The Taint of Wolves

Tired

Chapter 25: Tired.

Wheels creaking woke me.

White flashed in my vision, the lights burning so bright above me as my tired eyes flickered open. I hurt, I ached. Everything felt like a fresh bruise, blooming right under the surface of already sensitive skin. A gasp caught in my throat and my head whipped to the side, seeing the hip of a woman dressed in green scrubs.

My arms rose.

No. Tried to rise.

A thick band of leather circled around my arms and torso, keeping me strapped to a narrow bed. The wheels continued to shriek as they moved further down a path of white. I whimpered, jerking violently. A scream of pain shot across my body and a noise garbled in my throat, a half-scream that I clamped down on.

I hadn't had time to prepare myself. I always knew when they were coming for me. I could always smell the doctors coming down the long hall, whispering about the new procedure. A new method to pull me apart, make me beg and scream and see how much they could twist my mind, my resolve.

"No," I pulled against the leather bands. "No. No. No. Please."

Tears blurred my vision. I waited to see Doc-Mai's face leaning over me, that twisted smile that only appeared in my moment's of weakness.

It wasn't her face I saw.

Inside, in the blurred vision of tears, I saw eyes of molten gold. A large hand smoothened over my hair, whisper soft. "Nova."

No mercy.

A sob caught in my throat and the nurse on my right startled. No mercy – even the man fated to me by the moon herself could not find mercy in his heart for the beast that I had become. Even the man, soft and warm despite his scarred face, could not find mercy for me.

A plea worked its way onto my tongue. I didn't want to spend the last moments of my life strapped to a chair, begging to be killed.

Clumsily, he wiped my cheeks. "It will be alright."

They were going to pull me apart. How was that alright?

I moved my legs. Another band of leather around my legs.

They were going to tear open my insides and spool my guts in their hands, looking for the Ravi's secret recipe. Or crack open my skull like a boiled egg and prob my rotted, grey brain for the cogs of Ravi's design.

I bit hard onto my lip. I had to get out. Or die. Either was better than what was coming for me.

Whispers were like knifes in my ears. "Healing at a rapid rate..."

"...Upset."

"....Not Happy."

"Blood tests..."

Death would be better. It would be my choice.

Lordie – I needed to calm down. Think first. I had lived long enough to know how to escape. Not that I had been great at it in the first place.

Easton stopped wiping my tears and instead, took a fragile hold of my hand.

I took stock what was happening, my breathing rapid and panicked. Not Doc-Mai or the Ravi. At least they wouldn't enjoy pulling me apart.

I could use that.

Guilt was a weapon, just as fear was. Had I not gotten my claws on a few Ravi doctors who were guilted by the pain they caused a poor, sweet girl.