Redemption

Chapter Five - Spoon Feeding

The food wasn’t great, but it was hot and filling enough.  Sarah cooked up a skillet of potatoes, spam and canned corn, and Lonnie did eventually return... with three squirrels.  As if that was going to feed seven hungry wolves.  Still, they roasted the meat and threw it in the pan with the rest of the food.  They didn’t have anything like proper utensils, so Michael filled the empty tin can with a ration of food for Hannah, and then he sat down to patiently spoon feed her. 

At first it seemed like the girl was going to refuse to eat.  She leaned far away from him when he approached.  However, when she caught scent of the food, her nostrils flared, and she made a hungry, grunting sound, her eyes glued themselves to the can.  “Hey sweetheart,” he greeted her softly.  “Are you hungry?” 

She lunged for the can, but her restraints kept her from making a real grab for it.   

“I’ll take that as a yes.” His eyes skimmed over her body.  “Doesn’t look like you’ve been eating so well, eh?” He scooted closer to her.  He could see indecision weighing in her eyes, as though she was torn between her desire to get away from him, and her hunger.  She physically waivered, swaying first toward him, or more specifically, toward the food, and then leaning away again.  Michael picked up a spoon.  “Okay, lets just take this nice and slow.  I wish I could untie you, but we both know how that will end, right?” 

She didn’t answer him, or even give any indication that she heard him.  Her eyes never left the food.  “So here is what we are going to do.  I’m going to feed you.  Nice and easy okay?” He pointed at her with his spoon.  “And absolutely no biting.” 

He dipped the bent spoon into his tin can and leaned closer to offer it to her.  His heart sank a little as he realized that she didn’t seem to recognize the function of the spoon.  When he got close enough, she attacked the utensil with her mouth, knocking most of the food down onto the forest floor.  She made a whimpering sound and dropped to the ground, intent to eat the dirty, fallen food. 

“Wait, wait,” He caught her and sat her back up.  She growled and flinched away from his touch.  “Listen sweetheart, you are going to have to trust me a little.  Let me feed you this time.  Do you think  you can do that?” 

Michael took another spoon full of food, and this time slipped a hand behind her neck to hold her head steady.  “Open your mouth, Hannah.” he said coaxingly, as if he were speaking to a little kid.  She struggled against his hand at her neck, trying to rear away from him, but his massive hand held her firm.  “Don’t fight me now.  I know you are hungry.  Let's eat.” 

It took three more tries before he finally got a spoonful of food into her mouth.  He had to pry the spoon out from between her teeth after she bit down on it, but he smiled victoriously.  “Yes!  That’s it!  You’ve got it!”  Once she seemed to grasp the concept that the spoon, and Michael’s hand, were the food delivery system, things went a little smoother.  She stopped fighting his grasp, and willingly opened her mouth each time he came toward her with the spoon.  Bite by bite, he fed her like a baby, until the can was empty.  She made a low growl when he put the spoon down. 

“That’s it, love.” He showed her the empty can.  “I’m sure you probably could have eaten ten of those, but we have to share with the rest.” 

Her response was another grunt, and then she deliberately turned and moved as far away from his as her restraints allowed.  “I see how you are,” he said with a sad chuckle.  “No food, no friends, right?” 

Frank moved closer to the fire to warm himself, and watched Hannah thoughtfully.  “How are you going to keep her from shifting and running away in the night?” 

Michael ran his hands over his face roughly.  He’d been thinking about the same problem.  Keeping her restrained would only work as long as she remained in her human form.  If she shifted, she could easily slip out of her restraints, or at least chew them away with her own teeth.  There were a few ways to keep a werewolf from shifting, and none of them were very pleasant for the werewolf.  He swallowed uncomfortably and reached for his pack.  He opened a flap and dug around in the pocket until he came out with a leather pouch. 

“I don’t know if you remember this,” he said slowly.  Although she was pretending to ignore him, he saw that she was watching him closely from the corner of her eye.  “But there was a day your friends had me tied up in a barn... with this.”  He opened the pouch and shook it out onto the ground.  A small, neat coil of silver-laced cord slipped out onto the ground. 

Her eyes widened fearfully, and she scooted as far away from him and the silver cords as she could.  “You have to believe me, babe, I don’t want to hurt you.  That’s the last thing I would ever want to do.  But you have to stay with me...” 

“You don’t have to put it directly on her skin,” Frankie advised.  “You can put a layer of cloth between her skin and the cords... it won’t burn her so bad, and she still won’t be able to shift.” 

“Good idea.”  Michael scrounged around in his bag again and came out with an old, threadbare t-shirt.  He tore through the hem with his teeth to rip off a portion of the shirt.  He reached for Hannah, and grimaced when she snarled at him and showed her teeth.  Even in her human form, she was acting more like a wolf.  “Hold her for me, Frank.” 

Frank gingerly took the girl by her upper arms and held her still while Michael wrapped the wide strip of fabric around the delicate curve of her neck.  He could see the fear in her eyes as he picked up the silver cords, using the leather pouch like a pot-holder to keep his skin out of contact of the cords.  He didn’t have any gloves, so when it came to the precise work of wrapping the silver-laced cord around her neck, he had to use his bare hands.  “See,” he told her gently, “This is hurting me much more than it will hurt you.” 

Hannah did not seem comforted by his words.  She stopped snarling and growling and whimpered pitifully as he reached out to wrap the cords carefully over the t-shirt fabric.  After he had tied the cords, he rubbed his burning hands over his chest.  He could feel her fear there, like heartburn in his chest.  He reached out and attempted to stroke her cheek, but she jerked away again, leaving his hand suspended in mid-air.   

“I’m so sorry, but it's for your own good, I swear it.”