Talons

Chapter 56: The Sponge

Robin’s POV

My little, unable to shift into a wolf sister, fought four rogues, and won. I’m so proud of her, but the moment doesn’t call for celebration. She should have closed the door, but I can understand her not wanting to risk locking our elderly grandparents out of the room. 

B isn’t a member of our pack, and she should have been properly told that our grandparents have requested not to receive special treatment. They want to live the remainder of their lives as two elderly pack helpers, and that includes fighting and dying among them as well.

We all know that B would never accept that, and it's probably best she didn’t know because she might have run into the orchard looking for them if she did. It's already fortunate that she stayed alert enough to wisely hide our nephew in a closet and mask his scent with a body as she waited for help to arrive. 

Emma approaches B a little aggressively and all three of us tense, thinking she is going to attack, but she pulls B into a hug instead. She starts scolding her, telling her that anything could have happened, but Baby B insists that she would never have let anyone get past her.

I have no doubts in my mind that my sister would have kept fighting until one of us arrived. It's clear by the blood on her body and the neck of the largest rogue that she would have done anything to keep our nephew safe.

Emma squeezes B tightly and she coughs, bringing up blood. Lark asks her if she is hurt and she tells him that her ribs are broken, but I’m worried she is more seriously injured than she is telling us.

When B was younger, she used to hide her injuries from us, and I can tell that is what she is doing now. Glass is literally embedded in her skin, but the first thing she asks is where our grandparents are.

I know that if she sees them, she will ignore her own wounds; in fact, we all know that. We exchange glances that only make B worried, and she starts trying to leave the cabin to find them.

I grab her, but the look she gives me is so frightening that my wolf urges me to let her go. Lili and I know that our sister is technically a rogue, and she believes that if we push her too hard, she will slip over the edge before Lark’s deal with the council can come to fruition. 

The pack has been paying extra taxes in order to clear my sister's sentence. We haven’t told her because we know she will feel guilty, but we are working to clear the set amount of debt so that she can join our pack. If she goes mad before we can pay it off, all our efforts will be for nothing.

Emma grabs Ducky and we all follow B out of the cabin, she immediately runs toward our grandparents, but is pushed away by a male pack member. The man says way too much before Lark shuts him up, but fortunately B is too focused on my grandparents to ask questions.

I see the way she is breathing, and I know it isn’t normal, not even for a person who is out of breath. B may have gotten out of shape, but she is well on her way back to her former condition. She and I sparred when she first arrived, and I was so impressed with her progress that I seriously considered taking lessons from the human she works with.

As soon as my mother arrives, B melts. That is the effect our parents have on my sister. I’m not sure why, but anytime they are around she goes back to being a baby. I don’t know whether she is aware of it, but it's something my mate and I have noticed.

My sister is clearly a strong girl, but emotionally, she is a wreck. My mother once said, find a sad person and you will find B, and that is true.

I thought things would change after Raven allowed Gigi to surface and attack B, but nope. She allowed her emotions to sway her, and she reached out to Raven asking to mend their relationship. 

B starts gasping for air, and when my mother questions her she starts clutching at her chest. I remember her saying that she had broken ribs, and I immediately think that her lung is punctured, but if that were the case, she would have long passed out by now.

The only other thing I can think of is a hemothorax. We learned about them in my physical education classes because they can happen from any sort of blunt trauma. Back then, the example used was a client who dropped weights on his chest and did not seek medical attention out of embarrassment.

I tell my family what I think is going on, but they just look at me unsure of what I'm saying. If my diagnosis is correct, we are going to watch my sister slowly suffocate if they don’t listen to me.

“Are you sure?” Luke asks and I nod vigorously. I know he loves B the same way I do, so I don’t take his hesitation personally, and I’m grateful when I hear him voice his support. 

Emma hands Ducky over to his father and she runs into the cabin looking for the pen that I asked for. She comes out with not just the pen, but also alcohol and the perfect fruit knife to make a clean incision. My sister has enough scars from her time in this pack, and none of us want to give her anymore.

I press the knife into B's side, and she has barely any reaction, which is a bad sign. Luke has already dismantled and sterilized the pen so that it can act as a straw and as soon as I get it through the muscle, B’s breathing eases. 

Blood starts oozing from the opposite end of the pen, and we all start nervously laughing from the overwhelming intensity of the experience. Even my grandparents, who had been groaning in pain, had gone silent as we waited to see what would happen.

“Muñeca?” My mother calls out, but my sister doesn’t respond. She is breathing, but it isn’t as rhythmic as it should be, and we know she needs a hospital. 

Lark’s POV

Getting to the hospital took longer than we expected, and Luke and I have decided that we need to invest in two additional medical transports for critical situations like the one that just happened. 

I can't stay at the hospital long because I cannot leave my pack alone right now. My gamma, Chun, is more than capable of protecting the pack, but there are other things that need to happen that he cannot handle alone.

After we ensure that Ducky is absolutely okay, Emma and I start preparing to leave, but my beta links me saying that there is a problem with B. The doctors don’t want to treat her because she is a rogue, and even though she was injured on our territory, she is not a part of our pack and therefore, is not covered under the alliance fees that go toward keeping the hospital funded and running.

By the time I get to B’s room, Luke already has someone gripped by the throat, and truthfully, I didn’t even want to ask him to let go, but I knew that I had to.

“How can we get around this?” I ask, and the man tells me to take B to a human run facility. I glare at him, and he quickly changes his tune.

“We can bill your pack for services directly,” he whimpers out, and I make a gesture for him to do just that.

I was going to ask Luke to return with me, but now, I think it's best for him to stay and monitor how my sister is being treated.

Rhea’s POV

I wake up and I’m in a hospital room with Luke and Robin cuddled in one chair beside my bed. I feel terrible and I reach out to my wolf to make sure she is still there.

"I’m here, but I’m healing us," she says, and I relax. 

Sylvia and I are unique in the sense that she can heal us in ways that are not normal. The way she puts it, is that she encourages our cells to regenerate where most needed, but she said it’s getting harder.

Whatever the method is okay with me because it’s the reason I don’t have claw marks on my arm left from Raven.

I go to speak, and I’m horrified when my voice does not work, but Sylvia pushes forth again, telling me it's the pressure in my chest affecting my airflow. She tells me that aside from dozens of small pieces of glass in my skin, there is a small tear that is causing blood to pool in my thorax.

"We will be fine in a few days," she says.

I shift, trying to get comfortable and I wake my sister and her mate in the process. Robin smiles as she approaches me, and I can see that she wants to cry, but she doesn't.

Luke stands next to her, and I find myself wondering why they are looking at me like proud parents.

"You killed four rogues on your own," Robin gushes, and I'm not sure if I should smile or not. "B, do you know that the male you chewed up was nearly the same size as Luke?"

I cringe at the memory of gnawing at a person's neck, and I can feel my face turn green as I think about it.

"Robin," Luke says, as he gently helps me sit up. I don't know if they are completely in sync or mind linking one another, because my sister holds a bedpan under my face just in time.

It hurts so bad that Sylvia has to stop what she is doing to absorb some of the pain for me. She encourages me to get everything out of my system because she doesn't like the idea of me digesting pieces of my own kind.

After a good five minutes of body racking pain, I finally get everything up and I plop back in the bed, coated in sweat.

Luke calls for a doctor, and the man looks at me in disgust before he receives a growl from my sister. I don't know why people dislike me so much, and to be quite honest, I'm getting tired of living as the default hate sponge.