When I wake up in pain for the second time today, my mind is in the moment immediately. I know what happened and I'm scared. I don't see Raph at first and knowing that the pack took him away doesn't help. I frantically look around, finding him lying behind me. He's still unconscious, but I can see him breathing from here, which is definitely more than what I remember from earlier. I scramble over to him, not knowing how we ended up together, but also not caring at all. I'm just going to be glad he's with me.
The first thing I do when I get to him is to check him over. I can see he's received some kind of medical attention and I'm guessing it was that Alpha's pack. However, again I don't care, instead I make sure Raph is as good as can be. His breath is steady and he seems to be quite relaxed, which immediately relaxes me a bit in turn.
The next thing I do I search for a place to hide. I have no idea where we are, nor who could be around. For all I know the pack pitied us enough to fix up Raph and then left us somewhere outside their border to fend for ourselves. There is no point in trying to figure that out though.
I grab Raph and lay him over my back before shifting. After my shift I realise immediately that Raph isn't the only one they fixed up. Usually shifting with injuries is incredibly painful as the tissue around the wound adjust to the body's change, essentially worsening the injury in the process. And while it's not exactly pain free, it's a lot better than shifting when I was running away with Raph.
I don't have to run for long until I find a few giant trees, which have their roots grown over ground. I have never even seen them from a distance but they are majestic, and exactly what I am looking for. Some of the roots reach up to almost two meters in hight, only to then drop back down into the earth, almost forming a little den with all the other roots.
I shift back into my human form and pull Raph to my front, so I don't run the risk of him hitting any of the roots or bark. Once I duck under the first root, I realise that this is almost like a little cave, rather than a den. There is only small spots where the faint moonlight shines through and if I ignore the roots going straight through the space here and there, it almost seems like a room.
I carry Raph to the furthest corner and then sit down with him on my lap. The roots on my back aren't exactly comfortable but it's better than being outside and vulnerable.
I position Raph's head under my chin and hold it to my chest with my hand. My other hand goes around his waist, pulling him to me as much as I can. I even pull my knees up, almost squashing his body, but I don't care. He's with me and we made it. Kind of anyway. But for now, we have. I kiss his forehead before locking my gaze on the root we entered through. There's still no way I can let my guard down. I only realise that I'm crying when some of the tears fall onto my hand, but I don't try to make them stop, I'd rather hold Raph to me. Just in that moment, I can feel Raph move slightly and hum low in his throat, snuggling into me. Right then, I can't stop myself from letting out a sob.
I wake up with a start. I didn't want to fall asleep but apparently my body had other plans. It's daytime now and Raph is still in my arms in the same position I remember putting him. That, at least, is a relief. But I can hear whispers outside, two people. I'm not sure what to do at first, so I stay still.
With any luck they were either not looking for us or even if they are, haven't discovered us yet. But of course there is no way I would be that lucky. A few minutes after they come closer and finally, I see two faces appear between the roots. Instinctively I tighten my grip on Raph and growl towards them. It does nothing. They don't move. And it doesn't help that I can't see their faces because it's way too dark in here and too bright outside.
'We're from the pack you encountered yesterday.' one of the voices starts. It's a deep, no nonsense voice, but I don't move.
'I fixed you and your boyfriend over there up, so get your asses out so I can actually check on you. There's no way I'm gonna let my patients die because of your stubbornness. You're too friggin' injured to do much anyway, so I'll get you out one way or another. I'd just rather not make more work for myself, so just get the-'
'Shut up Randy.'
The guy actually stops talking on the command of that little girl's voice and if we weren't in the situation we're in, it would actually be funny.
I hear them talk to each other for a second, before I hear a loud thump right outside, followed by the little girl's voice again.
'Can I come in?'
I don't bother to answer, just growl again instead.
'Okay, that's fine, I'll just wait here then.' she says and sits down.
As my eyes start adjusting to what seems to be an unbelievably sunny day, I start making out a little bit of the girls face. It looks like she's maybe about five years old, which only makes me wonder which lunatic let her get so close to me, a potential threat. She is lucky that I'm not, but I might as well have been for all they know.
'Sorry for this elephant. He's not good with new people. Or people generally.'
'Hey!' comes the now almost offended voice from before, but the girl just shrugs and goes on.
'That's probably why daddy usually allows me to go with him. Most of his patients would probably run away otherwise.' she sneaks in a little laugh at that I can't help but want to smile back at her. Problem is, I can't trust her, not really, no matter how much I desperately want to.
'The thing is though, he's actually really good at what he does. People don't tell him a lot because he's gonna get an even more inflated ego, daddy says. I'm learning from him now, so when I'm all grown up, I can become the pack doctor, just like him. Daddy isn't as good as him, but he's still great. So if I get to be as good as this insensible elephant, I can be even better than daddy.'
Her smile is almost radiant as she happily talks about her life plans to me and I keep having to remind myself to stay where I am. While she talks, she is taking her hair out of her pony tail and making little braids out of them. It's almost hypnotic how quickly her hands move.
'Do you like braids? You keep looking at my hands.' I don't answer to that, but she seems to not expect me to either, as she just keeps going, 'I didn't have a mommy for long, so I had to teach myself. Daddy really can't do it well at all, so I had to do it. Now I'm really fast and sometimes, I get to do braids on this guy too.' Her little fingers stop just long enough to point a thumb to her right, where most likely the other guy is sitting, before continuing.
'Oh! I completely forgot to introduce myself! I'm Elif. It's kinda weird, I know, since I'm clearly not Turkish, but mommy really liked the name, so I got it anyway. Daddy says it's really pretty, just like me, so I don't mind much. By the way, if you keep squeezing him so much, he'll probably suffocate. I won't come in, so can you let go a bit?'
As if burnt, I immediately let go of Raph, only to start holding him again right after. I try to make sure not to squeeze him too hard, because as much as it irks me to admit it, she is right.
'Cool, thank you. Usually people that don't want to be treated don't just do what I say like that. I like you.' The grin accompanying her words is so brilliant, it almost makes me want to just give up. But just her saying she's a doctor's assistant doesn't make her one yet.
'I saw you yesterday. That's also why I like you. You really love that person, right? He's really important, right? I'm sure it'd be great if you could have a wedding someday. Then I can get all dressed up again, just like when daddy got married. That would be so cool!' Her eyes are shining and I can tell she's imagining all of what she just described. For me, it just sounds like a dream. An amazing one, but a dream nonetheless.
'You were really cool out there. Daddy really did a number on you though. I was really worried for a bit there, but everyone said it will be fine, so I was okay really. I was so happy when it was finally over. You know, when he does stuff like that, daddy is really cool too. He's just a bit cooler than you though, so sorry.' She does a really weird face, where she squeezes her eyes shut and peeks her tongue out one corner of her mouth, but I don't pay attention to that, as something else has just registered in my mind.
'What, that Alpha was your father?'
'Oh! Look, he talks!' She excitedly leans to her side to pat who I assume is that guy from earlier, only to receive a snort as an answer. However, before she even gets the chance to say anything to my question, her head whips back around to me.
'Oh, look, he's waking up!' and right as she says this, I can feel Raph moving. Immediately my attention is all on him.
'Raph? Raph, are you okay?' I lay him on the floor, with his head in my lap and lean down towards him. Both of my hands are holding his head to make sure I can see everything that's going on on his face. I do not want to miss any flinch of pain or similar.
'Donny?' His voice is weak and it takes him a couple tries to get my name out properly, but I don't care. He's awake and that's all that counts.
'I'm here. I'm here, okay? We made it.' I still don't know whether that's true, but for now, it's true enough to tell him.
'Hey mister, you okay? How are you feeling?' The girl decides to ask at a lot higher volume than before. I'm not quite sure if it's because she thinks his hearing is worse than mine because his injuries are worse or for any other reason, but I can see Raph flinch slightly, so I don't like it.
'Who's that?' Again, his voice is barely above a whisper and I have to lean in even more to catch what he's saying.
'She's saying she's from a neighbouring pack and apparently they fixed us up after we passed out on their land. I haven't let her in yet though. I'm not sure we can trust her.' I consciously decide not to give him the whole story, he's in no way in any condition to hear all of it now. He doesn't answer for a second and I'm pretty sure he's thinking.
'Donny.'
Immediately I bring my ear closer to his lips so I can hear him better.
'You're ... an idiot. What ... state ... are we in to not ... accept help. Let her... let her in.' I'm baffled that even in his state, he can sound reprimanding, but I can feel a little laugh bubbling up. He'll be okay.
'Great, let's get started then.' I didn't notice either of them coming in, but before I know what's happening, the guy from before has Raph out of my hands and a few feet away from me on the floor, checking his pulse, eye sight and other things, while I just manage to blink a few times at first.
'Hey!' I protest.
'Shut it.. idiot.' Again, I am shell shocked at my mate telling me off after being unconscious for three days. But I stay still, not able to contain a smile this time. If there is one thing I trust at the moment, it's Raph and his instincts.