Fractured

Chapter Two, Part I

I want to stress how **very rough** this draft is, but hopefully, enjoy? 

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I woke slowly, feeling returning to my body one part at a time. I could feel the fire burning somewhere near starting to warm me, but the sharp bite of midwinter chill still stung. I was fairly certain icicles had formed on my eyelashes.

The world around me drifted in and out of focus as I peeled my eyes open. The cold had settled deep within my bones, so much so that I almost wished I could just stay that way rather than enduring the slow and painful process of defrosting. My fingers felt stiff as if all circulation had been cut off. Trying to wiggle my toes resulted in a dull twinge radiating up my calf and into my thigh.

How had I become so cold? Each breath was like a knife in the chest.

I was in a cabin in the woods. That much I knew. I could hear someone moving around, adding logs to the fire. I tried to think back to what had occurred before I'd awoken on what felt like a sofa.

For a moment, all I could remember was the pain. A different, scream out loud, jaw clenching pain. And then nothing. 

The last thing I could remember was driving at Sophie's house right before New Years.

What had happened? Where was I? Where was Sophie?

I took stock of my surroundings to find that I was lying underneath several layers of quilts on what was, indeed, a sofa. There was a glowing, old-fashioned hearth to my right. As I looked over the soft to my left, I saw a torrential amount of snow falling outside the window.

The front door opened, and I suddenly realized I had no idea who was with me. Had they found me somewhere in the woods? Or was I brought here for more nefarious purposes? Was I even safe here?

In an instant, I decided to close my eyes and pretend to still be unconscious.

I head a masculine sigh followed by footsteps. The cabin wasn't large. He reached me in seconds. I could tell when the glow from the fire dimmed that he was standing right in front of me.

"It's alright, you're safe now," I know you're awake danced in the air unspoken.

I'll admit, it wasn't my bravest decision.

I opened my eyes to stare directly into the most piercing green irises I'd ever seen. The eyes of a hunter, I realized. Snow White jumped briefly to mind as if he were the woodsman ready to cut my heart out. He regarded me carefully as if I were a skittish animal he'd rescued and was trying to tame.

He was kneeling on a rug in front of the sofa, melted snow on his boots soaking the material.

The boots gave me pause. I recognized the brand, they were the kind of boots my father and his friends who buy and wear for two days. They were expensive but made for serious outdoors enthusiasts and hikers. Whoever this guy was, he was no ordinary woodsman.

He was a sexy woodsman, at that. His hair was a rich, dark brown that accentuated a strong jawline. His skin was dark enough to indicate he probably had some American Indian blood. His shirt was tantalizingly snug and made me want to see what was underneath.

Basically, the guy was a model for J. Crew models to aspire to be one day.

More than that, he was beautiful. Not just handsome, but with an ethereal quality that made him seem larger than life. There was something different about him. And he was looking at me with a protectiveness that clearly said, "mine".

"Where am I?" I tried tentatively. My throat burned from the cold.

"About ninety kilometers north of Revelstoke," he replied.

That was about seventy miles, I thought. I'd taken a week-long vacation in Revelstoke with my college friend, Sophie. The last thing I remembered was getting ready to hike the mountain together. How did we manage to get seventy miles away?

"Where's Sophie?"

"The female? I can smell her on you, but the scent is at least two or three hours old. I found you alone."

Scents?

"What is your name?" he inquired. He put the back of his hand to my forehead as if checking for a fever. He grimaced at whatever he found there. Cold sweat dripped down my skin, I realized, indicating that I probably had a fever.

"Caroline Lam," I paused as a spike of pain ran through my core. Was I hurt? "What happened to me?" I managed to gasp. 

The more I woke up, the more I noticed the pain in my body. It was like an icy electrical current was running through my veins, radiating in my bones, and coursing through my skin.

He took a deep breath. "You're changing. The pain you're experiencing now is your body acclimating to the werewolf blood. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

He continued, "My name is Garrett. I'm the beta of my werewolf pack. I was up here hunting another werewolf when I smelled you in the woods a few hours ago. The one I'd been hunting attacked you."

He paused a moment as if to let that message sink in. A werewolf. In the Canadian wilderness. Why were all the hot guys crazy or married? Just my luck to get snowed in with a stupidly hot guy, only to find that he's Captain of Crazytown.

The pain suddenly changed from awful to excruciating. I cried out, my breath now coming out in heavy, ragged pants.

Garrett reached out. "You survived in the freezing cold with a stomach wound for hours before I found you. You're strong. You can do this.

Hold my hand as long as you can, and try not to fight it. Your body knows what to do, just let it."

"You're insane. I need to get to a hospital," I gasped.

"The hospital can't help with this. And there are four feet of snow outside. We're not going anywhere."

I took his hand in mine and squeezed. Hard. I focused as hard as I could on that physical connection. I had to be hurting him, but he didn't flinch.

I heard the sharp snap of bones breaking. I worried that I'd hurt him until I noticed the structure of my hand starting to change.

My skin burned as if I'd taken a hot iron to my body. I screamed when I felt my shoulders dislocate. I was helpless to stop any of it. I bore my eyes into his, finding there a steady, peaceful presence. Try not to fight it, he'd said.

He kept speaking to me, but the roar of blood rushing through me drowned him out. After a minute I realized he was saying the same thing over and over. Keep breathing. I released the breath I hadn't known I'd been holding and fought to find a deep, steady pattern to my inhales and exhales.

I had thrown the quilts off in the struggle. Looking down at myself, I watched my body transform.