Unspecified Rage

Love you to shreds

Julia was sitting in the hospital talking with her brother. John was doing remarkably well, his leg was still missing pieces of muscle but the gaps were visibly smaller. Thankfully the Pack doctor was monitoring him now or else his rapid recovery would be setting off all kinds of red flags.

"We're all pretty sure I get to keep the leg now." John grinned. "I can wiggle my toes without bleeding to death, it's handy." he added.

Julia laughed at his enthusiasm. "It doesn't bother you? The whole....wolf thing?" she asked. She had her own misgivings about it but after a lifetime of being odd, what was one more oddity? John though, he's always been the straightforward, normal guy.

"Jules, I'm alive. Beyond that, I now get to have better senses, live longer and be one of the wild things." she could see sadness in his eyes despite the smile on his face. Her temples flared up in headache and she bit the inside of her lip to ignore it. She tried to focus past the sudden pain flashing throughout her body but it was making her pant. "Julia? Jules what's wrong?" John worried.

Julia spasimed, her body jerking in an almost seizure. Her stomache clenched and she swallowed stomach acid back down. John tried to scramble out of his bed but he was wired to too many machines and his leg was still bound up. Before he could call out for help though, the Old One rushed in.

By now Julia was thrashing on the floor, muscles contracting in hard convulsions. She could barely breathe past the pain, her back arching in an almost spine breaking bend.  She tore at the ground with hands that had lost their humanity and were deadly claws. Her skin burned and boiled, the flesh underneath writhing with the barely controlled need to change shape.

"Not now child, not right here. You've held her at bay for so long, just hang on a while longer." The Old One tried to soothe Julia's beast.

"What's happening?" John demanded, unaware that his eyes were darkening to a near black. Despite being newly infected, his own wolf was responding to the call of the Omega. His face was shaded with the first of his fur and the Old One swore, knowing that she couldn't calm two rampant wolves down, not when they weren't officially Pack.

"Something's happened to her Mate. Her wolf is tied to his and he's experiencing some kind of attack. Her wolf wants to rush off and defend him." Abuela explained calmly. She held Julia's face between her hands, resting the young woman's head on her lap while her body twitched and jerked. Julia's face was in a riktus of pain and then she collapsed, unconscious.

The Old One sighed as the pressure of the Omega eased off. John slumped down a little, not understanding the weird pressure under his skin. It was far too soon for him to have to deal with the Change, his body wasn't ready for the stress yet.

"What's wrong with Enrique?" John demanded, wiping sweat off his forehead. His hands shook and he felt exhausted. If anyone had looked for it, they would have seen his bandages darkening with blood from his leg wounds.

"I don't know." The Old One whispered, stroking a hand across Julia's forehead. "He's alive, but something.... something has happened." she looked up at the young man. Physically he looked only ten years younger, but in reality there were centuries between them. "We need to find out though. I'm sorry to drag you into this, but I need you. For her sake."

"I'm in." John said without hesitation.

"You don't even know what for." she countered with a sad smile, knowing already how this conversation would end.

"I don't care. For her, I'm in. It's a matter of family." he shrugged. He started to jerk the wires off his body, ignoring the wail of the concerned machinery. It, of course, brought a very concerned doctor to the door.

"You can't be donig that. You need to stay in that bed John..." the Pack doctor trailed off, seeing the Old One holding Julia. "What's happened to the Omega?" he asked, concerned.

"An attack on her Mate." the Abuela threw the need for secrecy aside. She had a theory on what was happening and if it were true, the young Mated Pair's secret was already out.

"And she hasn't Changed already?" the doctor asked, amazed.

"Almost, but she held on. We need to get her out of here. Too many human witnesses. As family, John has some hold on her, and it may help. Because she isn't Pack, there isn't much we can do to stop her from Changing after she wakes up."

John was watching them discuss this calmly. He wanted to leap into furious action, but instead hobbled around the hospital room, painfully pulling on the clothes that Julia's friends had dropped off for him. A pair of ridiculously big sweats that fit over hte injured leg easily and tied at the waist, a tshirt that smelled brand new and generic shoes he pulled on without socks. There was something driving him forward, a weird instinct that wanted to shove these people away from his sister so he could protect her. It didn't understand that these, outsiders, could help her far better than he could.

"I don't like letting him out of here. He's still wounded." The doctor admitted. But he was low enough in Pack dominance that he couldn't willfully disobey the Old One. So instead he ducked under John's arm and helped maneuver him over to a wheelchair. "I do not need you bleeding to death. Sit down." he told the new wolf and thrust him into the seat. Amazingly enough, the Old One scooped Julia up into her arms.

"We need to hurry, she's feverish." Abuela directed the younger wolves. They left the hospital looking nonchalant, though Doctor Edwin was convinced he'd lose his job for this. "Stop bitching, you know the Alpha will make sure that doesn't happen." she reminded him with a glower. He was a more submissive wolf and his need for comforting was not helping her deal with the situation at hand.

Julia groaned, her eye lids fluttering open. The pain was scratching just under her skin, it felt like she'd popped all of her joints and was bonelessly broken. Her muscles twitched in softer tics, jerking randomly. "I need....." she muttered softly, not entirely conscious yet. "I need to go..." she repeated, waking up more.

By this time the Old One, Edwin and John had taken Julia to the old van the Old One drove and hidden them inside. Abuela was driving them along a pothole filled road, and hte branches of the trees scratched along the sides of the van in claustrophobia inducing proximity.

Julia's eyes were molten gold, the human barely staying in control as hot tears poured out of her eyes. John had gotten Edwin to search Julia's pockets and dug up a crumpled but good joint and her cellphone. He was calling her friends, and repeating the Old One's message to meet at the Lonely Place.

A low growl filled the van and Julia twisted her body until she was on hands and knees. "I need to go. Now." she ordered, face stretching into a skin covered muzzle.

"We're already heading there sweety." Abuela called from the driver's seat.

Julia looked grotesque, face stretched out, jaw containing canine fangs. Her muscles corded under tightly stretched skin and the claws that danced along the van floor were nakes flesh. A puff of bluish smoke drifted from John to the back seat.

"What the hell?" Edwin demanded.

"It's her prescription. It helps calm her. And I'm hoping reminds her of human things." John said easily, taking another drag on his sister's joint to blow the smoke her way.

It was working too, her nostrils flared, picking up the familiar scent. Her eyes were still inhumanly gold, but the deformities pressing through her human skin started to recede, a slow piece at a time. When he passed the joint back to her, she looked human except for hte eyes, yet the air around her still vibrated with violence. Julia took a long slow drag in and shuddered. Tears were still streaking down her face but she seemed almost unaware of them.

"They're killing him. They're killing my Mate." the wolf that shared Julia's skin explained. "He willingly cut the connection between us, to keep them from getting to me through him."

She looked at Edwin, and despite being a wolf as well, he was very afraid. She looked ready to tear her way through any obstacle.

"And your Alpha gave him to them." she growled.