Zenah barely made it to her car with enough strength to open the door and crawl into the driver's seat. She'd left her cell phone in the car so she wouldn't lose it, and that decision almost cost her her life. With vision blurring, she still didn't have any problem hitting the right button to call the den. The emergency number was pre-programmed into everyone's phone. So when the dispatcher came on the line and couldn't understand her garbled speech, a rescue squad was automatically sent to her phone's GPS location.
The ride back was the worst. Flashing impressions, seen through eyes that just refused to stay open. Glimpse of the medical staff with bandages and antiseptic, clipped words.
"Whoever did this saved her life..."
"Oh God, her body is trying to change, get the serum..."
"I told you we needed to sedate her," and Zenah knew no more.
"What did she run into out there?" A voice cut through the haze hanging over her mind.
"Why was she out there in the first place? You know we don't send our women out on combat missions, especially my daughter!" Her mother's voice caused an eyelid to at last slide open a fraction.
"She is my daughter as well, have you forgotten that fact?" Her father's voice stirred her a bit more until both eyes were open.
"No James, I have not forgotten. But the only one that could have sent her on that mission is you. So why did you do it? You know she's not ready, she'll never be ready. You sent my baby out there and she comes back to us more dead than alive."
"I'm, not, dead just yet." Zenah raised one arm far enough to move her sheets, then let it fall back down.
"Honey!" She listened as her mother's footfalls closed in on her bed. "What happened, how did this to you?"
"Vampire." The word seemed to weigh a ton, and it took everything she had just to force it from between her teeth.
Zenah tried to tell her mom she was okay, that everything was fine. But the blackness closed in around her again and she fell into the pain meds' embrace.
"It's about time you woke up. We thought you were going to sleep all week."
Zenah sat up, her eyes snapping open. "Where am I, what happened?"
Her mother stood beside her bed looking down at her, a serious, concerned look on her face.
"You're home honey," she grabbed her chair and pulled it closer. Sitting down, she grabbed one of her daughter's hands. "You gave us quite the scare."
"What day is it?" Zenah asked, her throat so dry she could barely talk.
"It's Wednesday, two in the afternoon. Why?"
She'd been attacked on Sunday. That had to mean she'd been out for almost three days.
"Why were you out there?" Her mother asked. "I know you want to be one of our warriors, but I've explained to you why that can't happen..."
"Because I'm female, that's the only reason I can't go out there, isn't it?" Zenah refused to meet her mother's gaze.
"I've told you this before. I've explained this to you before. The reason we women can't go out there is because we would only get ourselves killed. As this little escapade illustrated nicely..."
"Mom, it was a vampire, a vampire. No one in this house could have gone toe to toe with it and survived. I'm just as strong as any other wolf in this house. That's why dad sent me out there. Besides, I was only out there to investigate some rumors, nothing more."
Her mother say still and silent, Zenah could tell she was trying to control her savage temper.
"Then if you went toe to toe with a vampire who did this?" She pulled the sheet down and motioned to her new scar. "Our retrieval team said they found you with stitches already in your wound, and if they weren't there, you would have died before they'd reached you. So how did you do it, how did you survive?"
"I had, help." Was the only answer she gave.
"What help? Who helped you? No other wolves were supposed to be in the area."
"Mom, what was it like when you knew for sure you were bonded to dad. I mean, when you knew without any doubt he was the one." Zenah changed the subject, much to her mother's surprise.
"Where did this come from? You were almost killed and you want to know about our bonding. I'm sure you've been told what happens."
"Yeah, in school we're all told what happened. First skin to skin contact and it's like being bathed in ice cold water. Like your senses are finally set free. But I need to know what it's like. What did you experience?"
"It was like my entire body was on fire, yet cold at the same time. From that moment onward I could see better, smell more clearly, even my eyesight was better. Why are you asking me this? Was there another wolf out there with you, one from a different pack?"
"No, there wasn't another wolf there. The vampire got sloppy after he'd slashed my stomach. I stabbed it through the heart and that was that."
"Then why were there two piles of ash in the area they found you?"
"Mom, I'm really tired, could you come back after I sleep some?" She had too much to think about and no one she could talk to about it.
"Okay honey," her mother patted her arm. "You get some rest. We'll talk later."
About what? She thought. This couldn't be happening to her, it couldn't. It didn't happen to anyone.
Yet she'd felt it, she knew she had. The feeling of ice and fire, the unlocking of her senses. Those were not adrenaline talking, those were real. Even now her heart ached to go and find him, to be near him. To go and die.
* * * * *
"What was I thinking?" Zach snarled.
Her blood was still on his hands. It was in his small medical kit, and on his cloths, everywhere. He was covered in it. To return to the house now was a sure death sentence. Even his mother wouldn't be able to save him from the wrath of the elders. They would have him killed very, very slowly for even as much as touching a mutt without killing it. Not only had he not killed that bitch, he'd saved her life. And now he had no idea why.
But in the moment it had been the correct decision, he knew that even then. She was so small, a delicate flower with a broken stem. He'd raised his weapon to relieve her head from her neck, yet before he could strike, every single muscle in his body had locked up. Like he'd been hit with a ten thousand volt taser. His blade had, in an instant, felt like it was a thousand degrees and he'd had no choice but to drop it.
But what came next was even more bizarre. He had laid the she-wolf, he didn't like thinking of her as a bitch, he'd never liked using that kind of language. It showed a complete lack of education. Then he'd proceeded to stitch her wound closed. Why had he done that? He had no good answer to that question.
He'd heard about the wolfs bonding and had always thought it stupid. To think that some force beyond one's control could tell you who you were going to spend the rest of your life with. His race wasn't held to sure archaic beliefs, hell the toms of the houses mated with whatever female wanted them at the time, and since they were outnumbered more than seventy to one, that was a lot.
Then there was him. He was over three hundred years old and had never mated with any women of the house. Not that his mother hadn't been trying to get him to hook up with some of them, any of them. But he'd never been attracted to any of them, not once. He shook his head, no he wasn't gay it was just, somehow he knew there was someone out there, someone he knew he'd recognize the instant he saw her.
"But a WOLF!" He screamed at the sky. "This has got to be the biggest joke in history!"
His heart beat fast in his chest just thinking about her, and he didn't even know her name. He'd been moving towards his truck ever since the encounter, but with the copious amounts of blood on him, he knew he couldn't touch it until he'd found a way to clean himself. Their noses might not be a sensitive at the wolves, but if they caught one whiff of her on him, the questions would fly. Right then, he didn't want to answer questions.
Of course he could just lie, tell them he'd killed her and be done with it. He knew that would work, though. His mother could catch him in a lie no matter how well he told it. If it got out that he'd had a she-wolf in his grip and let her live he'd be banished at best, killed painfully at worst.
Reaching his car, he slipped inside. Screw the truck, he'd have it detailed when he got back. Right then, all he wanted was a nice hot shower and a change of clothes. A few minutes later he was pulling into an all night hotel in Marquette. Hitting the brake until he came to a stop, sliding the shifter to park and went inside. He was thankful for small favors. There was a man behind the counter instead of a woman.
"I need a room with a shower." The man looked Zack up and down before he added.
"My waters out, I'm remodeling my bathroom and did some painting today," he held up his hands, the red stains clearly visible.
"The man just grunted, turned and grabbed a key from off one of the hooks.
"Room twenty-three, last one of the left. That's eighty dollars for the night."
Zach took out a hundred from his wallet and handed it to the short fat man.
"Keep the change." Before the man could grab the bill, he had the key snatched from his fingers and was out of the lobby and walking to his room.
Minutes later he was in the shower. The scalding hot water ran in a never ending river down his chest and back. He lathered up and with a scrubbing pad went over every inch of his body. Any place her blood or scent may have attached themselves to him, he did that four times before he rinsed and got out. The instant he was out, he knew he was in trouble. Looking at the pile of bloody clothes, he swore.
"Now what am I supposed to wear?"
ns 18.68.41.177da2
