Moon Bound - PART I & II - (Book 1 in the Original ROYAL HOWLERS Duology) ✔

F O U R ~ A Difficult Decision

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The knock on the door at such an early hour had Valor sit up abruptly, his werewolf senses honing in on his surroundings. He was still in his bedroom, but the knock he was hearing wasn't coming from outside his bedroom door. Valor groaned, tossing aside his bed sheets and pushed himself to stand off the edge of his mattress.

He sighed heavily as his bare feet hurriedly carried him across the room and into the hallway. His brother and Octavia were at their bedroom door, wide eyed and frazzled from being woken. Valor held up a hand as a silent gesture for them to hold their place while he answered the door.

Trotting down the staircase and through the dining area, the Alpha narrowed his eyes at the door where the incessant knocking had yet to cease. Before he could yank open the door to give a violent scolding to whoever disturbed he and his family's sleeping peace, Valor growled out, in question, to who was on the other side of the door.

"Alpha! Alpha, it's Germaine!"

The man's voice sounded panicked, and immediately had Valor opening the door to his sweaty, partially bleeding, and out-of-breath warrior leaning against the door frame. He held a hand to the side of his rib cage, his nose scrunched to bite back the pain he was in.

Valor blinked away what little sleep had remained and ushered the man in as he asked what happened. He had to slowly help the man to a nearby chair before the wounded person leaned his head back and swallowed hard. His eyes were shut tightly, groaning as the hand at his side pressed further against it.

There was a small gasp from behind Valor and he looked over his shoulder to see Octavia and his brother. Octavia was already moving away to run back upstairs while Kosias entered the room.

"What's happened?"

When he looked to Valor for some information, the Alpha shrugged, "I know as much as you at this point. The young man can barely breathe to tell me anything."

They looked back to Germaine who was now leaned forward, groaning more loudly.

After a few minutes, Octavia returned with a small cardboard box. She bent in front of Germaine, her soft voice reassuring the young man that he'll be okay soon. The warrior only nodded through a pained grunt, uneasy about letting her treat him, but then his Alpha placed a hand on his shoulder. Germaine sighed, dropping his hand away from the bleeding wound.

Octavia quickly went to work. Her fingers expertly cleaned around the open wound, glancing up at Germaine when he hissed from the alcohol that she used to disinfect the area. After informing Germaine that she was going to have to stitch him up, she threaded a needle and began closing the wound. She took her time doing this, knowing that without a proper stitching, it would be a painful healing for the warrior once the process started.

It was a blessing for their species to be able to heal themselves rather rapidly, but without the proper treatment, scars and other unfortunate blemishes could be left behind. This way, after Octavia had completed the stitching, she could tell that the skin that healed over the zig-zag threading would be good as new; as if Germaine hadn't been punctured in the side to begin with.

"Just leave this padding on until tomorrow," she instructed, taping the last corner of the square white cloth pad. "It should be completely healed by then."

Germaine nodded, nodding his gratitude with a small smile. Octavia smiled back, happy that she could be of some assistance when the time counted. She rose to her feet and set the cardboard box on the table to fix her first-aid kit as it was before. While she tended to her box, Valor walked around Germaine's chair to stand in front of him. He knelt down to meet the man's eye level and asked how he was feeling.