Chapter 5

Ellie

Light filtered through my closed eyelids, but it wasn’t the first thing I noticed as I woke up. Pain was. It was everywhere, and I was freezing, despite the thick blanket draped over me.

I was too scared to move.

What was going to happen to me?

I didn’t know where I was. Memories from yesterday rushed back. The gunshot, the forest, the man...the werewolf. Then the big house and the doctor.

He’d done something. Put me to sleep.

I whimpered. Then I felt a hand on my forehead.

“It’s ok little pup,” he comforted.

I slowly opened my eyes. More reality hit me. Alpha Gabriel. Another werewolf. But he wasn’t treating me like an enemy. He was kind and gentle. Why?

“Cold,” I mumbled, “hurts.”

I knew my arm should hurt. I’d been shot, after all. But my whole body ached, and my hand, it hurt so much.

I glanced at my hand. It was bandaged. A tube was coming out of it, connected to a plastic bag hanging from a metal frame.

“I think you have a fever, pup. Can you tell me where it hurts?” Alpha Gabriel asked.

I looked at him, then at the tube in my hand. A fever! I panicked. My daddy had the fever, so did my mummy. They both died.

I stared at Alpha Gabriel.

“I don’t want to die,” I sobbed, tears streaming down my face.

One of his large hands cradled the back of my head, while the other stroked my hair.

“No one is going to die, Ellie,” he comforted, “now tell me where it hurts?”

“You promise?” I sniffled.

Alpha Gabriel looked at me, and smiled.

“Yes Ellie, I promise,” he gently kissed my forehead, “now, where does it hurt.”

I blinked. My daddy used to do that. Kiss my forehead and smile. He was the only one who ever did, until he got sick.

I pushed the memory away. It wasn’t hard, the throbbing pain in my hand and the ache in my body were a good distraction.

“Everywhere, but my hand most of all,” I groaned.

I tried to lift my hand to show him, but I winced and whimpered from the effort.

Alpha Gabriel closed his eyes. I wasn’t sure why. After a few moments, he opened them again. Shortly after, the door of the room burst open.

A woman I hadn’t seen before walked in.

I whimpered. The last female werewolf I’d seen was in the hospital. She scared me. I was sure if it hadn’t been for Alpha Gabriel she would have hurt me. I wondered if this woman was the same.

“It’s okay, Ellie, this is Amy, she’s a nurse, she’s going to look after you,” Alpha Gabriel whispered.

I shook my head.

“P...Please...Don’t let her hurt me,” I pleaded.

Amy, the nurse, looked surprised. She sat on the edge of the bed, on the opposite side to where Alpha Gabriel sat.

“Ellie, I promise I won’t hurt you, I’m just here to help.”

I looked at her suspiciously. Then I turned my head towards Alpha Gabriel as he began to speak.

He just looked at Amy and said one word.

“Melissa...”

Amy’s mouth formed an ‘o’.

“Don’t worry, Ellie, I’m nothing like Melissa,” she paused, and leaned a little closer, “between you and me, I don’t like her much either.”

She winked conspiratorially, as though it was just our secret.

Amy looked over at Alpha Gabriel.

“I’ll put some antibiotics and painkillers into the drip,” she stated.

Alpha Gabriel immediately shook his head.

“No, Amy. It needs to come out, it’s causing her pain.”

Amy frowned and shook her head.

“She needs it to rehydrate her, at least for a couple of days. If I give her medication this way, it will work faster.”

Alpha Gabriel growled.

“We’ll do it another way, I won’t have this pup in pain.”

His expression softened as he saw the panic on my face. The only thing that scared me about these people or werewolves was when they growled.

It was only then that it became clear that they weren’t human at all. I guess I liked to fool myself that they were just like me. They weren’t.

“You promise to eat and drink everything we give you, and take your medicine?” He asked.

I nodded. I probably would have agreed to anything to get that tube out of my hand, or to stop him from growling at me.

Amy sighed, “very well, but I need to tell my father.”

Alpha Gabriel nodded, “take it out first, if your father kicks up a fuss you can tell him it was an Alpha command,” he hesitated, “and Amy, no mind-linking in front of the pup, it worries her.”

Amy frowned but nodded.

“Okay, Ellie,” she began.

I turned my head to look at her.

“this may hurt a little, so I want you to be brave.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. Gripping the covers with my other hand, I watched.

It was at that point I realized the tube wasn’t in me. It was connected to something sticking out of the bandage. When she removed the tube, it didn’t make my hand hurt any less.

I clenched my jaw as she started to remove the bandage. It was hurting more now, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

Not until the bandage was completely removed. Then I saw a needle sticking out of my hand. My hand, which now had a nasty bruise.

That’s when I closed my eyes and turned my head away.

I whimpered when I felt a sharp pain in my hand.

“All done, Ellie,” Amy soothed.

It still hurt, but not so much.

I watched Amy as she walked into the bathroom. She was in there for a few minutes, then came back.

“My father is on his way,” she stated.

Amy was busy tidying up the old bandage and removing the bag of liquid when the door swung open. To my surprise, Erik, the doctor, strolled in. Amy must be his daughter.

He flashed me a smile as he approached the bed.

“Well, little trouble, what have you been up to?” he asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

His gaze fell on my freshly unwrapped hand.

“I was afraid this might happen,” he murmured, more to himself than anyone else.

Alpha Gabriel shot him a look.

“You knew this might happen?”

Erik nodded.

“It was a risk we had to take, but her body has reacted to the needle. It was too intrusive.”

I could tell Alpha Gabriel was on the verge of growling, which made me shiver. But he just coughed instead.

Erik placed his hand on my forehead.

“She’s hot,” he paused, “We need to take her temperature.”

I frowned, not understanding what he meant.

He turned away from me, his body going rigid.

“Is that completely necessary?” Alpha Gabriel asked.

Erik nodded, then flashed me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. I had a sinking feeling something bad was about to happen, so I scooted a little closer to the Alpha.

“Now, little pup, I need you to be very brave,” he said.

I shook my head at him.

“I...I don’t want to be brave,” I stuttered.

He smiled again.

I whipped my head around to look at Alpha Gabriel.

“P...Please don’t let him hurt me,” I pleaded.

Gabriel gently caressed my face.

“Don’t worry, Ellie, I’ll be right here,” he reassured me.

Alpha Gabriel carefully lifted me up and laid me on my stomach. I tried to roll back over, but he applied a gentle pressure on my back.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

“Please don’t,” I pleaded, “I promise I’ll be good,” I sobbed.

Alpha Gabriel let go.

I thought he was going to let me up, but instead, he seized my wrists and pinned them to my back with one hand. With the other, he turned my head to the side and held it down on the pillow.

I kicked out with my legs, but someone quickly held them in place. Then I felt my shorts being pulled down.

A sharp sting in one of my cheeks made me wince. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the cause. An injection was being given; the sting was the needle piercing my skin.

Then I felt my bottom cheeks being parted.

“Don't worry, pup, it's just a thermometer to take your temperature,” Erik explained.

I started to scream as I felt something cold penetrating me. I tried to struggle, but they were too strong. My screams turned into sobs.

I continued sobbing, unable to stop, even after they had released their hold.

Alpha Gabriel reached out to stroke my hair, but I let out a blood-curdling scream.

“NO!”

I scrambled away from him as fast as I could. Forgetting that the bed was so high, I tumbled off the side and landed with a thud on the floor.

Adrenaline pumping, I felt no pain. I scrambled to the far corner of the bedroom, curling myself into a small ball and pressing myself into the corner.

I started to rock back and forth, banging my head against the wall, trying to distract myself from the horror I had just experienced.

Alpha Gabriel yelled at Erik.

“Do something! You’re a doctor.”

Suddenly, the door was flung open, and a woman I hadn’t seen before walked in.

She looked at me, then at the other three werewolves in the room.

“What the fuck are you doing to her?” she yelled.