Wild and Free

(Still Mason’s POV)

A nurse, that I knew by the name of Selene, and Kenzie pulled a rolling bed over to the doors we entered and I laid Auden on it. Her face was contorted in pain with all the strain to her leg, but she hid it pretty well.

Selene was confused, as she could obviously tell that Auden was not a werewolf, nor anyone else from our pack. I would tell her later, along with the doctor, that Auden’s arrival was under strict confidentiality, though I’m sure they knew already by the looks on my and Kenzie’s face.

The short woman with golden brown hair piled on top of her head in a bun and a very motherly aura about her. She asked Auden some questions as she pushed the bed down the halls of the infirmary. Auden’s eyes fluttered shut a few times but she managed to make it all the way to a private room where Dr. Rojas was waiting for us.

Dr. Diana Rojas was a fairly young woman of a long line of pack doctors in her family. She had long, straight blonde hair and coffee brown eyes, much like everyone else in our pack. She had been one of the doctors that helped Ben and Chris when the arrived back yesterday.

“Okay I need everyone to clear the room,” the doctor commanded, speaking quickly to Selene on how to treat her new patient.

Her words were all medical talk that I didn’t understand but I did know that they needed space so I went to step away. Only a small, weak hand grabbing mine stopped me where I stood.

I looked back and saw Auden’s cold, slightly bloody hand extended toward me. The scars were an odd texture against my own hand but her skin was soft and cool.

“Stay, please,” she pleaded, hardly any sound coming from her lips. It looked like she was mouthing the words rather than asking. I was sure she had been almost entirely drained of energy, enough so that she couldn’t even find the strength to speak. She’d probably used her last ounce to stop me so she wouldn’t be alone.

I suppose I was grateful that she had gotten over whatever tenseness we had earlier and was at least trying to open up a little more. I mean, normally I probably wouldn’t be her first choice in this situation, but she could’ve just as easily picked Kenz over me. So why didn’t she?

Diana looked at our hands and nodded when I turned to her for her approval, “You may stay but go around to her other side so I can clean her wound, okay?”

I nodded and did as she said, circling around the edge of the rolling bed to the side with her good leg on it. Not a minute later, the blood loss finally caught up to Auden and she slipped out of consciousness.

I freaked out for a second, worried for the absolute worse but Dr. Rojas and Selene assured me that she was not dead. After releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding, they explained that she was going to need the rest. I guess her body was exhausted and her falling unconscious was expected after such stress and blood loss. She just needed time to regain herself.

“So are you going to explain what happened or am I going to help this poor girl without knowing if she’s in some kind of danger or not?” Diana asked me, putting her gloves on and starting to wipe away the fresh and dried blood around the wound. “I know it is not my place to even ask but who even is this girl?”

One of my hands was still clasped in Auden’s so I used the free one to rub the back of my neck, “Her name is Auden,”” I answered, keeping her last name to myself to avoid further suspicion. “She’s just a friend from school. She and Kenzie have become really close. Both of her best friends are mates of our pack. One to Riley Anderson and the other to my sister.”

“And what about you?” she asked.

“What about me?”

“You care for her do you not?” she prodded, putting a bloodied piece of cotton on the tray Selene held out for her.

I shrugged, “I mean yeah, we’ve been sort of pushed to hang out for a while because of our group and I guess I consider her a close friend too.”

I hated how unsure I sounded. Didn’t I think of Auden as a friend? Maybe it was more or maybe it was nothing but the word friend wasn’t the first thing to come to mind when I thought of Auden. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her as a person, she was amazing and knew exactly what to say all the time, but something as simple as ‘friend’ isn’t what I would classify her as to me. I didn’t know.

“Okay well I won’t push it because it’s clear you aren’t quite sure either but I would like to know how this happened to her,” Diana said after a while.

Images of the scene flashed through my mind, “She tripped and there was glass on the floor. Neither of us really realized it because she’s been missing for a couple days and I wanted to know why. Next thing we know, we look down and there’s blood everywhere.”

Both Diana and Selene looked at me with surprise.

“She must be some girl,” Selene mused.

I knit me brows, “Why do you say that?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “Judging by the amount of blood she lost, she should’ve either passed out a while ago or been screaming her head off in pain when she came here.”

I glanced down at Auden’s sleep ridden face for a second and thought for a moment.

Diana peered up at me from studying the glass, “Has something like this happened before?”

My mind flashed back to the night of the attack by the grey wolves. She had that cut on her arm and all night claim it was just a simple scratch. Then the next day on the rocks with everyone Kenzie says that one of the wolves sliced the girl’s arm open when she tried to protect her. She made it seem like nothing and hadn’t shown any signs of pain.

And then again just that day. That piece of glass was not small. In fact it was probably one of the biggest shards that had been discard carelessly on the floor by whoever had broken in. But the fact that Auden hardly felt a thing until she started losing more blood, it wasn’t normal.

“Alpha Mason, is something wrong?” Selene asked, snapping me out of my daze.

I shook my head, “No she just has a high pain tolerance I guess.”

Neither of them looked completely convinced with my answer but they knew better than to question me.

We were all silent as Diana readied herself to pull the shard out. She gripped it lightly but firmly with her fingers so it wouldn’t break any further. Then quickly slid the shard out of the wound. It was deeper than we had originally thought because the piece was a bit larger, which just furthered my suspicions.

How much pain had Auden gone through in her life exactly? I knew what she claimed, but I also knew she’d never give me a hint to how much she had really endured.

I took a second to turn her hand over in mine so I could look at her palm. She had the same lines everyone else did on their palms, but covered in a layer of scars and markings. They spread across her hand like a spider’s web, crossing and overlapping in all different directions. When I first told Kenzie about my suspicions of the girl, she had said that I probably just didn’t see them well enough and they were most likely just scars from having fallen. But now that I was actually getting a good look at them, they were so much more than that.

The first thing that came to mind was her parents. She had said they abandoned her but didn’t give any detail about their relationship before. Had they beaten her? Treated her badly for their own sick pleasure? Or perhaps they had been self inflicted as a result of hating such a terrible life.

Then I thought about everything she had gone through after she’d been left on her own. To think about her walking the streets of some city at night was a nightmare on its own. And when you added other vile people into the equation...

All of the options made me sick to my stomach. But that’s all they were. Options. Assumptions. Guesses. I knew nothing for sure and it was killing me.

I don’t know why exactly I cared for the girl so much but I did, that was something I knew for sure. I wanted to help her but how could I really do that if I didn’t know what she needed help with?

A soft moan of pain escaped Auden’s mouth when Diana began cleaning and stitching up the wound. I could only imagine the pain that she was going through. I guess it was times like that when I actually had an appreciation for werewolf healing.

Auden was still asleep when Diana finished her work. Selene left the room with all of the medical materials and bloodied cleaning supplies, likely to discard them somewhere. I was prepared to stay until she woke up, in case she had forgotten what happened or needed something, but Diana gave me a look.

“Mason you’ve been out of school for two days, are you sure that staying is the best idea?” she asked, her arms folded over her chest. “She’s a big girl, I’m sure she can handle staying alone.”

I shook my head, “I’ll be alright. Plus my father is probably going to come and drag me out of here at some point for an interrogation anyway. I just don’t want her to wake up without someone she knows.”

She still didn’t look like she approved.

I stepped forward and gave the woman a hug, “I promise when he comes for me I’ll send Kenz in to be with her but I’m have to stay for now.”

We pulled back and she nodded in agreement.

Diana Rojas and my family had history together. Not only had she been the pack doctor at or original pack infirmary, moving to William’s when we did, but she had also been one of the most hard working people that were dedicated to treating my mother when she was sick.

Most people would hold some kind of grudge with the young doctor over the fact that my mother hadn’t survived, but Kenzie, my father, and I knew that it had not been her fault in any way. The woman was dying, it was inevitable. But Diana had given us more time with her and for that we were eternally grateful.

“You might want to mindlink you sister to bring the girl some clothes,” she said and we both look back at Auden.

I guess everything had been going so fast that I didn’t think about that. When we found Auden in her apartment she’d been wearing a cream colored sweater and a pair of simple black jean shorts. She didn’t even have shoes.

I nodded and she cupped my cheek adoringly for a short moment before leaving.

There was a lot to admire Diana for. I’d always thought of her as like a close aunt. She always put people before herself and had everyone else’s thoughts in mind when making decisions. She and her mate Ryan had been through some hard times. A lot harder than many people would imagine by being in her otherwise positive presence.

When the sickness hit our old pack she had been pregnant with her first child. She and Ryan had previously had issues with having children so they’d been so hopeful and excited when they found out that they were expecting. Diana was one of the extremely lucky people that succumbed to the illness but survived. However, unfortunately her child didn’t.

It was a tragic set of circumstances for the couple piled on top of everything else at the time. I hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to her much since the move but she seemed to be doing alright. That was a rare and beautiful thing that we could all be grateful for.

Her family, as well as many others, were vital to the inner workings of the grounds. As doctors they, of course, cared for everyone and made sure we were all healthy. They were our backbone and held at high appreciation among everyone.

I mindlinked my sister as Diana said and waited. There was a knock at the door shortly after Diana left and in burst Cassie with RIley, Kenzie, and Greyson on her heels.

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

Wow, okay so I was initially just going to post this part without rereading it for errors (which I usually don’t care to do) and I literally skimmed over the FIRST PARAGRAPH and found like twelve errors. So I am so sorry if there have been some embarrassing grammar and spelling mistakes in this story so far. They'll be fixed in editing later and hopefully nonexistent if I write a sequel ;)

Hope you enjoyed!

As always, comment, don’t hate, and read on!

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend