Raber Wolf Pack Book Two (2 page)

I clear my throat and try to remove the frog that took up residence. “Am I at the hospital?” Looking around the room, it looks more like a lavish bedroom than a sterile hospital. Cream-colored walls with wooden framed pictures. A couch, two chairs, and a coffee table are off to the side, along with several dressers and an armoire. The bed I’m lying in is huge, so damn fluffy and comfortable. If this is a hospital, it’s a damn fine one.

“No. You are at our home,” she says, swiping another one of my wounds then blowing.

Fear takes over again, rushing through my veins like a stiff drug, and I move to rise, but am halted by the nausea burrowing in my stomach. I fall back down onto the bed, gulping to push it back down. “Why? Did you contact the police?” And who is
our
? Where the hell am I? The nausea subsides and I’m grateful for it.

“You’re better off here than at the hospital. Let’s just take it one thing at a time.” Lily’s eyes meet mine and instantly, without any reason, my body and thoughts relax. The growing, balled-up tension unwinds like a flower coming into bloom. What is happening to me? “I know you’re scared and you have every right to be, but I promise you that you’re safe within these walls.”

Walls. “Where do you live?”

The smile that graces her lips lights up her already beautiful face to extraordinary and I’m momentarily mesmerized. Not in a sexual way, just an appreciative one. “Lakeside.”

This makes me feel a bit better being as I’m still in my town. I lift my head slightly and take in my body, my very nude body.

“Holy shit!” I gasp, my arms flail, trying to cover up my bits and pieces from being seen, but my joints have difficulty moving. Each movement only adds to the agony I’m enduring. How did I not notice I was naked? How did I not feel the difference on the bedding? Am I that out of it?

Lily’s eyes meet mine again. “Settle.” My arms grow lax on their own accord. It’s something in Lily’s eyes, but I have no clue what, but I’m thinking I need to find out. “I’m going to clean you up and bandage you. Then I’ll give you clothes to put on. We had to take your old ones off because of the number of bite marks that tore through the material.”

“Thank you. How many are there?” I raise my head up and take in my body. Teeth marks. Bites in my flesh. Everywhere. Arms, legs, ankles, thighs, torso, chest, breasts. What the hell? I look like a damn chew toy for some rabid dog. Why would they do such a thing?

Lily’s hand stills on my leg and somehow, I’m compelled to look her in the eye again, the calmness washing over me at her compassionate gaze. “There are several and will heal pretty fast, but there is much to discuss, and we cannot do that until they are cleaned and you are dressed.”

My mind wants to race with thoughts, but whenever Lily looks into my eyes, serenity and tranquility flow through me. I know this isn’t right, but why would I fight this peacefulness, especially after being attacked by wolves.

I lie back and wait for Lily to clean what feels like thousands of wounds. Shouldn’t I get a shot or something for rabies or whatever else wolves might carry? And antibiotics to fight off any infection? Lily wraps my legs and arms, taping patches all over my torso and breasts.

“I really think I should go to the hospital so they can give me medicine. I appreciate your help, but I need antibiotics, among other things.”

“Nothing you get at a hospital will help you at this point, sweetie.” My heart picks up super-fast as she walks over to a dresser in the corner of the room, pulling out sweatpants and a t-shirt then handing them to me. They look two, maybe three sizes too large for me. “Put these on and then we’ll talk. I need to go out and talk to my alpha and beta. Then I’ll be back.”

Wait. “Alpha and beta? Who are they and how many
people
are here?” I grip the clothes to my body, sitting up with an agonizing ache but wanting to cover myself up so I fight through it.

“All of your questions will be answered soon. Please, put the clothes on and I’ll be right back.” With speed I’ve never seen, she’s out of the room, closing the door firmly behind her. Frantically, I put on the extra, extra large pants and shirt, groaning in pain with each movement, but desperately wanting to be covered. Along with the ache, my body feels like it’s on fire everywhere, like a thousand fire ants decided I was their home and are traipsing all over my flesh. What is wrong with me? Something is seriously wrong. I need to get out of here and to a doctor.

I search the room and see no phone, then look around, trying to remember what happened to my cell after I left the bar.

Nowhere. Shit. My mind spins as the questions filter through, one after another, and panic continues to grow. I need to get control of this situation that seems to be spiraling into a black abyss. I need to focus. I can do this.

Surely Lily will let me use the phone, she seems genuine. I’ll ask her as soon as she comes back. I sit on the bed and gather myself. I got away from the wolves alive; I can get away from here, too. Wait! The crystal. I search for my purse, remembering that I’d shoved the crystal
and
my phone inside, but it is nowhere to be found.

Voices on the other side of the door are muffled to the point that I can’t make out anything being said. My hearing is usually spot on, but for some reason it’s difficult to understand them. Why don’t I feel the extreme panic and fear that I know I should feel? I’m not crying or screaming. Or hell, even racing to the door to see if I can escape. Nothing. If anything, I’m the calmest I’ve been in a really long time; in pain, but calm.

The door creaks open and Lily walks in, looking radiant. She sits on the bed and gestures to the space next to her. I move to her without question, another thing that confuses me, but I do it. It’s like she has this pull on me, reassuring me without words.

“I know you have lots of questions, but please let me talk before them. I’ll then answer anything you want. My alpha and beta would like me to talk with you. They know that you’re frightened and do not want to add to any of your discomfort.”

That’s sweet, but too little too late. “Can I use the phone? And do you know where my purse is?”

She pats my leg like one would do to placate a child. “Soon.” A fresh wave of calm fills the room and I suck it in like a starving woman. I really like this feeling. She makes all of the bad disappear. Lily should bottle this shit up; she could make millions. “And, no, I don’t, but I will ask Max if he’s seen it. Let’s start easy. First, what is your name?”

“Kenly.”

“Beautiful name.” I warm even further to her. “Tonight, you were hunted by four wolves.” Tell me something I don’t know. “Sweetie, you were
hunted
.” She emphasizes the last word and realization hits. I was
hunted
like an animal and probably supposed to be dead. The fear stays below the surface when it should be raging through my body. Lily is controlling it. She has to be. “Those were not wild wolves that you’d find out in nature or at a zoo. Those wolves turn into humans.” I knew this and that they existed, but I have never come in contact with them. Never had a reason to. They do their thing while we humans do ours. No harm, no foul. And after this encounter, I don’t think I ever want to be around them again.
Hunted
? “This is serious. You need to listen and pay close attention. Have you ever had special things happen to you?”

Her question takes me off guard. “Special? Like winning an award or something?”

“No, Kenly. Like hearing things from far away or sensing something strange or odd?” The seriousness of her tone confuses me. “I can feel the wheels turning in your head. Please answer the question.”

I breathe out deep. Have I ever sensed something? Well, there was tonight when my gut told me to stay home and all of this shit happened. Or when I made a detour once and later found out there was a five-car pileup on the road I should’ve been driving on. Or the time I felt the need to take the stairs at work only to later find out the elevator had broken down, caging the people inside with no air conditioning for hours on that blistering summer day. But all of that I’ve chalked up to a gut feeling and nothing more.

“You have haven’t you?” Lily asks, again as patient as ever.

“Just small things, like going to the grocery store on a Friday after work and then finding out that a man robbed the place and killed the clerk and some customers the same time on Saturday I normally go. But they’re just gut feelings. Everyone has those.” I shrug because it’s just coincidence.

“Does this happen a lot?”

I think back. “Not a lot, but they’ve come when I need them, I guess.”

She nods her head. “What about hearing or sight?”

That one’s easy. “Hearing is definitely great. I can hear the neighbors in my apartment having sex often, fighting, and their conversations but I try to block them out.” Last night. “I could hear the wolves’ paws tapping on the pavement as they chased me.”

“Tell me about the attack.”

A shiver rattles my bones at the thought. I really don’t want to talk about it, but I will. “My gut told me to go home and I didn’t listen. I went out to
Buddies
for a couple of drinks. I was tired and wanted to go home, but agreed. My car was down the block at my office building so I walked back toward it when I left. I had a weird feeling I was being watched, so I walked faster, looking all around, but didn’t hear or see anything. When I got to the parking garage, I heard footsteps. When I turned, I saw four huge men coming at me. I took off running.” I shake my head and tell her of the moments when I was getting bitten. Each word I speak comes out in a quiver. “I hit my head, hard, and saw a blur. The next thing I remember is waking up here.”

“You do have very good instincts. You need to listen to them, always.” Her words come out in a warning, compelling me to heed them. “Do you feel calm around me?”

“Yes, very much so. Why is that? Are you doing it?”

She smiles. “You are very observant, too. Yes, I’m controlling your emotions. I don’t want you to get upset, which I know you will do when I explain everything. My beta knows this too. That is why I am here and not him.”

“You’re doing what?” I screech, totally focusing on the controlling emotions thing. I knew she was doing something. At least I’m not as crazy as I thought. People can do that to one another? That’s like something on one of those SciFi shows on TV.

“Controlling your emotions. Please listen,” she commands and so I do. “When our beta and enforcers brought you here, the minute I came into contact with you, I felt an electric charge. This means I’m pretty sure that all the bites you sustained are going to turn you into a wolf.”

Turn me into a wolf? Yeah, right. I’d laugh sarcastically, but Lily’s pull on me is too great. I have entered some type of alternate universe. This shit just doesn’t happen. “I just need to go to the hospital and get some shots then I’ll be fine.” This lady is nutso nice, but nuts all the same. Aren’t wolves born this way? Can they really change a perfectly normal human?

“Kenly, anything that you get from a hospital will not be strong enough. Our alpha has ordered a pack doctor to come and he should be here within the hour. He will check you out, but I have to tell you, turning into a wolf is a very painful experience for a human, and we need to get you prepared for it.”

This woman is several bricks shy of a full load. Me…turn into a wolf? Yeah, right. “Just please give me a phone and I’ll get out of here. Then you can go back to whatever life this is you have going on.” And leave me out of it. I have a shit time believing that instead of two legs I will have four. That’s just not possible.

“After you change, if you choose to go home, we will give you a phone and whatever else you need, but you have to stay here until you change.”

She must really be controlling my emotions, because I should be freaking the fuck out right about now, yet here I am, just sitting here taking it all in like a dumbass. “I can’t stay here. I have work and parents. They will be worried about me.” Well, not my parents, but my co-workers will be.

“We’ll take care of that,” Lily says calmly.

“How?” How can she just brush this off?

“You don’t need to worry, just know that our beta will be take care of everything.”

She pauses and I jump in. “So, let me get this straight. I’m going to turn into a wolf, it’s going to hurt like a bitch, you and whoever is here are going to help me. You won’t let me call anyone until the change is over and then I can go back to my life. One problem with that. I don’t want anything to do with changing into a wolf,” I try to scream the last part, but am not allowed. I’m controlled, and this is starting to piss me off more. Am I actually believing what this woman said, that I’m going to turn into a wolf? I can’t believe I’m even entertaining this idea. It’s preposterous.

Isn’t it?

“We’re the Raber wolves. Our alpha is Xavier and he runs everything to do with our pack,” she says, avoiding my comments.

The blood drains from my face and instant cold hits. Wolf pack? Did she just say wolf pack? “You…” I stammer. “You’re a wolf?” How did this not click earlier? I even heard her say the pack doctor and it didn’t register. Fear slices through my gut with a sharp knife. They aren’t going to hurt me, are they?

“Yes, I am.”

Holy shit. “Holy shit. I want to go home.” I rise, feeling a bit dizzy just as a slight calm floods me.

“After you change.”

“How do you know I will change?” I hope this…wolf is ready to answer a shit load of questions because I’ve got them. “There is no reason to think that I would become a wolf. How does that even happen? I’ve seen it in horror movies but never thought it was real.” Yes, I’m rambling. I know this and at the moment, I don’t give a shit!

“The amount of bites you have. With only one or two, the chances of changing are slim because the wolves’ saliva really won’t penetrate your bloodstream. But with the severity of your bites, I have no doubt.” Lily is so damn put together and refined, making it ten times harder for her to be the nut I want to think she is. Could she be right? What the hell did those wolves do to me?