Dark Moon Falls

Chapter Three - Logan

Madison Cross clenched her eyes, the pain in her head screaming at her, making her nauseous. She went to move her arm to clutch at her head, keep her skull from splitting open, but even that movement sent her into a dizzy spell as the pain sliced through her, matching the raging pain in her side. She lowered her arm back down, keeping her eyes shut as she inhaled slowly, trying to calm the pain that screamed at her from within her head.

And her stomach, which churned like the spin cycle on her washing machine.

She swallowed as memories flooded through her mind, adding to the anguish already churning inside of her like a blender on margarita night at that Mexican restaurant she liked back in town. God, she wished she was back in Dark Moon Falls now, wished she had never left, actually. Her trip to the state park hadn't gone as planned.

But she had, and now, she suffered because she had wandered from the safety of her apartment and seen things she never should have seen. But, she had seen it. She could never forget it, either.

She felt a tear snail its way down the side of her face, falling into her ear, but the pain pulsing through her body was too much for her to reach up and wipe it away. Instead, she laid there, trying to figure out where she was, trying to figure out the last thing she remembered after being stabbed. No. She wasn't stabbed. It felt like a stabbing, sharp, piercing, like something ripped her open with a can opener. Her eyes fluttered open as the final memory hit her. Claws, a wolf's paw slicing through the air trying for her throat. If not for her clumsiness, she would have taken the rogue's attack across her throat and be dead already. As it was, his claws ripped into her abdomen, instead. There were bodies on the ground, two, maybe three. She couldn't remember no matter how hard she strained, the pain making her memory fuzzy. The lump on the back of her head reminded her of her fall as she tried to escape, the branch she struck her head on as she tried to avoid the claws to her throat. The blow to her head had almost knocked her out. Almost. That it hadn't was probably the only reason she was still alive, and she knew she was alive because of the pain that caused her to want to vomit. She was alive, but she was no longer in the woods.

So, where was she?

She tried to open her eyes again, but the light that hit her eyes felt like tiny pins being shoved into her head. She kept her eyes closed, her breathing shallow as she tried to use her other senses to determine where she wound up after escaping the attack back at Dark Moon Mountain Park. She was comfortable, and by that she meant she was not cold from a night in the woods or warm from being out in the middle of the day. The light, which had forced her to keep her eyes closed, had not caused sweat to bead up on her brow, so she wasn't outside. Inside then? But where? Had the rogues taken her? Maybe she hadn't escaped like she thought. Maybe she passed out, and they took her. Why would they do that, though? Why not just leave her for dead, discarded with the other bodies? She wasn't on a hard floor or a medical table. She felt as if she were in a…bed?

She moved her fingers slightly and felt the crispness of sheets underneath her, felt the give of a mattress. Yes, a bed, but where? A hospital? And how did she get here? Who took her to the hospital? Who had found her?

What happened to me after I fell?

“You could have taken her to the hospital," a female's voice filled the room, the shuffling of feet on a wooden floor accompanying her. “Why call me? Why bother the coven at all?"

I'm not in a hospital? Madison kept her eyes closed, tried her best to keep her breathing calm so she could hear the rest of what was being said. She wasn't in a hospital, so where? And who would have found her and offered to take care of her? Why would they take care of her? She didn't know, but at least she wasn't in the hands of the rogues. Or so she hoped.

“Because whoever hurt her may very well still be looking for her." A man's voice, and one she didn't recognize. Did he know the people who had hurt her? “If I take her to the hospital, they'll know they didn't kill her. They may try to remedy that. I need to know what happened to her first before exposing her to whoever she meant when she said 'them'."

“This isn't like you, Logan," the woman said. “You could have dumped her at the hospital and wash your hands of her and whatever nonsense she involved herself in, but you didn't. Hell, you could have called Sheriff Templeton and made her his problem. You brought her here, instead, to your cabin, a place you don't bring anyone. Why? If whoever tried to kill her finds out, you may very well have brought them to your door."

“I didn't bring her here. I found her here on the porch. Or rather, Dax found her. And I can handle whatever rogue has done this," Logan said, confidence filling his tone. “You know this, Dara. I can't permit them to find her while she's weak and finish her off. Old instincts are hard to break, no matter how hard I try."

“Bah," the woman, Dara, Madison assumed, said. “You're no longer a Pack Hunter. You're a hermit, someone who hides from the world. You don't help people. Not any longer. So why now?" Silence for a moment, then Madison heard the other woman say, “You're not looking for some feminine companionship, are you?"

“Don't be crude," the man said, and Madison heard the other woman giggle.

The shuffling of feet moving along the floor combined with the rustling of fabric as someone moved closer to her. She also heard something sharp scraping across the wood floor, like claws or talons, the sound making her body stiffen as fear gripped her. The rogues did have her!

“Will you at least get your dog to go lie down?" Dara said with a sigh. “I don't need his fur in this woman's wounds before I can finish the poultice. He can love on her later."

“Come, Dax," Logan said, and Madison heard the whine of a dog as they pulled it away from her side, its nails scraping along the wood floor. “Let Dara work."

Madison tried to relax as she felt fingers push on her flesh, felt her shirt moved upward as the woman pushed on Madison's stomach, examining the wound. Madison felt the twinge of pain as the woman pressed and prodded her body, felt the blood ooze from her wound as the other woman—was she a doctor?—pushed on her, examining her.

“Your pack needs to stop calling on us whenever they need a Band Aid," Dara scolded Logan as she worked on Madison's wound. “And you need to get over your past. What happened was not your fault. Get over it."

Madison wondered what had happened that Logan blamed himself for. Obviously, it wasn't a secret. Then the word “pack" hit her, and she felt fear once again fill her. A wolf had found her. What if he was just as bad as the ones who attacked her? But then again, why would he call someone to heal her unless Dara had been right with her statement of female companionship? Had Madison escaped one nightmare only to land in another?