Fire And Ice

Chapter 64 - Full Prisoner Treatment

Natalia's P. O. V

Moments passed, Candy and I watching the surroundings with weary suspicion.

She was laying on her side, her unconscious form heaving with laboured breaths. We moved closer to her, and used our muzzle to nudge her, feeling her unusual warmth that told of a fever.

Closer to her now, I noticed the scent and stain of berries around her mouth. My guess was that she'd eaten something poisonous that had started taking effect. As for her ankle wound, that was a question to be answered later.

'Nat, what do we do?'

Shivers were beginning to wrack her body as I weighed our options. Her scent was a question mark, as newly shifted wolves sometimes are, not clearly defining her rank or potential, just that she wasn't a regular member. We could either take her to the Claw Moon Pack, which, based on the direction she'd stumbled from, was where I assumed she was from, and hope they'd have something to counteract the poison, or I could take her back to Kaesha to have her heal her with magic.

But I'd strayed far from our place, and I didn't want to risk exposing Hailey and Kaesha, lest something go wrong. Plus, to get there, I'd still have to pass a few homes with regular humans and I didn't want them freaking out at the sight of an abnormally large wolf carrying another one. But going to their territory with her would be a bad look, and if they assumed I had something to do with her injuries, it would be a challenge to prove otherwise if she remained unconscious. Plus, I had no clothes.

She shivered again and I made our choice.

It was a struggle to get her on our back, and she whimpered softly with every movement, and once we did, we had to take care not to jostle her around too much or move so fast that she slips off. So painstakingly, and as quickly as we could manage, we trotted till we got there.

'Are you sure this is a good idea? Can't we just leave her here for someone to find?' Candy was nervous, but even as she gave her suggestion, I knew she wouldn't do it.

'Let's just get this over with.' I sighed.

We moved forward, hindlegs trepidatiously following our forelegs onto the territory. Patrols and guards were around, but none explicitly close enough to warrant wasting time waiting to be discovered, so we pressed on, till someone eventually came to deal with the intruder.

It wasn't long before I was confronted by four Werewolves, two shifted and two in human form. They approached, ready to attack as recognition and worry filled their expressions at the sight of me and the wolf on our back.

We halted, and carefully slid her off our back and to the ground. Then we nudged her with our muzzle and took a step back with our head lowered in a show of non-aggression, giving space for them to come check her.

Two rushed forward, a shifted wolf and a man with wavy brown hair and soft eyes filled to the brim with worry to match.

"Carla!" He reached out to stroke her head, "Luna, what happened to you?"

Shivering and feverish in her sleep, she couldn't answer. Then his soft brown eyes turned on us, hard and accusatory.

"What did you do to her?" He hissed.

The two wolves moved closer, teeth bared and ready to strike. In response, we stiffened, muscles taut and ready to either fight or flee.

The other man spoke up, his words cutting the agitated atmosphere, "Taz, wait. If she did something to her, do you think she'd waltz in here with Carla on her back? Besides, she's obviously an Alpha. Harming her will most likely piss her pack off and you don't want to be responsible for that, do you?"