Sunrise

7

~Author's Note~

Sorry about the late post! We traveled down to visit family this weekend and didn't have internet connection. And my baby has been super fussy lately with teething. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

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"You were just supposed to watch her!"

"You think this was on purpose?!"

Yelling was the first thing Kari heard when she came to. She was groggy and her body felt heavy, as if she'd been drugged, and she could still feel a sting in her back. It took her a moment to realize she was lying on her stomach on something soft. She blinked a couple times before speaking in a hoarse voice. "Sammy?"

"I'm right here," Sam assured from near her head. She felt a hot pressure on her hand and knew her brother was there. "I'm here."

"What happened?" she asked as her eyes fell closed again. She was so tired.

"Kari, what do you remember?" Emily asked carefully from further away. She felt pressure and her back stung more, causing her to wince.

Kari tried to fight through the haze. "Paul... he was mad about- about something... I was with Jake."

The room was silent.

"Then my back hurt," she whispered. "So bad."

"Karina, you were attacked," Sam said gently.

"You're going to use the same excuse?" Paul said, disbelief coloring his voice. "That's not going to work again, Sam!"

"Paul!" Sam's voice rang with a harsh authority Kari hadn't heard before. "Enough!"

"This is going to hurt," Emily said quietly. "I'm sorry."

Kari didn't understand what she meant until the pain in her back flared up, causing her to cry out in pain. Sam's hand briefly tightened around Kari's before he was smoothing her hair down soothingly. Tears welled up in Kari's eyes. "Make it stop... Sammy, make it stop..."

"I can't." His voice was broken. "I'm so sorry."

"I tried to get away, Sam," Paul said. "I really did. You know I wouldn't do that to you again."

"Paul," Emily spoke up softly. Her voice held a motherly tone. "Billy was worried about Jacob. Why don't you go see if anything happened?"

None of the words made sense to Kari. She was clinging to consciousness through the pain, still unclear about what happened. It seemed like years, but was only possibly an hour, when the pain receded and Kari let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. In the back of her mind, she recognized Embry and Jared in the room wearing worried faces but couldn't focus on them.  Sam and Emily were whispering to each other and Kari heard a mention of a bear.

"Bullcrap," she muttered. The couple paused and looked at her. She had a pained smile. "I know it wasn't a bear. Don't make that excuse. Be a man and tell me what happened, Sam. It's the least you can do for shoving me away. Hell, it's the least you can do for stealing one of my only friends and scaring the others."

Sam managed a harsh laugh at her words. He placed a hand on the back of her head, a sad look in his eyes. "You were standing too close and you got hurt. Just like Emily did. I pushed you away because I was trying to keep you safe, Karina."

"Stop using my name," she mumbled. "You know I hate it, Samuel."

A howl rang through the air. Kari scrunched her brow in confusion. She didn't realize wolves came so close, though she probably should have. Sam stiffened and shared a look with Emily. Emily was the one to speak. "Go. I'll talk with her. It might be better to hear it from me."