First Shift

Ch. 17

I couldn't see Andrea's face but I heard her shocked intake of breath. Her control also faltered and I felt the stinging prick of surprise as it raced through her in the pack bond. Andrea wasn't the only one who was surprised by this Raiza was better at controlling her facade but she couldn't hide the slight increase in her heartbeat, which seemed to cancel out all other noise. It was a tense few moments of utter silence it was rare but there were cases of a Beta's vow being rejected. 'Was Andrea really going to reject this vow?' Neither of us really liked each other but in more ways then one we needed each other and right now I needed her to accept this more than I needed air.

I jumped when Andrea's lips touched my neck, I had been to absorbed in my own thoughts to notice she had moved closer. She didn't say anything, through the pack bond she betrayed no other emotion other than surprise. Her lips had hesitated for a moment when they had touched my neck but she didn't hesitate for long. Her lips parted and her teeth clenched down ripping into my flesh. I wanted to cry out from the pain that coursed through my body but I kept silent. A Servari's vow became binding through pain and blood, because I wasn't just pledging my loyalty to Andrea I was pledging my life. It was now my duty to protect her life with my own and that meant that if she died I did as well. A new bond was forged between us through our mixed blood, for when she bite me she had already bit her own lips causing her blood to mix with mine. Having a new bond forged felt amazing, better than anything I have ever experience, it was utter oblivion. It was also painful, I could hear and feel my wolf soul as it fought against the chain that was linking me to Andrea. In a away I ripped and tore at the insides of my head fighting the bond I had voluntarily chose, but that didn't change the pain my wolf inflicted as it fought against it. Wolves, especially dominate wolves, don't submit their lives easily no matter the reason. When the bond was finally done Andrea extracted her teeth from my neck and without any pretense I gladly collapsed.

***

"I was in my wolf form running through the forest. The sunlight filtered through the tress and made the world glow. I felt happy and was in a daze like state, I never remember feeling so happy. A howl of pure joy ripped from my lungs as I ran through the trees. Up ahead I heard another wolf respond to my howl. If I could smile a grin would have broken out over my face. I wasn't sure who I was chasing or why but I was content. I wasn't hunting he person up ahead I was trying to catch up to them but they just kept slipping away. "Wake up! Your bleeding all over my bed!" Andrea shouted. I groaned and rolled over in the soft bed, trying to catch the last wisps of my dream as they floated away. Andrea was next to me on her bed, she was kneeling on it and so she towered over me. In her hands was a wade of used gauze in the other was disinfectant. "What are you doing?" I asked still sleepily. A week before if I was woken up like this I would have freaked out think Andrea was going to try and kill me. Now because of the vow I just stared at Andrea holding in laughter at her discomfort. "Raiza told me to change the bandage every 8 hours for the first 2 days, to keep the wound from getting infected." She told me. "You could have just woken me up to begin with." I told her as I got out of the bed. I took the teams from Andrea's hands and made my way into her bathroom. Andrea trailed after me dejectedly. "I was trying to be nice. After your vow you need a long time to rest." She said.

For most injuries werewolves healed fast, no matter how they were injured; however, when a wolf made a blood vow the injury made to complete the vow took about as long as a human would take to heal from it. This was why Andrea was so uncomfortable, many wolves weren't used to injuries that: wouldn't just heal right away or injuries that could get infected.

I stood before the bathroom mirror and looked at the wound on my neck. The bite had gone pretty deep and it looked like a bloody mangled mess. I sighed and started looking for a wash cloth. "I don't understand why you can 'to just go to a healer," Andrea muttered. I was to distracted by cleaning the wound to answer right away. After I had cleaned most of the blood of I put the disinfectant on, unfortunately Andrea hadn't grabbed a disinfectant that wouldn't sting and I fell to my knees in agony. The disinfectant seemed to burn through my neck, it was more painful than the actual bite itself was. "What's wrong! Kye!" Andrea said. I blocked her out and searched for the gauze. Andrea found it first and she gently bandaged the wound. When she was done I was still on my knees but happily the pain was beginning to fade. Andrea didn't wait for me to feel better and scoped me up from the bathroom floor and carried me to her bed. "Sleep, Kye, next time you wake up I will have some food ready for you." She whispered before she lid me back down onto the bed.