Witch And The Wolf

Chapter 14

Amelia

I felt overwhelmed at the sounds of fighting around us. Screams of pain as wolves attacked one another, the air heavy with the smell of blood. A large wolf dark grey wolf approached, shifting to his human self, I recognized him as the man who was with Damien at his meeting.

“Sir they’ve broken the perimeter. There are more than two dozen of them. “

“Get Amelia to the house and then bring the trainees down from the training facilities. We need everyone.”

“No, I can help!” I protest. Damien shaking his head no, but I won’t be told otherwise and before he can respond I head towards the fighting, kneeling next to a wolf who is wounded and leaning against a tree. He follows me as I begin pulling herbs from my bag. The wolf shifts to their human form, a large, deep s***h across his chest pouring blood.

“Amelia its dangerous and I don’t want..”

“You just said you need everyone. So go do what you need to in order to stop this and let me help the wounded wolves where I can.”

“Fine “He growls in frustration “Archie gets someone to stay with her. No other wolf gets close, then grab the trainees and meet me. Amelia, “He turns to me, “ the skinny wolves, red eyes, mange, they’re the ones attacking us. You leave them. Understood?” Not waiting for an answer, he turns towards the fighting and strips his clothes, shifting into a large black wolf. He takes off into the tree line. I turn back to the wolf I was helping, pressing some crushed yarrow into the wound across his chest and wrapping it with a clean bandage.

“Here drink this” I instruct, taking a bottle out of my bag and holding it to them to drink. They take a large gulp then hand me the bottle. I stand up, and scan for the next wolf to help.

“The bandages will help his bleeding while the wound heals. He still needs to be taken to a hospital. “I say to the person Archie had sent to help me. He nods, waving to the nearby trauma team that had just arrived to come and provide transport.

“What did you give him, a healing tonic?”

“Vodka” I respond, spotting another wounded wolf and heading that way.

Time seemed to stop as I moved from wounded wolf, to wounded wolf. Applying yarrow to open wounds to help slow the bleeding, applying bandages, and giving them each their own swig of vodka to numb the pain. After treating my last wolf, a young teenager, I stopped to catch my breath when I heard Damien yelling my name. My heart pounded in my chest as fear gripped me. I turned towards the sound of his voice and ran into the trees.

“AMELIA!” He yelled again, his voice desperate and I pushed myself to run faster. Crashing through the trees I found him kneeling, his back to me. As I got closer, my blood turned cold when I realized he was holding Archie in his arms, several large wounds adorned his body. Damien holding his hands over Archie’s neck as blood poured from the wound, he was attempting to apply pressure to. “Please help him” despair in his voice. I dropped to me knew beside them, dumping my bag onto the ground. I applied the rest of the yarrow I had on hand to his wound, but the blood kept pouring. I poured the last of the vodka onto the ground, making mud out of the dirt around us and grabbed it up, packing the wound with it. I pressed bandages over this, doing my best to stem the bleeding. I pressed my hands against his wound and whispered a healing incantation over it, the mud creating a seal. The bleeding finally stopped I focused on the rest of his wounds. Wrapping bandages around his thigh tightly. “We need to get him to a surgeon as soon as we can” I said. Damien picked him up and carried him out of the trees, the trauma team meeting us in the clearing. Damien set him down on a stretcher and the team took him to their waiting truck.

“Damien goes with him” I urged as they loaded him into the truck. Without answering he took my hand and pulled me behind him, and we climbed into the truck. The team closing the tail gate and the truck lurched forward as we sped off to the pack hospital. Damien’s eyes fogged over for a few minutes before returning to normal.

“Why do your eyes do that?” I ask, reaching over and taking his arm, I wrap the wound to his upper bicep in bandages.

“It’s called mind linking. I can communicate with other wolves this way. I was instructing Marcus to wrap things up with the last of the rogues. Most are dead but the ones who aren’t will be taken to the basement prison. Hess the wolf who was guarding you while you worked.” His voice trailed off as his eyes fogged over again. We arrived at the hospital and Aiden was rushed into surgery, while Damien was fussed over by a team of doctors and nurses. I sat in a chair in the waiting room, watching as injured wolves were brought in and nurses and doctors bustled around caring for them. As darkness fell a quietness settled over the hospital. Sounds of machined beeping replaced the cries of pain that had filled the hallways. Damien was seated across the room, deep in conversation with the other wolves. He was still covered in blood and dirt, a few stitches across his upper brow and the bandages on his arm giving his wounds time to heal. Every now and then he would look over at me, as if he was afraid, I wouldn’t be there anymore.

Shortly after midnight the surgeon came out to the waiting room. Everyone stopped talking at once, and Damien stood up, walking to the surgeon. I got up and walked to him, pressing my hand against his shoulder, as the surgeon began speaking.

“The wound was deep. He coded twice. But he will recover. He will recover slowly than normal, but he will be okay.” Damien released an audible exhale, reaching out to shake the doctor’s hand and thanking him. “Whoever packed the wound deserves your thanks. It kept him alive long enough to get here. He will be here a few days. Go get some rest.” The doctor clapped Damien on the shoulder, and turned around, leaving the room.

“Everyone go home. Its been a long day. We will get back to this tomorrow.” Damien ordered. Once everyone had left the room he turned to me, cupping my cheek in his hand. “Thank you. You saved him. Amelia, thank you.” He spoke low, exhaustion straining his voice. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him to me, his arms encircling my waist. He pressed his head into my shoulder, letting out a long sigh. “Lets go home” He mumbled, breaking our hug and leading me towards the door.

Damien

The night had taken a mental toll and I was eager to get some sleep. The entire time I was huddled with the pack leaders, I kept looking over at her, wondering how she was so calm. Flipping through various magazines, she occasionally would look up at me and then keep reading. Finding out Archie was okay helped to ease some of the burden I was feeling and so I decided we all needed to take time to rest. After sending everyone home, melting into Amelia’s arms was the only thing I wanted to do. Hugging her was like heaven and I relished in the scent of her, the warmth of her body against me, the sparks that shoot across my skin whenever touches me. I led her by the hand out of the hospital and into the car. It was a short drive to the pack house where I led her to the bedroom, intending to give the master suite up to her. Instead she instructed me to get out of the scrubs they had loaned me at the hospital. As I was undressing she ran a bath, the scent of lavender and chamomile taking over the room. I walked towards her and she gestured for me to get in. I slid into the water, the warmth of it soothing my muscles. She sat besides me, taking a wash cloth, and dipping it into the water. She cleaned the dried blood and dirt from my skin, taking her time to be gentle.

“Come soak with me.” I instruct and she does so, sliding in behind me, so my back is against her chest and her legs wrap around me. I close my eyes, as she works the wash cloth across my chest and arms. I lay my head back against her shoulder, and she presses slow kisses to my face and head, as she gently cleans the dried blood from the stitches on my upper brow.

“Will it scar?” She asks. I nod yes.

“It will still heal fast. Wolves heal pretty quickly. Deeper wounds take longer, like in Archies case, but still faster than humans. But scars still occur.”

“Well. I guess I can live with you face being slightly less pretty.” She states, feigning stress at the idea. I chuckle, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

“Thank you. For saving him. For helping all of them, but for him, I would give them all up to save him. He is more than my beta, he’s the only family I have. We have been brothers since we were young, since his family died, and he came to live with mine. I wouldn’t be here without him.” Admitting my fears at losing him to her was easy. Everything with her was easy.

We soaked in the tub for awhile until the water was cool and got out. Changing into sweatpants, I dug out a smaller pair for her to wear and handed them over, tossing in a t shirt of mine. Once she was dressed, she led me by the hand to the bed. Pushing me into it she went around to the other side and crawled under the blankets, patting the bed for me to lie down. Once I was settled in, she curled up against my chest, her smell intoxicating me and lulling me to sleep.