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Chapter 15

I decided I didn't want to move any further. 

Rowen growled loudly and I tensed instinctively as he ripped away from me and latched on to a smaller boy with light brown hair, pulling him in a tight choke hold as he struggled against him.

"Ow, Rowen!" A voice that sounded vaguely familiar exclaimed. "Let up a little. It was an accident."

"Shut up, you little shit!" Rowen snapped, his bicep bulging as tightened his grip around his head. The boy's face started to turn red and my eyes widened.

"Please don't hurt him." I tried to say over the grunting and squeals from their direction, but Rowen didn't appear to hear me, continuing to strangle him under his large arm that almost swallowed the kid whole.

I haggardly moved to stand from the couch in a weak attempt to stop him, since my voice didn't seem to be carrying, but the lady who now stood at the foot of the couch placed her hand on my thigh, halting me from getting up.

"You shouldn't move." She insisted, coming to my side with a wooden chair.

"But-"

"Marcel is his brother. I doubt he'd do anything too bad." She reassured me with a knowing smile. "I'm Raven. Is it okay if I take a look at you?"

I looked nervously at Rowen, who was still wrestling with his brother, and back to her kind eyes, nodding hesitantly in permission. Even if she despised me, she didn't show it and it was enough for me to trust she wouldn't hurt me.

She barely grazed my foot when I flinched away, my face scrunching in pain at the small contact. A whimper threatened to escape my mouth at the lingering ache, but I forced my mouth shut. She wasn't even doing anything yet. I could handle this.

"The bones in your foot are trying to heal, but they're improperly placed, so I'll have to set them myself," she explained to me after she examined it.

"O-Okay," I said, hoping my voice wasn't shaking as much as it felt.

She glanced up at me," It's going to hurt. A lot. Still, try and relax. That might help."

I pushed down a nervous gulp. I could relax. When have I had trouble relaxing? It was such an easy thing to do. I just had to...focus on other things. Yeah, I could do that. This would be easy peasy. Her hands advanced forward and I pushed myself into the arm of the sofa, unconsciously grinding my teeth together.

Oh, who am I kidding? I couldn't relax to save my life.

"Can we um, pause for a moment?" I said and her hands stopped, an amused look on her face.

"It's best if we get it over with," she insisted.

"I know. It's just..." I trailed off, looking away sheepishly. I didn't want to admit out loud how scared I was. Sure, it was excruciating when I was bit in the first place, but this seemed a hundred times worse somehow.

Rowen suddenly appeared by my side with Marcel hanging low under his armpit and shoved him towards me. I blinked in surprise, vaguely recognizing him from when we used to attend pup classes together when we were younger with us being the exact same age. He was always getting in trouble with our teachers and Luna Nyla always came in and scolded him in front of the whole class.

"Apologize to her. Now." Rowen demanded, pushing Marcel's head down.

"I am! Geez!" Marcel huffed, looking up at me with flushed cheeks. His face curled into a smirk," I'm sorry, baby girl. Want me to kiss it better?"

I blushed, laughing uncomfortably as Rowen growled and slapped him in the head. Marcel was exactly as I remembered four years ago. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.