The Call of the Woodland Spirit

Chapter 26

I awoke to a warm feeling on my hand that was quite new to me. I cracked my eyes open just slightly, and were immediately met with a pair of blue ones. A man I had never met was looking quizzically at me. I blinked and looked down to see that his fingers were gently feeling my wrist.

"Steady pulse." he murmured more to himself than me. He reached over to a small table and grasped a tiny flashlight. I flinched as he shone it without warning into my eyes. I shut them closed from the sudden light, but apparently it was enough. "Pupils reacting. How does your head feel?" he asked as he put the flashlight away.

I reached up slowly. There was some sort of cast across my forehead and the back of my head. It ached. I looked wearily at him again. I assumed he was a doctor. "Fine, I guess.." I mumbled. He nodded in time, looking mysteriously at my face. It was a strange gaze, as though he was trying to figure me out.

I realized that I was sitting up on a bed. It was large and comforting to my aching skin. And the uncanny doctor was sitting beside me on the edge of the mattress. Pillows were tucked with care behind my head and I sighed, pressing back into them.

I looked around the room. We were in a warm cabin slightly larger than the others. I was guessing it was where this man lived and worked all at once, due to the homey feeling with objects such as a bed, small kitchenette, closet, a door leading to a bathroom. But there was other assets like shelves laden with healing ointments, gauze, and rolls of bandages. There were several medical kits that sat atop cabinets and counters. I glanced wearily at a syringe and tweezers on the bedside table. I hoped he hadn't had to use that.

I felt my forehead, wincing at the aching sensation the touch left. I had fallen unconscious... again. My thoughts swirled around in my head, only adding to the headache. The wolves trying to attack me, the invisible force that controlled me, the lake, the ice cracking, and...

My world seemed to pause.

Arashi. He had turned into a beast. How was that possible?

I felt as if I should've tried to get up and run for my life out of this town, but I was too stunned to do much of anything. What had happened before I fell unconscious was a blur, yet embedded itself into my memories. Instead, I stared uneasily at the doctor. I observed his fluffy, golden locks that reached just slightly past his ears as he wordlessly yet casually cleaned a scalpel with a wet towel. I was sure he hadn't seen me looking, but proved me wrong as he turned just slightly to peer at me with a raised brow. I tried to look away, but his capturing eyes held me in place.

After a little while I nervously eyes the scalpel in his hand, nearly cleaned. "Did you have to use that on me?" I asked pathetically. It came out as a squeak of a question. He didn't take those eyes off of me, the blue orbs ranging somewhere between suspicion and doubt. "...No. Not on you." he said slowly. "It was on Arashi. His leg was in pretty bad shape, much worse than anything you had."

My heart skipped a beat. "On Arashi?" I pressed.

He turned back to the tool, swirling it around in his hand. "Yes. The muscles were the worst I had seen in a long time. He really gave it his all when he went to save you."

Everything slowed. That's right. I hadn't realized he had been in pain as well, as I had been too busy sobbing my eyes out after the whole experience on the lake.

"...Is Arashi a werewolf?"

The man beside me snorted. "Of course not." he said, blue eyes turning back to me. "He—"

There was a sudden rap on the door that made me jump.

"Can I come in, Kita?" Whoever it was, their voice was muffled due to the wood. Kita, the hunting party's doctor I now recalled Gael talking about, waved a hand at the door. "Sure. She just woke up."