Sounds and Vibrations (Gifted Werewolf Series: Book 1)

Lykaon

I had got Nadine several blocks before I heard the desperate howl from Opaline. This scared Nadine and she started sobbing for my mate’s life. The only thing I knew was my heart was pounding and there was angry pain through the bond. I waited for a moment, processing what her painfilled howl could mean. A moment later, I grabbed Nadine and dragged her back the way we came, needing to see Opaline.

We didn’t even make it half way back before Nadine’s mate appeared, in wolf form, blood all over him. I took a sniff and couldn’t help the death warning coming from my throat. He shifted and put his hands up. “She’s alive! I’m not that stupid! Just let me see my mate.”

I looked down at Nadine who was shaking her head a little. In a shaky voice she whispered, “I don’t want to be near you. You hurt my pack member and Luna.”

“I warned her to not fight me and let me have you, and she refused. I will not let my mate go,” he said in a softer tone.

Nadine shook her head again. “You don’t harm my pack in order to win me over. Either you leave me alone and my pack, or worse things will happen than being in a fight.”

The male looked a little hurt by this, but nodded and stepped back. “Alright. I’ll leave you alone, for now.”

Nadine seemed to accept this and looked up at me. I pulled her along after me, glancing over my shoulder once to see the male watching but not following.

When we got to the bar, I threw open the doors and immediately found Opaline with people surrounding her. One woman was holding a bottle above my mate’s paw. I looked at the paw and gave a low growl, pissed she was hurt. Storming over, I knelt beside the table and took her head in my hands. “I’m here, Opal. You’re going to be fine.”

I tried to help, but I failed.

“No, don’t think like that. You’re small, untrained, and easy prey. I don’t expect you to win someone as big as he is.”

But I’m Luna. I’m supposed to protect my pack.

I smiled gently at her, happy she was referring to us as her pack. “Next time, let me help Klyn take out the attackers until you’ve had some training.” She whines and leans forward to lick my face. I look up at Klyn. “The other two?”

“Dead,” he says, not bothering to show his worry for his Luna.

“Get Nadine to the car. I’ll grab Opaline and sit in the back.” He nods and walks out the doors with Nadine. I wrap my arms around Opal’s back and lift her up, securing the blanket around her.

“Wait, she needs medical treatment!” the woman with the bottle says urgently.

I look at her and try to be nice. “I’ve got my own doctors. Don’t worry about it.” She steps back carefully and I run out to the car. Klyn opens the back passenger door and I slide in, keeping Opaline in my arms. After Klyn gets inside, we’re speeding into the woods towards the pack hospital. “Are you okay?” I ask Klyn after a few minutes of silence.

“I’m fine. Your mate decided to take him on and left me with the other two. I tried to get to her, but they tackled me, so I had to fight. By the time I was able to get to her, she was already wounded.”

Opaline whined, looking towards Klyn with an apologetic look in her eyes.

My friend glanced in the rear-view mirror and sighed. “I forgive you. But next time, don’t do that. You can talk, but do not throw yourself into a fight without warning me again!”

It took only a few minutes to get to the hospital and Nadine hurried to help open the door. I got out and rushed towards the building. A couple nurses were already waiting with a stretcher just inside the doors. I set my mate on the stretcher and kissed her nose. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll be waiting here when you are finished.”

She whined a little until she yelped when a nurse put a needle in her backside. Her eyes stayed locked on mine, somehow pleading for something. In my mind, she says, it’s just like last time…I don’t like hospitals, Lykaon. Her eyes soon fluttered shut and her whines quieted.

The nurses took her away to the emergency room while I went to the waiting room. I sat down and leaned forwards, putting my head in my hands and breathing deeply. I sense Klyn and Nadine sitting nearby, trying not to stare, but my thoughts are on what Opaline told me just before she went under. I knew I couldn’t go in with her, even though I wanted to, but I was the only one she trusted completely.

Something crashed from down the hall of doors, then there were screams. My head jerked up and I see Klyn standing, tense and ready for anything. A nurse comes running in the room and I now stand. She swallows and gestures behind her. “Alpha, you might need to go back there.” A moment later, the nurse faints.

Klyn and I share a look of confusion before I sprint in the direction of all the commotion. My Beta is behind me just in case and I see the ER windows and people running about. Before I reach the doors, there’s a loud thump like someone hitting a tree or something. What I see inside the room doesn’t make me feel any better.

There is glass everywhere from whatever broke, tools are strewn all over the floor, doctors and nurses are cowering in every corner except one. He has a tranquilizer that’s been mutilated aimed at something under the counter. I look to where the patient who’s being worked on should be and find no one. Confusion at this, I walk towards the doctor and throw the gun to the floor, pushing him away. Then I look to under the counter.

Somehow, Opaline is awake and shaking. She doesn’t seem to have much time though before she collapses and hurts herself. In her mouth is the other part of the gun, her eyes are more feral than I’ve ever seen, and her injured paw is lifted in the air as to not put pressure on it. She growls low in warning and I back up a little. Taking my gaze from her, I look around and see no one else hurt or bleeding. “Everyone get out!” I order and watch them leave. I stop Truent, one of the doctors, and whisper, “You stay here.”

He nods and backs away slowly. Klyn eyes me and asks, “Do you want me here?”

“Yes. I’ll need back up if I can’t control her.” He nods and shuts the doors, locks them, then starts clearing off the work stations and surgical bed. I turn to my mate and kneel. “Opaline, please come out so we can fix your paw.”

She growls again and tries to back up more, but can’t since there is a wall behind her.

“I know you’re scared, but this needs to be done. You will get your wound infected if this continues.” Opaline licks her chops after setting the gun piece down, then growls again.

“Lykaon, maybe shell let you pick her up, since she won’t come out?” Klyn suggest softly.

I take a step towards Opal, but hear a soft growl. Behind me, Truent says, “Has she had any hospital visits before?”

“A while ago. She had a life-threatening injury and was taken to a hospital in her old pack. I’m not sure how that experience went for her, just know that she’s terrified of being worse off than she is.”

I heard Truent rummaging for something then he was beside me with a bowl in hand. “She will like this. It will help calm her down but not put her to sleep. She will still be able to keep her consciousness until the other medicine takes full affect.”

I took the bowl and approached Opaline slowly. She continued to growl, but instead of lunging at me, she tried getting away. When I was a few feet from her, I set the bowl down and slid it closer, then backed up again. Seeing this as a sign of retreat, she glances at the food and sniffs. Her ears perk up and she crawls forward. I watch as Opaline starts eating whatever is in the bowl before looking up at me.

Her eyes are calmer, less dangerous. Her stance is a little less defensive and more exhausted like she’s just ran for her life, and her tail was in between her legs. Whining, she tries to come towards me, as if she finally knew who I was and understood she was safe, but once she put her wounded paw down, she collapsed. Looking up at me, she whined again.

I stepped closer and she watched with painfilled eyes. Encouraged by this, I went over and brushed my hand through her fur. Opal closed her eyes and leaned closer to me. “Klyn, find something we can put her on.”

I continue to brush her fur between my fingers while there’s shuffling behind me and Opal is now calmly breathing. After a minute or two, I hear Klyn’s voice. “It’s the best I could find.”

I looked and nodded. It was a metal shelf piece that hasn’t been damaged yet. “Okay, put it at the other end of her and on the ground.” He does what I say and I feel Opaline stiffen, but I don’t let her get up. When the metal is in place, I move closer to my mate and rest her head and paws on my knee, then gently grab her sides and push. She starts growling again, but not at me.  Opaline turns her head towards Klyn and snaps at him. He immediately backs away. I make her look at me and lock my eyes with hers. “He will not hurt you. We are just moving you out of here and onto the metal so I can carry you without the dangers of touching your paw.”

In response, she whines. I notice now that she won’t use her mind for some reason and pause to stare at her. Something is wrong, I tell Klyn.

He looks at me with furrowed brows. What do you mean?

I haven’t heard her say anything through the link.

Wait, she can talk to you? He asks incredulously.

After we marked each other earlier, yes. The only that can’t be done is me talking to her through the link. I don’t know why. I slide Opaline towards Klyn once again and this time, she lies still. Her eyes are closed once again and she seems to be relaxing a little more with each passing second.

Once she’s on the metal, I jump out from underneath the counter and help Klyn lift her up, careful of her paw. Truent waits by the bed with tools ready, and we lower her until she’s on the bed, but don’t move her. The doctor grabs a needle filled with clear fluid and starts to inject it slowly into Opaline’s body, then he goes around and looks at her paw. He touches the injured paw with light, steady fingers and Opaline doesn’t react. I sigh a breath of relief at knowing she’s asleep.

Truent turns to me, “I will do what I can, but there are going to be no guarantees that it will be the same ever again.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“She’s tiny for a wolf. Smaller than the average Himalayan at that. I’m afraid to do too much and make it immovable. My real advice to you is use your bond. I’ll set the bones, but her being a werewolf and you being her mate should speed up the healing process by a week or so.”

That’s something I have always forgotten about having a mate. If a wolf has a mate and has bonded somewhat to the other, the bond creates this energy that allows the injured to heal faster, even if they have only marked each other. The bond is most powerful once the whole mating process is finished and it heals the injured a lot faster. If Opaline’s foot is set correctly and she has enough rest, she should heal within a couple of weeks, which is an advantage.
Klyn glances at my sleeping mate and crosses his arms. “Does she need to be in her human form?”

Truent shrugs and starts to work. “It would be easier since they’d probably be larger bones, but no, she does not need to shift. I wouldn’t want to cause her any more pain than she’s already in.”

I watch as the doctor starts to help Opaline, hardly able to look away. Klyn hands him different medical tools and supplies. They work on either side of her while I stand above her head, gently stroking her head and making sure nothing goes wrong. She seems peaceful now, when she’s not conscious, though not happy. Her nose twitches sometimes, but she continues to sleep.

It’s two hours when Truent finally finishes his job and looks up at me. “She is going to shift when she wakes up. Most likely, she will be in a lot of pain and start to panic. I would find a place where she will not be at risk to hurting herself or others.”

“Any pain killers?”

He goes to a cabinet and grabs a tiny bottle, then returns and hands it to me. “Three times a day with food. I can’t prescribe any more without risking her life. If she wakes within the hour, give her some with fluids. She won’t feel good enough for food.”

I nod and glance to Klyn who seems to be thinking hard about something. I’m about to get his attention when he asks Truent, “Is there any reason her link won’t work, whether from past injuries or not?”

I stiffen into attention and wait for Truent’s answer. He thinks for a long time while cleaning up and picks his words carefully. “There are possibilities, but I’ve never seen or heard of such a case. The only thing I can think of is a head injury and her brain is unable to connect to others correctly because it’s still healing. That or malformation from birth.”

“What about being deaf?” I ask. He looks up at me with interest. “Her wolf isn’t deaf, but her human form is. She can send thoughts but not receive them. Does her condition have anything to do with that?”

“Would it be alright if I check her ears once she’s stable?” he asks. “Maybe I’d be able to answer that question if I got a look.”

“Even without checking, do you think it’s possible?”

“Anything is possible,” he says with a frown. “But yes, and if that is the case and her ears are irreversible, then there’s no way of helping her. If her ears are able to actually be healed, then it’s the opposite. As for her brain, I’m not sure. The brain is a tricky muscle which doesn’t like being handled with. I don’t think it’s possible for her link to work properly if it is her brain.”

I nod slowly and glance to Klyn who gave me a weak and encouraging smile. “Let’s get her home and situated, then we’ll talk.”

<As promised! Here's another chapter for all of you!>