy but the scouts said she put up one hell of a fight and it took all three of them to subdue her.” I sighed heavily. That policy was the first thing I implemented after taking over from my father. He believed all the stranger were to be killed on sight. After a guard kid a women and child seeking refuge, I ordered a change in policy. I don’t want to be my father.

“Is she in the jail?” I asked, John nodded. “Good. Send her to the pack doctor and afterwards move her to a guest room in the pack house.”

“Sir! She could be here to kill you. Why show her kindness after she resisted the scouts?” he questioned.

“First of all, don’t question me like this outside of private conversations or you will be the next in visitor to the jail. Secondly, the scouts broke the wolf’s leg when the policy is to not do harm but instead peacefully subdue the stranger and escort. The look in this wolf’s eyes show not only pain but fear. Thirdly, if she was here to kill me it is going to be difficult when she is injured. Lastly, have you ever seen a black wolf, cause I haven’t. I want information from her but if she fears us because we have her locked in a cell after what the scouts did with no medical attention then how likely is she to talk?” I rambled a bit but her black fur is perplexing.

John simply nods and walks out. hopefully, he understands I don’t want to run this pack like my father. I want to run with kindness and a firm but gentle hand. I want us to be strong and some of the survivors of the packs that murderous bastard destroyed are seeking refuge here with us. The ones so far in the past year and a half, close to 85 so far, have been great assets. This girl might be a great asset to this pack.

Sighing and returning to my paperwork. After an hour or so, John mind-linked me to say the girl is unconscious but being examined by the doctor. A sigh of relief. I thank him and return to my papers.

When John burst into my office in a panic it was nearly 6 o’clock at night.

“WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” he yells at me.

Without a second thought, Apollo and I switch controls and we shift. Apollo’s large grey paws hitting the ground running. We were a grey blur ripping through the attackers. They were starting to retreat serval hours later. The sun had completely set and the moon was high in the sky, its light the only thing illuminating our streets.

A howl from one of the attackers made us all stop in our tracks and look towards the wolf. I couldn’t tell its coat color under all the blood that cover him from head to toe to tail. The wolf slowly approached me and snarled. It was challenging me. Apollo was eager to kill this son of a b***h whoever he was. I gave him full control and step back to watch.

The fight was bloody and long. Over an hour later, many bites and gashes to us both, the fight was finally ending as Apollo pinned the wolf to the ground and let out a victory howl. Just as Apollo was bringing his jaws down to rip out the wolf’s throat, a sideliner tackles us to the ground with a strong and deep bite to the shoulder. John’s wolf, Tyran, launched into action. Ripping the enemy off of me and the other wolves and him ripped him to shreds. The challenging wolf rose to his feet and with his army slowly retreat to the forest. I sent my guards to make sure they left the territory any stragglers were to be kept alive if possible for questioning but not necessary.

Looking around at the damage, I sighed. More paperwork.

Shifting back to human form, John ran over in shorts with a pair for me in hand.

“Let me see your shoulder.” He forced me to sit on the ground so he could see. “Damn… that’s deep.”

“Yeah. Thanks for saving my ass. The bastard came out of nowhere.” I try to stand but felt weak.

‘What is going on Apollo?’ I ask.

‘I’m not sure. I feel so weak and sick. It must be….’

Apollo doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence as we both fell unconscious. John shouting my name being the last thing I heard.

Rose POV:

I don’t know where I am or how I got here. I have been awake for some time but pretending to be unconscious still to try and get some information. So far I’ve been able to hear the beeping of machines, a couple of different women, and an older male.

“Let’s get an IV in her for fluids. Can’t send her to the guest room till she’s awake and stable.” The older male says to someone, but I don’t know who. I hear the sound of drawers and the shuffle of packages. What are they going to do to me? What is an IV?

I sense someone getting closer on my left side. Hearing them set something down and feel them move my arm. Taking the opportunity, I launch myself at the person and pin them to the floor.

“AHH!” she screamed as we fell. Her head hitting the floor with a thud.

I glance around. A white room, I was apparently on the raised bed behind me, one door to my left, a large window behind me on the other side of the bed thing.

While I was looking around lost in the spiral of questions of where the f*ck am I, the lady I had pinned managed to press some button and set off a loud annoying sound that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I’ve never heard anything like this. My wolf started whimpering and crying in pain in my head. I grabbed my ears as I stood trying to find where the sound was coming from to shut it off. As I frantically whip around looking for the source, the door to the room opened and there stood a confused older man.

“Sh*t” I read his lips as he turn to a box on the wall and started pushing buttons. The sound died; I breathed a sigh of relief and I lowered my hands. “I know you’re scared but I need you to remain calm.” The man spoke calmly as he turned to face me with his hands raised. “Your arm is still broken; we need to reset and splint the bone but before we can do that we need to get your vitals stable. You are underweight and dehydrated.” He explained. I didn’t trust him.

“I was trying to put an IV in your arm to keep you hydrated. I’m your nurse, nurse Page.” The girl I had pinned to the ground introduced herself. I still don’t know what this IV is.

“What is an ‘IV’?” I asked point blank. Any medicine I dealt with was herbs and brews. the man and Page looked at each other, stunned and speechless for a long moment before the man cleared his throat.

“You don’t know what an IV is?” he asked and I simply shook my head ‘no’. “Have you ever been in a hospital or been to a doctor?” again I shook my head. The man was so shocked he had to sit down on a little stool and he just stared at the floor.

“Why don’t I explain it to you while I put one in your arm? I can walk you through the whole process step by step.” The nurse stook a step towards me. I stepped back a snarled at her. No one was doing anything to me. My snarl brought the man out of his shocked state and he jumped up and in front of the nurse.

“No IV. We will hydrate you the old fashion way, with food and drinks. Nurse Page will you please go to the kitchen and get some food and drink for the nice lady while I sit with her.” he shoos her out and sits back on the stool. “She will be just a moment. My name is Daniel. I am the pack doctor. Please call me Dan or Doc or Dr. Dan.” He held out his hand for me to shake, I didn’t move so after a long moment he lower his hand back to his thigh. “What is your name?”

‘We are at a pack. I wonder which one. Please ask and find out.’ my wolf asked me.

‘If he is going to try and get information from me than I will get some from him.’ I tell her. I plan to get a little information then get back to the cabin.

“Rose.” I said simply. It wasn’t the full truth, mom once showed me the baby blanket I was wrapped in when they found me. The name on it is Rosabella Elizabeth Q… the stitching for the last name had frayed and couldn’t be read. I’ve always gone by Rose though. “What pack is this?”

“It is nice to meet you, Rose. we are in the Silver Pine Pack.” He smiled “what pack are you from? You seem too tame and sweet to be a rogue but your scent isn’t that of this pack.”

‘don’t give too much information. Remember dad always said to never trust a pack wolf.’ My wolf reminded me.

“I have no pack. It was just my parents and I at our cabin.” I kept my answer short but to the point.

“Oh… how strange. Where are your parents?” he pull out a file and looked through the papers. “There was no report on anyone else with you when the scouts found you. If you tell me where to find them I can send someone to go get them so you can have your family here with you.”

“Dead.”

The look at pity on his face, hurt. I was blunt and truthful.

“Oh… Um…” he was digging for a subject change. “did you live off the land or visit the town for supplies?”

“Beside my father going to on trips for days for basic things we couldn’t make, like clothes, matches, cookware. We lived purely off the land. I didn’t even know there was a pack nearby.” Father was the only one that went on these trips, he occasionally brought me a stuffed animal or a blade of some sorts back but I was never allowed to join him.

“Oh. You were found in the southern forest. Down near the border of the territory. If you head north from your cabin for about 3 to 4 miles is just dense forest, after that you come across the lone wolves of the pack and the refuges the Alpha has been taking in. after that you come to the out skirts of the village and in the middle of the village is the pack house and pack hospital. Where we are right now.” He explained perfectly. The information would help me get home.

It was concerning that a pack was this close to our cabin and we were never found or saw anyone besides rogues for almost 18 years. Then suddenly 5 days after my parents die, three pack wolves stumble upon me and our cabin. It was strange and definitely something I needed to look into.

“Why did this pack never help us with the rogues attack that were happening multiple times a week? Just a few miles away and never coming to help?”

“I do apologize that we never came to help. We never knew you guys were living there, from my understanding.” He looked sincere.

‘He’s not lying but it still hurts that they were so close and never help.’ My wolf whimpers at the thought of our parents before going silent again.

“Fine. Why are you being nice to me then? Why now? Why bother me and attack me when I did nothing to any of you.” I was eager to hear his answer.

“I can’t answer that. I am only following orders given by the Alpha, but the report says you attacked first.”

I wanted to yell and scream and explain my side but if he is just following orders then he is not who should be the target of my anger. We sat in silence for a little while longer. The nurse came back in with a tray with a cheeseburger and French fries with water to drink. After setting it down on the bed, both the nurse and the doctor left me alone. I don’t trust these wolves. I need to get home, pack what I could carry, and run somewhere far from here. This place was so busy that trying to get out was going to be difficult.

A few hours later, I was laying on the bed trying to think of a way out, when there was the sounds of a commotion outside the room. I get up and walk to the door, its none of my concern what is happening out there but it might provide a good distraction for me to slip away. Opening the door and stepping out into the hallway, I see chaos. Women running around searching for things. Dr. Dan was standing over a man that seem to be important. As I walked a little closer, I could see that he had a horrible and deep bite wound to his left shoulder.

‘Maybe you should help, you help mom patch up wounds like that on dad all the time. if you help they may let you go.’ My wolf urged me.

Rolling my eyes, she has a point, so I walk over to the doctor and see the wound a tad bit better and also realize that these people had no idea what was going on with the wound. They had no idea it was poisoned. The smell coming from the man was a clear sign, they didn’t seem to recognize it. Everyone was talking over each other and not letting one person speak. If he is a wolf, the external wound should be healing, but it wasn’t. meaning not only was it a rogue bite with poison laced in, but there is also wolfsbane in it too.

“Is he a wolf?” I ask loud enough to be heard over everyone. Everyone’s attention turned to me.

“He’s our Alpha.” A shirtless man answers, taking a step closer to me and giving me what was probably the best death glare. “And who are you?”

“She is the girl from the cabin.” Dr. Dan answered for me. “You used to live off the land and fight rogues. If you have seen something like this before, please help us save him.” He begged.

I step closer and took a good long look at the wound. I am certain on what needs to be done.

“You have rogue antivenom, correct?” the doctor nodded and I proceed to tell him and the nurse what herbs to gather and mix with the antivenom. Once I finish giving them instructions, the doctor was confirming a few details, when another young shirtless man ran in. he ran up to the doctor, whispered something into his ear, and turn to leave. As he passed me, his hand lightly, just the ever so slightest, brushes against my arm. I gasped softly. The tingles that went up my spine from that slightest of touch left me confused and oddly want to chase him. That slight brush of his hand made me feel safe and warm.

I gave the doctor a final nod before going back to my room. Once inside with the door shut, I collapsed against it and started to cry.

‘Why are you crying?’ my wolf asks.

‘Because I just saved a stranger out there and not just any stranger but a pack wolf. I saved him but I couldn’t save my parents.’ I cried harder than the day I lit the pyre. My wolf wrapped her energy around me in her own way of hugging me. We sat like this for a few mins. When a knock startled me away from the door. The door opened a c***k and the aggressive death glare man from before poked his head in.

“May I come in and talk?” His was as soft and low as his deep vocals would allow.

Looking at the clock, I saw it was almost 1 in the morning. Sighing, I nod and he enters. I crawl onto the bed and settle into the fact he probably wasn’t leaving quickly. he settles onto the stool and spins to face me.

“I… I’m…” him seemed to be struggling to speak. Taking a deep breath, he tries again. “I’m sorry…” I was so confused. Why was he apologizing? “I was worried for my Alpha and we had just been attacked. I didn’t know if you were a friend or foe. I got aggressive and I didn’t mean too. I am John, I am the Beta in the pack.” I chuckled.

“Apology accepted but in the air of honesty, your death glare earlier was more like a pup who was mad that he toy was taken away than a Beta worried about his Alpha. I can understand the aggressive behavior.” I explain.

“A pup who was mad, not a grown ranked wolf…” I start to get scared he is going to lash out at me, but instead he started laughing. “That’s great.” He went into a ramble talking about how no one has the guts to say things like that to a ranked wolf. He sat and kept talking for a while. I looked at the clock and saw it was about 2 am. I started to fake falling asleep so this wolf would leave, he didn’t notice. So, I tried to fake being asleep, after about 20 minutes he finally noticed, whispered an apology, and left.

I sat up and sighed. Now if people leave me alone for a few minutes I can get out of here. I waited till 3 am to go to the door and peak out. Everyone was crowded around the Alpha. I stepped into the hall and crept around against the wall. Watching the crowd, I snuck out the door and made my way south. I was on my way home, but I couldn’t stay there. These wolves would come looking for me there.

I made a splint from vines and thick sticks for my arm, before putting the splint on I reset the bone myself. It was excruciatingly painful and I was biting my lip till it bleed to avoid screaming. My wolf had avoided healing the bone till it was safe to do so, now she places a block to relieve my pain and started healing the bone as I put the splint on. I still need to wear the splint for a couple of days, but it should heal perfectly fine.

I continued walking, a long while later, just as the sun was breaking through the trees, my cabin came into view. A few stray tears escape down my cheeks, wiping them quickly I rushed into the cabin. Grabbing the duffle bag that dad always used, I packed a few camping supplies, clothes, medicine, a couple of moms books on herbs and uses, and toiletries. I walked over to the mantle and pick up mom and dad’s ashes. It wasn’t safe to bring them with me and I don’t think I will ever be able to return to this cabin.

‘We should let them follow us on the wind. Let the wind take them into the sunrise so every day and night they are watching over us and following us.’ My wise wolf suggests.

I nod in agreement and take them outside. Saying a prayer as I open the box and slowly pour their ashes into the wind. Their ashes rode the wind to the east, setting the empty box down and slinging the bag over my shoulder, I head east with them. May the gods join my parents in watching over me.

Unknown POV:

I ran into the pack hospital to inform the doctor that the Alpha had the only serious injury. I didn’t notice her on the way in, but when leaving my hand brushed against this tiny, thin, dirty blonde haired girl. She was so pretty and the brief contact sent a shiver up my spine. It was hard to explain but that brief contact instantly made me feel the need to protect her at all cost. Similar to a mate bond but so much stronger. I don’t understand it and I want to stop and talk to her but I have to get back outside to help with the cleanup.

‘What is her name?’ My wolf, Axel, asked. He was whimpering like a lovesick pup as I jogged away from her.

‘I don’t know. I will find her tomorrow and find out, just for you.’ I told him, chuckling all the while.

The sun couldn’t rise fast enough for us. I couldn’t wait to speak to her tomorrow.