Hated Ties That Bind

Chapter Seven

Walking silently through the woods, the group were on alert but no-one jumped out from behind the foliage as they walked deeper into the darkening forest.

After about thirty minutes they came across a small wooden shack that was covered in moss and debris making it look like an abandoned child’s fort.

Walking up, Victoria knocked once on the door, waiting a moment and then knocked again three times.  The door pushed open to reveal a thin rough looking man, who’s eyes widened as he saw the warriors stood behind his daughter.

‘Vicky!’ he hissed worriedly, ‘what did you do?’ shuffling out of the door, the man bowed his head, before the group muttering, ‘please gentlemen, we don’t want any trouble, please, whatever my daughter did, she didn’t mean it, she’s just a child.’

Stepping forward, Rowan grasped the man’s shoulder, wincing slightly at the lack of muscle under his grip.  ‘We are not here to harm your daughter or your wife, sir’ he said softly, ‘your daughter said that your wife is ill, we are here to see if we can help her.’

Looking up in surprise, the man, who was in his late forties, took in each of their faces in turn, noting the worry that was on both Rowan and Nathaniel’s face, and the guarded looks of the other three.

Nodding slightly, the man bowed his head again, ‘my name is Nicholai, my mate’s name is Rosalie, she fell sick a few weeks ago and is not getting better.’

Rowan nodded at the man’s words, ‘may I see your mate, Nicholai?’ He asked, ’I have spent many years having to deal with my own health, I may be able to help her.’

Nicholai, met his gaze, a spark of hope igniting in his eyes as he nodded quickly and pushed the door open so that Rowan could enter.

Ducking his head to enter the small door, Rowan allowed his eyes to adjust until the room swam into view.  There was a small bed pressed against the side wall, a larger one next to it that held a huddled bundle under some thin blankets.

Making his way to the bed, Rowan perched on the edge, reaching out for the woman who rolled over weakly, her eyes fearful as they fell on Rowan’s face.

‘Please, don’t hurt my baby’ she whispered, ‘take me sir, just leave my baby, she has hurt no-one.’

Nicholai stepped up behind the warrior, reaching out and taking his wife’s hand, ‘this man is here to help you Rosalie, he won’t hurt Vicky.’

Rowan smiled down at her warmly, relieved to see the woman relax slightly at her husband’s words.

Placing a hand on her forehead, Rowan frowned as heat radiated through his palm, the clammy feeling of fever evident under his skin.

‘Did you eat anything from the forest?’ he asked softly.

The woman hesitated momentarily before shaking her head, ‘no, but  . . I did scratch myself on a bush’ she added quietly.

Pushing down the blankets, Rosalie, lifted her shirt slowly, wincing to reveal a deep purple bruise underneath an oozing cut across her side.

Looking closely at the wound, Rowan sniffed it tentatively, ‘it’s infected’ he said softly, ‘you need antibiotics.’

Rosalie nodded, ‘I hoped it would get better on it’s own, we . . we don’t have a lot of money for medicine’ she admitted in embarrassment.

Giving her a reassuring smile, Rowan replied, ‘don’t worry about it, I’ll get you what you need.’

Standing up, he headed back out of the small shack, nodding to the others to step to the side where he spoke in a low tone. ‘The mother is hurt pretty bad, I’m going to head back to the village we came through and get her some medicine and ointment for the wound in her side, if you stay here, I’ll be back as soon as I can and we can set off again.’

Nathaniel grabbed the warrior’s arm as he turned to leave, ‘Rowan, is it a good idea to go alone?’ he asked seriously, ‘maybe one of us should accompany you, watch your back.’

Rowan gave the future Alpha a wink, ‘mate, this is where I come from, being out here alone doesn’t worry me, I can hold my own.  What you can do is start a fire and hunt out some meat, it doesn’t look like this family has eaten properly in a while.  The mother is weak, she could do with some good food, I’ll try and get them some groceries as well from that small store we passed.’

The four men nodded, watching as the ex-Rogue walked back to Nicholai and Victoria, telling them that his friends would find and prepare a meal while he went back to the village for the antibiotics.

Grabbing his hand, Victoria looked up at him, her grip tight, ‘I’ll go with you Rowan’ she said determinedly.

Meeting her gaze, Rowan shook his head, ‘no Vicky, you need to stay here, it’s not safe out there.’

Victoria scowled, ‘I’ve lived out here all my life, I can take care of myself, and you will need me to lead you back to our camp’ she replied stubbornly.

Looking up at her father, Rowan silently raised an eyebrow as the older Rogue nodded his head imperceptibly in agreement to his child accompanying the warrior.

‘OK short stuff, you’re with me’ he said with a grin, deciding not to tell her that he could easily find them again if he wanted too.

Beaming in triumph, Victoria picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, waving to her father who called after them worriedly, ‘be careful pumpkin, stay with Rowan OK?’

‘I will dad’ Victoria replied excitedly as she kept her hand in Rowan’s and began to lead him away from the camp toward the edge of the forest, the trees soon swallowing them from view.

The four remaining warriors split into two groups, Riley and Daniel moving around, finding twigs and moss that they could use to build a fire as Nathaniel and Landen undressed and shifted, heading off into the trees in search of rabbits that they could cook.

Once the fire was built and lit, Riley approached the Rogue cautiously, ‘wound you like me to help you bring your wife outside so that she can eat?’ he asked.

Nicholai looked up at Riley and smiled, ‘Alpha, I get the feeling you have not had a lot of contact with Rogues?’

Riley gave a weak chuckle, ‘actually its Luna’ he corrected, ‘my mate is the first female Alpha of our pack, and no, all my interactions with Rogue’s has been when they have attacked us’ he admitted.

Nicholai nodded, ‘yes, I can see why you are wary of us, but believe me, we mean no harm to anyone, we just want our daughter to be safe’ he said softly.

Walking into the shack, Nicholai introduced the Luna to his wife, the woman’s face breaking into a delighted smile as she heard that it was his wife who ran their pack.

‘That is so exciting’ she whispered, ‘you must be a very progressive pack to accept a female Alpha.’

Riley laughed, ‘she is the strongest she wolf I’ve ever known, I am an Alpha by blood, but I can hand on heart say that my mate is the best person to lead our pack.’

Nodding, Rosalie held out her hand as the warrior carefully placed it around his neck and helped her to stand shakily on her feet, the two men guiding her to the door and outside to sit by the fire that now had four freshly skinned rabbits on spikes above the flames.

‘That smells amazing’ Rosalie said quietly as she stared at the cooking meat, mouth watering, ‘I haven’t been hungry these last few weeks but that is making my stomach rumble.’

Nicholai brightened at her words, giving her a loving look, the warrior’s looked at the pair, seeing the worry that hung over the male as he watched his mate carefully.

‘How did you end up out here?’ Landen asked curiously, ‘if you don’t mind us asking’ he added quickly.

Nicholai smiled, ‘no son, it’s OK, we were not always Rogue’s, we were part of a small pack of about forty wolves, we didn’t have a pack house, but we had a small encampment of tents that were pitched on our packs territory.  One day a larger pack came to visit us, demanded that we submit to him and merge with his pack.  Our Alpha didn’t want too, we were not a violent pack, had no interest in expanding our lands or fighting with others so Alpha Jack turned the other Alpha down.

The other Alpha returned that night, wiped out all of the men and took the women and children by force.  I managed to grab Rosalie and get away in the darkness, we fled for our lives, forced into the life of Rogues.  Rosalie found out weeks later that she was pregnant with Victoria, we tried to find a pack to take us in, but we already had the scent of Rogue wolves and no-one would allow us in to tell them what had happened.

The Rogues we met also chased us away, they could scent that we were once pack members, they saw us as untrustworthy and attacked us on sight. So we travelled alone, trying to find somewhere that we can settle without fear of our daughter being taken or killed, then we found this forest and no other wolf seemed to live here, so I built this’ he said waving behind himself at the shack, ‘to give us shelter whilst we tried to work out what to do next, and we have been here ever since.’

Nathaniel shook his head sadly at the Rogue’s story, ‘that is so wrong’ he growled, ‘you didn’t ask to be Rogues someone should have taken you in!’

Nicholai shrugged with a small smile, ‘I can understand why they were reluctant to meet with us, I cannot blame the Alphas for protecting their packs from a perceived threat.’

The group sat around waiting, talking quietly until a soft snap of a twig drew their attention just as Rowan and Victoria reappeared, their bags bulging with supplies as they sat down, Victoria tipping out her bag to show her parents excitedly, what she had.

‘Look mum! I have bread, ham, milk, water! And Rowan has eggs and tins of food for us’ she said happily as she pushed the food to her mother who’s eyes met Rowan’s tearfully as the warrior looked down in embarrassment.

‘Thank you, Rowan, you didn’t have to do this’ the Rogue female said softly.

‘Rowan shrugged, ‘it’s nothing really ma-am, just a little help for you all’ he replied as he rummaged in his bag and pulled out a bottle of tablets, some antiseptic cream and wipes, gauze and sterile strips. 

Handing the bottle of tablets to Rosalie, he muttered, ‘you have to take one tablet, four times a day.’  The she wolf took the bottle gratefully, reading the instructions on the side of the box quickly before opening the top and shaking one out, swallowing it with a shudder.

Nodding to her side, Rowan said, ‘would you be OK if I  . . ‘ he swallowed slightly, his cheeks flushing.

Laughing lightly, Rosalie lifted her shirt, revealing the deep wound to the others who gasped in shock at the severe infection.

Ripping open on of the antiseptic wipes, Rowan gently dabbed at the wound, apologising under his breath as Rosalie hissed in pain.  Once he was satisfied, he squeezed out some of the cream, putting it around the injury before pressing a piece of gauze over the site and adhering it to her skin with the sterile strips.

Looking at the perfectly covered wound, Rosalie smiled, ‘you are quite gifted young man’ she teased.

Rowan smiled sheepishly, ‘I’ve had a lot of practice’ he replied before wiping his hands clean and moving back to his previous spot next to Victoria who inched closer to him automatically, obviously quite taken with the rough and ready warrior.

Handing around the cooked food, everyone ate in amicable silence, until every scrap was gone.  Standing up, the warriors waved their hands as the small family thanked them sincerely for their help.

Hesitating for a moment, Riley reached into his backpack, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen that he hastily wrote a note on.  Folding it in half, he handed it to Nicholai, ‘when your mate is able, if you want too . . you can take this note to Silver Cross Pack, ask to speak to Alpha Isabella and say you have a note from Luna Riley.  The guards will recognise my scent on the note and let you in, you are welcome to join our pack if you still looking for a home’ he said with an awkward smile.

Taking the note nervously, Nicholai looked from it to Riley in shock before bowing his head in respect, ‘thank you Luna, this means so much to us, we would be honoured to join your pack if your Alpha would allow us’ He whispered.

Giving the trio a small wave, the Luna made his way further into the woods, his companions following close behind him, leaving the family seated around the fire watching them go.