The change ( his mate)

Chapter 31: Infection

Grayson

I was trying to control the racing of my heart as Lara threw all these questions at me about my job and the things I’d done, I breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she finally let it go. I’d done some truly f.ucked up s.hit, some things so bad even I’d had nightmares after.

With the mind of a wolf I lacked empathy on a human level, I had it for my pack, but outside of that I couldn’t care less about anyone else, it was cold and cruel to humans, but not from a wolf’s point of view, that didn’t mean I enjoyed what I did, it didn’t mean I wasn’t affected by the things I did if they were particularly bad, I didn’t do it for sport, I did it for survival, for the safety of my pack.

I didn’t like sharing this part of myself with anyone, not even Leo knew the details of the things I did to other wolves, it was disturbing s.hit and he just wouldn’t understand it, no one would, so I kept that part of myself private, it was the most basic, primal part of me, the darkest and most violent part of my nature, but it kept the pack safe, it didn’t affect me like it would Leo or any of the other pack members, so I did it for them.

I wasn’t sure how to explain something like this to Lara, to explain that side of my nature, being more wolf meant I could think more logically and less emotionally, I could carve a person up and not lose any sleep over it, there were times as I said, that I would suffer some nightmares if it was particularly gruesome, but more often than not I was fine.

I didn’t want to share that with Lara, she’d flee from me screaming in terror, I couldn’t tell her that I’d t.ortured someone for hours and hours, been left covered in their blood after, killed them and disposed of them and then showered and slept like a baby after, she’d think I was f.ucking nuts.

I was thankful she let it drop, but I knew how stubborn she could be and had no doubt she’d be pestering me for more at a later date, hopefully I could keep holding her off.

It seemed tonight was our lucky night as we saw two wendigos climbing down out of the trees, I stopped that thought feeling a little guilty, it shows how bored I was that I considered it a good thing they wanted to come out to hunt.

They both took on the forms of two people, probably victims they’d eaten in the past because they hadn’t eaten any since we’d been watching them.

We followed them as they made the long walk to the town. When we got there it was dark and most of the shops were shut, the lights from shop windows lighting up the sidewalks as staff did whatever they did after closeup time.

There were still some people walking about, some drunk, others on dates or heading out to get drunk. The wendigos didn’t call anyone this time or waste time finding someone who’d know the faces they wore, this time they were looking for anyone.

They’d taken on the form of twins it looked like, I couldn’t quite see their faces as they hid them behind the long blonde hair they both had. They both looked like two young sisters, both wearing black mini dresses and high heels, I was surprised they could walk in those things unless it was part of the glamour and not real?

It wasn’t long before they caught the eye of a man, they went over once they noticed him looking and started flirting, I wondered if they’d done a better job with their faces this time because he had no problems happily following them down the same alleyway as before.

The man started undoing his belt clearly not wanting to waste any time, the wendigo bit his shoulder coming away with a chunk of flesh in its mouth. The man screamed, the wendigo struck him in the face silencing him as he crumpled to the floor unconscious.

We rushed towards them and they both jerked their heads up looking at us. One hissed at me, I didn’t slow down, I reached it and slammed my fist into its face, it reeled backwards and the glamour distorted for a moment.

It recovered and tried swiping at me, I ducked and punched it in the knee cap, it toppled to the floor and I looked over to see Lara fighting the other one, it wouldn’t let her close enough to get a hit in, kept swiping at her so she had to keep ducking and dancing out of the way.

I was distracted and the one on the floor slashed my leg, connected and sent blood spraying. It got up, lost the glamour and I growled, all wolf and no human in my growl and it scuttled off and crawled up the wall like before, its friend hissed back at me not wanting to give up its food, I growled again this time with Lara adding a growl of her own, and eyeing us warily, it reluctantly started walking backwards, another growl from us and it finally took off after its friend.

“Grayson, you’re bleeding!” Lara panicked seeing my jeans staining red.

It had slashed my shin, tore a piece of my jeans away showing the exposed wound, it was deep, but a couple of stitches should be enough to fix it.

“I’m fine, darling.”

“No you’re not, you remember what Leo said about the venom in their claws, the infection?”

“I’ll be alright,” I kissed her forehead, but she was quickly ushering me out of the alleyway. “We need to get you back to Leo, right now.”

“Get on my back and I’ll carry you,” she said.

I sputtered a laugh, “what? No way, I can walk just fine thanks.”

“Grayson, you’re hurt and we need to hurry back.”

“I am not letting anyone see my girlfriend give me a piggy back ride all the way home, not happening.”

“Would you rather your leg be cut off?”

“Yeah.”

“Grayson!”

“Lara!”

She growled in frustration and stormed off ahead while I wisely tried not to laugh. I felt fine, but I knew she was right and Leo should look at it, I was the packs enforcer, I couldn’t afford to be weak or lose any body parts.

By the time we got back I was limping, I really couldn’t be seen as weak though, so I forced myself to walk normally, especially whenever Lara looked over at me.

By the time we were inside my leg felt like it was on fire, literally on fire, it burned and itched, I wanted to tear the skin away for relief . Leo rushed me to the sofa and pulled over the foot stool to put my leg up while he checked it.

He cut away the jeans and had to peel them from the wound which hurt like a son of a b.itch, but f.uck if I was admitting that, I made no sound.

“What happened?” He asked Lara while he looked at the wound. She relayed everything that happened and he looked worriedly at Amber who was standing beside him.

“I’ll go call my friend, see if she can help.” She rushed off and Lara sat down beside me and held my hand.

A tear slid down her cheek and I gently wiped it away. “I’m ok darling, don’t worry,” I smiled.

She was giving me full on puppy dog eyes and it broke my heart, she was the sweetest girl no matter how tough she tried to act. I lifted my arm up, “come here, baby.”

She cuddled against my chest, I wrapped my arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she sniffled.

“Darling, I’m not dying,” I laughed.

Leo looked up at me sternly. “Don’t make light of the situation, just like any infection, if it spreads far enough it can kill you.”

He tried to clean it up, but f.uck me the pain was so f.ucking bad I couldn’t hold in my growls or snarls, hell i even cursed him and tried to get away, when Amber came back she had to help along with Lara to hold me still enough, by the time he was finished and had dressed the wound I was sweating.

“F.uck, that was nasty,” I panted.

Leo wrapped up a cloth that was soaked in blood and looked full and heavy. “What’s in that?”

“I had to scrap the top layer of skin away, it was blistered and bubbling, burning away at the rest of your skin.”

“F.uck.”

For the first time ever I wasn’t feeling hungry, but I made myself eat for the fuel, I’d need the strength to fight whatever the f.uck this was. When I went to bed Lara joined me and cuddled up against me.

I fell into a fitful sleep, I didn’t usually dream, never did when I’d spent my young life in wolf form and I guess that transferred over to my human form too, nightmares were the only time I dreamt, usually the recurring one over my families death, rarer were times I’d do some f.ucked up s.hit to a werewolf who was a potential threat and it would be disturbing and violent enough to give me nightmares for a week.

Tonight I dreamt I was in hell, I was plagued by demonic faces, twisted forms and dreamt I’d been thrown into the lake of fire, it was so hot I could feel my skin slipping off.

Lara shook me awake. “Grayson, you’re burning up really bad, I’m going to get Leo.”

She ran out of the room and I felt the sheets drenched in sweat, my sweat, I felt so hot I wanted to jump into a bath full of ice.

A born werewolf didn’t suffer the agonising slow process of the fever like a bitten wolf did during their first change, and I lay here thinking this must have been how Lara felt, I’d put her through that and now, feeling this, knowing hers would have been worse made me feel so guilty.

Leo came into the room with her holding a bowl of water and a cloth. He soaked the cloth and pulled the sheets off me, Lara stroked my hair, not caring that it was sweaty and matted to my forehead, she brushed it gently away from my face while Leo started wiping me down with the cold wet cloth.

It felt good and I slowly started to relax as he wiped down my arms, my legs, my face and even my body. Amber had brought a fan in and turned it on so the cool air hit my wet skin sending goosebumps over my body.

Leo gave me some medication to calm the fever down and told me to quit grumbling and swallow them. I hated taking medication, it wasn’t a macho thing, I just hated taking anything that wasn’t natural, I preferred to fight illnesses off on my own, ok, maybe I was little macho about it.

Lara wouldn’t leave my side even though I’d ruined the bed sweating all over it, she curled up beside me and eventually I fell back into sleep, this time a dreamless sleep.