Imprinted [Sterek]

Chapter 6

"Wolf," Stiles whispered. He held his hand out slowly to see what the wild animal would do. It growled softly letting him know to keep his distance, its eyes glow an electric blue as it stares down Stiles. They both wait to see what the other was going to do.

"I don't want to hurt you. I know that other people do, so please, let me help you." Stiles whispers to the animal seeing the small pool of blood growing from around its right hind quarter. The wolf whimpered turning to sniff at the wound.

Stiles moved back, giving the wolf space to climb out from under the porch swing. It moved slowly, and Stiles moved just as slow making his way to the door with the wolf limping behind him. He flicked on the kitchen light going to find the emergency kit that was always under the skin. Stiles looked over his shoulder, hearing the wolf's nails clicking on the linoleum flooring as it entered the cabin. It laid down just inside the door, Stiles was no vet, but he was going to be tonight. He cleared the kitchen island leaving only the paper towels on it and the emergency kit.

"Okay big guy, do you trust me enough to get on the island and let me look at your leg?" Stiles asked the wolf. He thought about closing the door but felt that it would make the wolf think that he was trying to hurt it instead of helping it.

The wolf stood weakly lifting his front paws onto the island top trying to jump on it himself before falling, Stiles jumped in and lifted the wolves back end up onto the counter, letting it get comfortable. "Now I'm not much of a vet, that's my best friend Scott, but I'll give it my best shot okay?" Stiles sighed; he took a deep breath before slowly moving the fur on the animals right hip.

The wolf whines in response, twitching away from Stiles but letting him continue. Stiles bit his lip seeing the small hole left by what he's imagining was the 22 rifle that those kids had with them. Stiles moved his hands around to the inside of the animal's leg, seeing if there was an exit wound. There wasn't. "Shit. Okay, let see, I'm going to have to try and dig the bullet out of your leg. I need you to stay still and please don't bite me." Stiles looked into the wolves eyes seeing if it was going to give him some answer. It's blue eyes glow brighter, and Stiles figured that was his answer.

Stiles grabbed the pair of needle nose pliers from the emergency kit and moved the fur once again from around the bullet hole. He slowly pushed the pliers into the hole, he bit his lip, waiting to feel them hit the small metal object. Stiles came to a stop when the wolf let out a loud whine knowing that he found the bullet. "Okay, I'm going to pull it out now. After that, I'll sew you up, and you can leave if you want." Stiles said moving the pliers again now grabbing ahold of the bullet and slowly pulling it out of the wolf who let out an almost silent growl as he did so. Stiles could only imagine how much it must hurt when he broke his wrist when he was in high school; it wasn't pleasant.

Stiles dropped the bullet into the sink looking at in awe; he still couldn't believe that those kids were allowed out that time of night with a gun. Those kids probably weren't even 13, way too young to have a firearm without an adult. Being the sheriff's kid, you learn a lot about the law, that was one that Stiles heard a lot.

Stiles made quick work of cleaning the wound and sewing it like Scott and his mother Melissa taught him too. He made sure the sutures were secure, and the wolf was clean before starting to clean the island top. He let the wolf lay there, knowing that it needed to gain back some energy before it could run off. Stiles pulled up one of the bar stools just watching the wolf, and it watched him back. In the light, Stiles could look at the wolf; it was possibly the size of a timber wolf, maybe around twice the size, pure black with dark brown highlights along its chest, they seemed to swirl into some shape that Stiles couldn't make out. The wolves blue eyes were now a dark forest green instead of their electric blue; maybe Stiles just saw things before. There was something about this wolf that was different from the ones he had spent time with previously. This one didn't seem as drawn to him as the others were, it was still a puzzle to Stiles about why the others seemed to like him so much.

Stiles ran his hands through the wolfs fur, it was very soft, Stiles could imagine laying on it for hours never wanting to let it go. He's never felt something so delicate. The wolf seemed to move into Stiles touch as he moved up its neck and began to scratch behind its ears. "So, all wolves do like being scratched behind the ears." Stiles giggled. The wolves at the preserve loved to being scratched behind their ears; the caretakers said it was strange because usually, the wild animals didn't like it.

Stiles moved his hands now down along the wolfs face taking it in; it was just so different. It looked like a wolf, but looking into its eyes, Stiles felt like a person was looking back at him. Stiles felt like he couldn't look away when the wolf locked eyes with him; he felt warm, a smile grew on his face once he was finally able to look away from it. Stiles wasn't sure what that was, but he didn't hate it.

"You can stay here as long as you need. My best friend is coming in two days; he wouldn't hurt you. Don't let any of the neighbors see you; they'll probably freak out. I'll leave a blanket on the floor in the living room for you to sleep. I'm going to close the door, just so the neighbors don't freak out and think someone broke in. I'll be upstairs if you need to leave." Stiles said, pulling away from the wolf and walking to the living room. He pulled the blanket off the back of the couch, laying on the floor in front of the coffee table. He moved back to the kitchen, slowly closing the door giving the wolf a chance to leave if it wanted to. Stiles made eye contact with the wolf again before heading the up the stairs to bed. He didn't know what to do, he had a wolf in his cabin, it trusted him, and he trusted it. This day couldn't get any weirder.