To Share You (manxman)

Chapter 28

When I wake up in pain for the second time today, my mind is in the moment immediately. I know what happened and I'm scared. I don't see Raph at first and knowing that the pack took him away doesn't help. I frantically look around, finding him lying behind me. He's still unconscious, but I can see him breathing from here, which is definitely more than what I remember from earlier. I scramble over to him, not knowing how we ended up together, but also not caring at all. I'm just going to be glad he's with me.

The first thing I do when I get to him is to check him over. I can see he's received some kind of medical attention and I'm guessing it was that Alpha's pack. However, again I don't care, instead I make sure Raph is as good as can be. His breath is steady and he seems to be quite relaxed, which immediately relaxes me a bit in turn.

The next thing I do I search for a place to hide. I have no idea where we are, nor who could be around. For all I know the pack pitied us enough to fix up Raph and then left us somewhere outside their border to fend for ourselves. There is no point in trying to figure that out though.

I grab Raph and lay him over my back before shifting. After my shift I realise immediately that Raph isn't the only one they fixed up. Usually shifting with injuries is incredibly painful as the tissue around the wound adjust to the body's change, essentially worsening the injury in the process. And while it's not exactly pain free, it's a lot better than shifting when I was running away with Raph.

I don't have to run for long until I find a few giant trees, which have their roots grown over ground. I have never even seen them from a distance but they are majestic, and exactly what I am looking for. Some of the roots reach up to almost two meters in hight, only to then drop back down into the earth, almost forming a little den with all the other roots.

I shift back into my human form and pull Raph to my front, so I don't run the risk of him hitting any of the roots or bark. Once I duck under the first root, I realise that this is almost like a little cave, rather than a den. There is only small spots where the faint moonlight shines through and if I ignore the roots going straight through the space here and there, it almost seems like a room.

I carry Raph to the furthest corner and then sit down with him on my lap. The roots on my back aren't exactly comfortable but it's better than being outside and vulnerable.

I position Raph's head under my chin and hold it to my chest with my hand. My other hand goes around his waist, pulling him to me as much as I can. I even pull my knees up, almost squashing his body, but I don't care. He's with me and we made it. Kind of anyway. But for now, we have. I kiss his forehead before locking my gaze on the root we entered through. There's still no way I can let my guard down. I only realise that I'm crying when some of the tears fall onto my hand, but I don't try to make them stop, I'd rather hold Raph to me. Just in that moment, I can feel Raph move slightly and hum low in his throat, snuggling into me. Right then, I can't stop myself from letting out a sob.

I wake up with a start. I didn't want to fall asleep but apparently my body had other plans. It's daytime now and Raph is still in my arms in the same position I remember putting him. That, at least, is a relief. But I can hear whispers outside, two people. I'm not sure what to do at first, so I stay still.

With any luck they were either not looking for us or even if they are, haven't discovered us yet. But of course there is no way I would be that lucky. A few minutes after they come closer and finally, I see two faces appear between the roots. Instinctively I tighten my grip on Raph and growl towards them. It does nothing. They don't move. And it doesn't help that I can't see their faces because it's way too dark in here and too bright outside.