Inhumane

007

DAMON

Death was upon her, reaching down to touch her pale skin as blood surrounded her body. The bear was dead a few yards to her left, its stench of river water still pungent in the air. Its blood was on my muzzle, I had taken out the mighty grizzly all on my own. But I had wasted time. In the woods I was born, and in the woods she would die. The cycle of life and death in this enviornment was making me take a step back and rethink all. The way the bush would gladly provide you with a meal, or as the meal.

At the moment, I could think about how nice that bear's pelt would be as a blanket for winter, durable and thick and warm. I could think of how I would go about taking it home and skinning it. I could think of using the meat for the pack. Yet I couldn't manage to wrap my head around her.

Eyes wide open, but unseeing. Both of us. I was haunted, trapped between this body I had never seen as a human, and the idea that she was dead. Before anything could happen at all.

I snarled as Cody came close, I hunched over her ruined body in my furred form, her jeans were soaked by snow and blood, and so was her icy blonde hair. I felt like crying for the first time since I was a pup. I felt her cheek with my tongue, my eyes slid shut as the electricity flowed upwards into my body and I tasted the hot copper of her blood. She was so devastatingly beautiful and a trip to my senses.

"She can be saved." Cody growled. "Bring her back to my house, I've already linked the doctor."

I shifted with much effort, my body at war, wanting to protect verus save. When I went to pick her up, I briefly wondered if there was a right way to carry her without hurting her any more. I never wanted her to feel an ounce of pain again, I would take it all away in a heartbeat. Nothing else mattered.

The walk home had been long, her blood dripped through my fingers  that splayed beneath her knees and across her back, supporting her that way. I cradled her to my chest, her head laid against my neck. Her breaths were far and few between sounding more like water than air, but still there.

Our pack doctor was there by the time we arrived with our hurried pace. He was an older man named Alkine, full of wisdom and affability with his extensive years. I laid her down gently before the roaring fire on a soft woolen blanket, the nighttime was closing in fast. Cody's A-framed front room held the dark outside but soon it would press ominously against the windows.

For nearly an hour, Alkine worried over her chest and thighs and belly, reorganizing skin, sewing it up, and giving her blood. There was a direct blood transfusion from my left arm to her right that he would cut off and re-open as needed. She had lost a lot. Barely hanging on. I wanted to touch her, but I wouldn't for the fear of breaking her frail, traumatized form. This wasn't the strong, able bodied female I had seen before. She was hidden under this frail skin coat.

My thoughts scattered and rejoined over and over, watching my mate lay there broken and lifeless as every measure was thought out and taken. I could feel the wear of such an event as this, it was heavy on my shoulders. The one day I had been occupied and she had ventured into the suspecting bush with no protection. I vowed I wouldn't let it happen. But even vows can break.

Two of Alkine's fingers pressed to the artery in her neck, she was covered by another wool blanket and left to rest. Her pulse was still slow, lips white, and even the unnerving palor of her face gave off  distinct warning signs. She was human after all. Breakable.