Athindrya

Chapter 7

Ivy kept an eye on her surroundings as she was escorted to the pack hospital. On her way there, pack members openly stared at her. It wasn’t that she was uncomfortable with the glances thrown her way. It was the fact that these people who had abandoned her, an innocent child, were now watching her with caution, as if she were the evil one.

They arrived in front of a large white building.

How original. Lilka said sarcasm evident in her voice.

As they walked in, the guards were greeted by the receptionist, who only glanced at Ivy. Surely this couldn’t be a regular occurrence, she thought.

She soon showed them to a room, just as bare as the outside of the hospital. It was a tiny room, barely big enough to fit the bed in it and a small equipment station. Other than the curtains that framed the window, those were the only objects in the room.

One of the guards motioned for her to sit down. Not wiling to argue she obliged, only then realising how much pain she had been in. She settled down on the thin mattress, looking out the window opposite her. Two of the guards that had accompanied her left the room, and she was left alone with the man who had shackled her.

This would be the perfect time to punish him for cuffing us. Lilka announced. How dare he cuff an Alpha?

Shut it Lilka. For one he doesn’t know we’re an Alpha, and secondly punishing him would do more harm than good, so control yourself.

On her second or third hunt ever, she had almost died when her Alpha scent had threatened an Alpha. He had thought she was there to challenge him when all she wanted was his Gamma. He was so threatened he had attacked her, leaving her with a deep scar across her ribs. After that, Marcus had gifted her a vial that masked her Alpha scent, so that incident would never repeat itself.

Feeling eyes on her, Ivy lifted her head to find the last guard staring at her intensely. She smiled sweetly, tilting her head ever so slightly in a sign of submission. Lilka huffed at the back of her mind, clearly the charade was preposterous in Lilka’s eyes.

Though Lilka didn’t approve, the subtle move was enough to get Grumpy McGuard to divert his attention back to his phone. At that moment, the door opened revealing a middle aged woman in a white coat.

“Alrighty then, let’s have a look at you honey.” The doctor’s kind voice stated. At that, she looked pointedly at the guard in the room. He sighed and went out the door. Truth be told, Ivy was impressed by the authority this woman had over a guard.

She waited until the door was closed to speak up again.

“So, let’s have a look at you.”

The doctor took two steps across the tiny room and was by Ivy’s side. She bent down and took a good look at Ivy’s leg. Quickly she realised that she wouldn’t get anywhere, with trousers in the way.

“Can you lie down on the bed for me?” She asked, while she got out a pair of scissors. Silently Ivy lay down on the bed. The less she talked the better.

The doctor soon got to work on cutting the trousers, leaving herself plenty of room to observe Ivy’s leg.

Looking down at herself Ivy hadn’t realised just how much she had damaged her leg. There was dried blood all over her trousers. Ivy winced as bits of trouser was ripped off her leg. The dirt she had shoved into her wound was now stuck, engulfed by dried blood. The doctor took an audible breath as she saw the extent of the injury.

“How did you do that?” She asked, genuine concern in her voice.

“Two rogues ambushed me in the woods and they attacked me. One of them shifted back to their human form and sliced me with a knife.” Ivy knew the closer she stuck to the truth, the more convincing she would be.

The doctor didn’t question her explanation, instead she simply took out a damp piece of cotton and began dabbing at the dried blood around the cut. Ivy watched the doctor’s skilled hands as they cleaned the wound, removing twigs and larger clumps of dirt.

“So where you from honey?” Although the doctor seemed kind enough, Ivy knew not to trust anyone. Thankfully, she already had answers ready to all the questions they could possibly answer.

“I was kicked out of my old pack for getting into an argument with my old Alpha.” Ivy lowered her gaze hoping it was enough information for the doctor, and that her shy demeanour would throw her off the trail.

The doctor seemed to mull it over before beginning to clean the inside of the cut. It didn’t take long before she was stitching both sides together. The final touch was a bandage. The woman got up and stretched her back.

“My name is Elaine by the way. It was nice meeting you.”

“It was nice to meet you too. I’m Ivy.” There was no point in changing her name, it would never be traced back to her connection to Athindrya.

Elaine smiled. “You’re going to have to rest quite a lot. Your wolf must be too weak from your fight with the rogues to help you recover. Add that to the fact that it was very muddy, you’re going to take it easy for a few days.”

Ivy nodded. It was ridiculous how quickly she had warmed up to this extremely kind-hearted woman.

Watch it Ivy. She was probably there when they abandoned you and made no effort to help. Lilka reminded Ivy who sighed.

The doctor helped Ivy to the door, where the three guards had been standing the whole time. No one said a word, as the doctor repeated the same thing she had told Ivy. After Elaine left to presumably attend to other patients, the guards directed Ivy towards the exit.

Two guards nodded at Grumpy McGuard as they walked back towards the border.

“Where are we going?” Ivy asked glancing up at the warrior.

He said nothing just kept moving forward. Ivy sighed, she was having some trouble keeping up with the man with her injured leg. She tried to keep up with him but tripped on a small dip in the ground. The silver cuffs, digging into fresh skin that hadn’t yet been burnt.

Fuck.

Moron. Lilka chimed in, supportive as ever.

Shut up, if I hadn’t had to cut my leg, we could easily outrun the bastard.

Uh huh. Lilka mocked retreating to the back of Ivy’s mind.

The guard just looked down at her waiting for Ivy to get up. She huffed as she pushed herself off the ground. What a gentleman.

 They kept walking for at least fifteen minutes before arriving in front of what must be the pack house. Damn this pack was big.

Grumpy McGuard shoved her through the front door. They walked through the house. It was a rather comfy looking place. It was mostly wooden furniture, lots of pillows, a couple nice fireplaces…

Walking up some stairs Ivy saw pictures of what the past Alphas and Lunas of the pack must’ve looked like. She searched the wall for a picture that gave her a sense of familiarity but found nothing.

She was ushered into a bland room and told to wait there. Did this guy know how to say anything else?

She sat on the bed not having anything better to do. She simply stared out the window. The edge of the forest called to her, she desperately wanted to leave this horrible place.

The guard soon came back into the room. He took off her handcuffs, not hiding his reluctance. Ivy cradled her wrists as the air did wonders to ease her burning skin.

“The Alpha will be here soon.” That was the last thing he said before exiting the room once again, leaving Ivy alone with her thoughts, and Lilka.