Fox Afield (Madison Wolves) (6 page)

In the thin air, sound didn't travel as far, and I'd lost track of where they were. I wanted to hear how they were doing, so I followed the lake west a hundred yards, then turned back north, my ears swiveling until I could hear them again.

I heard Lara speaking in a loud voice. "Damn it, Michaela. I don't know which of these trees you climbed, but come down. Now."

I had lost then, I had completely lost them. I had barely tried. I couldn't judge the distance well, not being used to the mountain air, but she must be staring at the t
rees I had marked and decided I had climbed one of them. The light was too dim for her to sight track my footprints, so she was working strictly by her nose.

I barked, as loudly as I could, just once.

When we hear a single sharp noise, such as a gunshot or a single dog back, it can be very difficult to isolate the direction. It takes two or three gunshots to turn to the proper direction. As wolves don't typically track by sound, I was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to isolate my direction from a single bark.

On the other hand, they would certainly recognize my voice, and they would know it was from some distance away.

I sat and listened.

It took them another ten minutes to find my trail, and then it was Brooke who found it. I heard her bark twice, and I was close enough I could hear the other wolves run to her. Rather than chasing after my trail like the other wolves would have, expecting the rest to follow, she had waited. Perhaps she realized Lara wouldn't take kindly to Brooke chasing after me.

Once I was sure they were firmly on my trail, I ran back to the lake and waited for them to find me.

I lost them again at the river. My ears worked like mad trying to hear their noises over the sound of the water. Eventually I had to move closer until I could make out individual noises. It sounded like they were ranging up and down the river, trying to determine where I had come out. Did they think I was crazy? I wouldn't have gone in that water; it was much too swift and dangerous for me.

I let them look for a while. Then I barked. Twice.

I expected them to realize they had lost me somewhere on the back trail, but they didn't search it. They had gotten a rough idea of my direction from my barks, and Lara fanned them all out. I listened as they moved approximately in my direction. I ran back to the water again and waited, listening.

Elisabeth and Gia together found my last trail, the one leading towards the lake. They both began howling as they ran, drawing the rest of the wolves towards them. As a group, they burst out of the underbrush at the side of the lake two hundred yards to my east, ran to the water's edge, then turned directly towards me. Lara looked up, saw me waiting for them, and put on a burst of speed, leaving the other wolves behind.

I could tell from her erect tail she was angry, and she wasn't slowing down. I immediately rolled over on my back, offering her my throat. She bowled me over anyway. I tumbled, yipping in surprise and pain. She tripped over me, and we tumbled together, me yipping until we came to a
stop, Lara's entire weight resting on me, crushing me. I immediately began whimpering, even before her mouth descended to my throat. She squeezed painfully, and my whimpers turned into a mix of yips and whimpers.

She released
my throat, but she didn't climb off me, and I was having trouble breathing. I continued to yip and whimper, but I couldn't breathe properly. I tried cataloging where I hurt. She had cracked at least two ribs, and I was having a hard time telling which of my other pains were real damages or simple bruises.

Still Lara didn't climb off of me, and my yips faded into nothing but whimpers; it took too much air to yip. Elisabeth and the others caught up to us, and Elisabeth approached slowly on her own. Lara turned to her and growled a warning, but Elisabeth held her ground.

I struggled to breathe.

Elisabeth whined at Lara and crept closer. Lara's growl became more serious.

"Alpha," came Brooke's voice. "Your fox can't breath. You need to let her up."

I guessed that Lara and I weren't the only ones who shifted quickly.

Lara turned to her and offered a growl that left nothing to the imagination.

"Lara," Brooke said gently. "Listen to her. Listen!"

I whimpered weakly and struggled for air.

"She led us on a merry chase," Brooke said. "She told us to go run, and we wouldn't, so she made us run. She was safe the entire time, and she even kept track of us. She could have called us to her any time she needed to. She was safe. The only one hurting her is you."

Lara took my throat again. I continued to whimper weakly underneath her, and then she slowly rose to her feet. She didn't release my throat until she had fully risen off me.

I rolled onto my side and tried to breath.

"Alpha," Brooke said. "She's hurt. She needs to shift and heal."

Lara turned to her and began growling again. I couldn't deal with that and left it to Elisabeth. I focused on healing.

I cried out as I healed my ribs, and Lara immediately turned to me, whimpering at me worriedly. Then she shifted and was kneeling at my side.

"Oh Michaela," she said. "I'm sorry."

I growled briefly at her. She needed to leave me alone for a minute.

"Lara,"
Brooke said, "encourage her to shift so she can heal. Her leg looks funny."

Lara reached for my rear leg, but I snarled and snapped at her, and she pulled back.

"Honey," she said. "Oh god, I think I broke it."

I growled at her. That explained why it hurt so much.

I finished healing the ribs so I could breathe normally. Then I realized it wasn't my leg that was broken, it was my hip.

I tried moving everything into alignment, but parts weren't moving, and I cried out.

Lara was crying now. Brooke was circling around. "Alpha, I can help her if you let me. She's trying to align everything. We need to do it for her." She got on her knees and moved closer.

Lara turned to her. "She can heal." Her voice cracked.

Elisabeth lay down and began her shift. Brooke crept closer. I struggled to straighten my hips and cried out again. I couldn't heal them the way they were. They would heal crooked, and it would take a surgeon to break them properly again so I could heal straight. I couldn't shift, because they would begin to heal crooked. I needed to straighten them out.

"Lara," Brooke said. "I can help her, but it's going to hurt her. She's going to scream when I touch her. You know this. You and I can't fight, Lara." If I screamed when Brooke touched me, Lara's reaction could very well be primal; she might see Brooke as hurting me rather than helping me.

Brooke crept closer still, and I began to drag my body around. Lara reached for me, but stopped, and I dragged myself to Brooke, licking her hand once and trying very hard not to whimper.

"Lara," Brooke said. "Elisabeth doesn't sh
ift as fast as we do, does she? She's shifting to try to help, but Michaela is hurting. I can help her. We can wait for Elisabeth; you can do what Michaela needs us to do for her; or you can let me do it."

Lara was crying. She kept reaching out for me then pulling her hands away again. I glanced over at Elisabeth and saw it would be another couple of minutes before she finished her shift.

"Michaela," Brooke said gently. "We can wait for Elisabeth. I don't dare touch you yet. Can you hold on?"

I licked her hand then lay in the grass, panting and trying to control my whimpers.

"I'll tell you what I see," she said. "Your hips are crooked. Something is broken or dislocated, but I can't tell what without touching you. Your back might be broken. You might have a broken leg. I can't tell that, either, without touching you."

She looked me over from a couple of feet away.

"The rest of you seem fine. Your chest looks normal and your front legs seem fine. I don't see any blood, and you're not coughing up any."

I lifted my nose to look into her face.

Brooke glanced at Elisabeth. "She'll be done in another minute," Brooke said. "Stay with us. Once she has shifted, we'll decide how to do this in a fashion that your mate doesn't kill us."

I licked her hand again.

I glanced at Lara. If I were in human form, I'd be yelling at her. She was kneeling over me, but not touching, and she was staring at my hips, crying.

"You shouldn't have run," Lara said.

"This isn't her fault, Alpha," Brooke said. "It is yours. She was playing with us. She had the situation well under control, and she even offered her throat to you. Do not blame her. Now you are going to get yourself under control so when your enforcer and I do what we need to do to help your mate, you don't kill us."

I whimpered my agreement.

Brooke spoke soothingly to me after that, ignoring Lara. Elisabeth finally finished her shift.

"For fuck's sake, Lara!" she yelled. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I looked over and saw Elisabeth dragging Lara away from me. "I will handle this, Lara."

Lara let Elisabeth drag her away.

"You three," Elisabeth said, addressing Serena, Karen and Gia. "You are going to keep the alpha away
from us. She is going to go insane in a minute."

"No," said Lara. "I am not." Her voice was calm. "Elisabeth and Brooke, please help my mate."

"She's going to scream, Lara," Elisabeth said. "You know what we have to do."

"I know," she said. "I know."

"You three," Elisabeth said. "Try to stop her if she comes after us. Brooke, if she comes after you, you run."

Then Elisabeth was kneeling beside me, looking at my broken body. "Michaela, can you hear me?" I raised my head and whimpered. "Your hip is definitely broken and out of alignment. I can't tell about your back. I think we should try to move you into alignment first and assess. Yip once if you understand."

I yipped weakly.

"Honey," she said. "It's going to hurt. You need to stay with us. And I know you're going to scream, but you know how Lara is going to react."

"Have you done this before?" Brooke asked quietly.

"No."

"I have."

"Lara will
kill you," Elisabeth said. "She might not kill me."

"Let Brooke do it," Lara said.

"All right," Elisabeth agreed. They moved around until Brooke was kneeling over my hips.

"Michaela," she said. "I need to slide my hands under your hips. It is going to hurt. I am sorry."

I felt her hands at my sides, then she slid them down until they were ready to slide into position. I whimpered once, and then she moved and twisted my hips in one smooth motion.

I screamed, and when I was still, I heard Lara sobbing.

"I can't tell about your back," Brooke said. "Your right leg is broken. I think your left is whole. Can you move your left leg just slightly?"

I moved, and it hurt my hips, but I could move my leg.

"Okay. It shouldn't be too bad. Your hips aren't quite aligned properly. I got them close, but I think they need a little more adjustment. And your leg isn't aligned either. We can align them before you shift."

I growled as fiercely as I could.

"She doesn't need to shift," Elisabeth said. "She can control what she heals."

"Excuse me?" Brooke asked.

"Michaela, do you want to heal your hip before your leg?"

I yipped once.

"Can you straighten your hips the rest of the way while you heal it? If not, Brooke needs to align it further."

If I could see what I was doing, I could straighten it. But I couldn't see. I whimpered.

"Michaela," Brooke said. "It's a small adjustment, but it's going to hurt. Once I touch you, I will not stop until I think the bones are in place. As soon as they are, I will say 'heal' and you can start healing. I will hold everything in place as best I can. Elisabeth, can you hold the rest of her still?"

"Michaela?" Elisabeth asked, seeking permission. I yipped once.

Elisabeth moved closer, and her hands rested on me. Then I heard Lara moving closer; she added her hands.

"Alpha, this is going to hurt her," Brooke said.

"I know," Lara said. "Thank you for helping her."

"All right," Brooke said. "Michaela, if you don't stop me, I am going to start in three... two... one." Then her hands were on my hips, and I screamed a fox scream. I felt bone shifting against bone, and she pressed firmly against me.

"It's straight, Michaela. You can heal now. Please heal."

I continued to scream and whimper, but I concentrated on my hips, and I felt the bones begin to knit. It took me several minutes, and my whimpers tapered off. Lara and Elisabeth held me down while Brooke held my bones in place. Then she was able to remove her hands. The three of them spoke soothingly to me the entire time.

My hips healed as much as they were going to, and I lay on the ground, panting weakly.

"I am going to check, Michaela," Brooke said gently, and then I felt her hands on my hips. They were going to be stiff and sore, but they felt whole.