A Home for Lost Boys

~One~

{Trigger warnings: blood, blacking out, claws, attacks, cliff, blood loss, confrontation

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}

Roman could have sworn his chest was going to burst. He could barely breathe, let alone run, but he needed to keep moving.

The sound of bodies crashing through the underbrush behind him kept him from slowing. He barely had enough energy to run, so shifting was out of the question.

"Come here, Princey!"

Roman screamed. The snarl sounded like it was right behind him.

Claws sank into his shoulder. So the snarl was right behind him.

Roamn whirled, flailing an arm as hard as he could in the general direction of his attacker. By some miracle his fist connected, and the huge hairy creature stumbled backwards.

Taking his chance, Roman raced into the underbrush again.

He had to throw this overgrown attack dog off the scent somehow. It would be hard, he was up against a tracker, but he could do it if he focused hard enough.

Roman leapt over a raised tree root, throwing himself sideways and changing direction again another dozen paces later. He began to hear more branches breaking behind him and swore under his breath.

He was dead. He was so so so dead. They were in the middle of a forest he didn't recognize, he was bleeding from approximately a dozen or so wounds, and he was up against his worst enemy.

Roman brought himself to a screeching halt when the ground suddenly dropped in front of him. He gasped in a ragged breath and spun around, waiting.

A huge grey blur shot out of the bushes and he leapt sideways, praying to any god out there that this worked.

The enraged roar turned into a scream of fear. Roman stumbled and rolled along the ground for a few feet, gasping and holding his side with his not-injured hand.

For a few moments he laid there, trying to calm himself down. Then he heard howling in the distance.

Cursing, Roman hauled himself to his feet. They'd find him within the hour if he didn't keep moving.

He barely made it ten minutes. The world began to spin and Roman tried to grab at anything that could keep him on his feet. He missed the tree next to him and stumbled, collapsing to the ground.

"Come on- no, get up-" Roman groaned, trying to ignore the pain. He couldn't stay here, he couldn't let them find him.

Each movement rendered him more useless than before. He was beginning to lose feeling in his hands and feet.

As the world began to go dark, Roman managed to roll onto his side. He wasn't sure, but for a moment he thought he saw a pale man standing across the clearing from him.

~~~An Unknown Amount of Time Later~~~

Roman didn't open his eyes right away when he realized he was awake. He took a deep, slow breath, trying to smell anything that would help him figure out where he was.

The whole area smelled like plants, and he wasn't sure if he was inside or out. With the lack of wind, he had to assume he was inside, but in the forest one never knew.

As he took in more scents, something began to tickle Roman's nose that made him tense. He slowly opened his eyes, looking around.

It was an indoor area, but it looked like the walls and ceiling were made of trees entwined with each other. Roman lifted his head as far as he could, trying to figure out where that smell was coming from.

Movement across the room caught his eye. A pale man, the same one he'd seen before he blacked out, was sitting curled up in a chair. As soon as they made eye contact, he stood up.

Roman snarled, recognizing the smell and realizing it was coming from this man. If he wasn't so exhausted, he'd try to shift, to defend himself.

"Don't come near me!"

The man rolled his eyes and turned, walking away. Roman tried to get up, to tackle him.

He could barely prop himself up on his elbows.

Roman cursed and laid down again, resigning himself to his fate. This White Court scum must have a reason for bringing him here, and with the White Court it was never a good thing. 

He heard movement to his left and whipped his head around, baring his teeth.

"Easy, easy." The small man standing there smiled softly, holding his hands up. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Roman slowly let himself relax a little bit, but still eyed the man warily.

"You got some nasty rips there, kiddo." He said as he began to unpack a small medical kit onto the table next to Roman's bed. "You're lucky we found you when we did."

"Where am I?" Roman finally asked.

"The Sanctuary. I'm Patton, I'm sort of the caretaker of the residents... how's your vision, right now?"

Roman blinked at him, surprised by the change of subject.

"Um. Fine? Better than when I blacked out."

"I'd certainly hope so." Patton chuckled. He reached a hand out, then paused. "May I check your temperature?"

Roman nodded slowly. The healer laid his palm gently on his forehead.

"Feels normal enough, though I'll admit I have less experience with werewolves than I do with others."

Patton turned back to his supplies, humming to himself.

"How do you know that?" Roman asked nervously. He didn't enjoy it when people knew more about him than what they told him. Especially because he did not know who this man was at all.

"Oh some of the others smelled you from almost a half mile away. I assume you were shifted."

Roman grunted, then hissed sharply in pain as the healer pressed something to one of the sets of wounds. He smacked Patton's hand away on instinct, baring his teeth again.

Patton just smiled and gently took Roman's hand, moving it back to his side on the bed. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you. But I need to use this to help you, it's the quickest healing salve I have."

Roman glared at the little jar he could now see sitting on the table. "It smells disgusting."

"Yep. Can't get rid of it, unfortunately. Mam and I have tried."

{I'm throwing mythologies together and will probably slaughter some of them, so I apologize in advance. I'm trying to keep everything as correct as possible, but discrepancies/inconsistencies may appear}