Ivory Snow

By the time they reached home again, the brothers were tired and worn out. The mood of the group was very solemn. They knew what it would mean that they caught no fish.

Judging by the looks they were throwing at the female; they were worried about her as well.

Interestingly, Adam’s wolf did not like how long some of those looks lasted. She was a very pretty female, young though. Possibly the same age as some of his brothers.

It would be best if she left soon, they didn’t have room for drama in their home.

Brian climbed into the wagon before he could, which had Adam’s wolf growling. It only took one look for Brian to hand the female down to Adam on the ground. Which had probably been his plan from the beginning.

Adam was confused by the possessiveness of his wolf. He was that way with his brothers as well though. Maybe he just felt that she needed someone to protect her. She was certainly not in the right kind of shape to take care of herself.

There was also the mystery of how she fell and why her own family didn’t try to fish her out themselves.

Charles ran ahead to hold the front door as Adam reached it with his charge.

All the pups were quieter than they normally would have been. Typically, they would have been talking the whole way home, making up for the hours of silence while fishing. It seemed no one wanted to disturb their sleeping guest.

Dean had entered the house before the female had been moved to Adam’s possessive grip. By the time they hit the stairs, he was already behind them, carrying a small first aid bag they kept on hand. Injuries were common when you had so many male pups in one house. And that was before factoring in the variable of them learning how to carve wood with knives.

Adam led the growing procession up the stairs and down the right side of the hall. His room was the last one on the left.

The house had been built by their grandfather when he first met his mate, their grandmother. The house he had been raised in was smaller. They wanted a large family, lots of males to help run the farm. Unfortunately, they only had the one male. That male turned around and filled the house though. Seven times.

It was a two-story log farmhouse. The bottom floor consisted of a kitchen, and a room for washing the laundry, bathing, and other personal amenities. They were lucky to have pipes leading water into the house, something his grandmother had insisted on. They still had to pump the water, but it was better than going outside and bringing it back one bucket at a time.

They also had a dining area, one small bedroom - where their grandparents lived as they got older- and a large living room. It was now Fitz and Gabe’s bedroom.

The top floor had four more bedrooms. To the left of the stairs laid the master bedroom, which had remained empty since the death of their father. Adam had his own room, across the hall and a few feet down from the master. The hall to the right of the stairs had the other two rooms. Brian and Eric in one, and the twins in the other.

Adam carefully set the female on top of his bed and methodically rolled her to her side again. His brothers all gasped when they saw her torn up back and head.

“Eric, go see if you can find one of mom’s old hair ties. There may be some in their room still.” Adam instructed him softly.

The female’s breathing was already stronger than it was on the beach, which was a good sign. He was hoping she would remain asleep as they doctored her wounds. There were good odds that it would be more than a little painful for her. The blood and dirt had begun to crust over the cuts and scrapes during their journey home. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been anything for her to lay on top of, only the dirty wagon floor.

Adam slowly unwrapped his now bloodied shirt from around her head and neck. Trying to not let it pull at her skin and reopen any wounds.

When Eric came back, the success of half a dozen hair ties showing in his hands, Adam slowly pulled the white hair up high and tied one of the hair ties around it. With her hair no longer in danger of sticking to the wounds, he began the task of cleaning her.

Dean acted as nursemaid, handing him wet wash clothes from a basin of water Charles carried in.

Adam was not used to being gentle. Going slow and soft was more than a little aggravating. He was more of the just rip it off and get it over with type. If this had been one of his brothers, he would have. So why wasn’t he doing the same with her?

Not being able to answer that confused and frustrated him even more.

There was a time in his life when he allowed himself to relax and have fun. That all changed when their mother died. He was the oldest. He was expected to help his father. Then his father died. Adam had to be the grown up, the adult, the parent.

Of six younger brothers.

Once the cuts were clean, they began bandaging her up properly. Dean had to step in and help. He was the intellectual of the group. When he wasn’t working, he was reading anything he could find. He borrowed books regularly from other families.

If they had the money, Adam would love to send him to the university in a few years.

They did have a small schoolhouse in the village, but they lived too far out, and Dean was needed at home to help with the farm and the younger pups. The teacher there was one of his biggest book benefactors though.

Dean had recently gone through a medical phase. The town doctor had even let him borrow a variety of his books. It had been really annoying at the time, but at least it was coming in handy today.

“Her head wound is deep. It needs stitches.” Dean informed them, his voice was so steady, he sounded like an actual doctor.

“Do you know how? I don’t want to let anyone know she’s here until we know for sure what happened to her.”

“I agree with Adam.” Brian piped in from the side. “If she had been with family, they would have gotten to her before she got to us. Something smells fishy here and we didn’t catch any fish.”

Fitz and Gabe giggled at the ridiculous joke while the older brothers rolled their eyes.

“Cool. Spy stuff.” Eric pumped his elbow into his side, his hand in a fist. That fist quickly moved to cover his mouth when he sneezed.

“Yes, she is a secret. At least until she wakes up and can tell us what happened. I will go to the market tomorrow and see if anyone is talking about a missing pup.” Adam told them, but his eyes were still on the sleeping form on his bed.

“Don’t worry, I can do the stitches fine. It may not be the best-looking scar after, but her hair will keep it covered for the most part.” Dean finally answered the question, ignoring the other comments. “I don’t have the right herbs to keep her asleep though. If she wakes up from this, she will most likely fight me.”

Adam nodded once and walked around to the side she was facing.

He sat down on the bed, bracing her head against his leg. He placed both of his hands on the sides of her head, a precaution to her jerking. Brian sat down at her legs and lifted them so he could hold them still.

“This is the best we can do for now. Try to do it fast... without hurting her.” Adam gave Dean permission to start, even though his own nerves were shaky.

For a brief moment he thought about sending the younger ones out, then changed his mind. They’d been there thus far. What was a little more blood? If anything, it might teach them to be more careful when they were horsing around in the trees.

Dean’s hand was steady as he made several stitches, closing the gaping wound in her head.

Adam wasn’t sure how long it took for Dean to put in the two inches of stitches, it felt like hours had gone by before Dean lifted a small pair of scissors and cut the string.

Thankfully, the female had hardly moved. She had given a small jerk when the first stitch was made, otherwise, she was as still as the dead.

With her all cleaned up, Adam and Brian gently released her.

“Do we put her on her back? Or keep her on her side?” Adam asked.

Dean rubbed his lips together as his eyes roamed over her injuries.

“Her side might be less painful, for now. You should put a pillow under her head and one against her body. We can do the same to the back area. It will help support her and keep her in that position.”

“Why isn’t she waking up yet?” Gabe whispered from the end of the bed.

All the brothers turned to Dean for the answer to a very good question.

Dean sat down on the bed, facing Gabe. “You know how you grow more while you are asleep? Or when we get sick, we sleep a lot?”

Gabe nodded his head.

“Well, it’s the same when our bodies get hurt really bad. Her body is putting all of its energy into healing and breathing. To help with that, it turned off the part of her brain that would keep her awake. All of its focus is on her back and her head. Besides, if she is asleep, she can’t feel the pain as much. She can rest more comfortably that way. Does that make sense?”

“A little, I guess. When will she wake up?”

Dean shook his head. “I don’t know, bud. If she isn’t awake by tomorrow morning, we might have to try and wake her up on purpose, just to make sure her brain didn’t get hurt too.”

“What if she wakes up while we are all sleeping? She might be scared not knowing where she is.”

“She won’t be alone, bud.”

“Nope. This is my room. She’s already kicked me out of my bed. No way is some female kicking me out of my own room!” Adam teased, making Gabe smile.

“Yeah, about that. Why did you bring her in here?” Brian asked him, raising his right eyebrow.

“Because I am the only one who doesn’t share a room.” That was the only reason he could think to give him. Adam hadn’t actually considered other options.

“What about mom and dad’s room? No one is in there.” Charles added.

“True. And if she needs to stay here an extra day or two, then she can move there. After we freshen up their bed. The place is probably a bit dusty.”

The brothers all frowned as they avoided making eye contact with each other. They weren’t really the best at household chores. They ate stew for dinner most nights, the only thing any of them knew how to make. It wasn’t very good either.

The house was just barely cleaner than they were. It was a house full of males. Not to mention, finding ways to make money and eating took priority over everything else.

“We can go clean it out and move her over when it’s done.” Charles offered.

Adam nodded. “That would be great. I don’t want to move her again though. She needs to rest. We will move her tomorrow.”

One by one, the brothers filed out, recognizing the dismissal in his brusque tone. Soon, Adam and Dean were the only ones left in the room.

“Where are you going to sleep tonight?”

Adam snorted and looked around his room.

Just like all the others, his room was sparsely furnished and decorated. The rooms were used for sleeping and dressing, nothing else. Each room contained only a bed and a dresser.

“The floor probably.”

Dean laughed. “Yeah, you don’t wanna try sleeping with a female pup. If she woke up with you in the bed, she’d probably flip out and think we were the bad guys.”

“I need to go get dinner started. Will you sit with her for a while? Gabe made a good point about her waking up alone in here.”

“Sure.” Dean shrugged. “Gets me out of cleaning and cooking duty.”

Adam laughed, taking a swing at his younger brother as he passed him. “Holler if she wakes.”

Dean didn’t answer, he just plopped down on the floor, leaning against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him.