Eclipse

3. Suspicion

I wandered the forest aimlessly for days, without neither food nor trees, and it felt like I was hallucinating, or just plain delirious. It was a miracle that I hadn't bled to death. Somewhere along the way my wolf had collapsed, and I'd shifted back into my naked human form. It felt like an eternity before I finally broke through the trees. The sharps spears of sunlight pierced my skin and eyes, driving my knees to the ground and my face into the mud. I inhaled the damp smell of dirt that mingled with my blood, and then everything blurred and then everything went black.

⤜◯⤛

I woke up the sound of beeping machinery. I left my eyes closed and took in my surroundings, trying to figure out where I was. Something was positioned over my mouth, making my breath sound raspy... a mask? Despite the smell of plastic, I could still detect the disinfectant that filled the air, and the machinery next to me beeped at an unusually fast rate. A hospital, obviously.

I forced my eyelids to peel back to see a plain white ceiling that hurt my eyes.

"Oh, you're awake!" I turned abruptly with an audible crack in my neck that made me wince, to see a young doctor with short brown hair and hazel eyes.

"What...?" I began, unable to finish.

The doctor smiled sympathetically. "A young man found you near the woods and called for an ambulance. Could I please have your name please?"

"Megan Vaughn." The words tasted foreign on my tongue. You aren't Megan Vaughn. Megan Vaughn died a long time ago.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-four." You sure? You seem awfully cowardly for a twenty-four year old.

"Thank you, I'll leave you to get some sleep."

"Wait!" I called out through the mask, sitting up as well as I could. "What happened?"

She smiled sadly. "You were beaten up badly, Megan. You'll need to stay here for at least the week, but I can tell that you'll heal fast." Well aren't you clever.

"Oh." I slumped back into pillows as reality hit me. This really wasn't a figment of my imagination, and I really was rogue wolf.

"I'll just leave you to get some rest, 'kay?" Before she left, though, she removes the oxygen mask. I obviously didn't need that anymore.

I forced a small smile as the doctor left the room, but it disappeared instantly. I just wanted to scream into my pillow. Before I could close my eyes, the door opened again, and a slim man in an oversized shirt and running shorts walked in.

"They told me you finally woke up," he said, sitting beside me. His dark brown hair stood up in unnaturally gravity-defying spikes and his bloodshot eyes were tired with purple bags.

"Finally?"

"You've been out cold for two days."

I mulled over this before arriving at the most obvious question. "Who are you?"

"Kieran Chambers. I found you by the woods. You feeling fine?"

I shrugged indifferently and looked away. What sort of question is that?. "I've felt better." What am I doing, talking to a stranger?

"Do you... want to talk about why you were unconscious and lying in the dirt?" There was something in his voice that put me on edge. He seemed too curious, or maybe I was just being paranoid.

"No," I replied sharply, inching away from him slightly.

I heard a grumble pass his lips. "A normal person would actually thank her lifesaver, you know."

I scoffed at that. "Lifesaver? Oh, please don't flatter yourself."

"Oh? You think you'd survive those wounds without going to a hospital? Without attracting someone's attention? And let's not forget that you might have had a punctured organ or something!"

I glared at him fiercely before my eyes settled on the button next to me. I began contemplating the worth of seeing the annoyance on the nurse's face, knowing that I sent for her for no particular reason. He noticed this immediately and grabbed my hands before they could move of their own accord.

"So?" he asked promptly, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, I reckon I could."

"Bullshit."

"Yeah, well, bullshit or not, I know that I'd survive."

"Yeah? Well, please, do explain."

"That's none of your business." I pursed my lips together, cursing my idiocy. Quiet, Megan! You've said too much already!

Kieran released my hands and glanced at door before leaning forward on his elbows with narrowed eyes. "How 'bout we cut the crap and talk like nice and mature adults. I know that you're a Lupi, so don't bother trying to hide it, yeah?"

His words paralysed me and froze the blood in my veins. I stared at him in shock, and I heard the heart monitor speed up even faster.

"What?" My voice was so quiet I myself could barely hear it.

Kieran smirked smugly. "Your secret isn't as much of a secret as you think."

"But...how?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to wonder."

I frowned at him and leaned into my pillow with my eyes squeezed shut. "What exactly are you?" I asked quietly without opening my eyes.

"Something that you don't need to know."

"Where will I go?" The thought made me feel sick.

"How should I know? You're the one who's wandering around."

I felt the tears welling up through my shut lids and I hastily willed them away. I rarely cried, and I rarely ever would, especially not in front of this person—if he even was a person.

"You're a rogue, aren't you?" Kieran asked in a gentler tone. He must have noticed the tremor that was running through my hand, which had grabbed a fistful of the sheets.

"No," I denied, but the quaver in my voice gave me away.

Kieran rolled his eyes with disbelieve and exasperation. "I don't know why I'm still sitting here, with a liar and a Lupi."

"Then go!" I cried out furiously. His words were grating on my nerves, and all I wanted was to s***h his face off just to make him stop talking. "Just leave! Nobody's stopping you!"

A knock on the door stopped him from replying, and the door opened before I could answer to the knock.

"Megan Vaughn?" A stocky and muscular man strode in, dressed formally with a notebook and a poised pen in hand.

"Dr Jones called, saying that you were assaulted in the woods, Miss Vaughn. Do you remember anything about the—"

"I don't want to find out who beat me up," I interrupted him. The police didn't need to know anything.

"Miss Vaughn, you need to realise that—" the officer began.

"I need to realise nothing," I said firmly. "I don't want to find who's responsible, and that's that."

That's because you already know who's responsible, Megs.

A frown sidled across the man's face but he sighed in resignation. "Very well then, but if you need anything, anything at all, you'll have my number." He left a small white card on the table by my bed before leaving.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Kieran turned to look at me gleefully, triumph shining in his eyes. "You are a rogue!"

"Leave," I hissed furiously, but all he did in response was raise a cool eyebrow.

"No."

"Why?" Why was he making this so hard for me? All I wanted was to end this, and now he had to interfere with everything.

"Because I want to know what a rogue wolf is doing out here. What happened? What made you go rogue?"

"That is absolutely none of your business!" I snarled, and it felt like my nerve endings were about to fray and explode. My wolf was waking up, urging me to shift, then and there, despite the fact that my body was barely cooperating with me.

Kieran's face closed off and his jaw clenched as he rose to his feet and brushed off invisible dust from his shorts. "It's late. I'll be back tomorrow."

I leaned forward to look through the window. The sky was still blue, albeit streaked with pinks and oranges. "It isn't late." This sudden change in his attitude was unnerving.

"Just get some sleep. I'll be back tomorrow."

Before I could say anything, he was gone, and the door was shut behind him.

I heaved a sigh and looked down at my hands, assessing the fresh damage that Cameron had done to me. Purple and blue blooms blossomed all over my body, turning a sickly yellow, covering my arms, legs and chest, but that was only what I could see. The true extent of the damage done would be on my face which would be undeniably hideous beyond doubt. A long gash ran from my right write and up my arm, snaking under my hospital gown. If I hadn't been starving myself for those days in the woods and had actually attempted to treat the wounds, then perhaps they would have healed, but they were as fresh as they were the moment Cameron had inflicted them.

I stared down at the scab on my arm, and considered what would happen if I picked at it near the wrist. Would it bleed as much as it would if I'd severed the vein? Would I be able to slip away silently or would the alarm go off and would the nurses stop me before any damage could be done? My fingers ran over the crusty surface of the scab, and I felt the gentle thud of my pulse just next to the torn skin.

My fingers automatically sought the edge of the scab and ripped it off with a suppressed cry. Blood instantly began to pour out of the wound, but the alarm must have gone off as well, because after several minutes of feeling my skin turn cold, a horde of doctors and nurses hurried in and swarmed over me. The pain felt like drug until the anaesthetic kicked in, and then my wrist was being bandaged.

The wounds were obviously deep, because they were shouting instructions, but I could just sit there and let tears roll down my face. The strength of the anaesthetic gradually grew and swallowed me whole into a shadowy and muted world of painkillers.